“Cassidy, what are you doing?” She asked me as she looked at me narrowly.
“OH hello Lucy. I'm dancing can't you see?” I said drinking some more punch.
“Oh my God,you're drunk.”
“What? Oh no what are you saying?“ I said laughing, then I nearly tripped.
“What's wrong?” I heard a masculine voice ask. I turned and nearly passed out. Tyler was here. Oh I couldn't believe it.
“She's drunk Mr Bayne.” Lucy said.
Mr Bayne? Where was she seeing him? I wondered.
“Drunk? What did she drink?” He asked again.
"Only Punch.”
“What?” He grabbed a cup and poured some punch in it and drank it.“Oh Lord, this is vodka. Someone must have added it to the punch. No wonder she got drunk. Lucy go and tell Mr Daniels about the punch. I will take her out. Come on Cassidy,” he said grabbing me by the shoulder.
“Oh Tyler,you look so handsome tonight “ I said.
“Tyler? No Cassidy I'm Mr Bayne.”
I ignored completely what he was saying. When we got out I hugged him tight and leaned against him. My legs felt so weak.
“Cassidy, what are you doing?” He asked.
“I love you Tyler and I have really missed you “ I said playing with his tie.
“I'm not Tyler. Cassidy please try to get
back to your senses.”He said looking deep into my eyes.
“Have you missed me? I bet you have,” I said smiling. I tried to walk and nearly fell down. I couldn't walk properly.
“Let's go away from here before someone sees you like that,” he said.
“Oh you're in a hurry,” I said laughing.“Yes let's go. I want you to make love to me Tyler.”
He stopped on the spot and looked at me with a stunned face. I wondered why, it wasn't the first time he made love to me. I started to laugh and couldn't stop.
“What's wrong Ty,don’t you want to love me?” I said grabbing his arms and then his hands and kissing them. “ I want to feel your body on mine, please take me away from here,” he seemed made of stone and then he began to tremble, why? I felt my legs weaken again and was going to fall when he grabbed me and lifted me up in his arms. He began to walk carrying me.
“Where are we going Ty? To your place?” I asked.
“No, in the History room. No other classroom seems to be open and I only have the key to that one,” he said.
“Oh in the History room,we have never done it there. We've done in the Art room and in the English room but never in the History room,” I said laughing.
He stopped for a second and looked at me astonished. I looked up at him, he was so handsome, his skin was lighter than I remembered. He seemed different,yet he was my Tyler. I loved being carried by him. When we arrived he opened the door and carried me in putting me down on the desk. He was going to pull back but I grabbed him and hugged him. Then I pulled his face to mine and kissed him. I really needed to feel his lips on mine, they were so warm and I loved his smell. He must had changed aftershave. I liked this new one even better. He wasn't kissing me back, why? Hadn't he missed me? I pulled back a little and looked into his eyes. He seemed terrified, why?
“Tyler why aren't you kissing me? I love you can't you see?” I said trying to kiss him again. I felt him tensing and then all of a sudden I felt him forcing my mouth open and kissing me like he had never done before. He kissed me with raw passion, with desperation and with a love that made me want to cry. I kissed him back, it felt so good,so right,my heart was beating so fast and I shivered
whilst I felt his fingers going through my hair. We kissed for a long time like there was no tomorrow, then he pulled back. I smiled at him and closed my eyes. I just wanted to sleep.
“I love you Tyler,” I said while he held me tight.
CHAPTER 47
When I opened my eyes I felt my head heavy and it was pounding a little. I look around me confused. I couldn't remember anything. Where was I? I looked at myself and saw I was wearing my new dress. Then I remembered,I was at school, at the ball. I looked up and noticed that I was in the History room sitting on the floor leaning against the wall. I looked at my left and saw Mr Bayne sitting down, his head in his hands and his eyes closed. What was I doing there?
“Mr Bayne,” I called him softly.
He lifted his head and looked at me, he seemed devastated why?
“Cassidy how,how are you feeling?” He asked me. He seemed lost, nervous. I wondered what was wrong with him.
“Not well, my head is really aching. What happened?” I asked.
His eyes widened and his face relaxed for a moment.“You mean you don't remember anything?” He asked relieved.
“Well I remember that I was in the hall and then-" I paused wondering if I had dreamed. "Then Tyler came. Oh my God, where is he? And how come he was here?”
Mr Bayne looked at me in a strange way.
“Cassidy. Tyler wasn't here,you were drunk.”
“Drunk? I only drank punch.”
“There was vodka in it.”
“What?But this is impossible. I know he was here, he carried me here,” I said stunned.
“That wasn't Tyler, it was me,” he said weakly.
I stared at him in silence,I couldn't believe it. I tried to remember what had happened and then I did. I remembered that I had kissed him and most of all I remembered that he had kissed me back. My eyes widened and I felt my stomach twisting and a shiver ran down my spine. I looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't stand my gaze and stood up giving me his back. I felt a lump in my throat,I couldn't talk,there was silence. An embarrassing silence, he knew that I had remembered.
“Mr Bayne. I'm I 'm sorry. I-” I couldn't continue.
“Forget about everything please. It should have never happened,you were drunk.”He said quickly.
But you weren't, I wanted to say. He had kissed me and it wasn't a normal kiss, a passionate kiss which had weakened my knees.
“I. Oh my God. I-,” I didn't know what to say.
“You thought I was Tyler. I know. Cassidy just forget about it.”
I didn't know what to say. I felt so strange. I really had seen Tyler but now when I think about his kiss, I couldn't stop the butterflies in my stomach. I had liked it, I really had. Oh my God. I felt so guilty. He looked at me since I had remained silent. For a moment we looked into each other eyes and my heart was racing. Why was this happening? At that moment Lucy walked in and broke the spell under which we both were.
“Oh Cas how do you feel? You woke up finally.”She asked looking at me.
“I'm fine,” I replied.
“Good. Then let's go.”She urged grabbing my arm.
“I don't want to return to the ball,” I said steadily.
“We're going home, it's nearly midnight,” she said.
“What?”
I looked at her stunned. I had slept for nearly 3 hours and he had been there all that time waiting
for me to wake up. I looked at him.
“Mr Bayne. I'm sorry I ruined your evening.”
“No you didn't, it's all right Cassidy. Now go. Happy holidays,” he then said.
Holidays? Oh yeah this was the last day of school before Christmas, we have about 2 weeks off. I looked at him again. He smiled at me and then I left with Lucy. She kept talking and I wasn't hearing a word she was saying. I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss,at the way it made me feel and I kept wondering why he had kissed me. Did he feel something for me? No I had to stop it. At that moment I thought about Tyler and sadness came over me again. This was all because I was missing him so much, Mr Bayne is being gentle to me and it's only natural to feel a little bit like this. I said to myself trying to convince myself that I wasn't in any way attracted to him.
“Did something happened between you and Mr Bayne?” Lucy asked me noticing I wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying.
My heart stopped. No I won't tell her anything, she wouldn't understand. No o
ne would.
“No. I slept for about three hours, why?”
“I don't know,you seemed so strange when I came in and he seemed so tensed and the way he looked at you. Are you sure he doesn't feel anything for you. You have to be careful not to fall in the same trap again Cas,” she said seriously.
My stomach twisted, damn it,Lucy noticed everything. “What the hell are you talking about? You're totally wrong this time,” I snapped
“Hope so,” she just said.
When I arrived home I couldn't sleep. I had slept for three hours but this wasn't the reason of my insomnia. I felt guilty. I felt strange. I couldn't stop thinking about Mr Bayne and also about Tyler. I took out the locket and cried.
“This is all your fault Tyler, why did you leave me alone?”
The following morning I got up really tired and in a bad mood. I ate breakfast and went out for a walk. I kept thinking about Tyler. Where was he? What was he doing? I took out my mobile phone and looked at his number. I really wanted to hear his voice. Should I call him? Temptation was high.
“What the hell. I'll do it. I need to hear his voice,” I said to myself. I pressed the bottom . It was ringing,will he answer? After three rings I heard his voice. My heart stopped.
“Hello.”
My legs began to tremble. I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn't speak,tears began to roll down my face.
“Hello.. Cassidy?”
Hearing him say my name made my stomach churn.
“Tyler,” I managed to say crying.
“What do you want? Cassy you know you shouldn't be calling me.”He said a little angry.
“I'm missing you terribly. I,I can't live without you Tyler. I can't bear my life without you. I want to be with you,” I said sobbing.
“Cassy, we already discussed this. It's not possible, you have to forget me.”
“I love you.”
He didn't say anything.
“It's better if I hang up,” he then said.
“No... please.... Tyler!! Don't do this to me, please,” I felt desperate.
At that moment I heard a female voice calling him. My heart stopped.
“Tyler? You already forgot me?” I asked my heart broken.
“That was my secretary. I'm in my office right now.”
“Oh.”
“Cassidy, forget me. Find another guy, it's better like this. I will do the same.”
My stomach ached.
“You'll find another woman?”
“Someday I will and you will do too. I have to leave you now. I am not suppose to talk to you, please don't call me again OK.”He said harshly.
“OK.”
I hung up and cried. The same feeling of two weeks before was returning. I was feeling depressed again. How could he forget me so easily? How come he wasn't suffering as much as me? Probably he never really loved me. I walked home and was going to lock myself in my room again and cry but then I thought of Mr Bayne. I thought of his smile, of his beautiful eyes and I felt better. No I couldn't let myself go down in this way. I had to react, like Mr Bayne had said. I wiped my tears away and began to study. A week passed from that day and I struggled with myself to stop thinking about Tyler. I even hid away the locket. I didn't want to see it anymore. Christmas had passed. I had spent it with my mum and with Lucy. Two days after Christmas I decided that I couldn't spend all my time alone in my room. I had to find a new hobby, something to distract me from my thoughts. I went down to the kitchen, my mum was there.
“Mum.”
My mum looked at me and smiled.
“Oh Good morning honey,are you going
somewhere?”
"Yes mum to the gym.”
“Oh that's nice. “
“I want to learn to swim. They're organizing a course," I continued.
“Oh that's fantastic honey. Yeah good idea,you need to go out a little. So how much do you need?” She said then.
“Are you sure it's not a problem?”
“Of course not, just go and get my purse and take what you need. Cas..”
“Yes Mum.”
“I'm happy you're feeling better honey. I was so worried about you.”
“Thanks mum”
I didn't feel better but tried to force myself to keep going.
I went to the gym, there was a big pool. The instructor was very nice, he was in his forties and asked me a lot of questions before we started the session. He wanted to know if I was afraid of water or I ever had any accidents in water. I told him about how I had nearly drowned. He told me not to worry and that we shall start slowly. At first I was really scared when I felt my body in the water and hung on to my instructor, but then with his help, little by little I relaxed and started to do everything he was telling me. After about 30 minutes I felt exhausted.
“OK Cassidy, let's stop a little, you're doing great. Just take a break. I'll be back soon,” he said and he got out of the pool. I got out as well and set down on the side. I started looking around me and nearly passed out when I met his eyes. My God what was he doing here? In front of me at the other side of the pool, in the gym there was Mr Bayne. He was doing some weights. He smiled at me when he saw me. I waved and he did the same, he continued to do his weights while I watched him. He wasn't very muscled but had a nice body, he wore a white sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of blue trousers. I could not help admire his abdominal which, although not sculpted was defined. I felt a shiver running down my spine. He looked incredibly sexy. Oh lord here I go again. I had to stop staring at him, he was looking at me and probably noticed I was staring. I turned around
trying to calm down. It was then that I saw my instructor coming. I felt relieved, at least I would stop it. We continued with the lesson and after about another 30 minutes we stopped. When I got out of the pool I looked at the gym, he wasn't there anymore. I felt disappointed but it was better this way. I went to have a shower and put on a track suit. Now I was feeling cold. I dried my hair hoping it dried completely before I returned home. Outside it was cold. Then I decided to go and have a coffee at the coffee bar of the gym. I needed to warm up. I went to the bar.
“Can I have a coffee please?” I asked the barman.
“Yes coming.”
After a while he gave me my coffee and I opened up my bag trying to find my
purse...
“Can I have one too please? I'll pay for her coffee as well.” A voice said from behind me. I felt a tingling sensation in my stomach. It was Mr Bayne. I turned around and felt my face burning when my gaze met his.
“Mr Bayne... I.. I -there is no need. I have money.. and I-”
“I insist, would you like something to eat?” He asked.
“What,oh no..”
“Well they have lovely muffins here, they are really good,” he said, then asked the barman to bring two chocolate muffins.
“You like chocolate do you?” He then asked me. I was still staring at his beautiful face. He looked so handsome without glasses.
“I.. yes I do”
“Good,let's go there” He grabbed the
muffins and his coffee. I took my coffee and followed him to a table. I sat down and took a sip of my coffee and burnt my mouth.
Against All Odds Page 39