I gawked. “I’m pretty sure I’ve just explained how we’re barely even friends. He’s just doing his sister a favour.”
“It looks more than friendly.” He accused.
I found it hard to comprehend that he was actually being serious. “In what way?” I retorted, quickly becoming angry with his stupid assumptions. If only Hannah had bothered to break up with him when she was supposed to.
Hannah, thankfully, had realised just how uncomfortable she’d made everything. “It’s fine, Mike,” She interrupted. “I was just surprised. Obviously they’re just friends.” She waved off his suspicions easily, though it was clear to me she was just as suspicious. “Come on, we still haven’t been to that book shop that you wanted to show me.”
Mike brightened at the idea. “Okay,” he agreed. “I suppose so.” They didn’t leave before he’d sent me another look conveyed his opinion I was some kind of whore.
“See you later, Maddie.” Hannah’s tone wasn’t convincing and I knew we’d be having a conversation about this as soon as she was free.
I managed a weak smile as they left and then turned warily towards Ollie. “Well, that was awkward.” His sentence didn’t even begin to express how worried I knew he would be. How worried we both were. “You don’t think…”
I sighed. “What could he possibly do? There’s nothing to suggest what I said was a lie,” I was doing my best to be convincing. It was true, but faced with even the slightest possibility was the most unnerving thing I’d ever had to deal with. “Besides, Hannah will tell him he’s being stupid. He’ll probably not even think about it again. It’s not like he knows us.”
“I suppose there’s nothing more we can do anyway. Just wait and see what Hannah says when you speak to her.” Our good moods had been almost completely deflated.
“Yeah. At least it was worth it for my pretty dress,” I attempted to tease, though neither of us even managed to smile slightly.
“It’ll work out fine,” Ollie dismissed, as though it was that simple, running a hand through his curls.
“I really do like the stubble, by the way,” I added absentmindedly, picking up a now cold chip.
Ollie shook his head and couldn’t conceal his chuckle. “That wasn’t what you were supposed to say,” he almost whined.
I found myself cracking a grin at his response. “It’ll be fine,” I repeated his earlier sentiments. “I’m sure we have nothing to worry about.” The more I thought about it, the more I was sure I was right. “Even if he accused us, there’s certainly no proof of anything.”
“Yeah,” Ollie brightened slightly at the reasoning. It was going to be much easier to just put this to the backs of our minds than to worry over potentially nothing. “Now let’s go and get ice cream.”
***
I groaned at the knock on the door. My feet hurt from trawling round shops all day and since my mum had taken Lily and the dog for a walk, I had to walk all the way downstairs to answer it. For a moment of panic, I considered that Nick might be on the other side of the door. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a conflicted looking Hannah, though. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“I know.” Hannah knew me too well to believe that I’d just made friends with Ollie’s sister without mentioning it. There was obviously a secret lingering around the whole situation. “Let’s go upstairs, though, in case my mum comes back.”
When we were both seated on my bed, Hannah fixed me with an expectant expression. “So, what’s even going on? I had no idea you and Mr. Wright were even on a first name basis. I thought the party was just a weird situation.”
Sighing heavily, I considered the best way to describe the situation to Hannah. I didn’t want her to judge me too harshly, but then again, she was my friend and she hadn’t exactly been an angel recently. “You can’t remember who Ollie is at all, can you?” Maybe she’d just remember at that prompt.
Hannah’s look was immediately quizzical, though. “No?”
“I slept with him in summer, when we went out one time,” I explained, watching as the cogs turned in Meg’s head and she attempted to remember when I was talking about.
“Oh shit,” she breathed. “Near the beginning? I think I remember. It never clicked. Wow. I can’t believe it! That must have been so awkward, but what happened? Why didn’t you tell me?” Which was of course the question I knew was coming. I figured I’d ignore it for now and answer the rest of her questions first. “How did you sleeping together in summer lead to going to a wedding together?”
“I’m not even sure,” I attempted not to sound too whiny about having to discuss our relationship. It wasn’t the easiest thing right now. “I just found him attractive still, obviously, and then Meg and I saw him in town and she went off with some guy and so I went with Ollie and we almost slept together again.” I was trying to condense it into as few points as possible. “Then we slept together in Newcastle because I persuaded him to come out drinking with me.”
Hannah gawked. “What? How did you persuade him to go out with you?”
I shifted uncomfortably on my bed. “I don’t really know. It’s like we just were attracted to each other and so it didn’t really feel like student and teacher from the beginning. I happened to keep seeing him outside of school, like at the restaurant and his girlfriend lived down the road from me and stuff.”
“He had a girlfriend?” Hannah had obviously been far drunker than I’d realised when we walked her home at the party. Her mind had apparently blocked it all out.
My cheeks flamed, though Hannah couldn’t really say anything about this considering her situation right now with Mike and Ewan. “He broke up with her after we slept together in Newcastle.” I quickly assured her. “But yeah, I mean, we slept together after the party too,” I sighed again. “Then we agreed that we should stay away from each other.”
“And yet you’re going to a wedding together?” She pressed sceptically.
“His parents are really pushy about him finding someone to settle down with and so they’re making him bring a date, but he doesn’t really know anyone since he broke up with Jemma so he asked me. It’s the last time anything like that is going to happen, though.”
Hannah shook her head and remained silent for a moment. “You’re serious?” The whole story was a bit unrealistic.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I don’t even know how it got so messed up.” I pulled my knees to my chest and leant my head back against the headboard.
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“I really, really like him.”
Hannah sighed and scooted properly beside me so that our shoulders were brushing together. “That really sucks.” Guilt trickled into her voice slightly. “Mike kept going on about how he thought it was weird and wrong,” she confessed, quickly dissolving into rambles. “Like, how it was weird that your teacher had brought you shopping and that it was like grooming and stuff. I kept telling him he was being stupid and he said he believed me and I’m sure he’d tell me if he was thinking of saying anything-”
“It’s fine, Hannah,” I interrupted. “It’s not like there’s any proof. Besides, Annabel would vouch for my story. It’d just be a pain if Mike decided there was some reason to make trouble.”
“He just sounded really serious,” Hannah informed me dismally. Of course all that I said was to make Hannah feel better rather than me. “What if he does say something? It could end badly.”
“I know it could,” I agreed. “Why are you even still with him? Have you decided you’re not interested in Ewan or something?”
Hannah grimaced. “I don’t know,” she whined. “I still want to break up with him, I think, but every time I go round he has something planned and I can’t bring myself to turn it down. I’ve seen Ewan again too, though, and he’s just so perfect.” My mind instantly jumped to the conclusion that maybe if Hannah broke up with Mike, he’d decide to make trouble by ruining my life out of spite. Hannah obviously realised it too. “I
don’t think he’d do anything like that. Surely I can’t have that bad a taste in men.”
“No, it’ll definitely be fine,” I dismissed. I wasn’t going to attempt to convince Hannah to stay with someone she didn’t want to be with for my own selfish reasons. I’d gotten myself into this mess.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She returned to the dreaded question. “Does Meg know?”
“Meg knows,” I conceded. “But only because she recognised him. I just didn’t want to tell you because I don’t like talking about it. It sucks. I really like him and I can’t be with him. I’d rather just wallow about it than have more than one person laughing about the awkwardness of the situation.”
“I don’t think Meg realises how much you seem to care if she’s still finding it funny.” Hannah murmured. “In fact, I don’t think Meg’s ever cared about a guy like that enough to really empathise.” It was true that Meg didn’t really have a good past with relationships. I was sure that from what she’d told me none of her boyfriends have ever been for more than a couple of months.
“I guess,” I admitted. “Well, now you know, anyway. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I prefer to be miserable without people knowing.”
Hannah chuckled. “I’m afraid I’m much better at pushing my problems on you,” she teased lightly. “Now let’s go and fetch some ice cream. This got much more depressing than I was expecting it to.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Staring up at the impressive building in front of me, I felt incredibly out of place. My plain jeans and knitted sweater seemed rather lacklustre and I wondered just how successful the rest of Ollie’s family were, because this building was big, and obviously incredibly expensive.
I shifted slightly and Ollie noticed immediately. “My family isn’t as posh as this building,” he assured me. “Laura’s just been saving up for this for ages with her fiancé and both sets of parents chipped in too.”
“Okay. I just don’t want to feel really out of place.” Then I smirked. “But I guess you’re here and you’re practically the opposite of sophisticated. I’ll probably seem like an angel.”
Ollie snorted. “You just keep thinking that.”
We pulled our suitcases out of the car and wheeled them into the lobby. The drive down had surprisingly not had a single awkward moment. It was almost absurd how good we were at forgetting the bigger picture when we were left alone.
I was grateful to see Annabel as soon as we entered the building. At least I wouldn’t just be clinging to Ollie like a lost puppy the whole time. She was stood in a group of people that I could only assume were Ollie’s family. They all held a certain resemblance to each other. I tried my best to stay in the background as they recognised Ollie and came to hug him.
“This is Maddie,” Ollie introduced me to the older woman that was hugging him, loud enough for everyone else to hear too.
Annabel beamed and came over to hug me, clearly sensing how incredibly awkward the whole ‘introductions’ thing was. “Hey Maddie.”
“Hey Annabel,” I replied with a chuckle, returning the hug. Trying to catch everyone’s names as Ollie went round his family, I knew I’d end up forgetting one and embarrassing myself. There were his parents, Annabel and his older brother with wife and daughter. She was only about four and was incredibly cute. I couldn’t help but smile affectionately.
That seemed to loosen the tension somewhat, though Ollie’s mother was eyeing me up and down in a way that made me want to run away. I was just wearing a standard jeans and a blouse, so there was nothing conspicuous going on. “We’re going to go and check in,” Ollie told them, gesturing for me to follow him with my suitcase.
“So what’s the plan for today?” I asked him when we were out of earshot.
Ollie shrugged. “I don’t think there is one other than for dinner later. Want to go and see the beach?”
“Ooo, yeah,” I grinned. “That sounds awesome. I haven’t been to the seaside for so long. We can get ice cream, right?”
“Of course,” Ollie allowed with a chuckle, turning to the man at the reception and giving him our names. Ollie had said Laura had booked the entire building and I was almost speechless at how much money that must have cost. I wondered what it was she did for a living.
“Ollie, honey, can I talk to you for a moment?” His mother called out as we walked past their group towards the lift. “Annabel will show Maddie to your room.”
Ollie hesitated only a moment before agreeing. “Do you want me to take your case?” Annabel checked with him as she switched places with Ollie.
“Erm, sure, if you don’t mind.”
Inside the elevator, Annabel smirked slightly at me. “Mum’s giving him the lecture about how young you are.”
I blanched. “You didn’t tell her I was seventeen, did you? We were going to say I was nineteen.”
“No, Ollie messaged me earlier to make sure I didn’t say anything, but still. Nineteen is too young, apparently.”
“Oh God,” I grimaced. “Imagine if she knew the truth. I’d probably be banished from the building.”
Annabel laughed as the doors opened. “I still can’t believe he actually brought you to a wedding.” She shook her head in amusement.
I flushed slightly. “Only because he said there was no one else he could have asked, since he broke up with Jemma. I’m sure he wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Annabel snorted. “Ollie has plenty of female friends. I’m fairly sure he could have asked someone else if he really needed to.”
This only made my cheeks redder. “Oh, well, I guess I don’t really have an answer for that. We’d kind of agreed to stay away from each other.”
“Looks like Ollie didn’t take that agreement too well,” Annabel quipped, pulling out the key card Ollie had given her to double check the room number. “Oh, cool, you’re next door to me. If I hear moaning I’m going to be annoyed.”
“I’m sure it’ll be soundproofed,” I teased back, grinning at her groan.
I gaped at the room when we entered. Though it wasn’t massive, it was extremely plush and I immediately kicked off my shoes to lay down on the double bed, which was stacked with pillows and blankets. “Wow,” I drawled, wriggling around to make the most of just how spongy this mattress was. “This place is awesome. I don’t even care if your parents hate me. I’ll just live in this bed.”
“My parents don’t hate you,” Ollie assured me from where he’d suddenly appeared in the doorway. “They just don’t approve of us as a couple. I did make it clear that we’re just friends, though.”
“Right,” Annabel remarked. “Of course. I’ll leave you two to it, anyway. I’m going to go and find Charlotte. She’s so cute! I have to spend as much time as I can with her.”
After she’d gone, Ollie gave me an amused look. “You look comfy.”
“I am very comfy,” I agreed. “Annabel seems to be under the impression that there were plenty of people you could have asked to come to this wedding with you.”
Ollie flushed. “I guess. There weren’t any people I particularly wanted to spend a whole weekend with and share their bed, though.”
I grinned. “Good answer.”
“You want to go to the beach now? I’d change into a warmer sweater, though.”
It was a chore to bring myself out of the comfy depths of the blankets, but I managed to get to my suitcase and pull out a warmer hoody. “Okay, cool,” I agreed, after having changed. Luckily I had a vest on, otherwise I got the feeling we might have just put the bed to the test instead of venturing outside.
I pulled the hood up when we got down onto the beach. It was always windy near the sea, but I was so happy to be here that I really didn’t care. “This is awesome,” I decided as I pulled my shoes and socks off and attempted futilely to roll up my skinny jeans. The sand filtered between my toes and I stared out at the vast beach from the rock I was sat on. Though clouds filled the sky, the beach was still beautiful. I was incredibly partial to
landscapes like this and knew if we didn’t have plans I could have easily just sat and stared at the sea crashing against the cliffs for ages.
Ollie laughed and watched me somewhat affectionately. “I hoped you’d like it.”
“Come on!” I urged him to follow me now he’d removed his own shoes. “Let’s go and paddle.”
The waves in Cornwall had always been powerful, and even though we were just paddling in the very shallow end I enjoyed just watching them roll in. The urge was to grab Ollie’s hand as we strolled along, but I resisted. I knew my jeans were getting soaked, but I really didn’t care. My feet had even got used to the freezing water fairly quickly.
“Did you tell Annabel that we slept together?” He asked as our feet turned numb. “She seems awfully unsurprised by the fact you’re here.”
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