Realisation filtered through as his fingers twitched on my thighs. “You don’t think that I trust you with mine,” I finished for him.
He glanced up at me and then looked away quickly. Clearly he didn’t trust himself. “It’s not that,” he muttered meekly, “It’s just that I don’t trust myself not to hurt you.”
I couldn’t be mad at him. Even if I’d wanted to be, I couldn’t. With a little smile I pressed a lingering kiss to his forehead. “In that case for future reference, I love and trust you with my heart, body and soul. Never forget that, okay?”
Casper hummed but was clearly still not convinced. Tilting my head, I studied the way his long black lashes danced over his cheeks, contrasting with the pink plumpness of his lips. They looked so kissable. Hooking my finger under his jaw, I smirked when he finally met my gaze. “Come on, let’s go and have a shower, eh? I’m sure that you won’t object to that.”
Thankfully he smiled as he accepted my hand and let himself be dragged from the bed, across the hall and into the bathroom.
I don’t think either of us could have anticipated just how arousing a shower together could be. Using the shower gels, I took my time to rinse Casper down, pressing open-mouthed kisses down his back, butt and thighs until I was crouched down on my knees in front of him. I watched as he rinsed his hair, the water running down long legs.
He surprised me as he reached down between us and wrapped his fingers around both our swollen cocks. My body trembled at the sensation as he panted against my throat. I tried to focus on something –anything –as Casper slowly started up pump his fist. I dropped my mouth to his throat and grazed my teeth against his skin. He continued to stroke us together, his tight fist goading my closer to the edge. He gasped out as I dug my nails into his shoulder and clamped my jaw down on his collar as I tipped over the edge. A moment later, Casper followed with a guttural groan.
“I love it when you take control,” I rasped in his ear over the sound of the rushing water. His fingertips ghosted over my jaw. Leaning closer, I winced as the tiles pressed against my skin, and touched our foreheads together.
His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed, “W-We should probably get out before we run up your uncles water bill.”
Grinning, I turned the water off. A cool breeze from the open window rushed against my legs as I stepped out of the cubicle and grabbed a towel off the rack. Casper followed suit using a towel to ruffle over his black hair. He tied a towel around his waist and waited until I’d finished sorting my own out before we retired to the bedroom.
After I’d dressed and dried my hair, Casper dug around in his backpack for something he was eager to show me. I sat cross-legged on my bed idly flipping through a book without really seeing the words since my gaze kept drifting back over to my sexy boyfriend. He looked pretty hot crouched down over his bag, barefoot, dressed only in jeans and a t-shirt with a sliver of pale skin poking out. I jerked my head away. I couldn’t be this hard-up whenever I saw his skin.
“What’re you looking for?” I asked.
“It’s something my dad encouraged me to do. Remember when he told me to submit our animation to any competition I could?”
Screwing up my face in thought I murmured, “Vaguely.”
“Well, I submitted it to various competitions and guess what?” he glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was paying attention. I raised my eyebrow questioningly. “I got a couple of interesting responses.”
“Oh?”
His features turned blank as he looked at me, “Could at least fake some interest?”
“I’m interested, I’m interested!” I protested, snapping my book shut. “So what did the responses say?”
“Well the ones that were worth reading were impressed by what we’d achieved in the space of a couple of months, considering it was all done from scratch. There was even one guy who decided it would be good enough to show at an amateur film festival he was organizing so I gave my consent.”
“Okay,” I hedged, “So when’s the festival?”
“Three weeks ago,” he stated as he finally whipped out a piece of paper and flourished it at me. “THIS is the response I got from the director after the festival had finished.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, “Well come on then, spit it out!”
“Well in a nutshell, Disney have decided to option the animation as a short movie and add it as bonus on their next release!”
“Wait,” I frowned and tried to make sense of his words, “Disney is optioning our animation as a short film? How –How did this even happen?”
“The festival director used to work for Disney and still has a lot of contacts there and he’s optioned it.”
My jaw dropped open. Casper watched me, trying to suppress a smirk as I snatched the email. It was true. “So … er … What does that mean? You know, for you?”
“Well since both our names are on the project, it means that you and I are going to be getting a lovely pay-out from Disney!”
“Are you serious?”
His eyes gleamed as bright as silver. “Looks like it won’t be too hard to fund all the travelling after all.”
His words caught me off-guard. “You … Want me to go with you?” I whispered. I’d been worried that he’d go off travelling and leave me to grind on day-to-day and waiting for a postcard or a letter just to break up the trivialness. Yet, here he was practically declaring that we were to travel together.
“Of course you’re coming with me. Who else am I going to harass at three in the morning?”
I chuckled at that as I reread the email yet again to make sure that it was all real. That it was all really happening. The feeling of Casper’s fingers entwining with mine made my heart skip a beat. Yes, this was definitely real. I couldn’t wait for the next stage of our lives to begin.
*
After that, the week with Casper flew by in a matter of moments filled with sunshine, long, lazy showers, and greasy bags of fish and chips down by the pier. We ate late dinners with Uncle Brian, laughed at his insane childhood stories, and did our best to avoid talking about school, graduation or the upcoming results. Brian brought up Isabel a couple of times but once he saw just how tense I became around the subject, he deftly changed topics.
The day that Casper left was a gloomy one; the rain lashed down against the windows and I was desperate for the two of us to stay wrapped up in my duvet. I tried to persuade Casper to stay another night but he couldn’t as his parents were expecting him. I managed to tickle him into surrendering to spending another hour in bed, which was a small victory, but when he stated he really needed to get going I relented. Instead, I listlessly helped him pack the few belongings he’d brought and then walked him to the front door.
“You’ll call me as soon as you get back, won’t you?” I asked, the anxiety of him driving home in the rain washing over me.
He peered up at me from beneath his hood, his normally blank expression changing into the small affectionate smile. He reached up and flicked my chin and smirked, “Of course I will. Can’t have you worrying about me, can I?”
I shook my head. He tiptoed up and pressed a warm kiss to my mouth. Shuddering, I pulled him closer as the cool wind spattered raindrops onto my arms.
“Go on,” he finally murmured as he pecked another kiss to my cheek. “Get back inside before you get ill.”
He hurried around the front of the car and slipped into the driver’s seat. I watched from the safety of the doorway as he pulled out of the drive, honked the horn loudly with a wave before turning onto the main road. I stayed in the doorway, huddled over with the cold, until I was sure that I could no longer hear his car before turning to scurry back into the warmth.
For a couple of hours I watched mindless sitcoms on the comedy channel, but couldn’t get it out of my head how alone I suddenly felt. My stomach twisted a little as I got a message appear on my phone.
‘Home safe and sound. Don’t start missing me too much. I’ll be back to a
nnoy you before you know it. Don’t forget your pill. C x’
My mouth smiled but my chest still felt hollow. I took my pill, shut off the lights and went to bed feeling heavy-headed, the phone clutching in my sweaty palm. At least Casper had gotten home safely, that was the main thing.
The following morning I was startled awake by ringtone blaring from under my pillow. My brain felt like a scrambled mess as I dug it out and pressed the ‘ANSWER’ button. “Hello?” I croaked.
“Good morning sleepy-head,” Casper’s crisp voice cleared the cobwebs from my mind.
“Eurgh what time is it?”
“Early enough,” he intoned, “Guess what I’m looking at right now.”
“Um … naked photos of me when I was a child?”
“Nope. Guess again.”
“Naked photos of me from Easter?”
He snickered at that, “Hilarious, but no. Guess again.”
“I’m really done guessing,” I chuckled weakly.
“I am looking at your results online.”
“What?” I asked my heart swelling in my throat. “H-How do you know? You can’t know, you need my password for –” I cut myself off as a cold weight settled in my gut. I drew in a deep breath, trying to keep my voice from quaking. “You got my password, didn’t you?”
“Mhm,” he hummed. The distant sound of his fingers flying over the laptop keys clattered over the phone before he paused. “Hey … You’re not mad at me are you?” he asked hesitantly.
I clenched my jaw. He was worried, I realised. He knew he’d crossed a line. Was I mad? Deep down, I didn’t think so, not really. Swallowing thickly, I adjusted my grip on the phone. “What are they then?”
He paused again and the silence only amplified the fear inside me. “Well let’s put it this way; would you like to come with me to our graduation slash prom?”
My brain went blank. I felt like I was being spoken to in Chinese. Only graduates with a 2:1 grade got to go prom after graduation. It was sort of juvenile, but I did like having an excuse to dress up. Anyone with a 2:2 grade or lower got a personalised letter from their tutor.
“I … I passed?” I choked out.
I could practically hear his smirk through the phone. “Yes, Fletcher, you passed with a 2:1!”
My jaw went slack. There was a ringing in my ears. I’d passed. I had actually managed to pass the last year of University. With all the drama and aggravation that had been happening recently, I was surprised I hadn’t been offered a sympathetic degree just to get me to fuck off.
“Fletcher?” Casper’s voice echoed dully in my ear.
“Er …Yeah sorry, I’m just …”
“You’re in shock, aren’t you?”
“Hmmm,” was all I could manage. “Yeah I was just sure I’d failed.”
“I told you, you need to have some more faith in yourself.”
“That’s been a little difficult to do recently, if you haven’t forgotten.”
“Wow you’re really not a morning person, are you?”
“Bite me.”
“Oh I plan to,” he growled.
I smiled softly. I lay there for a while as the sun peaked through a couple of clouds and made the room around me grow lighter. I didn’t realise how long we’d been on the phone without speaking until Casper cleared his throat with a stiff chuckle. “You know, this must be incredibly embarrassing for you but … you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Huh? What question?”
He heaved an exasperated sigh. “Do you want to be my date for the prom, or not?”
“Not if you’re going to use that tone, no.”
He slung off a string of curse words before he huffed and asked, “Avery Fletcher, will you do me the honour of being my date for the prom?”
“Eh … I guess.”
“Fletcher,” he growled warningly.
Laughing, I stretched over onto the cool side of the mattress, “Of course I’d love to be your date.”
“Good,” he snapped before softening his tone, “Do you even have a suit?”
“I think my one from college still fits.”
“You haven’t grown since college?” he asked in a stunned voice.
“Not really, I don’t think. Besides that suit was too long on me, so it should fit perfectly now.”
“Well make sure you try it on, okay?” he stated before letting out a long mournful groan, “I guess this means I’ll be going clothes shopping with my mum this weekend.”
“You don’t sound too thrilled about that,” I chuckled.
“It’s just … She’ll want input and I sort of like to buy my own clothes.”
“Why are you being such a girl?” I quipped, “You’ll look sexy no matter what you wear.”
“I’m not going to be wearing a tracksuit. It’ll be very sophisticated. I’ll make Gatsby look like a pig in a sack!”
“You’re awfully confident of yourself.”
“Please! With his arse, I can pull anything off, just you wait and see!”
“Oh, I can’t wait,” I breathed huskily, “I may need to buy a new suit though. No doubt mum burned my one so … that’d be fun.”
“Wish I could be there for that!” he chuckled, “I bet you hate clothes shopping almost as much as a straight bloke.”
“Probably more, actually,” I groaned as I sat up. “I should probably go and tell Brian about my results.”
“Go, enjoy, and stop being miserable.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Well if I stay miserable enough, maybe you’ll come down here and see me quicker.”
I could practically feel him rolling his eyes on the other end of the phone, “Alright, soppy, go and get yourself sorted out. I’ll talk to you tonight, okay?”
“Sure thing, I’ll speak to you later. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I ended the call. I pulled on a pair of loose bottoms before shuffling down to the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, Brian was already there doing the crossword puzzles in the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. He looked up when I entered the room and smiled. “Morning, sunshine, so what kept you in bed this late?”
“Casper called.”
He held up his hand, “Say no more. I don’t need to know what you two talk about.”
“Behave!” I grinned as I went over to pour myself a mug of coffee before leaning back against the counter. “I got my results this morning.”
“Oh yeah?” he raised his eyebrows/ “Well you’re not crying, so I guess it’s not a disaster. What did you get?”
“I managed to pass … with a 2:1!”
“Congratulations!” he stood up from his chair and crushed me against his chest in a bear hug. “See, look at you worrying over nothing.”
“It was hardly nothing,” I mumbled as I tried to comb my hair back down. “Anyways, Casper asked me to be his date for prom, and I honestly have no idea where my college graduation suit is. No doubt mum donated to the church fund raiser or something.”
“Ah stuff her,” he waved his hand away. “We’ll go out and get you a nice new suit.”
“I am not wearing something glittery or rainbow-coloured!” He rolled his eyes and rubbed a hand over his stubbly cheeks. “Alright well we can go out and make sure we get you a decent one. We can’t have you showing Casper up now, can we?” he gave me a wink. “Did you have a colour in mind?”
“I don’t really know. Black is so … common.”
“True,” he inclined his head, “But then when it’s done right, it makes a person look sleek, clean-cut and surprisingly like James Bond.”
I rolled my eyes as he chuckled. “I know you have a Bond-fetish but I don’t need to hear about THAT.” I hopped up onto the breakfast counter and swiped an apple from the fruit basket, “Do you think it’s going to be okay?”
“What do you mean, Aves?”
“I guess I’m just worried. I’ve only been out of hospital for like a month or
so, and I keep expecting to wake up and find that this is all … gone.” I cast a look around the room and shuddered; it couldn’t happen, there was no way I could live without Brian and his beautiful kitchen, the wooden floorboards and the large windows over-looking the bay.
He sighed softly before reaching out and clapping a hand on my shoulder, “I promise you, Avery, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Peering up through my fringe, I gave a weak smile. “I know you’re right. Maybe I’ll feel better after graduation. Then I can put that whole place and everything in it behind me.”
He gave me a half-smile before straightening up, “Alright. You have exactly twenty minutes to finish molesting that apple, wash, dress and get in the car.”
“Why?”
“You said you needed a new suit. No time like the present.”
He clapped me on the back before turning to head back up the stairs, whistling loudly as he went. Sliding off the counter I crunched more of the apple and idly made my way up the stairs. Life was definitely getting better.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sitting on the end of my bed I couldn’t help but let my gaze be drawn back to the grey cover that was hiding my sleek new suit from view. The suit itself was an ordinary black colour, but somehow it oozed nothing but elegance. The cut was sharp and clung to my muscles. The crisp white shirt was stiff-collared and so bright my eyes almost hurt to look directly at it. I’d even managed to find a gorgeous black and red brocade waistcoat to go underneath. I had posed in some selfie’s and sent them to Casper but he was being uptight and wanted his suit to be a surprise. Katie was excited to see the suit I’d chosen and she did confirm that my mum had in fact donated my graduation suit to the Church fund raiser. I rolled my eyes when she told me.
The calendar in the kitchen showed the official countdown to the graduation ceremony. Brian was going to drive me up, picking up Katie on the way and we would meet Casper there. Between them all, Brian and Casper were keeping me on track, helping to remind me about my pills and keeping me occupied during the long, tedious afternoons. Not that I needed much distraction; I spent a lot of time sketching. I even walked around the Lanes and along the beaches, armed with my little vintage Polaroid camera. However, even the beautiful shorelines grew tiresome after a couple of days. Apparently it was true, what people said; you could have too much of a good thing. It just made me anticipate travelling with Casper even more.
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