“Hey you know what? You should spend the night at my place,” Brian stated as he leaned on the roof of his car. “Do you even have the room?” Martin asked.
“Yes we do!” Brian grinned, “I think. Either way, you two can have my bed for the night. I’ll rest up on the sofa.”
“Oh we couldn’t do that!” Tabitha protested.
Brian waved off her concern, “Sure you could. I’ll probably fall asleep watching a movie anyway so I might as well sleep on the sofa. It’s custom-made large anyway, so there’s plenty of room on it.”
“It’s true,” I interjected just as Tabitha was about to protest again. “Katie and I used to sleepover there a lot whilst the other bedrooms were getting redone.”
“What about Casper’s suit?” Tabitha squealed, her hands flying to her face. Apparently she was a fairly dramatic drunk.
“Mum, it’s fine,” Casper stated.
“Oh no it’s not! You need clean clothes. And we need clean clothes! Martin what’ll we do?”
“Tabby calm down!” Martin raised his voice just a fraction, but it did the job. “We planned ahead for this.”
“We did?” she frowned heavily.
“Yes mum,” Casper smirked, “I planned ahead in case dinner ran too late. My suit and fresh underwear, shirt and toothbrushes were packed in the boot before we came.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she grumbled.
“Tabby,” Martin said soothingly as he placed a hand on her shoulder, “It was your idea.”
She frowned in thought for a while before her face split into a grin, “Oh right I remember now!”
Martin simply shook his head and opened the door for his wife to slip into the backseat before climbing in himself. Casper turned on his heel and looked at me, “Guess we’ll see you in about twenty.”
“Yeah,” I breathed as he cocked an eyebrow and tipped his head to the side. He seemed to have found what he was looking for, because his mouth twitched into a smirk before he swiveled around and walked to the driver’s door. Once in Brian’s car, I flashed my lights to Casper and then pulled out of the car park before turning out onto the road and leading the way back.
By the time I was settling down in my room in my pyjamas and climbing into bed, I was exhausted from the whole evening. Just as I was opening my book to where I’d left off, a soft knock came from the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s me!” came Katie’s voice.
“Come in!” The door opened and Katie tiptoed inside quickly followed by Casper. “Oh, I didn’t realise you had company.”
He cocked a dark eyebrow at me, “I can leave.”
Rolling my eyes, I tugged back the covers of the bed. “Funny. Now hurry up and get in.”
Katie didn’t hesitate as she crawled up over my lap. “Oh, sexy pyjamas,” she remarked as she saw my ugly red and white striped shorts and matching t-shirt.
Casper chuckled low in his throat as he slipped into bed beside me, his long bottoms covering his legs as he brushed his knee against mine. I squirmed, trying not to let the affectionate touch stir anything, especially as Katie was still sprawled on top of me.
“Very cute,” he stated.
I rolled my eyes and set my book on the table. Katie gave me a big grin before rolling in between the both of us, wriggling about to get herself comfy. “So what’re you two doing in here?” I asked.
“Well I couldn’t sleep and I have a sneaky suspicion that Casper wanted to beat me here,” she stated in a stage whisper.
“Oh did he now?” I asked cocking an eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes but the small smile on his lips made me feel cosy all over. “So what do you guys want to do? Watch a movie? Katie brought a couple from home.”
“Sounds good, depending on what it is,” Casper said.
“I brought the ‘Nightmare before Christmas’ if that suits you, goth-boy?” she remarked with a grin.
Casper frowned down at her as she played around with flexing her fingers, “The … what?”
Katie glanced up at me with wide eyes before springing onto her knees and staring at Casper, “Are you seriously telling us that you haven’t watched one of Tim Burton’s most amazing films ever?”
“Apparently so.”
“Blasphemy!” she hissed before leaping off the bed. She was out the door like a shot, her footsteps hurrying up to her bedroom.
“You’ve done it now,” I chuckled. He was suddenly next to me, his palms hot and firm on my thighs as he grazed his teeth down my neck. I groaned, arching into the sharpness of his teeth. I was already starting to melt, “Ah –Are you sure we have time for this?”
He hummed against my throat as he continued to nip and suck on my skin. Pulling away he reached under his pillow and flashed a DVD case. It took me a few moments to realise it was the one Katie was looking for. “She’ll be looking for a while,” he smirked.
“You’re pure evil.” I grabbed the back of his neck and forced my mouth against his in a bruising kiss. He shifted against me into a better position, cupping my cheeks in his hands.
“Avery!” came a soft call from the hallway. I sat upright as Katie’s footsteps drew closer before she came into the room a pout on her face. “I couldn’t find the DVD.” Casper made no move to slide away from his compromising position, sprawled on my lap. He fixed Katie with a firm stare. “Oh …” she flushed a little, “Was I interrupting something?”
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Casper growled at the same time.
She blushed and dropped her gaze to the floor. I couldn’t hide my grin any more than she could hide her blush. “Guess what Casper found,” I teased as I lifted the DVD in question. She grinned and hopped over to snatch it from my hands.
“Alright Casper,” she said over her shoulder, “This is going to be the experience of a lifetime!”
She set up the DVD player on the TV in my room before settling back down between us, remote in hand. She settled between us and, despite the fact that she was basically ambushing our limited alone time together, I couldn’t deny how sweet the image of Katie resting her head on Casper’s arm was. He was still a little tense around her sometimes, but her genial personality made it easy to love her.
When the movie was over, Katie had fallen asleep burrowed deep between the pillows we were lying on. Casper had thoroughly enjoyed the movie to such an extent it was now his life’s ambition to be Tim Burton’s second in command.
Together, we tried to get Katie back up to her room. Casper quickly moved to ease her head from almost bumping against a doorframe as I edged into her room and crossed over to gently lay her down on her bed. “Thanks,” I murmured softly as I draped her blankets over her legs despite the warmth of the summer evening.
“No problem,” he whispered. He turned off the bedside light she’d left on when she’d come downstairs. We edged out of the room onto the small landing.
I pulled the door too and then turned to Casper, “You tired yet?”
He shook his head, “Not really. Coffee?”
“It’s two in the morning.”
“Fine. Tea?”
Rolling my eyes I whispered, “Fine we’ll have a nice hot cup of tea.”
“I don’t need the narration, Fletcher, I just need the caffeine.”
Smiling softly, I followed him downstairs.
Our feet seemed to stick to the laminate flooring as he made himself comfortable putting the kettle on the hob, whilst I settled down at the island counter. We didn’t really speak as the tea brewed. When he brought the tea over to the counter and settled down across from me, a weight lifted off my shoulders as I sipped. “I need to tell you something,” I murmured as I crossed my arms and hunched over the counter.
He fixed me with his firm stare and lowered the mug to the counter, “Oh, I really hope you’re not breaking up with me. That could get a little awkward.”
I huffed a small laugh at the sarcasm. “No, it’s not that,” I ran a hand through my hair, “I … I’
m worried about getting bad again. That I’m going to hurt you, or Katie or … anyone else.”
“What makes you so sure? Anyone can just have an off-day, you said so yourself.”
“I’m not so sure it was an off-day anymore,” I rubbed at my eyes and dropped my head into my hands.
“Hey,” he reached over and poked at my chin, “You can tell me what’s wrong, you know. I’m hardly one to judge. On top of that, I don’t think I could judge you.”
I scoffed. My eyes darted to the spidery scar peaking out beneath his fringe. I felt sick. “Are you saying you haven’t judged me at all, in the last few months?”
“I’ve judged some of your choices, yes, but I haven’t judged you,” he reached out and tentatively touched my shoulder. He lowered his voice and leaned his forehead against mine. “Now be a good boy and drink your tea.”
“Yes mother.”
He watched me carefully over his brim. He drained his mug and then stood up, took it to the sink and then walked around the counter. His hands slipped under my arms and around my chest, fastening me against his body. He squeezed lightly and rested his cheek against mine, “You’ll be okay tomorrow. You don’t even need to make a speech you just go up, shake the guys’ hand, and walk off the stage. You’ll be okay. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Well I have no choice; I’m in the ‘S’ section, remember?”
I gave a small smile as I leaned my head back against his shoulder, “Stay with me tonight.”
He burrowed his chin against my shoulder and hummed softly, “Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere. Want to watch another movie?”
“It’s a little late isn’t it? We need to be up there for twelve.”
“When has lack of sleep ever bothered either of us?” he retorted with a nip at my ear.
“Fine, but that means you have to let me hug you.”
“Oh do I now?”
“Mhm.”
Hopping off the stools, we made our way back up to my room. He crouched down and put on a random movie as I slid into the cool sheets. A tingling starting up at the back of my head but I shook it away. If I didn’t focus on it then it wouldn’t –couldn’t –be a problem. I had a big day to look forward to tomorrow, and I needed to rest and calm my mind down.
The sheets tugged me back into reality as Casper’s weight settled underneath beside me. He was warm and solid and my heart fluttered. As the title credits of the movie bathed the dark room with its eerie glow, I splayed my fingers over the mattress, desperately seeking Casper’s in the folds. He flinched a little when I brushed his skin but he didn’t pull away. Instead he slowly curled his long fingers through mine and gave a reassuring squeeze. He was right; he would be there for me if I slipped back into my old ways and that was all I needed to know. Casper was my incentive to keep myself good.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
There really was no reason to worry about my graduation. Despite Tabitha’s slight headache everything went off rather smoothly. I didn’t see Casper after breakfast. He’d snuck out into the car in his new suit and refused to let me go out and see him when I text him to ask if he was okay. He told me it was bad luck to see the date before the prom. I argued that that particular superstition was only for weddings. He, very eloquently, told me to bite him. There was nothing else to do but see his parents out and wave them away as they pulled out ahead of us.
The ceremony itself went well. I felt silly with my sweating palms and buzzing in my ears, especially as I knew just what the outcome would be. The relief I felt when I shook the hands of the headmaster and rest of the council was overwhelming. I felt my eyes burn as I trudged down the stairs and joined the rest of our families for a congratulatory hug and a brief kiss from Casper. After the photos were taken for the schools websites and a few with my own little Polaroid camera, we hung around, ate some food, and then said ‘goodbye’. Martin and Tabitha were driving Casper to the hotel nearby where we were having our prom and Brian and Katie were taking me. I was more than glad to take the stupid hat off my head.
As Brian drove us, Katie showed me the photos she’d taken with my camera. They looked lovely and a little vintage. I couldn’t wait to frame them.
“So are you looking forward to tonight?” Brian asked as he wound the car through the narrow streets.
“Yes, I can’t wait to embarrass myself with my poor dancing skills,” I deadpanned.
“Oh you don’t have to dance.”
“Well then what’s the point of going to a dance if I don’t plan on dancing?”
“You’re going to dance, even if it is just bobbing from point A to point B.”
“Oh great, I’m going to look like a bloody pigeon,” I groused as Katie laughed beside me.
“At least you’ll be a cute pigeon!” she gasped.
Through my laughing fit I managed to swat her around the head. It would definitely be a fun-filled night. The hotel alone looked lovely, and although I had no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the DJ would be one step up from an iPod shuffle, I knew that I just had to have one dance with Casper, pigeon-moves be damned.
Brian pulled the car into the car park of a low-key restaurant. We went in and ordered our food. As we waited for the food to arrive Brian gave me a firm look over the table. Our drinks were placed before us –two cokes for me and Katie and a bottle of beer for Brian –before he slipped his hand into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He placed something in front of me and I grimaced as I caught sight of the pill. “You forgot it this morning,” he mused with a wry smile.
Working my jaw back and forth, I toyed with it and felt a twitch start up under my eye. “No,” I said shaking my head, “I don’t want to take it. I don’t want it to cloud this whole day over.”
“Avery, don’t start this,” Brian sighed heavily, before lowering his voice, “First you miss one day, then it’s another and then another until you’re completely weaned off of them and you hurt yourself.”
I glared at Brian full on, jaw set, palms sweating as they rested on my thighs. “It’s one day, Brian. I want tonight to be fun and enjoyable and I can’t do that if I had a head full of fog.”
“And what about if you have another episode? What if you see Isabel? The mention of her name alone is a trigger to you,” he ground out.
“Uncle Brian, stop getting angry,” Katie piped up. “If he doesn’t want to take it now then he can wait until tonight or tomorrow the latest. We can let Casper know.” She sighed heavily, “He won’t get bad again. He has no reason to.”
Casting my gaze back and forth between the two of them, I felt my breath hitch. Reaching for the pill I decided it was better to swallow the bloody thing instead of causing more friction. Brian watched me with conflicted emotions on his face as I drained my coke in three swigs. Keeping my face downcast, I cleared my throat; “Let’s just eat and talk about something else, okay?”
“Alright,” Brian agreed softly, “We can do that.”
Katie managed to steer the conversation onto the family holiday she was going on with our parents. They’d given her permission to invite one of her friends along so that the family unit would still be a foursome, instead of an awkward threesome. On the subject of holiday, Brian suddenly had the bright idea of us actually going on a proper holiday together. Maybe even invite Casper along. Somewhere hot and colourful like Spain or Italy. The idea was calming. Thankfully, the hum of talking around us helped to drown out the buzzing at the back of my mind.
By the time the evening came around I could feel my stomach twisting into tight knots. Brian had dropped me off at the hotel and after I’d hugged him goodbye, I’d turned to Katie. She looped her hands around my neck and I felt her hand slip into my pocket, but I didn’t dare ask what she was up to. She pressed a kiss to my cheek before Brian cleared his throat. “So you’ll be on the train home for Sunday afternoon, right?”
I nodded, “Yes don’t worry, I’d never miss your Sunday roasts for th
e world.”
“Not even for that boy of yours?”
Shrugging I gave a playful smirk, “Well … He’s pretty tasty too.”
“AVES!” Katie clapped her hands over her ears, her cheeks flashing pink.
Grinning at her, Brian then turned to me and clapped me on the shoulder, “Behave yourself tonight. You have your … you know. So if you do feel a bit off, just shoot me a text and take one, okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Uncle. Promise.”
“Good lad,” he gave me one final squeeze on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I’ll look after him.”
I spun around at the sound of Casper’s voice and felt my breath hitch. There were no words to describe just how handsome he looked; his shirt was crisp white and pressed with a narrow black tie cinched at his throat, his suit was a dark royal blue with silver cufflinks, black collar and shoes with a black waistcoat underneath.
“I … um …” words refused to come.
Thankfully, it seemed to amuse Casper, Brian and Katie. Casper smirked and sauntered the last few feet between us before he grabbed my wrist and tugged me over. I didn’t even notice Brian and Katie leave as I kissed him, the sweet, toxic taste of coffee clinging to his tongue. He grinned into the kiss, his hands slipping under my jacket and holding me close. Breaking the kiss, I gasped, “Oh God you’re so fucking hot right now!”
Chuckling, he cocked a sleek eyebrow and eyed me up and down. “You clean up pretty good yourself. In fact,” he licked his lips and tugged at my belt loops, “we should get inside to the hall before I take you into a room and throw away the key.” The sexy growl of his voice made me quiver against him. “That reminds me, I got something for you. Just … Don’t mock me, okay?”
I fixed him with an incredulous look before he took out a small box from his jackets inside pocket. He handed me the box, an anxious look in his light eyes. I took the box carefully in my hands before popping the lid open. Inside was a simple dark red rose. It gleamed like blood.
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