Chris and I were lying in his bed in the dark, saying nothing. Silence never felt uncomfortable with Chris, and we seemed to be content to just be with each other, lying there.
“I can’t believe you go back to Sheffield tomorrow,” he said, finally breaking the silence.
I sighed into the darkness. “I know. This has all seemed so sudden. And yet at the same time– like we’ve known each other for years.”
“It’s been surreal.” We were quiet again until, “I wish you didn’t have to go.”
“Believe me, I wish I could stay.” I kissed him softly. We hadn’t said it explicitly, but we’d fallen in love in the past five days. At least, I’d fallen in love with him. It was crazy and way too fast and any number of other stupid things, but it was the truth. I was head over heels in love with him and if he felt half as strongly about me, I was okay with it. But he lived in New York and I lived in Sheffield and – and so many other things.
He held my face in his hand and after we broke apart, ran his thumb lightly over my lips. “It will never feel the same– kissing another girl I mean.”
“I don’t even like the thought of you kissing another girl,” I admitted.
“Believe me, I can’t stand the thought of you with any other guy.” Suddenly he kissed me ferociously. “It doesn’t make sense. We’ve been together less than a week. All of this is so wrong.”
“It’s not. How could it feel so right?”
He laughed slightly. “If Nick knew about this– god, we would have a crisis.”
“Especially since he thinks I drove him to cheat on me by refusing to sleep with him.”
“What?” Chris pulled away from me a tiny bit, frowning. A tiny bit too much for my taste. “No one ever told me that part.”
“Well, it’s not exactly flattering to him. Let’s not talk about Nick. He has nothing to do with us.”
Chris stroked my hair just behind my ear. “Will you ever come back to New York to visit?”
“Surely.”
“When you do, call me up.”
I smiled. “I will. I wish that could be next weekend already.”
“Well, I’m coming to Sheffield over Christmas.”
“We can’t do anything in front of Nick.” It was the first time either of us had even uttered Nick’s name all weekend. But we had just said it three times in a row, and it felt fine. I didn’t feel bad about it, it just felt unfortunate. It certainly didn’t make any difference to how I felt about Chris.
“I wasn’t planning on doing anything in front of him. But I take your point. We’ll just have to be careful.”
I swallowed a bit nervously. “And in the meantime? I still can’t bear the thought of you with anyone else.”
“I won’t be with anyone else in the meantime. How could I? No one could compare with you. But then you have to promise me not to be with anyone else either.”
I smiled. It was a strange, almost simplistic way of agreeing to be exclusively dating. “Of course.”
We kissed again and slowly dropped off to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Unexpected Love
Teen FictionSenior year in a new school and new country. The local teenage god calls first dibs on Gemma, but ends up frustrated, actually caring about her. Is it enough? You always find love in the places you least expect it and you aren't always loved back.
