Of Literature & Kisses (Forbidden Romance)

Chapter 29 - Mystery

It had snowed that Friday morning, giving the neighborhood a calming blanket of white, heightened all the more by the soft gray hues of the sky. At the ring of the dismissal bell I slowly began packing my things, feeling him as he started to walk toward me, and looked up to find his eyes.

"Why don't you let me drive you home today? I want to show you something."

"Okay. I'll let Phoenix know not to wait up for me." He waited, rooted in his spot as I did so. "All set. Is it some new AP strategies you wanted to show me? It just hit me how much closer we are to the exams."

A grin, loaded with amusement, unfairly took over the features of his already perfect face. "It has nothing to do with the classroom. I'd like to take you somewhere, show you something."

"Oh," I smiled. "That's good too."

He answered me with a laugh, then took my coat from the hanger beside the door and handed it to me. "You'll be needing this."

He kept the music low, a soft rock playlist spanning from the eighties until now. He drove us to a local cafe which housed the best sandwiches and fresh Colombian roasts in Massachusetts. Once he parked the car I unbuckled my seatbelt, my hand reaching toward the handle. He stopped me with a hand on my knee, which he quickly removed.

"Don't. I'll get down and order. This place gets very crowded at this hour."

I nodded, instantly understanding his implication. In his absence I tried to focus on the song that was currently playing, but my thoughts made it difficult to, since they were begging me to cast my focus on them. I didn't want to, not right now and not in this car. I wanted only to enjoy the moments I had with him. My favorite moments, the ones outside the classroom where I could allow myself the luxury of forgetting the frustratingly forbidden nature of my feelings for this man, if only for a few uninhibited minutes. 

But they were forbidden. We couldn't risk walking into a coffee shop together if it meant the possibility of finding other school staff or students there, even if absolutely nothing was going on between us. Just a suspicion as to the nature of our relationship was a danger to his job, to my reputation, and I still had the guts to love him.

The door opened on the driver's side, scaring me into a slight jump. I let out a shaky chuckle, taking two shots of espresso from him to ease his load, and placing them in the cupholders between us. He sat down and placed a cardboard box of food in the back seat, then turned to me.

"You okay? I'm sure your heart is racing at a thousand beats per minute just now," he commented with a slight smirk over his lips.

I rolled my eyes and smiled in spite of myself. "Very funny."

"You know, when people are perfectly safe, and yet they still have reason to be scared half out of their minds by a harmless sound, they're battling a guilty conscience. I'm trying really hard to wrap my mind around the idea of you being guilty over something." He said this as he drove out of the lot and into the street, looking out into the road before us. I drank my shot of espresso in a single pull.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble," I began quietly, "but I'm human. I feel, I want, I mess up. I'm as guilty as the next person."

"You're right. And I'd give more than a penny right now to know your thoughts," he looked at me for a second, his face expectant. I only smiled, to which he gave a double-take with narrowed eyes.

"Stop looking at me! You're going to get us killed."

He laughed so hard his body shook. It was infectious, and I was grinning as I watched him cluelessly. I had no idea what he found so amusing, but it didn't even matter.