Holly sat in class, watching as Kieren attempted to teach a class of dip-shits how to solve for the immaculate "x". She wasn't paying attention but she was listening to his amazing, sexy voice. She watched him as he made eye contact with her and smiled like a baby with a new toy. Everyone could clearly tell that something was going on if they had paid attention to him at all. If only they knew what they had been up to for the last two months. Imagine the gossip if the entire school knew that a student was fucking and in a relationship with a teacher.
Before they started going out, girls in his classes were constantly flirting with him. Nothing had changed, but now Holly was starting to notice how jealous it was making her, how possessive she had become. It turned Mr. Joyce on though, so it was fine... right? But that meant she was having feelings for him didn't it? Surely she wasn't falling in love? No. She couldn't.
But she was.
She loved him.
If she wasn't in love with him she was definitely falling.
It was the way he burst out into Spanish whenever he had something beautiful to say that he didn't want to say in English. It was the way he looked at her, with awe as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The way he liked to impress her whenever they had had a fight, or even without a reason. It was the way he wrote her short stories explaining how important she was to him, but without actually saying it.
It was the way he ... it was everything.
She loved him.
She felt her heart ache when he wasn't with her, felt her belly fly when he sent her a text in the morning, just to say hi. She felt her dragons roar when he simply held her hand when they were shopping (not in town, but in the city, where nobody knew them).
She loved just being with him.
She knew she wouldn't be able to live without him again. She would do anything for him, just like he would for her.
"I love him," she whispered under her breath, but it was too loud. Her best friend snapped her head around to look at her.
"Who?" she whispered almost angrily and Holly felt herself go light pink.
"The guy I'm dating," she blurted, knowing it was too lato go back.
Shannon stared at her, her jaw on the floor.
"YOU'RE DATING SOMEONE?! This is like that time you didn't tell me you went to Spain! Who, how long, how far have ye gone?" Shannon said loud enough that Mr. Joyce turned to look at her, but not loud enough for him to hear the words she had said.
"Jeez, Shannon shut up!" Holly slapped Shannon on the back of the head, causing her to tone it down a lot.
"No seriously tell me!" Shannon whispered.
Holly sighed, knowing Shannon wouldn't shut up.
"Wait until lunch time and I'll tell you!" she tried to say, as calm as possible.
Shannon sighed, now she'd have to wait another 20 minutes. Maths minutes last forty times as long as actual minutes. God Damnit!!!!
***
"Okay so I'm not going to tell you who I'm going out with but I will tell you everything else, okay?" Holly said as they were safely out in the non-official smoking area on the hockey pitch.
"It's Sean, isn't it?" Shannon said, alluding to her friend from Kilkenny.
"No," holly said blankly.
"Okay, just tell me," Shannon said, quivering with anticipation.
"So we have been going out for two months..." Holly said pausing because she knew Shannon would not be pleased about not being told and would need to react.
"TWO MONTHS!!! Christ Holly!" she reacted.
"Shut up, do you want to know or not?" Holly said, trying to sidetrack the fact that she hadn't been able to talk to her best friend about one of the longest relationships she's ever been in.
"Yes... I'm sorry," Shannon said, taking the blame, making Holly feel worse.
"We have had sex and I'm falling in love with him..." Holly offered, as if it was a very casual thing to be in love with someone.
Shannon had nothing to say now. She knew what love felt like, because she was in it too. There was no coming back from it, and Shannon knew that.
"So when can I meet him? Do I know him?" Shannon asked, curiosity almost sidesadeling her.
Holly laughed, did she know him! HA! If only she knew.
"Yes you know him, but I don't know when or if you can meet him..." Holly said, nervously laughing.
"Why?" Shannon asked, confused.
Holly sighed; she was going to have to tell her.