Yawning, Kael stumbled through the doors of his Business Studies class. He’d been up half the night planning, and it was now taking its toll. Though, seeing her coming towards him that morning, grinning with her cheeks flushed pink, all his plans had suddenly been worth it. She hadn’t kissed him straight away, gesturing to her wide eyed little sister as the reason, but as soon as Freya was safely out of sight, they’d spent several minutes making up for it.
She’d been too shy to give him a full on kiss when they actually reached school, instead pressing a kiss to his cheek as she headed to Classics. But that was enough for Kael. He sat down dreamily, wondering whether it was natural to feel so over the moon about being potentially going out with a girl. It felt entirely natural to him.
Xavier was already there, and looked at him with an amused expression. ’Looks like your plans of seduction worked, no?’ he said, making Kael jump.
Kael grinned.
‘You two are going out then, are you?’ he inquired, with a smile.
Kael wrinkled his nose. ’Well, we’re going to go on a few dates, see how it goes.’ Xavier raised his eyebrows. ’Nothing official,’ Kael clarified. ’But we’ll see.’
‘Well, that shouldn’t be so hard to convince her!’ Xavier said, optimistic as ever. ’When’s the first date?’
‘Crap.’ Kael had been so busy watching her that morning that he’d entirely forgotten that he’d wanted to ask her about it. ’Hopefully tonight,’ he said. ’But we’ll see.’
‘Fast mover, aren’t you?’ Xavier chuckled. ‘What are you planning to do?’
‘Something extremely romantic,’ said Kael. ‘But it’s a secret.’
‘Tell me tomorrow, then,’ Xavier said, looking rather disappointed not to be let in on the secret. ‘I expect she’ll be all yours.’
‘I hope so,’ said Kael, wistfully. ‘I really do.
*
‘Okay,’ said Lydia, reading through the remainder of the script. ‘This is all done?’
Kael nodded. ‘Yeah, pretty much. Might need some editing, but I think the majority’s done.’
‘Good.’ Lydia grinned at Isis. ‘I’m surprised the pair of you managed to finish this, actually.’
‘Why?’ Isis asked, looking up from her copy of the script. He noticed she’d written her name at the top in her neatest handwriting, curling the s’s. Kael had spent his free period typing the last of it up and printing out copies for the entire cast, and seeing her excitement at reading the final product of all of their hard work had been more than enough reward for him.
‘Well.’ Lydia waggled her eyebrows at them both. ‘I take it that performance Xavier and I witnessed in the garage wasn’t exactly a one off, was it?’
‘Two off!’ protested Isis, innocently blinking up at Kael. ‘Wasn’t it?’
He nodded, raising an eyebrow at her. ‘Keeping count, babe?’
She poked her tongue out at him, and turned back to Lydia. ‘Speaking of the Garage Incident,’ she said, ‘I have a bone to pick with you about that.’
‘Ah,’ said Xavier, from his position on the chair. ‘This is about Lydia and I attempting espionage, is it?’
‘Yes it is,’ Isis replied, with a grin. ‘I don’t know what put the idea into your head that you were some sort of Nancy Drew, off sleuthing about things, but-’
Kael laughed. ‘Lydia and Xavier: spy extraordinaires. I like it.’
‘I love it!’ Lydia said. ’Though Xav was crap.’
‘Excuse me?!’ Xavier said, indignantly. ’I am a wounded man!’
‘Bullshit,’ retorted Lydia. ’You just hobbled along moaning ’I’m not sure about this, Lyds,’ which didn’t help matters at all.’
‘I was in severe pain,’ Xavier told them, spreading his hands, ’so I think my disability gives me an excuse.’
‘Whatever the reason,’ Isis said, giving Kael a look of despair at their friends, ‘we didn’t want an audience.’
Lydia snorted. ‘Mm, yes, you made that clear by slamming the garage door shut so you could have a nice quickie in there, didn’t you?’
Isis blushed bright red. ‘We didn’t!’
Lydia raised an eyebrow, and looked at Xavier. ‘Do you think we should leave these two love birds to it?’
Xavier nodded. ‘Yeah. They seem to be having eye sex at the moment, so it’s probably for the best.’
‘Eye sex?!’ Lydia stared accusingly at them each in turn. ‘You scandalous beings. Right. Come on Xav.’
Stumbling to his feet, Xavier rolled his eyes. ‘What a bossy woman.’
Left alone, Isis looked up at Kael, a little shyly. ‘Those two are outrageous,’ she commented, glancing at their retreating backs.
‘They’d make a good couple, wouldn’t they?’ added Kael.
Isis laughed. ‘We so have to set them up!’
Kael chuckled. ‘It would be good pay back for Lydia attempting to set us up, wouldn’t it?’
Isis nodded enthusiastically, and then glanced up at the clock sadly as the bell rang. ‘Aw. It’s the end of the lesson.’
Kael nodded. ‘You off home, then?’ he asked.
‘Yes. No rehearsal today either.’ She looked rather sad about that too.
‘Well.’ Kael reached out to snake an arm around her waist, pulling her gently to him. He rather liked the way that she fitted so snugly against him. ‘What do you say to coming with me for Date Number One?’
Isis looked up at him, running her lower lip through her teeth in a way that made it exceptionally hard for him to make it impossible for her to answer by capturing her mouth in his.
‘I don’t know if I can,’ she said, sounding rueful. ‘I mean… how late would it be?’ she asked.
‘As late as you want it to be,’ he told her, crossing his fingers that she’d say yes. He so wanted to see what she would do or say if she went with him.
She twisted her lips, looking at him calculatingly. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘Could you take me home, and then I could ask my mum?’ she inquired. ‘I’d need to change, anyway.’
Kael nodded. ‘Sure.’
The drive back was tantalisingly difficult for Kael. He couldn’t help but eye the way that Isis’s hands were twisting themselves in her lap: a sure sign she was nervous. She kept fidgeting in her seat.
‘Don’t fidget, missy,’ he told her, reaching over to lay one hand over her own, steering casually with the other.
‘Sorry,’ she replied. ‘I can’t help being a bit nervous.’
‘Why?!’ Kael almost pulled over the car. ‘It’s just me, Is. Don’t worry that you have to impress or-’
‘This is my first ever date,’ she said, with a rueful smile. ‘I’m not sure how to behave.’
‘Neither am I,’ he responded. ‘Just be yourself, and I’ll be happy. I like you, a hell of a lot, Isis. It would take something absolutely terrible for me to change my mind. I’m the one trying to change yours.’
Isis beamed at him, so brightly that he wondered if she could outshine the sun. Oh god. He was turning cheesy again. He couldn’t help it then; he leaned over, and kissed her firmly on the lips, savouring the delicious taste of her.
He ended up pulling over into a handy lay-by, running his hands along her thighs as he leant across from his seat, almost prowling over her. Gently running his lips across her skin, across her jaw, up the side of her face to her temple, he let himself get lost in the scent and taste of her, entirely swallowed up in Isis herself. He couldn’t think straight when she was there, so beautiful, so wonderful, and so utterly his.
The little gasps and moans she made only exacerbated the growing problem in his trousers; his breathing grew more and more ragged, his heart beat more and more erratic. She had such control, such power over him, and she was merely making noises.
Eventually they surfaced for air, and Isis looked up at him, curiously. ‘Why are you so good at kissing?’ she inquired, innocently.
He chuckled, and Isis felt it rumble against her chest. He looked at her tenderly. ‘Because you’re extremely gorgeous.’
She scrunched up her nose, tilting her head to look up at him. ‘That doesn’t make sense!’
He shrugged. ‘You know, you’re amazingly good at kissing too.’
‘Am I?’ She looked genuinely surprised to hear this. ‘Why?’
‘Because you’re extremely gorgeous,’ replied Kael, with a cheeky grin, which widened when Isis rolled her eyes at him.
‘You,’ she said, ‘are incorrigible.’
‘And you,’ he replied,’ are exceptionally beautiful.’
‘Seriously, though,’ she said, chewing her lower lip. ‘Why are these kisses so amazing?’
Kael couldn’t help his ego swelling just a little to hear that. Amazing for her too? Well, that was always nice to hear. He mulled it over. ‘Probably because we’re meant to be, baby.’
She pulled a face. ‘Oh please, mister, no need to get sappy.’
He raised an eyebrow, and her expression dissolved into a beam, and, leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his. ‘We’ll see about that,’ she said. ‘Now, weren’t we meant to be driving home?’
Kael looked at her. ‘Mmm, but I got a little distracted.’
‘You did?’
‘Yes.’
‘By me?’
‘You always distract me, you little devil,’ Kael said fondly, kissing the very tip of her freckled nose. ‘But you’re right, I probably should get you home. Then we can see about that date.’
Settling back into the seat, he put the key in the ignition, and revved the engine. Though he could have stayed there for hours on end, just enjoying the feel of her skin against his, she was right, they had things to do, places to go, people to see. Well. He only wanted to see her, right now.
As they reached her flat, Isis gave him a sideways glance. ‘Are you going to come up with me?’
Kael shrugged. ‘Why not?’
Locking his car, and following her up the stairs, he wondered if he’d meet any more members of Isis’s family. Her mum had been in bed last time he’d been there, and for some reason didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that there was a strange boy in her house, because she had been strangely absent, despite all the noise.
Isis unlocked the door, letting herself in and holding the door open for Kael. She went through the first door way, into what was, if Kael remembered rightly, the living room, and stopped short.
Stood in the lounge, a pile of flowery material in her lap, was a woman with straggly blonde hair and wide blue eyes that let Kael know immediately who she was. She was wearing pyjamas, and there were dark rings and wrinkles under her eyes.
Isis promptly burst into tears.