~Dedicated to those rare mornings you wake up with a smile~
Chapter Twenty-One "Did you get frisky with him?"
I awoke to sunlight pouring down against my face. I yawned, rubbing my sleepy eyes before shifting slightly and that’s when I stopped. My whole body went still when I heard the faint sounds of deep breathing behind me and the weight of what felt like an arm draped around my waist. Biting my lower lip nervously, I slowly rolled onto my back and looked to my side only to come face to face with a sleeping Sean. My blue eyes widened slightly and I had to bite back a gasp that threatened to evolve into a scream.
Okay Viv, no need to panic. You just woke up next to a sexy Greek God of a bad boy, I mean; every girl has done it before so why not join the crowd? I don’t know, maybe because you could end up pregnant and then the next moment your mother’s disappointed in you but because you think you’re better than her, you decline her help for the baby and end up moving in with your jobless boyfriend and then he dumps you to become a rock star and you’re living in a ditch and feeding off scrap hot dogs-
“Morning,” a sleepy Sean greeted.
I snapped out of my thoughts, my eyes locking with his and I did the stupidest thing ever. I smiled at him and no it wasn’t the whole, ‘We’re best friends’ smile, no the ‘I think I like-like you’ smile. Sean returned the smile before leaning closer, his face not even a hairline’s breadth away from mine. I gulped silently; cursing as my eyes drifted towards his soft, inviting lips. And then, mustering up all the willpower I had; and you know, reminding myself about Dave, I pulled away reluctantly.
Sean’s eyes dimmed slightly with an emotion I couldn’t decipher before he placed a lopsided grin onto his lips and spoke, “You look like a bus hit you.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help the amusement that entered my voice, “As if you’re any better?”
“Of course I am,” Sean countered with a smirk then rolled over to his back.
For a moment we just laid there on the double bed, staring at the white ceiling with a small chandelier placed in the centre. Slowly my gaze drifted around the room and for the first time I realised that we weren’t in the shared room of Juliet’s and mine. There was a large dresser placed against the wall directly from the bed and to the right was a large window which the sun seemed to enjoy streaming through. The floor was scattered with the masks we had worn the previous night and cheap wrappers which suddenly brought back the memories of eating take-out after we had left the small gig.
Suddenly, my eyes flew to my body, still covered in the dark dress and semi-covered by the heavy duvets from the bed. I groaned, feeling my body aching as I shifted slightly and felt every bit of the corset digging into my torso. I let my hand run through my hair but gave up the attempt when it proved to be futile. There was no way I was going to be able to get rid of those knots without the help of a brush and maybe a few pairs of pliers. Then, with a soft sigh, my eyes fell onto Sean who was staring intently at the ceiling.
“Sean?” I called.
He turned to me, his hazel eyes connecting with mine as he smiled and replied, “Yeah Lanter?”
“About last night,” I began but stopped when Sean let his finger tuck a loose strand behind my ear.
My breathing hitched slightly and I closed my eyes, biting back a sigh I instinctively inched closer towards him. I didn’t dare open my eyes in fear of waking up to the reality of the situation. I didn’t want to be Vivienne the geek, the girl who always did the right thing and cared way too much about how others saw her. I didn’t want to be the girl who had a boyfriend who was probably contemplating breaking up with her because she was a lousy girlfriend and for the love of all things warm and sunny, could not seem to stop her feelings for a certain bad boy. I just wanted to be me, the sort of embarrassing and nerdy girl who just had fun with what she did.
“Yeah,” Sean breathed out against my face.
I shivered slightly then pushed out away the thought of Dave and everything else that made the happiness drain out of my body like a hot air balloon being popped, deflating instantly. Forgetting what I wanted to talk to Sean about, I leaned forward, my mouth brushing against his as I let my arm slowly move to his face, drawing him closer if that was possible. My skin was tingling with anticipation, my stomach doing crazy tumbles around and my body heating up like I had been thrown into a sauna.
Sean hesitated for a moment and I instantly wondered if he didn’t want to kiss me but then the thought was pushed away when Sean pressed his mouth against mine. The kiss was gentle at first, Sean placing gentle pecks in between breaths of air and then he gently parted his lips. My mouth moved in synch with his, allowing his tongue to easily slide against mine, caressing the inside of my mouth as though I was being warmed from the inside out.
Sean moved closer towards me, his body slowly moving over mine. His arms wrapped around either side of my body as his lips pulled away from mine and began to make their way down my throat. I let out a gasp, feeling every fibre of my being burning with desire. My hands moved to Sean’s dress-shirt, and slowly I let my fingers trail against his warm skin. I felt him tense slightly as my fingers trailed patterns around his hard muscled body. Sean leaned closer, his mouth lingering against my throat and slowly I felt his tongue flicking against my skin.
It was then that I pulled away. My breathing was heavy and I could feel Sean’s chest rising and falling in synch with mine. His eyes were scanning my face, his eyes taking in every detail with concern. I bit my lower lip, staring at him and then swallowed a lump. I knew one thing for certain and it scared the heck out of me. I let my fingers run against Sean’s silky dark hair, and then I smiled a small smile.
“No feelings, right?” I asked.
Sean’s face dropped but he recovered quickly, replacing the hurt in his eyes with his usual bad boy mischief, “No feelings Lanter,” he repeated.
“Okay, so spill the details,” Juliet demanded as we packed our suitcases.
I frowned at a loose strand that fell over my eyes, then pushed it away as I replied, “Nothing happened.”
“Yeah right,” snorted Juliet, “That totally explains why you were absent last night and I had to sleep alone in this haunted room.”
I raised an eyebrow at my best friend and retorted, ‘Our room is not haunted Jules.”
“Says the girl who wasn’t here to experience the moans and groans from Jessica Hubert’s room,” Juliet replied with a look of disgust.
I grimaced before scanning the room for anything that I had left behind and replied, “Look Jules, I feel bad for you but nothing happened okay?”
“Then why do you have a hickey the size of Texas on your neck?” Juliet asked, a smirk tugging at her lips.
Instantly my hand flew to my neck and I felt my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Almost sprinting to the wall mirror; I stared in horror at my reflection. Sure enough there was a love bite the size of my thumb against my skin. I gingerly touched it then winced when I realised that it was from that morning with Sean. Spinning around, I forced a smile onto my lips at Juliet who had that ‘Spill it’ look on her face.
“It was nothing,” I offered lamely.
“You so like him Viv,” Juliet simply answered.
I scoffed, “I do not!”
“I know you better than you think and besides that, you’re blushing,” Juliet replied, “You like Sean Gregory and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
“It’s bad right?” I complained.
Sighing, my best friend made her way towards me and wrapped me in an embrace as she replied in a whisper, “It’s only bad if you don’t do the right thing.”
I, Vivienne Lanter, who is seventeen years, eleven months and three days old am officially and completely screwed. Not only did I have a totally hot boyfriend who was waiting for my arrival back to Redwood but I was currently, sort of, maybe cuddling in the backseat of our school trip-bus with none other than bad boy, Sean Gregory. When did my life spiral out of control like this? I’ll tell you when. It was when I stupidly agreed to Sean’s deal in the boys’ toilets of all places. I could have at least picked somewhere classier, like say the school cafeteria or maybe the library or even the teachers’ lounge. I heard they had a coffee machine there, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that I was no longer a geek but some popular girl who I was staring to fear had become the replica of Jessica and although Jessica was nice deep down, there was no doubt in my mind that stringing guys along was her thing to do. So why for the life of me, could I not stop resting my head on Sean’s shoulder or stop smiling every few minutes up at him or even stop the crazy somersaults that were happening in the pit of my stomach.
I suppose we both had a silent understanding that as soon as were both off the bus and back in Redwood then everything would go back to normal. You know, the whole Sean being a flirt and me dating Dave normal. I almost laughed at the thought, a couple of weeks ago and me dating Dave or even hanging out with Sean would never have been considered normal and now, here I was, blonde and unsure about my feelings.
Slowly the bus came to a stop and I pulled away from Sean, glancing out of the window only to see a few parents parked and waiting to pick up students. I couldn’t help the smile which tugged at my lips when my blue eyes fell onto my mother who was standing hand in hand with Holly, next to her car. Even though Paris and Venice were unbelievingly amazing, I still had missed my mother and to see Holly there only made the cherry on top of the cake.
Turning to Sean, I found my smile faltering and then I forced it back against my lips. Sean mimicked the smile and stood, stretching slightly and allowing me to catch a glimpse of his hard muscles. Fighting back the sigh that wanted to escape my lips, I looked away and followed him out of the bus where we were greeted by the warm afternoon sun and of course the brick building of Redwood High.
“So, I’ll see you around?” Sean asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I nodded, smiling slightly, “Yeah, see you Monday,” I replied, “When I’m tutoring you.”
Sean pouted, “Do we have to?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Yes,” I retorted, “Now go before Lily runs out of patience and comes and drags you by your ear.”
Sean glanced over his shoulder at Lily who stood with her arms crossed over her chest with a frown tugging at her lips. Her eyes instantly warmed when they fell onto me and she waved then glared at Sean and hopped into the car. Sean turned to me, his hazel eyes filled with amusement as he gave me a sheepish grin and ran a hand through his dark hair.
“Guess like she broke up with her new boyfriend,” Sean commented before ruffling my hair and laughed when I swatted his hand away, “Catch you later Lanter.”
For a moment, I stood and watched him walking away and then I finally gathered up my bags and hugged Juliet goodbye before I walked towards my mother who was standing with a large smile on her lips. Holly stood next to her, wearing a frilly white dress that came to rest just above her knees. She grinned up at me from beneath her eyelashes and took hold of my hand with her tiny fingers.
“Vivienne,” she greeted in a happy tone, “I missed you.”
I smiled down at the dark haired girl and replied easily, “I missed you too Holly.”
My mother smiled at our conversation before explaining, “Holly was begging to come pick you up.”
“Well I’m glad she did,” I replied, guiding Holly to the car.
As soon as we were buckled in, my mother began chattering happily.
“So how was the trip?” she asked.
“Great,” I replied, “I had tons of fun and you know Jessica isn’t as mean as I thought she was.”
My mother nodded, “Made any foreign friends?”
I laughed slightly, “Well I did actually. I think the hotel owner in Paris liked the fact that I was trying to talk French to him.”
“Tried to?” my mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged, “He was talking about some of his relatives.”
“That reminds me of a-“ my mother stopped as the car came to a stop street, her eyes widening in the rear view mirror as she stared at me then asked slowly, “What is that?”
“What?” I asked; feeling confused.
My mother’s eyes narrowed, “Vivienne Lanter, why do you have a love bite on your neck?”
My cheeks instantly heated up and I inwardly cursed at Juliet who said that the foundation had worked in covering up the hickey. My hand instantly flew to my neck in a bid to hide it while Holly stared up at me with a curious expression her big green eyes had. I bit my lower lip and gave my mother a small smile in hopes that she wouldn’t realise that Dave had come home before Venice.
“What love bite?” I asked; feigning innocence.
Rolling her eyes she replied, “Don’t try to hide it Viv,” she frowned, “And don’t say it’s from Dave because he came home the other day to ask about you.”
“Dave asked about me?” I asked, leaning forward in my seat.
“Yes, he did but-” my mother stopped abruptly, giving me a ‘don’t try and change the subject’ look.
“What?” I asked, giving her my best smile.
“Who gave you that love bite Viv?” my mother asked.
I shrugged.
“Answer me Viv,” my mother ordered sternly.
I sighed and replied reluctantly, “Well, you know…it was like in Venice and uh…Sean and I…”
“Sean,” my mother asked, raising an eyebrow, “that nice boy you’re tutoring?”
I frowned, “Uh yeah?”
“Did you get frisky with him?” my mother asked suddenly.
My eyes widened in embarrassment as I exclaimed, “Mum!”
She grinned at me and asked innocently, “What?”
I scoffed but before I could say anything, Holly asked sweetly, “How do you get frisky?”
A/N Hiya Geeklings! This is a short-ish chapter, but in my defence I was really busy. Not to bore you with details but I was at my baby brother and sister's first year birthday and yeah if you're wondering, they're twins so you can imagine the crowd tha pitched up for twins. Anywho, what did you think of the chapter? Loved it, hated it? Think that I should kill Dave off and give into Sean? Remember to vote comment and spread the word!
Now I'm off to sleep after an overdose of cough syrup...think I'm getting bronchitis yet again...
xoxo
Mona-Mae :)