I puckered my lips and then raised an eyebrow. “What was that?” I wanted to hear it again. I would’ve cringed if Mom or Aggie said that to me, but when Ezra said those words, I couldn’t help but feel special and loved.
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “You heard me.” He leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met,” he then whispered, making me smile like a fool.
“I’m sure you’ve met prettier girls than me before,” I pointed out, mocking him.
“Will you just take the damn compliment?” he exclaimed, squishing my cheeks with both his hands. I had to laugh at his frustration, and I reached up to grab both his wrists, then stood on my tiptoes to kiss his lips.
I slid my tongue along his bottom lip, and his mouth parted to let me in. As our tongues met, his hands left my cheeks and moved down to my lower back.
One thing I’d never ever regret in life would be kissing my teacher. But I wasn’t going to shout it all around town. This was our secret, and I didn’t want to share it with anyone.
The smell of bacon rose up my nose again, and as much as I didn’t want to let go of him, I had to eat. I was starving.
I broke the kiss and looked back into his light blue, almost gray eyes. “I’m meeting Pixie to go to the island today after lunch. Mind if stay that long? We could cuddle on the couch,” I suggested.
A grin spread on his lips. “Are you gonna try to seduce me like you did last night?”
I shrugged, knowing that I wasn’t going to keep my hands to myself. “Probably. We’ll see.”
*
“What kind of scenes do I have to do today?” Pixie asked as I locked my bike.
“I just wanna take a few more shots of you near the rides and then the cottages. If we get enough today, I think I don’t need you anymore. Well, we still have to do the voiceover.”
“We can record that in school. I know Benji’s got a mic somewhere around school. And we can use the studio no one uses anymore.”
One year ago, Benji had the great idea of creating a radio show for our town. But before even asking us students if we wanted to take part in that project, he invested in all the equipment, only to then be let down by the underwhelming number of students who wanted to be part of the project. It was one. One student wanted to be the host.
The studio’s still there, untouched and ready to be used. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure Benji will be happy about that. Maybe I can even turn it into an editing room. Those computers have better capacity than my old laptop.”
We walked onto the ferry and sat down on a bench on the deck. It was sunny today, and surprisingly warm.
After eating breakfast, Ezra and I watched some more of that true crime series while we cuddled on his couch. I showered, but I had to put on the same clothes I had on the day before. I knew Pixie would notice, so I kept my coat on to not have to explain why I was wearing that same sweater.
Luckily for me, Pixie was concentrating on feeding the seagulls flying around while the ferry moved. I watched her throw the breadcrumbs into the air. Her mother often told her to bring their old, hardened bread with her, so she wouldn’t have to throw it away.
While the ferry moved over the lake, I got lost in my thoughts thinking about Ezra. We had a great second date, and I couldn’t wait to see him again. Even if it was in school, and we both had to try and keep our feelings locked inside of us.
Chapter Twenty
Ezra
“You’re aware that half of these kids aren’t even sixteen yet,” I whispered, leaning closer to Benji. We were standing at the back of the classroom, with our students comfortably sitting on the couches. They were watching The Nun, a horror movie they desperately wanted to watch tonight. It was Halloween, and although it was a Saturday, the kids wanted to spend the night here and have a “scary sleepover”.
“Who cares. They’re all enjoying it,” he whispered back. He was enjoying this a little too much. He even volunteered to stay here with the kids. Another teacher, Loren, agreed on staying, too. I was glad I didn’t have to sleep in one of the other classrooms tonight.
My eyes moved from the screen to Juno. She hadn’t looked at me since the movie started, although she would only have to turn her head slightly. I guess she was following our rule of not staring at each other.
We had passed a few milestones in our relationship. Although we hadn’t talked about what we were yet, we had done far more than what people who were dating would do.
I also felt something deep inside me grow every time she laid in my arms, and every moment we spent together made me want to be with her for the rest of my life. We both knew it was difficult to just be boyfriend and girlfriend, but, fuck…I wanted her to be mine.
A few jump scares later, Juno moved, whispering something into Pixie’s ear before getting up and walking over to the door. She left the room and was about to close the door when she looked at me through the small crack, signaling me with her eyes to follow her.
I didn’t hesitate. I put my hand on Benji’s shoulder and nodded to the door. “I’ll be right back. I’ll grab some more snacks and drinks from your office.”
I left the classroom, then walked up the stairs to where I knew Juno would be. The little studio she was allowed to use to create her movie was never entered by anyone else other than us two. It was our little hiding spot, even though it was extremely risky to meet up in there.
I slowly opened the door to the studio, and sure enough, Juno was sitting there on one of the desks, waiting on me.
She was grinning at me with her head tilted to one side, and as I closed the door and locked it behind me, she already reached for my shirt. I let her pull me close to her until I was standing between her legs.
“I missed you,” she said quietly, and I cupped her cheeks with both hands, leaning in to kiss her.
The room was dimly lit, but we didn’t need much more. Her lips moved against mine, and she gripped my shirt tightly with both hands, pulling me closer.
I slid my tongue along the seam of her mouth, and she opened for me to plunge in, making my tongue dance with hers. I held her close, deepening the kiss and then slowly breaking it.
I didn’t want Benji to come look for us, so we had to stop this. “Did you tell your moms that you’re sleeping here tonight?” I asked, brushing her hair back and tugging it behind her ears.
“They’re out of town for the weekend. They don’t even know what’s going on in school.”
I chuckled, placing a kiss to her forehead. “Tell Benji you’re headed home after the movie. I’ll pick you up at your house. You okay with riding your bike all the way home in the dark after watching that movie?”
Her brows raised. “There are scarier things than a demonic nun.”
“Like what?” I challenged with a smirk. But of course, she had a smug answer to that already.
“Seeing the guy I’m dating go to prison for having sex with me, one of his underage students.”
“I’d really like you to take our matters a little more seriously. And we’re not having sex.”
“Yet,” she added quickly, keeping that sly grin of hers in place. “Go, and stop staring at me from back there. It’s creepy,” she muttered.