A Beautiful Forever(17)

“They probably don’t even watch it at home,” I say with amusement to Elliot as he follows meand leans against the bench top watching me drink. I love the way he watches me, it feels like he’s caressing everywhere he looks from across the small space.

We both turn to the front door as it opens and Shane walks in with his girlfriend trailing behind him. “Hi,” she waves at me, I’ve met her a couple of times, but I can’t for the life of me remember what her name is, it’s some sort of flower, or tree…

“Hi Shane, Hi Coral,” Elliot greets seamlessly.

“Hey,” Shane says taking off his jacket and hanging it next to ours. “How long til everyone’s ready to go?”

“They’re watching Home & Away so probably a good 15 minutes,” I tell him.

“Excellent, I’m busting for a dump.”

With wide eyes, we all grimace at each other after that stellar revelation from Shane.

“Way too much information,” I laugh as he disappears down the hallway towards the bathroom. I turn to his girlfriend, feeling the need to change the subject. “So Coral, I don’t think you’ve ever told me how you and Shane hooked up.”

“Oh,” she says, making a face. “Nothing exciting, we just hooked up at the pub. I really liked his accent, so I was a pretty easy catch I think.”

“He seems to like you a lot,” I offer. I'm shit at these conversations.

Coral just shrugs her shoulders looking slightly disheartened, I said the wrong thing – awesome. An uncomfortable silence stretches out for what seems like forever before she shifts the conversation.

“How long have you two been together?” she asks looking from me to Elliot.

“Oh… I… we’re…” I stammer, freaking out a little about qualifying any sort of relationship at this early stage.

“We met on the plane over here,” Elliot puts in.

“Oh, you’ve been together a while then,” she comments.

“Seems that way doesn’t it?” I say eyeing Elliot, who’s standing against the bench grinning while he finishes off my glass of water.

Redirecting her, I ask a few more questions about her life while we wait, to be polite. She’s a little difficult to talk to, not wanting to elaborate too much. It makes me wonder if that’s how I come across to people, thinking that perhaps I need to make the effort to change that.





Chapter 13


Elliot


As we all walk towards the Hole, I decide to go bold this time by putting my arm around her. When she slips her arm around my waist, I breathe a slow sigh of relief, I didn’t even realise I was holding my breath while I waited for a response.

When everyone else enters the pub, I hold her back and turn to her as she smiles up at me, her cheeks and nose pink from the cold air, her long hair sitting over her shoulders in the thick glossy curls she created for work.

Looking up and smiling at me, those amber eyes of hers search my face as she waits for me to tell her why we stopped.

Hooking my finger under her chin, I tilt her head up to mine and lower my lips to hers, “Is this ok?” I ask quietly as my lips brush lightly against her own. Nodding imperceptively, her eyes lock with mine as her tongue slips out of her mouth to wet her lips.

Watching her, I feel so turned on right now I can barely see straight. I want to crash my mouth into hers and carry her back to the flat with me, but I restrain myself, slowly closing the last few millimetres of distance between us. As our lips touch, I tease her mouth with mine, brushing over her but not fully kissing her, testing if she wants me as much as I want her.

When she moans and opens her mouth this surge of need for her floods through my body, and I slide my tongue inside the warmth of her mouth. Responding with equal intensity her mouth and tongue move with mine as we take our time exploring all the crevices in each other’s mouths.

All too quickly, she hums and places her hand on my chest, pushing me gently. I separate my mouth from hers and look at her questioningly, all the while admiring the way her face appears right now. Her eyes soft, her cheeks even more flushed than they were before, and her lips have progressed from the pink they were before to almost red.





Paige


Clearing the huskiness in my throat, my voice is still barely audible when I speak. “We’d better go inside,” I whisper, my head swimming from the lust and desire that’s threatening to take over my body and make me do things I could get arrested for in a public place.

Elliot looks at me intently and nods his head before he hugs me to his chest. I wish I could just fuse to him and stay there. This is now my favourite place to be.

As we separate he holds my hand. “You ok?” he asks.

Nodding I smile, “I’m more than fine Elliot. I’m hungry though,” I reply pulling on the collar of his jacket, “for a lot of things.”

His eyes darken with arousal as he starts to kiss me again, I laugh into his mouth, enjoying myself immensely. “We can continue this later,” I say pulling away. “Let’s eat first.” I’m not sure how or where we’re going to continue this with a flat full of housemates, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.

“Later then,” say as he leads me inside to join in with the group.

The joining in part is fairly unsuccessful as we sit together, talking quietly and touching regularly, it’s been so long since I’ve let someone in my body space that I feel this burning need to touch and be touched now.

There’s something about Elliot that makes me feel like I could have a life free from my past, that maybe he’d understand. Although, deep down, I know I should stay away from him. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be giving either of us hope. I should never have even shaken his hand on the plane, I should never have agreed to cut his hair, I should never have agreed to live in the same flat. There're so many ‘should nevers’ at play here, but I am trying to focus on what Naomi said about regrets a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to say good bye to Elliot in six weeks time and then spend the rest of my life wondering ‘what if’.





Elliot


“So what’s going on with you two?” Naomi prods from across the table as we watches the change in Paige’s and my interactions.

“Yeah, have you two finally hooked up?” asks Brian.

“Haven’t they been together for weeks?” adds Coral.

“No, they’ve been dancing around each other,” Naomi responds.

“Well?” we get asked, a host of expectant faces looking at us.

As we glance at each other, I notice that Paige’s face is bright red with embarrassment, so I answer for the both of us. “We’re just moving forward. That's all for now,” I tell them.

“Well, forward is the right direction,” Naomi responds first as she smiles broadly and gives Paige a wink. “It’s about time you both just got on with it already.”

We get a chorus of agreement from everyone, and dinner continues on normally after that.

As we all get up to leave, Brian informs us that he is heading off to his girlfriend’s house. Paige and I immediately exchange glances, both knowing that means we can be alone tonight.

Once on the street, Gavin claps his hands together. “So who’s up for clubbing?”

Paige immediately shakes her head ‘no’, and I join in with her refusal. Naomi, Shane and Coral all agree to go, parting from us with more than a few knowing glances.

“Well, that was fun,” I say as we start the short walk home trying to make small talk through my nerves.

“Mmm hmm,” Paige responds, leaning her head against my shoulder as we walk arms entwined and hands interlaced, falling into an easy quiet as we continue on our way.





Paige


There’s an entire zoo enclosure full of butterflies flying about in my stomach right now. I know my time with Elliot is fleeting, so I want to make the most of what time we have now. I want to give him what I can of myself, while I can, I don’t want to fight this anymore.

As he closes the front door to the flat behind us, he takes my hand and leads me through the kitchen, towards the couch. I plant my feet, halting my movement as we reach the hallway leading to the bedrooms, and shake my head when he looks at me before I brazenly lead him to his room.

Shutting the door behind him, he looks at me with raised eyebrows, his fingers on the lock. I nod my head, shivering, as a skitter of anticipation flits through my body when he spins it, giving us all the privacy we need.

I take a nervous step back as he moves toward me, sliding his hands around my waist as he pulls me against him. My head swimming with my attraction, I breathe him in, luxuriating in the scent of him so close to me. I glide my hands up over his well-muscled arms following them with my gaze until I reach his shoulders, there I meet his eyes. The blue pools of perfect ocean water look down upon me with such intensity that I feel lost in them.