Chapter 32: A Perfect Night

Our timetables kept us from having a conversation of more than a few words until lunchtime. And even then we had to wait until we’d eaten and could find a quiet spot because our friends weren’t about to let us eat alone. They wanted the whole story and they wanted it right away. Clarissa gave them an edited version, missing out anything to do with her inheritance and instead making it sound like she got so sick of the guys her mom was setting her up with and realised she wanted to be with me instead.

That story placated them and, at Emily and Lisa’s suggestion, we were given some time alone to talk. The common room was always packed and we knew that finding a corner where we wouldn’t be overheard would be impossible. So we used one of the classrooms opposite instead. Actually, it was the same classroom I’d found Lily crying in after the Del Stevens Incident, but I didn’t tell Clarissa that.

“Oh, I missed that,” she said with a sigh after pulling away from one of our long, slow burn kisses. “The way you kiss me is just so...” She placed her hand on her heart and sighed again.

“It’s not me,” I replied. “It’s us. We have something special. Some sort of connection. Like positively and negatively charged particles coming together.” She looked at me quizzically. “It’s explosive,” I said.

She grinned. “You swallow a science book or something?”

“No,” I said with a laugh. “I was flicking through the channels last night after you left and came across this documentary on that big particle collider in Switzerland. It was really interesting. I didn’t understand it all, but it was interesting.”

Her grin got wider and she shook her head. “My boyfriend’s a geek.” She sighed—again. “My boyfriend.”

We came together for another long, lingering slow burn kiss which left us both panting with desire.

“I am so wet right now,” she whispered.

“Me too.” In response to her raised eyebrow, I added, “Well, not wet but ... you know.”

She reached forward and rubbed my confined erection. “Hmmm, you are too.” There was a wicked glint in her eye as she said, “Shame I can’t help you out with it right here. It’s too risky. Guess you’ll have to wait until tonight.” She winked at me and flashed the most amazing smile I’d yet seen.

“Tonight? But I assumed the school night rule would still be in place.”

She shrugged. “I had very long talk with Mom last night. It was good actually. I got a lot of things off my chest and I think she did too. It’s weird, but after we ... I mean, after I’d got all my anger out of my system, I started to listen to her. It’s not that she didn’t want me to have my money, but she was scared it might do more damage than good, you know? She said she’d seen people my age—children of her friends from the country club—get their hands on their trust funds and it sent them off the rails. Fast cars. Drugs. Booze. The whole bit. She thought she’d be protecting me from all that.”

I huffed. “She can’t know you very well. You’re the least likely person I know to go trying drugs. And with how carefully you drive the car you have now, it wouldn’t matter if you went out and bought a sports car, you’d still drive it carefully.”

“Damn right. I’d be terrified of damaging it. I can’t stand it when Grace drinks a Coke or eats chocolate in my car. I’m scared she’ll stain the leather.”

“See, she can’t know you at all.”

Clarissa shook her head. “I think she’s just being a mom, you know. She’s already lost Daddy. It’d kill her if she lost me too. It’s not really surprising she wants to protect me—even if she went about it the wrong way.”

“Okay, so how does stopping you from seeing me and making you go out with relative strangers count as protecting you?”

“Oh, that wasn’t about protecting me, it was about protecting my social status. She didn’t know who you were, Paul. She didn’t know your dad and mine were friends. Hell, until yesterday, we didn’t know they were friends. She just saw you as some Townie. And she thought a Townie was beneath me. Ironic really since she was Townie before she hooked up with Daddy.”

“Really?” I said in surprise.

“Yeah. I didn’t know that until last night either. But anyway, we had this long talk and we sorted some things out. I can see you whenever I like, as long as I get all my homework done and my grades don’t fall. Which they won’t since she’s also given me the green light to go to university. And I’m going to go, Paul. Nothing’s going to stop me.”

“Good.”

“So ... that means I can come over to yours after school every night. We can get the homework out of the way and then ... you know.” She leaned in to kiss me again. “I love you, Paul.”

“I love you too, Riss.”

As good as her word, even though she came straight to my house after school that night, we spent two hours doing homework at the kitchen table before she cooked dinner. After eating, we settled down in front of the telly and flicked through the hundred or so channels on the satellite until we found something interesting. Not that we watched much of it. In fact, we enjoyed a repeat performance of the night of the Christmas Ball—only without the tears and forced non-break-up break-up.

And almost every night after that was the same. We fell right back into our old routine. Fridays we went out on a date and we spent all day Saturdays together. Like I said, Life was good.

In stark contrast to the Halloween Ball and Christmas Ball, the Valentine’s Ball was just about perfect. It was almost ruined before it got started because I swear Clarissa looked so good when I opened the door to greet her that I almost went into cardiac arrest. Seriously, words don’t exist to describe how amazingly awesomely fabulous she looked. From the hair piled up on top of her head with the loose strands dangling down around her perfect face, made up to highlight those sensual eyes, delicate cheekbones and plump, soft lips, to those long, toned legs in heels that truly did her calves justice. Everything about her appearance was spot on and it was almost too much for me. Fortunately, she gave me the kiss of a lifetime to save me. So what if I had to wipe away the lipstick she left behind afterwards?