A Good Man
Copyright© 2011 by Marc Nobbs
Chapter 32: A Perfect Night
Our timetables kept us from having a conversation of more than a few words until lunchtime. Even then, we had to wait until we’d eaten and found a quiet spot because our friends weren’t about to let us eat alone. They wanted the whole story and wanted it right away. Clarissa gave them a shortened version, omitting anything about her inheritance and instead making it seem like she had become so fed up with the guys her mum was setting her up with that she 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 crowded, and we knew it would be impossible to find a corner where we wouldn’t be overheard. So, instead, we used one of the classrooms opposite. Actually, it was the same classroom where I had found Lily crying 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-burning 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 a very long talk with Mum 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 had gotten all my anger out of my system, I started to listen to her.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And what did she say?”
“I’m not sure how genuine she’s being, but I choose to believe she’s finally being honest with me. I think she had a long talk with Mr Brown before I got home. I noticed two empty mugs on the counter by the sink in the kitchen, and I know the second one couldn’t have been for Jake because he has his own ‘special’ mug with one of his old football teams on it.”
“So, you think Will went around to talk to her?”
“Someone must have, because her attitude seems completely different. I’m guessing he explained a few home truths to her.”
“Like the fact that our dads were friends, I’m not just some Townie, and that if she didn’t back off, she’d likely end up pushing you away?”
Clarissa smiled. “That would be my guess, too. I think she’s ‘lost,’ and knows it, and now she’s trying to save face. She said that it’s not that she didn’t want me to have my money, but she was worried it might cause more harm than good, you know?”
I frowned. “How?”
“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 lot. 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 try 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 bear 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 mum, 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. I think she’s being genuine. Or I hope she is.”
“Okay, so explain to me how stopping you from seeing me and making you go out with relative strangers counts as protecting you?”
She waved a hand dismissively. “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 a Townie before she hooked up with Daddy.”
“Really?” I said in surprise.
“Yeah. I didn’t know that until last night either. Anyway, we had a long talk and sorted out some things. She’s still not completely happy about it, but I can see you whenever I like, as long as I get all my homework done and my grades don’t slip, 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.”
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