Her Teacher's Temptation (17 page)

“It’s fine,
Hannah,” I interrupted. “It’s not like there’s any proof. Besides, Annabel
would vouch for my story. It’d just be a pain if Mike decided there was some
reason to make trouble.”

“He just
sounded really serious,” Hannah informed me dismally. Of course all that I said
was to make Hannah feel better rather than me. “What if he does say something?
It could end badly.”

“I know it
could,” I agreed. “Why are you even still with him? Have you decided you’re not
interested in Ewan or something?”

Hannah
grimaced. “I don’t know,” she whined. “I still want to break up with him, I
think, but every time I go round he has something planned and I can’t bring
myself to turn it down. I’ve seen Ewan again too, though, and he’s just so
perfect.” My mind instantly jumped to the conclusion that maybe if Hannah broke
up with Mike, he’d decide to make trouble by ruining my life out of spite.
Hannah obviously realised it too. “I don’t think he’d do anything like that.
Surely I can’t have that bad a taste in men.”

“No, it’ll
definitely be fine,” I dismissed. I wasn’t going to attempt to convince Hannah
to stay with someone she didn’t want to be with for my own selfish reasons. I’d
gotten myself into this mess.

“Why didn’t you
tell me?” She returned to the dreaded question. “Does Meg know?”

“Meg knows,” I
conceded. “But only because she recognised him. I just didn’t want to tell you
because I don’t like talking about it. It sucks. I really like him and I can’t
be with him. I’d rather just wallow about it than have more than one person
laughing about the awkwardness of the situation.”

“I don’t think
Meg realises how much you seem to care if she’s still finding it funny.” Hannah
murmured. “In fact, I don’t think Meg’s ever cared about a guy like that enough
to really empathise.” It was true that Meg didn’t really have a good past with
relationships. I was sure that from what she’d told me none of her boyfriends
have ever been for more than a couple of months.

“I guess,” I
admitted. “Well, now you know, anyway. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I prefer to
be miserable without people knowing.”

Hannah
chuckled. “I’m afraid I’m much better at pushing my problems on you,” she
teased lightly. “Now let’s go and fetch some ice cream. This got much more
depressing than I was expecting it to.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Staring up at
the impressive building in front of me, I felt incredibly out of place. My
plain jeans and knitted sweater seemed rather lacklustre and I wondered just
how successful the rest of Ollie’s family were, because this building was big,
and obviously incredibly expensive.

I shifted
slightly and Ollie noticed immediately. “My family isn’t as posh as this
building,” he assured me. “Laura’s just been saving up for this for ages with
her fiancé and both sets of parents chipped in too.”

“Okay. I just
don’t want to feel really out of place.” Then I smirked. “But I guess you’re
here and you’re practically the opposite of sophisticated. I’ll probably seem
like an angel.”

Ollie snorted.
“You just keep thinking that.”

We pulled our
suitcases out of the car and wheeled them into the lobby. The drive down had
surprisingly not had a single awkward moment. It was almost absurd how good we
were at forgetting the bigger picture when we were left alone.

I was grateful
to see Annabel as soon as we entered the building. At least I wouldn’t just be
clinging to Ollie like a lost puppy the whole time. She was stood in a group of
people that I could only assume were Ollie’s family. They all held a certain
resemblance to each other. I tried my best to stay in the background as they
recognised Ollie and came to hug him.

“This is
Maddie,” Ollie introduced me to the older woman that was hugging him, loud
enough for everyone else to hear too.

Annabel beamed
and came over to hug me, clearly sensing how incredibly awkward the whole
‘introductions’ thing was. “Hey Maddie.”

“Hey Annabel,”
I replied with a chuckle, returning the hug. Trying to catch everyone’s names
as Ollie went round his family, I knew I’d end up forgetting one and
embarrassing myself. There were his parents, Annabel and his older brother with
wife and daughter. She was only about four and was incredibly cute. I couldn’t
help but smile affectionately.

That seemed to
loosen the tension somewhat, though Ollie’s mother was eyeing me up and down in
a way that made me want to run away. I was just wearing a standard jeans and a
blouse, so there was nothing conspicuous going on. “We’re going to go and check
in,” Ollie told them, gesturing for me to follow him with my suitcase.

“So what’s the
plan for today?” I asked him when we were out of earshot.

Ollie shrugged.
“I don’t think there is one other than for dinner later. Want to go and see the
beach?”

“Ooo, yeah,” I
grinned. “That sounds awesome. I haven’t been to the seaside for so long. We
can get ice cream, right?”

“Of course,”
Ollie allowed with a chuckle, turning to the man at the reception and giving
him our names. Ollie had said Laura had booked the entire building and I was
almost speechless at how much money that must have cost. I wondered what it was
she did for a living.

“Ollie, honey,
can I talk to you for a moment?” His mother called out as we walked past their
group towards the lift. “Annabel will show Maddie to your room.”

Ollie hesitated
only a moment before agreeing. “Do you want me to take your case?” Annabel
checked with him as she switched places with Ollie.

“Erm, sure, if
you don’t mind.”

Inside the
elevator, Annabel smirked slightly at me. “Mum’s giving him the lecture about
how young you are.”

I blanched.
“You didn’t tell her I was seventeen, did you? We were going to say I was
nineteen.”

“No, Ollie
messaged me earlier to make sure I didn’t say anything, but still. Nineteen is
too young, apparently.”

“Oh God,” I
grimaced. “Imagine if she knew the truth. I’d probably be banished from the
building.”

Annabel laughed
as the doors opened. “I still can’t believe he actually brought you to a
wedding.” She shook her head in amusement.

I flushed
slightly. “Only because he said there was no one else he could have asked,
since he broke up with Jemma. I’m sure he wouldn’t have done otherwise.

Annabel
snorted. “Ollie has plenty of female friends. I’m fairly sure he could have
asked someone else if he really needed to.”

This only made
my cheeks redder. “Oh, well, I guess I don’t really have an answer for that. We’d
kind of agreed to stay away from each other.”

“Looks like
Ollie didn’t take that agreement too well,” Annabel quipped, pulling out the
key card Ollie had given her to double check the room number. “Oh, cool, you’re
next door to me. If I hear moaning I’m going to be annoyed.”

“I’m sure it’ll
be soundproofed,” I teased back, grinning at her groan.

I gaped at the
room when we entered. Though it wasn’t massive, it was extremely plush and I
immediately kicked off my shoes to lay down on the double bed, which was
stacked with pillows and blankets. “Wow,” I drawled, wriggling around to make
the most of just how spongy this mattress was. “This place is awesome. I don’t
even care if your parents hate me. I’ll just live in this bed.”

“My parents
don’t hate you,” Ollie assured me from where he’d suddenly appeared in the
doorway. “They just don’t approve of us as a couple. I did make it clear that
we’re just friends, though.”

“Right,”
Annabel remarked. “Of course. I’ll leave you two to it, anyway. I’m going to go
and find Charlotte. She’s so cute! I have to spend as much time as I can with
her.”

After she’d
gone, Ollie gave me an amused look. “You look comfy.”

“I am very
comfy,” I agreed. “Annabel seems to be under the impression that there were
plenty of people you could have asked to come to this wedding with you.”

Ollie flushed.
“I guess. There weren’t any people I particularly wanted to spend a whole
weekend with and share their bed, though.”

I grinned.
“Good answer.”

“You want to go
to the beach now? I’d change into a warmer sweater, though.”

It was a chore
to bring myself out of the comfy depths of the blankets, but I managed to get
to my suitcase and pull out a warmer hoody. “Okay, cool,” I agreed, after
having changed. Luckily I had a vest on, otherwise I got the feeling we might
have just put the bed to the test instead of venturing outside.

I pulled the
hood up when we got down onto the beach. It was always windy near the sea, but
I was so happy to be here that I really didn’t care. “This is awesome,” I
decided as I pulled my shoes and socks off and attempted futilely to roll up my
skinny jeans. The sand filtered between my toes and I stared out at the vast
beach from the rock I was sat on. Though clouds filled the sky, the beach was
still beautiful. I was incredibly partial to landscapes like this and knew if
we didn’t have plans I could have easily just sat and stared at the sea
crashing against the cliffs for ages.

Ollie laughed
and watched me somewhat affectionately. “I hoped you’d like it.”

“Come on!” I
urged him to follow me now he’d removed his own shoes. “Let’s go and paddle.”

The waves in
Cornwall had always been powerful, and even though we were just paddling in the
very shallow end I enjoyed just watching them roll in. The urge was to grab
Ollie’s hand as we strolled along, but I resisted. I knew my jeans were getting
soaked, but I really didn’t care. My feet had even got used to the freezing
water fairly quickly.

“Did you tell
Annabel that we slept together?” He asked as our feet turned numb. “She seems
awfully unsurprised by the fact you’re here.”

“Well, I kind
of did and she kind of guessed. It was a combined effort. I just told her not
to tell you she knew in Newcastle because I thought it would make you feel
worse.”

Ollie scratched
his hair, but had to admit I was right. “Yeah, it’s probably true. Still, she
could have told me once I’d actually broken up with Jemma.”

I shrugged. “I
forgot to tell you, since I don’t see Annabel that often. Hey, are your parents
actually mad that you brought me?”

Ollie shrugged.
“They’re not mad and it’s not that they dislike you,” he promised. “They just
don’t think that I should be going for someone so young because I’m supposed to
be settling down. They seemed a bit better after I assured them multiple times
that we’re just friends. It’s a good job Annabel wasn’t their making those
stupid sarcastic comments.”

I laughed. “She
is fairly good at that,” I wrung my hands together slightly. “I just don’t want
it to be awkward or anything.”

“I know,” Ollie
wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “But it won’t be, I promise. The only thing
you might notice is my mum giving me disapproving glances, but they’d never say
anything to you. They’re not like that.”

“Okay,” that
calmed me slightly. I didn’t want there to be some kind of obvious tension surrounding
everything.

“So, what did
you tell your mum?” He asked me, not bothering to remove his arm.

I chuckled. “I
did actually tell her I was going to a wedding,” I admitted. “Otherwise I
wouldn’t have been able to explain my super fancy dress and I don’t like lying
to her anyway. I just told her it was ‘Ollie’s’ cousin’s wedding. She doesn’t
know you’re the same person yet.”

“I hope she
doesn’t ever know,” Ollie replied with a chuckle. “I’m not ready to face your
angry mum.”

“That’s because
you’re a wimp.”

Ollie unwrapped
his arm from around me to shove me playfully.

Only it was a
bit harder than I think either of us had anticipated and I toppled over before
Ollie could grab hold of me and keep me upright. I gasped as the cold water
lapped over me and glared at Ollie, who was laughing his ass off at my now
soaked self. I was glad I’d managed not to drop my shoes at the shock of the
cold.

It didn’t take
me too long to react, though, and I had punched Ollie in the back of the knee,
so that his balance was completely gone and he came tumbling down beside me. It
only made it better that I had timed it just as a large wave came and although
it also wet the majority of my hair, it went properly over Ollie’s head,
causing him to splutter in surprise.

We stared at
each other for a couple of seconds before laughing and attempting to help each
other up. “I can’t believe you pushed me in the sea,” I whined at him. “It’s
the middle of winter.”

“I guess this
is just about the right time to get ice cream, then,” Ollie chuckled as we
headed away from the sea, our feet collecting sand as we traipsed back towards
the pathway at the top of the beach. I didn’t even want to see how knotty my
hair would be now.

Attempting to
dry our feet off to put shoes on was the worst part. I was already shivering
slightly from my clothes being soaked through, but having to put my slightly
sandy feet into wet shoes was awful. I grimaced at the squelching sensation.
“I’m going to be really disappointed if we can’t ice cream from anywhere now.”

Ollie laughed.
“I’m sure there’ll be some somewhere.” Though the hotel we were staying in was
in its own plot a slight way away, the beach was in front of a quaint little
village that looked like it would probably sell the frozen treat - even in the
middle of winter.

The elderly
lady who was behind the counter in the shop we found gave us amused smiles.
“You’ve been enjoying the beach? It’s a bit cold for that at the moment.”

I shuddered as
I nodded my agreement. “Unfortunately someone didn’t seem to think so when they
pushed me over.”

Ollie beamed.
“What flavour do you want?”

“Is that even a
question? Mint choc chip, of course.” Then I smiled at the old woman. “Please.”

“A mint choc
chip and a strawberry large cone, please.” Ollie requested, shoving his hand
into his pocket and pulling out a somewhat wet looking wallet. Luckily the
money inside hadn’t really been touched. I was just glad I’d chosen to leave my
phone back at the hotel.

I gave him an
aghast look. “Strawberry? What even are you?”

The elderly
lady laughed as she passed me my cone. “I’m afraid she’s right. Between
strawberry and mint there really is no comparison.”

I gave Ollie a
satisfied smirk as he handed the money over. I’d make sure to give pay for
something else over the weekend.

Back at the
hotel, we figured we really had to sit outside to finish our ice creams, since
the hotel didn’t look like the kind of place that would appreciate us dripping
that gloopy mess everywhere. I was properly freezing by the time we got there
and so was Ollie and we huddled close together so that our knees and shoulders
were touching. There wasn’t much heat in our bodies to share, though.

Ollie’s
brother, Luke, snorted when he came outside and saw us. “You had fun at the beach,
then?”

“He pushed me
over,” I accused Ollie, my teeth chattering as I was determined to finish this
ridiculous amount of ice cream. “But I got him back, so I guess it’s fair.”

Ollie grunted
in response. “I didn’t think you’d actually get me.”