Her Teacher's Temptation (19 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

It fitted just
as snugly as in the shop, accentuating my curves in a more than flattering way,
yet still maintaining the sophisticated look required for a wedding. Ollie’s
eyes spoke volumes as they kept drifting back to my breasts and hips. I almost
hoped he’d be more subtle when it came to going downstairs.

“You look
really beautiful.” Even with the compliment, I still batted his hand away when
it even came close to the fancy knot my hair was in: I’d spent far too long
getting it right to risk it even for Ollie. 

But this wasn’t
even the best part. Ollie was wearing a suit. The full Monte: fitted trousers,
shirt and tie. He could ditch the jacket as far as I was concerned so that I
could get a better view of his arms. For once I was incredibly excited to get
my picture taken; we’d surely have one together before the end of the night.
I’d be able to find somewhere to keep it where people wouldn’t see.

No doubt in
reality it would only serve to make me miserable at the end of our liaison, but
for now I would appreciate it.

“I suppose you
don’t look so bad.” My arm automatically rested on his chest as I fit myself
against him perfectly, leaning upwards and wetting my lips in anticipation. “I
really do miss the stubble though.” My hand traced his smooth jawline and I
pouted.

We shared an
intimate look and for a moment I considered the possibility that we might just
skip out on the entire ceremony and go back to bed.

A knock on the
door interrupted our moment and I was forced to back away, choosing instead to
absorb myself in the contents of my bag to hide my sulky face.

“Oh, you look
so cute.” Annabel beamed after taking in my appearance. “This is so exciting,
I’ve never been to a real wedding before.”

Ollie raised a
sceptical eyebrow. “Do you not count your brother’s wedding as real?”

Annabel
dismissed him easily. “I was too young to appreciate it then. This is the first
proper one. And I am a little bit upset that I didn’t get asked to be a
bridesmaid.”

"How long
exactly is it since you’ve seen Laura?”

Annabel’s hand
shooed off his comment. “I’m still offended.”

Ollie rolled
his eyes. “Let’s go downstairs.” Prompted to slip on my heels, I hoped there
wouldn’t be too much standing up today. These were definitely intended for show
rather than actual wear.  

Downstairs,
everything was surprisingly calm. Ollie’s family, other than perhaps Ollie and
Annabel themselves, seemed particularly organised. We’d apparently been cutting
it close with our timing since everyone was ushered us through to the room of
the actual wedding almost as soon as we’d entered the lobby.

As close-ish
family, Ollie and his siblings were sat three rows back, me seated with them.
It was the perfect seat, as far as I was concerned; I got a perfect view of the
bride and groom, yet didn’t feel exposed to the eyes of people behind me so
much.

Despite my
somewhat cynical views on marriage, excitement still filled me. It was also the
first time I had been to a proper wedding. Laura was stunning as she walked down
the aisle, partly due to her exquisite appearance and partly because of the way
she ignored everyone else to grin at her husband-to-be with absolute happiness.
It was easy to feel optimistic about marriage at an actual wedding.

It was oddly
comforting watching two genuinely happy people. It wasn’t a sight I got to see
very often and I almost wasn’t surprised when I felt Ollie’s large fingers
curling around my own.

It made me want
to tear up and I had to blink furiously to prevent water from spilling over. I
couldn’t even really explain, but the mixture of seeing happy people, being a
cynical loser and holding hands with the person I could never be with was just
a little bit overwhelming. I would feel particularly foolish if I cried in
front of Ollie now after the talks we’d had about marriage in the past, though.

Only a few
tears actually escaped when Laura and her now husband, Derek, kissed each
other, but I knew I wasn’t alone in the room so it didn’t make me feel too
embarrassed. I was fairly sure I’d managed to hide them from Ollie, too.

Photos came
next and Ollie's hand left mine and I was forced to wear a polite smile rather
than the slightly teary grin that had been plastered all over my face. I hadn't
really bothered to look up the order things went in; I was just trailing Ollie
around like a lost puppy.

The photos were
boring, honestly. Standing around, watching people I mostly didn’t know get
their picture taken was a novelty at first, but after forty minutes it dragged
on. But, Ollie and I did get our picture. I just really hoped it turned out
nicely now.

And then it was
time for dinner in the great hall. The room, which had been hidden from us
throughout the visit, extended what seemed like forever. Although I hadn't
really realised it, even in the ceremony, there were a lot of people here. I
suspected quite a few had come only for the day though, which was why I hadn't
seen many of them around the hotel before.

Sitting on our
table, which was me and Ollie's immediate family, I fought back the urge to
babble about how adorable the napkins were, folded like little tulips and the
name cards with their fancy writing. Whilst I knew that living the high life
wasn't really for me, experiencing it this once certainly was enough to make me
reconsider – as if it was really that simple to just choose the high life.

The only
problem now would be attempting not to antagonise his parents too much... or to
slip up and give away either how old I was, or that I was Ollie’s student.

"So,
Oliver, how is your job going? We really haven't talked about it that
much," his dad started up the conversation whilst I studied the sheet
explaining what we'd be eating today. I was sure Ollie caught the smirk I
couldn't hold back at his full name, though.

"It's
fine." Ollie shifted in his seat and glanced at me only once, for a
fraction of a second. "Most of the kids are surprisingly nice. I guess
that's because I'm just teaching sixth form."

"So you're
glad you came home then?" It was a leading question, of course the answer
had to be yes when his mother looked at him expectantly like that.

"Yes, it's
good to be living in Sheffield again." I wasn't entirely sure whether
Ollie's teeth were actually gritted or not, maybe I was just putting my
annoyance at his parents onto him. It wasn't fair really, he still loved them,
but I was a bitter person. Anything that even remotely opposed Ollie and myself
was likely to be put into my bad books.

"It's just
a shame you both decided to go so far away from home for university." It was
almost a telling off as she stared at both Annabel and Ollie for a few minutes
each. "Luke and Maddie clearly knew what they were doing." It was the
first time I'd been spoken to without some genuine irritation from his mother.
"How are you liking university dear?"

My mind went
blank for a moment, before realising that I was supposed to be nineteen. Of
course I was at university. Ollie had probably even explained this to me at
some point when I wasn't listening. "Oh, it's fine, thanks." I
attempted a polite, but not stupidly awkward, smile. "More difficult than
I was expecting."

"Annabel
said the same thing," she assured me with a chuckle. I already knew that,
which was the only reason I’d thought to say it in the first place.
"Whereabouts are you living?"

"Oh, erm.
I'm just still living at home." My hands unravelled the napkin, though I
did my best not to stare downwards. "My mum likes me to help around the
house with my little sister and I don't think she'd have really wanted me to
move away." The implication she was a single parent didn’t really fit with
their family values, but it was too late by this point. It was also the truth,
kind of, and I knew that my little fantasy about going to Newcastle was
unrealistic and unfair.

His father
nodded to me admirably. "How good of you. If only these two had realised
we'd have liked to see them more often too." Whilst I was somewhat
relieved that they really didn't seem to hate me, doing it at the expense of
Ollie and Annabel wasn't exactly the way I wanted it to happen.

Charlotte made
the perfect interruption then, when she began to babble and all attention was
turned to calming her down so she didn’t have to be taken outside.

The rest of the
dinner made one thing clear, Ollie had been completely right when he said his
parents wouldn't be obviously unpleasant to me. I was pretty sure that the
first day they'd been cold only due to the surprise of me actually being here.
I found my annoyance at them dissipating as we all chatted easily.

And I never
slipped up about my situation. My actress career was looking more and more
promising.

The speeches
were even more boring than the photos. It was probably just because I didn’t
know the people being talked about, everyone else seemed to be laughing in the
right places.

Ollie and I
played noughts and crosses on one of the napkins. I won by a landslide.

And we'd also
drank an awful lot by this point. I wasn't normally a wine drinker, but the
champagne we'd kept being topped up with was incredibly good and obviously
incredibly expensive.

Now came the
dancing, which was the thing I'd been looking forward to most. Especially
considering my head was fuzzy enough that I wouldn't be at all self-conscious.

Ollie and I
waited until the dance floor was quite flooded before joining in, easily
slipping into each other's hold and swaying to the music.

"I'm used
to it involving significantly more grinding than this," I teased gently,
meeting Ollie's eyes and flashing him a smile.

"I'm not
going to complain if I get to be this close to you." The reply was instant
and I flushed, allowing us to move slightly closer together. The noise was loud
enough I doubted anyone would overhear us.

We danced in
silence, anyway, for a few minutes, simply enjoying being close to each other.
Ollie's thumbs traced unconscious circles into my hips and I found my eyes
drifting to his lips multiple times.

“Have you ever
looked up the actual law on student teacher relationships?” He questioned
abruptly.

“Of course I have.”
I’d done it several times.

“Me too.” The
statement made the heat rise to my cheeks unnecessarily. It should have been
obvious he would, but hearing the words had me smiling like a fool. “What did
you think?”

I considered
telling him the truth; I really should when it was something this serious. “It
made me realise that it's selfish for me to ever make the first move.” I
tightened my grip on him considerably, sending my eyes downcast. “There are no
consequences for me, but you could go to prison.”

Ollie’s lips
pressed my forehead gently. “You're right,” he acknowledged. “And that's why
after today I can't keep seeing you. I'm not going to see you again.” My eyes stung
and remained averted. “At least not until you're eighteen.”

Snapping my
vision to judge his expression, there was a tiny smile twisting at the corner
of his lips. “But you could get fired still.”

“I know.”

Hand clamped
around the lapel of his jacket, I worried he’d be able to hear how fast my
heart was racing even over the music. “But Ollie…” I wanted it so badly. So,
so
badly. I wanted to go home after school and cuddle on the sofa watching films.
I wanted to wake up in the morning and end up being late because neither of us
had the resistance to not give in to morning sex. I wanted to ring him up and
pour my heart out about my problems without the need to feel guilty.

But it was
unrealistic. It was never going to happen. That wasn't the way things could
ever be.

“I'm not worth
your job.” The words were painful to say. “If you lost your job you'd hate me.
And I don't ever want that to happen.”

“How likely is
it that we’d even get caught though?” Ollie’s determined eyes were almost
enough to make me give in and kiss him right here, but I had to be strong. I
knew I was right. Ollie probably knew I was right too, only he’d given up
trying to fight our annoying predicament anymore. “I just want to be with you
Maddie.”

Unable to
contend with looking at Ollie’s resolute face any longer, I rested my forehead
against his chest. It made the dancing harder than I’d anticipated, but it was
necessary if I was going to stand my ground. “I want that more than anything
too.” My hands continued to fiddle restlessly with his jacket. “Well, more than
anything other than you not wasting your Oxford education. And it will happen,
we will get caught if we decide to be together. I just know it. We’ve already
got a potential scare on our hands with Mike.”

“You can’t
possibly know that.” Ollie’s voice now in my hair, my eyes stung painfully.
“Maddie…”

“It’s fine,” I
dismissed, “it’s the way it has to be. I can’t put you in that position, I care
about you too much.”