The Flirting Games

Bad moves and best friends - Part 12

Chapter Eleven

Her heart beat wildly, her brain turned to mush and every bone in her body was yearning to get even closer to him.

His hands snaked under her jumper and explored the bare flesh of her midriff. She murmured in pleasure and her own hands sought out the buttons of his shirt. She began to undo them, still kissing him passionately. She wanted more and pressed her body against him. Then, abruptly, Nate pushed away from her.

"No," he said gently. "Not like this. Not for you and me."

Ellie felt dazed and confused. Wasn't he trying to seduce her? Didn't he want her?

Nate leaned against the shelves and did his shirt buttons back up.

"I think we'd better call it a night, before I do something we'll both regret," he said, not meeting her eye.

Ellie's face burned with humiliation. She had let her guard down. How could she be so dumb? This was Nate Naverly, the heartbreaker. And now she'd just handed him all the cards, he now knew she wasn't immune to him. That was probably exactly what he wanted.

She strode over to the door. "Can you let me out please? I'm really tired all of a sudden."

She was hugely grateful for the darkness hiding her face, as he turned the key in the door and checked the corridor for teachers. She slid out of the room beside him and they moved quietly down the corridor together. They didn't speak until they reached the stairs to WestTower.

"Ellie..." Nate reached out to take her hand, but she moved out of his reach.

"Thanks for the history lesson, Nate. Goodnight." She began to climb the stairs, aware of his eyes as he stood on the landing below her.

Flora was still awake when Ellie snuck back into their room at nearly one a.m. Ellie quickly undressed and brushed her teeth. Flora had been reading with a torch under the covers and stuck her head out when she heard Ellie climb into bed.

"So?" she whispered, her voice full of the excitement of gossip. "Did he kiss you?"

Ellie sighed, "Yes."

"I knew it!" Flora squeaked.

"Shhh!" Ellie looked nervously over at the beds of the other two girls in their dorm room, neither of whom would appreciate being woken up.

Flora lowered her voice. "How did it feel? Was it amazing?"

Ellie was silent for a moment considering how to answer. It was a novel experience having a girlfriend to discuss this with. She wondered if she should brush off what had happened, or if Flora might be able to help her work out why he stopped kissing her. She could do with some advice, but she'd never talked about her feelings with another girl before and she didn't know how much to share.

"It was great and then it went weird," she whispered. "He kissed me and it was pretty mind-blowing. He's definitely a good kisser, though I suppose he's had lots of practice. But then he just stopped; he actually pushed me away and said we should 'call it a night'. But I can't work out why. Do you think I misread the signs? Do you think he was messing with me? Or do you think he doesn't really want me but was just taking advantage of the opportunity of having any old girl right there with him in a dark room?"

"Maybe he likes you too much? Maybe he's afraid you'll hurt him?" Flora suggested, trying to think of something good to explain his actions.

Ellie snorted.

Flora smiled. "Okay, then maybe he was trying to do you a favour because he doesn't want to hurt you by letting it go any further when he doesn't want to be in a relationship?"