Three Years On

Chapter Twenty

Hey guys so here's another chapter, sorry it's been a while :S And this one's kind of a bit short too. I might (might) upload tomorrow. Anyways, since I was 7 votes away from 1000 on the first book and I asked my lovely fans to vote to help me reach that number I have a dedication today. The person who gave me that 1,000th vote was moisteroso, who voted on every single chapter of my book. HOWEVER, danaeloy then voted on exactly 7 of my chapters, so she probably was still trying to get me to that number seeing as it takes a short while for votes to show. Since it's the thought that counts, the two will both be getting dedications :D

Anyways, sorry for the blabbering.

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    ‘I’m taking you on our second date,’ Michael told Debby a few days later. He had just entered her room, where she was lying on her bed with her Mac book open in front of her.  She pushed herself into a sitting position and gave him a quizzical look.

     ‘At ten in the morning?’ she asked. ‘Generally dates are in the evening. To leave the option of hooking up at the end open.’

     Michael chuckled and sat down on her bed. ‘Well this is an overnight date. In fact, it might actually be a multiple over night date.’

     ‘What are you on about?’ she said, closing her laptop and lying back down- this time with her head in his lap. Her long hair splayed out across his legs and he ran a hand through it gently.

     ‘I want you to come to Warwick with me,’ he explained. ‘All my friends there want to meet you, and it’s not like there’s anything forcing us to stay here.’ Debby didn’t say anything for a long time; she just stared up at him, her eyes wide. Michael let out a slow breath. ‘You don’t want to go, do you?’ he asked.

     ‘No, it’s not that,’ she denied, lifting her head from his lap to sit in front of him. ‘I just- well I’ve never not spent my whole summer in St. David’s. I’m always here, going to the beach, watching the sunsets, going for walks along the coast. It’s always been like that. Me and Beth.’

     ‘Well, not always,’ he pointed out. ‘What about the summer I was here? Beth wasn’t there for about half of it, and we went to see my parents in Manchester for a couple of nights.’

     ‘Yeah, but that’s the only time,’ she told him.

     ‘You never went away? Like on holidays, to other countries,’ he said, raising his eyebrows.

     ‘Of course I have, my dad’s a travel writer,’ she reminded him. ‘But never in the summer. Once we went to India for Christmas as a family, and we went away at Easter a couple of times but never for more than a week, and never in the summer. It’s cause the summer is my dad’s busiest time of year, he can’t have any distractions because he has a time limit on finishing his book. The places we went were places that had nice weather all year round, so that he didn’t have to rush and could deal with distractions.

     ‘I also went with Beth to France once in a half term, but since my mum came home and Beth left, we’ve stopped going places. I haven’t left the country in over three years, that’s why I want to spend my gap year travelling.’

     ‘But why does that mean we can’t spend a few days in Warwick now?’ he asked. ‘I mean it’s not like you see Beth that much anyway, she’s always with Blake and you don’t like her. What did you even do the last two summers?’

     Debby shrugged. ‘I hung out with my friends.’ Michael moved closer to her, closing the distance between them and placing a gentle kiss on her cheek.

     ‘Just think about it, please?’ he asked her. ‘I want you to be a part of my life there too, my friends will have to meet you eventually. St. David’s isn’t the whole world.’

     Debby sighed. ‘I will. It just seems stupid leaving here, when it’s this time of year that all the tourists arrive. I mean obviously we’re nothing compared to London, but St. David’s gets pretty touristy in the summer. There has to be a reason they come.’

     ‘They come for the beauty of it,’ he told her. ‘But we’ve seen this place over and over. I lived here for eleven years, and sure, it’s nice to come back, but don’t you ever get bored of it? I don’t think I could have spent my teenage years living here.’

     ‘It doesn’t bother me,’ she told him, shaking her head. ‘I’m not one for going out lots.’

     As she said those words Michael got a horrible feeling in his stomach. It was strange, but all of a sudden he was convinced that they had nothing in common. Sure, he loved her to bits, but without this place, without the routine of lazing around, not doing much because it was summer, he didn’t know what else there would be. He didn’t know why he’d ever thought it could work out.

     He swallowed, and tried to push this feeling away. He didn’t like it. No, he despised it. All he wanted was to be with Debby. But it was still there, strong and insistent.

     ‘Please, Debby,’ he begged. ‘Just come to Warwick with me.’ It was more important than ever that they made this trip now. He needed to find out what there was of them past St. David’s. What they did, how they would work. He needed something to reassure him that this whole relationship would work out. They’d been back together all of a week and he was already thinking of the end.

     ‘I don’t get why it’s such a big deal,’ she muttered, staring at her hands. ‘But fine. Tomorrow?’

     ‘What? We leave tomorrow?’ he asked.

     ‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’ she sighed, impatiently.

     Michael smiled and took her hand gently. ‘Calm down Deb, yeah, we’ll go tomorrow,’ he said. He pulled her to him, and held her tight. ‘Can you stop being angry now?’

     She sighed, and still with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso, pushed him back so they were lying down on the bed. ‘I’m not angry,’ she told him, talking into his chest. ‘I’m just reluctant.’

     ‘Ah, yes, if you were angry, you’d be crying,’ he teased her. She laughed, the sound of it vibrating though his body and he held her tighter.

     Remember this feeling, he told himself. He was happy when he was holding her, there was no way he could deny that. The happiness presided over the terror of them not working out, and he managed to suppress it, for now.