Awoken - chapter one

Chapter sixteen

Sixteen

I strode down the bustling hallway with a jovial skip to my step, the mundane world of my fellow students around me a blur of indescribable colours and actions. I searched for his face and found it almost immediately. Suddenly the ability to walk evaded me, stopping me in my tracks, my feet now firmly planted on the grubby yellow floor. He rested his foot on the lockers behind him and greeted me with that smile that made me melt. A surprising concoction of over-confidence and self-assurance consumed me and charged my leg muscles back to life.

'Hey Superman, missed me much?' I smiled as I mischievously tugged at his shirtsleeve.

'Firstly, I always miss you Miss Gracie and secondly, I'm more Forest Gump then Superman but thanks for the ego boost.'

'Why are you waiting here?' I asked. Beau pointed towards his locker and as the crowd dissipated I could see exactly why he was giving his locker a wide birth. Sandra Mason was the loosest girl in college and was now on her eighth boyfriend of this term. Unfortunately for Beau it was in front of his locker that they were forcibly sharing their feelings. They locked lips in a way that reminded me of a scene from Alien. In a blink of an eye Sandra had dragged her unsuspecting victim towards the girl's toilets and Beau's locker was clear. Beau broke out into a light jog fearing Sandra's return.

'Run Forest, run!' I shouted out in my best southern American accent. It was lucky I had humour as accents were most definitely not my thing.

'Ha, ha, smart arse' he retorted loudly above the noise. I strolled through the bustling crowd to get to Beau. By the time I had reached him everyone had dispersed and with the pound of classroom doors closing around us we were finally alone. I pulled at his t-shirt closing the space between us with a cheeky grin on my face. For the first time it was Beau who looked surprised.

Kiss him, kiss him! my inner bitch demanded as she crossed her legs on her high backed wicker chair. I think I need a cold shower she added fanning herself with her hand.

'Well Mr Gump, you are my Superman.' With that, Beau placed his hand on my back and pulled me into his body. Every kiss with Beau felt like the first. A heady, intoxicating feeling surged aimlessly through me, fuelling my desires as our lips met. Every breath in my body evaporated as my stomach flew into my chest and my knees weakened. I opened my eyes and swooned slightly like a love struck teenager idolising a superstar. Beau was far better than any actor, singer or man that ever lived and all I needed as proof was that unusual skip that interrupted the natural rhythm of my heartbeat.

'Well Superman's hungry, fancy grabbing something to eat?' he said whilst running his hand down to my waist. I flicked my hair animatedly and threw him my best heroine pout.

'Well Superman, get your cape and those fetching little yellow boots because Lois Lane could murder a bacon sandwich.'

'Well Lois, just so you know, Superman's boots are actually red, and before you start, every man in the world knows that fact.' The seriousness of the subject crept at the sides of his smile.

'If you say so' I teased. What is it with boys and comic book heroes? The image in my head of his muscles rippling beneath Lycra, with a mask shadowing those beautiful crystal blue eyes, caused a jolt to stampede a little south of my stomach.

~~~~

As he strolled towards me his presence commanded the attention of every woman in the room; luckily I had got used to this now. I watched his lips closely, hanging on his every word and my mind begun to wander. I blushed as my legs turned to jelly under the table. My need to touch him was all I could think about and that southward tug in my stomach was not helping me to relax.

'Are you OK, you look flushed?'

'Yeah, fine' I said, dabbing my napkin at my forehead.

'So Grace, fancy playing twenty questions? It's a brilliant way for me to get to know absolutely everything about you. You know all of my deepest darkest secrets. The only rule is you have to answer them truthfully. Deal?'

'Right, so what do I get out of it?'

'I'll buy you the biggest chunk of Tottenham cake on that stand.' He gestured gingerly towards the seven-tiered shelving unit that had about thirty different varieties of cakes and cookies crammed onto it.

'What makes you think I like Tottenham cake?'

'Well do you?'

'Yes actually it's my favourite, smart-arse. You're pretty good at this guessing malarkey. Are you sure you need twenty questions?'

'I probably don't NEED twenty questions but I know I WANT them' he emphasised smirking at me.

'Go for it!' I prompted as I tried to arrange my best poker face.

'Firstly, what would you say is your honest opinion of me?' I suddenly feared this line of questioning and we were only on question one.

'Well I think you're handsome, smart and easy to talk to.' He was clearly chuffed at my answer and I was just as pleased I had come out of question one unscathed.

'Question number two. How much do you wish you hadn't agreed to this game?'

'A LOT!' I answered. It was impossible not to laugh along with him, even when I was the butt of the joke!

'Question number three.' He held on to the letter e for a second as his next words hung uncomfortably in his throat.

'How many boyfriends have you had?' He grinned with way too much pleasure at me squirming in my seat. I revised the answer in my head.

'None.' I jumped in quickly trying to bring about question four.

'Isn't it strange that I don't believe you? Remember the rules of the game Gracie.'

'Is that question four?' I asked. He scowled a little with a wry smile etched on his face.

'OK, OK. Now that I come to think about it there was one, Jason Adams, he was my first boyfriend. If you can call him that, it lasted all of four days. I was about thirteen I think. My strongest memory of him was the fact that he had a mouth full of shiny metal bars. He moved away a year or so later to Devon, no wait, Cornwall, actually come to think of it maybe it was The Isle of Wight, I'm not too great with the details. I really should pay more attention to what people tell me. After that I never really met anyone I liked, I mean Jason, the half boy, half terminator, was my first kiss, which would probably put any girl off dating.' 'And breathe!' I thought. 'So how many girlfriends have you had?' I toyed.

'These are my twenty questions Grace, not yours' he replied playfully, dodging the subject entirely. The questions continued. By the end he knew my favourite food, colour, animal, month of the year, film, actor, my shoe size and a load more information that he stated was imperative 'need to know information'.

'Last question Miss Gracie. Firstly though, have I told you how stunning you look under pressure?' Here came the dreaded blushing again as my top felt three sizes too small and my breathing became laboured. 'Right question twenty, are you in...'

My phone rung loudly as I fought with the buckles on my bag. I searched frantically through the mess, internally chastising the interruption. I finally grabbed the phone and MUM flashed up on the screen. I looked up and beyond the floor to ceiling glass window, the weak light of day had set and the sky was now engulfed by sable, murky clouds. The luminous yellow glow of the street lamps bounced off the café windows. How long have we been talking?