Chapter Seven
"Mr Adams!"
I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or embarrassed…I was glad for the
interruption, because more than anything I just wanted to get away from Matt.
But what was Ben doing here, tonight of all nights? Maybe fate had brought us together
again…he was my knight in shining armour sent to rescue me…
Matt released his grip on my arm. "I was just…er…" This was the
first time all night I’d seen him lost for words.
"I can see what you were doing." Ben practically spat the words, a
look of anger on his face. I wasn’t quite sure whether it was directed at Matt
or me - I know it was silly, but I felt as though I’d been caught cheating on
him.
"Look Sir, no offence, but this is a private matter. We’re not in
school now, what we get up to in our spare time is our business."
"I think he’s right you know, Ben…"
My head shot up at the sound of a female voice. I could feel the jealousy
bubbling up inside as I noticed a blonde woman standing slightly behind him,
her hand placed on his arm. Who the hell was she?
He shook her off angrily. "It is my business when you’re trying to
force yourself onto one of my students when she doesn’t want you to."
"Who says she doesn’t want me to?" Matt retaliated.
Ben fixed a stony cold look on him, squaring up, ready for a fight. "I
would’ve thought that was obvious by the way she’s trying to push you
away."
"She’s just playing hard to get."
"I’m warning you, leave her alone, or…" He stopped, suddenly
getting control of himself as he realised what he was saying.
"Or what? You going to hit me, Sir? "
"No." Ben paused. "Just leave her alone Fitzpatrick, you can
see she’s not interested."
I was shaking now…partly from the confrontation, and partly from Ben being
there. Any doubt there had been in my mind about Ben’s feelings for me had
disappeared. He’d hardly be here now, causing a scene in the middle of a
restaurant, and putting his career on the line if I was just a student to him,
would he?
The people at the nearest tables had abandoned their meals and turned their
attention to what was fast turning into a free floor show, and even Adam and
Lucy had heard the commotion from the other side of the restaurant, and were
approaching us with bags and jackets in their hands.
"What’s going on?" Adam asked.
"Nothing," Matt replied quickly, grabbing his jacket from Adam’s
hand. "Let’s just get out of here."
"It doesn’t look like nothing to me," Lucy said, looking from Matt
to me, and then to Ben, a confused look on her face. "Are you okay,
Soph?"
I nodded. "Look, I’m fine, can we all just stop causing a scene
please?"
"There’s no scene," Matt snapped back, "We’d be fine if
people just minded their own business." He shot a look at Ben.
"I was…worried, that’s all," he muttered through clenched teeth. I
could see from the look on Ben’s face that he was itching to punch Matt’s
lights out.
"Yeah, well it had nothing to do with you." Matt turned to Adam.
"Now c’mon, are we going clubbing or what?"
"I guess…that okay with you Lucy?"
She nodded and looked at me. "You coming Soph?"
"No," I replied flatly, giving Matt an icy look.
"Oh c’mon, it was a joke," he laughed nervously, "get over
it!"
I glared at him. "I don’t want to go clubbing. I’ll just go home…"
"I’ll come with you…"
"No, Lucy, the last thing I want is to ruin your night. You go on to
the club and have a good time, don’t worry about me."
"But how will you get home on your own? You’re supposed to be staying
at mine tonight, I can’t just leave you."
"I can give you a lift if you like Sophie," Ben offered.
My heartbeat was getting fast again now. I knew that saying yes to a lift
from Ben was wrong - really wrong. But the words had slipped out of my mouth
before I even had time to stop and think…
"That’d be good, thanks."
"I thought we were going on to a club, Ben?" I’d almost forgotten
about the blonde bimbo.
He sighed as he turned to her. "Look, maybe it’s best if we give it a
miss tonight, hey?"
"Well, maybe I’ll just go with these guys…"
"Yeah, why don’t you do that?" He was losing his patience with her
now, and I felt a strange sense of pleasure from the offhanded way he was
treating her.
The look on her face told me that wasn’t quite the reaction she was looking
for.
She glared at Ben, before linking her arm through Matt’s. "C’mon, let’s
go have a good time and leave these two party poopers here."
"You coming Lucy?" Adam asked.
She turned to look at me. "Are you sure you’ll be okay?"
"She’ll be fine," Adam interrupted, before I even had a chance to
answer. "You heard what the teacher dude said, he’ll drop her home."
Lucy looked at me.
"You go and have a good time," I said, gently placing my hand on
her arm to reassure her. "I’ll be fine."
"You sure?"
"Positive. Now go, have fun!"
I watched them all disappear out of the restaurant door before turning to
Ben.
"I just wanted to say…er…thanks."
"Not a problem." I detected a frosty tone in his voice.
I walked behind him silently as he went to pay the bill, and we made our way
outside to hail a cab. I couldn’t help shivering as the cold December air hit
me – I wasn’t exactly dressed for standing around on street corners.
"You cold?"
I looked at him and nodded, thinking that it was actually a really stupid
question…but looking up into his blue eyes as he wrapped his jacket around my
shoulders, I guessed I could forgive him. As soon as our eyes met he looked
away – something I was getting used to now from those brief moments we passed
each other in the corridors at school, but tonight I saw something different in
his eyes.
"Is there something wrong, Ben?"
"No, nothing," he replied, not even turning to look at me.
"Then why won’t you look at me? Have I done something to upset
you?"
"No, why would you think that?" There was a hint of sarcasm in his
voice as he looked up and down the road for a taxi – anywhere but at me.
I grabbed his arms and pulled him round to face me, but he still refused to
meet my gaze.
"If I’ve done something to upset you, just tell me…"
Still he looked away.
"Unless…"
He finally looked down at me. "Unless what?"
I eyed him suspiciously. "You’re jealous, aren’t you?"
He looked away again. "No, of course not! Why would I be jealous,
that’s ridiculous!"
"You’re jealous because I was out with Matt!"
"Don’t be stupid," he replied quietly. "Taxi!"
The car pulled up at the kerb and Ben opened the door for me. I looked at
him, and giggled as I climbed into the cab.
"I can’t believe you’re jealous!"
He climbed in behind and slammed the door shut. "Why would I be
jealous? Who you see out of school time is your business."
He leant forward quickly and said something to the taxi driver that I didn’t
quite catch, before slouching back in the seat, and turning his attention back
towards the window.
I just sat and looked at him, exasperated. "Ben!"
"What?"
"Talk to me!"
He was silent for a moment, and I thought that maybe I had been misreading
the signals, maybe he was just being all teacherly towards me, until finally he
murmured, "yeah, okay, I’m jealous."
He turned to face me now – which I kinda wish he hadn’t at that exact
moment, as I was sitting there with my mouth wide open in disbelief at the
words I had just heard. He was really jealous that I’d been out with another
guy! That meant that…well, I wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but…
"Well, say something then."
I didn’t know what to say. I was still trying to make sense of what I’d just
heard…had he really just said what I thought he said? I quickly turned to face
the window, trying to hide from Ben the huge grin that was quickly spreading
across my face…
"Hang on, where are we going?" I asked suspiciously, as I realised
that I didn’t have a clue where we were headed. This wasn’t the way to mine or
Lucy’s house.
"I…er…you said you were staying at Lucy’s!" He said, a guilty look
on his face.
"Yeah, and…?"
"Well, she’s not with you so you won’t be able to get in, so I thought
you might wanna...""
"Might wanna what…?"
He finally brought his gaze up to mine. "Come back to my flat for a
coffee?"
Oh my God! I could feel myself trembling now. A coffee? What did that mean?
Teachers didn’t usually go around inviting their students back to their flats
for coffee at 10:45 on a Friday night!
"Do you really think that’s such a good idea?" I asked nervously.
He laughed. "I don’t think us being in this taxi together right now is
a good idea, but we’re here, aren’t we?"
I took a deep breath. I could feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into a
situation that once I was in, I knew there would be no way out of. Surely there
was no turning back after tonight? If I said yes to this, there’d be no more
sweeping our feelings under the carpet and pretending that they didn’t exist.
No more tip-toeing around each other, no more sleepless nights spent wondering
whether I’d imagined that whole first day of term thing, and thinking that
maybe I’d got my wires crossed and Ben had no feelings for me whatsoever.
"I don’t like coffee," I blurted out quickly, cursing myself for
firstly sounding really stupid, and even worse, like I was turning him down.
His lips curled up into a big smile, and I could see a mischievous little
glint dance across his eyes as he leant across and whispered into my ear.
"Neither do I…"