The Beauty in Between: Too Close (A Beautiful Series Novella) (7 page)

She brought her
mouth to mine and slid her tongue slowly over my own, drinking me
in, devouring me as she used her hand to slide the tip of my cock
around her opening.

“Just be
careful,” I started to say, knowing that the other girls I’d been
with had a bit of trouble adjusting to my size. But instead I just
closed my eyes and moaned as she slid herself around me. It was as
if she was my perfect fit.

She sat back
and rolled her hips against me, taking me in deeper as she rode my
shaft. Opening my eyes, I gazed up at her, rocking above me, a look
of pure ecstasy on her face as I watched her slide herself up and
down my length. She was beautiful.

My hands roamed
all over her body, loving the touch of her bare skin under my
fingertips. I grabbed her hips and sat up underneath her, so we
were face to face. Grinning at me, she continued to rock her
hips.

I brushed my
lips against hers, kissing her gently at first as we slowed things
down. As I deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth with my tongue, I
brought my hand up to cup her breast, tweaking her nipple between
my fingers.

She gasped into
my mouth and started to whimper as if she was close to orgasming.
Feeling overcome, but not wanting to blow yet, I held myself back
as best I could, trying to wait until I was sure she was ready.

“Oh God, you
feel so good,” I whispered to her between kisses. “I can’t believe
this is actually happening.”

She rested her
hands either side of my face and pulled back, looking at me
intently before she spoke. “It’s not.”

Snapping my
eyes open, my room was filled with daylight, and I was on the verge
of bursting.

Quickly, I
reached down and grabbed my cock to stop myself from blowing my
load all over my sheets and snatched up the towel I’d left lying on
the floor from my shower the night before.

Releasing my
grip, I let go with a shudder, the images from the dream still so
clear in my mind. I raked my fingers through my hair and let out a
charged breath.

“What the
fuck?” I said to myself, and I lay back on the bed. I should have
known it was a dream the moment our clothes went missing without
either of us actually removing them.

Once I’d calmed
down, I got up and took a shower, then skipped breakfast so I could
go straight to Katrina’s place, I needed to sort this out. Was I
ready to get involved in a relationship? Could we even still be
friends after kissing each other? I just didn’t know.

“Oh hi Tom,” I
said as Katrina’s brother answered the door. “Is Katrina in?”

“Yeah man,
she’s in her room,” he said, stepping away from the door and
heading back towards the kitchen.

“Is she awake?”
I asked as I followed.

He answered
with a simple shrug as he took a seat at the breakfast bar to
continue eating his cereal.

“Where’s your
mum and dad?”

“Mum’s hanging
washing and Dad’s gone to Bunnings. The lawn mower shat itself so
he’s gone to get a new one.”

Katrina’s
bedroom was just off the kitchen, so I turned where I was standing
and knocked gently before trying to open it, glad that she hadn’t
locked it when the knob turned in my hands.

She was sitting
up in bed reading, but put her book aside when she saw me come
in.

“Hey,” I said
in greeting.

“Hey yourself,”
she replied moving her legs, so I could sit down.

I looked around
the room briefly, taking in the dress she wore last night, the
dress she wore in my dream, as it hung over the back of her chair
with her shoes lying on the ground beside it.

Clearing my
throat, I pushed the dream out of my mind. “Listen Trina, about
last night…” I started.

“Oh god, here
we go,” she said, raking her hand through her now shoulder-length
hair, as she brought her knees up to her chest. “It’s fine David.
Let’s just forget about it ok. I feel stupid for what I said –
let’s just put it down to me being a little drunk and on the
rebound, ok?”

“No Trina, I
need to explain.” I told her, taking a deep breath before launching
into my practised speech. “Out of everyone in this world, you are
the most important person to me. I love you Trina, but I love you
as a friend. I can’t be anything more than that to you, and I don’t
know if I ever could. I don’t know if I ever want to be anyone’s
boyfriend, and as much as I liked kissing you last night, it can’t
happen again. If we were together, I really think I’d just mess it
up. I don’t think I’m built for relationships – my dad wasn’t and
perhaps I’m not either.” I could see the disappointment as it set
into her face and turned her eyes glassy. “I’m not explaining
myself very well am I? I guess I’m just sorry, please don’t let
this ruin us as friends.”

“No, you’re
making perfect sense. We’re friends, end of story – you really
didn’t need to give me the whole ‘love you like a friend’ speech. I
get it, and it’s fine,” she told me with a slight edge to her voice
that made me feel as though I’d fucked things up between us
anyway.

“Are you sure
you’re ok – you don’t look fine?”

She laughed.
“Good work David, you friend-zone me and then you tell me I look
crap. That’s really awesome.”

“No, you’re
beautiful. You're always beautiful – that’s not what I meant.”

Shaking her
head, she said, “It’s fine. Let’s just drop this whole thing,
ok?”

“Alright, well…
I’m going to head home. Maybe I’ll see you later?” I said, rising
from the bed and leaning forward to kiss her on the top of her
head. “You sure we’re good?”

“Positive
David. Now go home,” she sighed.

I grinned at
her and left, closing her door behind me and saying goodbye to Tom
as I headed for the front door. There was a knock just before I
reached it, so I called out, “Do you want me to get that?”

“Yeah, it
should be Ethan, let him in,” Tom called.

Opening the
door, I shook Ethan’s hand. “Hey man, I didn’t know you were
friends with Tom?”

“Yeah, we work
together at the cinema. Hey, we’re playing Halo – you want to join
in?”

“Nah, I’ve got
stuff to do, but have fun.” I told him as I went back home, glad I
had told Katrina how I felt, but worried that it was going to
somehow affect our friendship regardless.

After the night
of the formal, things were a little strained between Trina and me.
It’s not that we weren’t talking, because we were – there was just
a slight discomfort between us, one that wouldn’t go away no matter
how hard I tried to be friendly, or how much time we spent
together. When I questioned her, she claimed she was tired, and
sick of school, which I guess was understandable.

There were only
a couple of weeks left before the Christmas holidays kicked in,
which meant at least six weeks away from school life as well as all
the bullshit Cassie had continued to cause for us.

I had become
public enemy number one in her eyes and there wasn’t a day that
went by that someone didn’t call me some horrible name for
‘forcing’ her to have an abortion. It didn’t matter how many times
I told them I didn’t get her pregnant. They were more willing to
run with the scandal than they were to hear the truth.

Trina also
copped a bit of backlash for supposedly dumping Cassie as a friend
because she wanted me all to herself – something like that anyway.
There were a few different versions to the story, all had some
element of Katrina being insanely jealous of my non-existent
relationship with Cassie and doing everything she could to make
sure we couldn’t be together.

It was so
incredibly lame, and besides the handful of people I sat with at
lunch, I didn’t bother talking to anyone anymore. I had effectively
gone from the guy who called the shots, to the guy who everyone
kicked mud on. It sucked, that’s for sure. But at least I knew who
my friends were.

On top of
things being a little strained between me and Trina, I was still
dreaming about her. Almost every night when I closed my eyes, she
came to me. Rationally I knew that that was where my attraction
needed to stay – in my dreams.

I wanted Trina
to be in my life forever and as far as I could see – high school
relationships didn’t last that long. Better to be friends forever,
than to be lovers for a moment.

On the last
week of school, my mum surprised me with an envelope that held
tickets for us to go on a holiday to Bali. I had never been on a
plane before, and holidays had been non-existent for us since my
dad had left.

She said she’d
been saving up and wanted to do something fun to celebrate me doing
so well in my exams.

“I’m not sure
how you managed to do so well, because you never seem to study. But
I’m proud of you. I’m proud of your grades, and I’m proud of the
way you’ve handled all that crap that’s been put on you at school,”
she told me.

We went the two
weeks before Christmas, so we missed the really busy time, it was
fantastic. I could forget about all the shit back home and just be
me. We stayed at the Dynasty Resort, and they had this teen's club
called The Den where you could go to hang out away from your
parents. My mum got pretty involved with some of the tours, so I
spent a fair bit of time there, getting to know some people. It was
normal. It was fun and despite missing Katrina, I was sad when the
trip was over.

The first thing
I did when I landed was go and visit her. Christmas was in a couple
of days, and I wanted to give her the present I’d bought for her
while I was away.

“You’re back!”
she smiled, embracing me warmly when she opened her front door. All
the tension that had been between us seemed to have evaporated in
my absence, and I thought that a little time apart must have been
all we needed. She looked even more beautiful in person than she
did in my memory, and it suddenly felt as though I had been away
from her for longer than two weeks. She grabbed me by the hand and
pulled me inside, leading me toward the kitchen. Admittedly, my
thumb strayed a little and caressed the back of the soft skin on
her hand. “Tell me all about it. I’m so jealous – did you learn how
to surf?”

“Nah, surfing’s
never going to be my thing. I reckon if the waves keep pushing you
back to shore, you should take it as a sign that the ocean doesn’t
want you there.”

Dropping my
hand, she laughed. “I never thought about it like that before.”

“Here, I got
you a souvenir slash Christmas present while I was there. It’s not
wrapped sorry, I came straight over,” I told her handing her the
white paper bag.

“David! Thank
you. Do you want a drink? You must be tired. Did you seriously come
straight here?”

“Yeah. Why
wouldn’t I?” I shrugged.

“No reason,”
she laughed, pulling out two cans of coke and handing me one before
placing hers on the breakfast bar where we both sat. I watched as
she opened up the bag and slid out the bundle of tissue paper
inside that contained her gift, while I reached across the bench
top to pull the tab on her drink for her.

Removing her
gift from the wrapping, she turned it around in her fingers and
studied the patterns painted around the edge of it.

“It’s a
bangle,” I said, feeling stupid the moment the words popped out of
my mouth.

“I know that,”
she laughed, “I’m looking at it… is this all handmade?”

“Yeah, that’s
what they reckon anyway. They carve the wood themselves and then
paint all the little flowers on. Do you like it? I thought it was
pretty and well – girls like jewellery right?”

Katrina laughed
and nodded as she slid the bangle onto her wrist. “Thank you David.
It’s beautiful,” she said, leaning across the table and kissing me
on the cheek.

“You’re
welcome,” I smiled, taking a swig of my drink. It was at that
moment that her phone chose to beep with a message.

Pulling it out
of her pocket, she swiped at the screen and grinned broadly the
moment she saw it.

“What’s making
you grin like that?” I asked. Wondering what had been happening in
the two weeks I’d been gone.

“Oh, it’s
nothing… it’s just Ethan. You remember him right?”

“Of course I
do.”

“Yeah, well,
we’ve kind of been hanging out a bit lately. He’s really nice.”

A slight pang
shot through my chest and landed heavily in my stomach as I planted
what I hoped was an unfazed smile on my face. I had no right to
expect her not to move on from Ben, and I guess, in a way… me.

I cleared my
throat and took another drink. “Yeah, he seems like a good guy. Is
Tom weird about you hanging out with him?”

“No… oh, maybe
a little. But there’s not much he can do about it.” She flicked the
ring pull on her can with a twang as a quiet fell over us. “You’re
not weird are you?”

“Um no. Why
would I be?” I laughed, in this odd way that I hoped never to hear
come out of my mouth again.

“I don’t know…
Anyway, he’s coming over soon. He’s going to take me to a
movie.”

“Oh really?
Well, I should get going then. What time’s your bus?”

“He
drives.”

“Of course he
does. He’s actually finished school now isn’t he?”

“Yeah he is.
He’s just waiting to see if he’s going to uni or not.”

“What’s he
going to study?” I asked, making a great effort to sound
interested.

This weird
dreamy look came over her face, and I realised in that moment that
I had lost her. Suddenly, I really regretted not having the guts to
say yes to her. I didn’t want her to be Ethan’s. I wanted her to be
mine.

“I’m sorry –
what did you say?” I asked her, realising that her lips were
moving, but I hadn’t heard a word that came out of them.

“I said - He’s
actually thinking of becoming an optometrist,” she repeated.