Forbidden To Love (The Erosians) (14 page)

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I erm … my sister rang me and asked me to pick something up for her, I was going past here on my way back so thought I’d call over and say hi,” I hope he leaves it at that and doesn’t ask me which shop; I have no idea what any of the shops round here are.                                                        “Your sister Amora?” he simply asks whilst following my gaze out to sea.                                                                                    “No,  Allana” I automatically respond. There would be no way in my mind I’d be doing favours for Amora!                            “You’ve got two sisters then?” His question is perfectly innocent, but already I'm in double figures with the lies I’ve been forced to tell him - not exactly how I wanted to begin our relationship.                                                                      “Yeh, they’re both older than me. What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”                                                        “I don’t know” he replies, his voice disappearing at the end.                                                                                                  How could he not know?                                                        “What do you mean?” I probably should have taken the hint from how he drifted off at the end and not continued with the questions.                                                        “I don’t know my real family.” He turns to me with  sadness filling his eyes. I don’t speak as I can feel he’s got more to say. “I was left outside my now parents’ house when I was a baby.”                                                                                                                “How awful,” I automatically reach my hand for his; he offers it to me willingly and pulls me closer to him, so my head rests on his shoulder. His free arm curves around my hips, his fingers curl around my hip resting delicately on my waist. From this angle,  I can see the curve of his neck leading me to his jaw and from there his lips.                                                        “It’s not so bad, my gram and gramps are pretty cool, they’re a bit old, you see, for me to be calling them mum and dad, so gram and gramps works well.” He smiles clearly fond of his involuntarily adopted parents.                                                        “Have you ever tried to find your real family?” I'm sure this conversation isn’t one he wants to be having but I the desire inside of me to know every part of him is ruling my mouth.                                                                                                  “Nah, they left me no note, nothing, and never came back to check on me, so why bother looking for them?” I'm not sure what to say to that.                                                                      “What about your folks, are they cool?” He turns his attention back to me. What am I supposed to say to that?              I could tell him that I was moulded and created by Prometheus under Zeus’s instructions, and what I was intended for, but I think we should at least have a first date before I go dropping bombshells like that.                                          “They’re both dead.” That’s as good as any response I could give! I force myself to gulp, in an attempt to feign upset as best I can. Instantly a wave of guilt crashes over me; how could I use an excuse which could very well be real for Josh.                           
                                                                                    “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, pulling me closer into him. Josh’s touch is one which fills me with such excitement and possibilities!                                                                                                  “It’s fine. It was a long time ago, I … ”

              “Well look what we have here.” I was about to say how happy I was living with Allana when Stacey struts over with her entourage interrupting us.                                                        “Stacey, what can we do for you?” Josh asks without turning to her or moving his arm from around me. Instead, he tightens his grip, so I don’t move from him, not that I was planning to. Stacey’s eyes are burning, and she looks like a bull ready to charge when she sees Josh’s hand in mine.              “Nothing,” she snarls. “We were just going to see if you were ready to go.”                                                                                    Josh looks at me, his eyes sparkling. “Nah, I think I’ll hang here for a bit longer.” He flashes me that heart-melting smile, and I openly send him one back.                                          “Fine,” she all but screams and storms back to the rest of the group.                                                                                    Josh squeezes my hand. “You don’t mind me hanging here with you a while longer?” His usually almost black eyes become a warmer brown shade.                                                        “What would you do if I said yes,” I ask, flirting just a bit. He takes his hand from around my waist and clutches it to his chest where his heart would be and fakes a gasp.                            “I’d do what I could to change your mind.” He lies down on his back and puts his free behind his head.                            “You sound pretty sure you could talk me round?”              “It wasn’t talking I had in mind”                                                        My cheeks burn red, I look out to sea hoping to mask my blush. Our fingers are still intertwined, and he gives my hand a gentle tug, so I lay down next him, careful to keep a distance between us. I don’t want to force myself on him. Well, that’s a lie. I’d love to lay down right next to him so his arms can curl around my shoulders and pull me in closer, but I won’t - we’re in public and hardly know each other.                            It’s quiet as we both just lay, enjoying the feel of the warm sand underneath our bodies. Our breathing becomes perfectly in rhythm.                                                                      “Have you lived here long?” Josh breaks the silence. I feel weird trying to answer him when I can’t actually see him. I roll onto my stomach and prop myself up on my arms. He turns his head towards mine so we can see each other.                            I almost lose myself in his eyes, but I quickly regain my control. Remember, Acacia, you’re trying to lose the labels ‘stalker’ and ‘weirdo’.                                                        “About eight months, I think.” I look out into the distance, counting back mentally exactly how many months have passed since that dark day when I was created and dismissed without consideration.                                                        “I didn’t think I’d seen you around the halls until recently,” there’s wistfulness to his voice; is he sad that he hasn’t met me until now?                                                                      “You probably never would if I hadn’t been caught staring at you,” I mutter. Why bring that episode up Acacia?              “I noticed you before then anyway,” he whispers. His voice ties my stomach into knots and makes my heart hammer against my rib cage. Josh rolls onto his side so now we’re facing each other. Our hips are only inches apart. Josh begins to stroke my hair as he reaches the tips, his fingers continue onto my shoulders and down my arm.

              “Really?” I try to control the sudden stammer in my voice, but it’s hard when he’s electrifying my entire body!                “Yeh, of course. I was hoping when you were wandering over to me that you’d noticed me looking at you. I actually freaked out, I thought you were coming to tell me to quit it”              My mouth drops open. “I’ve never even seen you look at me!” I exclaim, “         But I like it that you did.”                                                        “So am I”                                                                                    His fingers trail along my side causing me to jump as he tickles me – although I'm not sure that was the reaction he was looking for. His cheeks flush and he moves his hand away from my body.                                                                                    “So … there’s the Autumn Arrival ball next week,” he recovers. I’d forgotten all about that, I was going to go to do my job, and it seems our school has a slight obsession with balls. There’s the ‘Spring Fling', the ‘Midsummer’s Dream Ball’, the impending ‘Autumn Arrival Ball’, the end the year ‘Winter Waltz’, and of course there’s Prom in the middle of all that.                                                                                                                Then there are the after-parties and beach gatherings. I swear the social calendar is fuller than the academic one!                                                                                    “Would you like to go with me?” he asks, looking deeper into my eyes. His eyes penetrate me to my core and turn everything I thought I knew about myself upside down. I didn’t ever dream about the possibility of going with someone else but going with Josh sounds like the perfect idea, my very first real date.

Josh
’s eyes change from the chocolate brown to the darker variety as he looks around anxiously. I’m too wrapped up in picturing the night than actually agreeing for it to happen.              “I’d love to,” I do my best to keep my voice light rather than delirious with how happy I'm feeling right now.              “Great,” he grins. “I really need to get going now; I promised my gramps I’d help him in the house.” Reluctance seeps into his voice, which lifts my whole heart.                                          I nod glancing at my watch “Whoa is that the time already?” It’s near six. Allana’s going to wonder where I’ve got to seeing as school lets out at three. “I better go too. You need to me to drop you at your car?”                                                        “I forgot about that. You sure you don’t mind? Feels a bit backwards you driving me home in a way,” he laughs uncomfortably.                                                                                                  “It’s fine. I drive past school to get home anyway.” Standing I brush the sand off the back of my legs. Josh jumps up next to me placing his hand on the lower part of my back.              We walk towards the car park, both glancing at each other and laughing. He moves his hand to grab mine, his eyes shine, and his smile has never been more gorgeous. I don’t know why I ever doubted our feelings for each other. Nothing has ever felt  righter than this.                                                        We reach the car, and I start to fumble around in my bag for my keys letting go of Josh’s hand in the process. He moves his hands to my hips, leans back against my car and pulls me towards him. I forget about searching for my keys and allow him to press my body against his. I can feel every hard line of his body mirroring the soft rises and dips of my own. Breathing in his entrancing scent the electric buzz comes alive between us again as one of his hands moves further up my back and the other snakes around my waist. Tingles start at my toes and spread rapidly to my thighs, Josh leans in towards me, and I willingly arch my neck tilting my head up, so my lips are easily in reach. His eyes close and I hear him groan as his breath hits my mouth - and then my phone rings.                                                                                                  I stop frozen in his arms, his lips so close to mine if I moved slightly mine would mould against his. Josh laughs first shaking his head to the floor. I laugh too staring at the sky and silently cursing the Fates! I pull my phone out of my bag as Josh walks around to the passenger side of the car. Whoever is on the end of this line better have something good to say.                                                                                    “Hello,” I almost bark down the line but I compose myself just in time. I unlock the car and climb in as Josh does the same.                                                                                    “Acacia?” Allana’s voice comes through, and she sounds worried. “Are you ok? Where are you?” Why is she so concerned? She never usually worries if I'm not home within the exact time it takes to drive from school. And yes she has timed it; it was a precautionary measure when I first came to the mortal realms so she’d know if I were in trouble!                            “Yeh I’m fine Lana. Why what’s up?” I turn to Josh and roll my eyes, hoping he gets that I'm sorry about all this.

“
Nothing, just wondered where you’d got to.” Her voice shakes as she tries to make it casual, but I can still hear the tension.                                                                                                  “I was at the beach. I'm heading home now.” I try to end the conversation, but Allana doesn’t reply. “Lana?”                            “Yeh … um … ok. I’ll see you when you get here.” The line goes dead. A gut curdling feeling starts in the pit of my stomach. If something has got Allana worried, I seriously need to be worried too.                                                                                    “Bit overprotective?” Josh interrupts my internal questioning                                                                                                  “What, sorry?” Now is not the time to start worrying about my Goddess side of life; I need to try and focus on the mortal part. “Yeh, she is a bit.”                                                                      The look on Josh’s face as he scans around my car quickly stops my mental overdrive! I try to look round too without him noticing, to make sure there’s nothing embarrassing hanging around.                                                        “Nice car” he says. He’s just being polite considering what I’ve seen him drive - well the outside anyway - but if the interior is only a tenth as cool, my car is easily put to shame.              “Bit girlier than what you’re used to be being seen in” I smile at him. “You going to be embarrassed if we see any of your friends?”                                                                                    Josh takes a second to give me an ‘Are you being serious?' look. “Of course I'm not. Trust me, if anyone did see me sitting in your car, they wouldn’t be thinking 'Ha, look at Josh in that car', they’d be thinking 'How the hell did Josh manage to get a ride with Acacia?” he relaxes into the seat to prove his point. I blush slightly as I stop at the traffic lights.