Chapter Twenty-Two | Talia

My head is on Nick's lap while we watch a movie in the beach house when his cell phone rings. I lift my head long enough for Nick to stretch and reach over to the nightstand to pick up his phone.

It's been one week since the misunderstanding about Ms. Carver and the shower. Maybe I forgave him too quickly, but my gut was telling me that he was telling the truth- so I believed him.

I swear it's as if Nick thought I was gone for five months and not five hours when I ignored his calls and texts until I told him where I was. He's been so sweet these last few days and more protective than usual and I know it's because he was scared of losing me, so I don't mind.

These last few days have been nothing short of amazing and other than the fact that we have to pretend to just be teacher-students in school- I can see this working out for the long haul. And sure, I still have to deal with other girls at school shamelessly flirting with him, other female teachers finding any excuse to touch his bicep-- I told myself that there was only one more month left of school before I graduate, then Nick and I wouldn't have to hide our relationship anymore.

"Hey Caitlin." I hear Nick say. "Yeah, she's here." Our eyes connect while he still his his phone pressed to his ear. "Hold on." He grumbles before pulling the phone away from his ear and pressing a button.

"Hi Talia!" Caitlin's bubbly voice vibrates over the phone.

"Hi Caitlin." I smile.

"I'm so glad you're there! I just wanted to invite you and Nick out to dinner with me and Ryan tonight."

"Like a double date?"

"Yeah. So would you be interested?" Caitlin wonders.

I look up at Nick who simply shrugs. The decision was up to me. "We'd love to have dinner with you guys. What time?"

"Amazing! I'll text Nick the restaurant information but let's meet up at eight." Caitlin tells me.

"Sounds great. See you soon!" I call out before Nick hangs up. "Ooh, we're going on a double date." I grin up at him until I see he's giving me a look. "What?"

"We need to work on our silent communication skills." Nick says, making me laugh.

"What? I thought the look you gave me meant you wanted me to decide."

"Yeah, and I was hoping you'd pick staying home with me and let me eat you for dinner."

My body shakes with laughter, so much so that I almost roll of the couch. I take a deep breath to calm myself down before speaking again. "Aww baby. I'm sorry. I guess I was just excited. We've never gone on a double date as a couple before."

"Fine. We can go. Only because I get to show you off." Nick says and I smile before leaning up to touch his lips.

"And who knows? Maybe we can take dessert home." I smirk at him before I stand up from the couch.

"Are you talking about actual dessert or you?"

"Both." I answer before I jog up the stairs, leaving Nick to stare after me.

****

I just finished swiping the last coat of lipgloss to my lips when Nick steps into the room. He really is too good-looking. It's not fair. Especially with how he's dressed for tonight's dinner. The sleeves of his royal blue shirt is rolled up to his elbows revealing very tan and muscular arms, the black pants showcase his powerful thighs and he smells like a mixture of something fresh and spicy and I'm suddenly regretting agreeing to coming out to dinner and not staying in like Nick suggested.

Nick wraps his arms around my waist from behind the second he's close enough. "You look beautiful."

I smile. I was feeling extra girly tonight so I wore a burnt orange maxi dress with tiny flowers all over and paired the dress with a pair of wrap around white heels. "Thank you."

Nick presses a kiss to my shoulder in response before moving up to my collarbone, the base of my throat before he spins me around so that I'm now pressed between him and sink. He leans in but I hold up my tube of lipgloss in front of my lips to stop him. "I just finished lining my lips."

"Do it again." He tells me before devouring my lips in a hot, heated kiss. And yes, I had to redo my whole lipstick routine again, but it was so so worth it.

We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later than we were supposed to, but it worked out because Caitlin and Ryan were running late too because Isabella was throwing a fit about joining them. Nick and I agreed to wait at our table until they arrive.

"I'm a little nervous." I admit as Nick and I follow behind the pretty host to our seats. When Caitlin first mentioned the idea of a double date I had let my excitement about going out as a couple and getting dolled up dull my nerves, but now that I'm actually here, in a restaurant full of people, any of which could be a parent of one of Nick's students- could see us-- I was beginning to regret my decision to come out.

"Why?"

"What if someone recognizes us?"

"Like who? Talia, relax. I'm allowed a life outside of the classroom."

"But-"

"But nothing." Nick cuts me off before giving my hand a squeeze. "It's going to be a good night."

"Here you are. A server will be right with you with some waters in a moment." The host turns to us and smile before she walks off.

"Babe, you look tense," Nick chuckles. "No one is going to recognize us."

"Nick?"

A chill runs down my spine at the female's voice and every bone in my body tenses up. No. It can't be her...

I turn my head just in time to see Mrs. Carver coming our way. Her smile was friendly enough but I didn't miss the suspicion in her eyes as she looked between Nick and me.

"Josslyn? What a surprise." Nick replies, taking a cool step away from me. I hope Mrs. Carver didn't see how close we were before or Nick holding my hand.

This isn't the first time I've run into Mrs. Carver since the whole shower incident. The first day in class it took superhuman strength not to punch her in her face for coming on to Nick like that. Whether or not she knew he was dating someone, she still shouldn't have made a move like that. She's married for crying out loud! A part of me wanted to expose her to her husband but then that might bring attention to my relationship to Nick and that's the last thing I wanted. So, instead, I settled for giving her dirty looks in the classroom and clip responses whenever she asked for an answer to anything.

100

"I thought that was you." She smiles and I can't tell if she's brave or desperate for still looking at Nick with lust in her eyes even after he turned her down. "And Talia? What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you Mrs. Carver," I reply instead, buying myself some time to come up with an answer that she would believe. "I was waiting for my date to arrive but it looks like I'm being stood up," I lied. "I was just getting ready to leave when Mr. Cross saw me and came over to say hello."

"Oh." I don't think she believed me. "And you Nick? Are you waiting for a date?" She sounded a little jealous.

"Not that it's any of your business Josslyn, but I'm here to have dinner with my sister and her husband." It was the truth. Not the whole truth, but still.

"What a coincidence that we're all here tonight." Jossyln says.

"I know. Are you here with your husband? Maybe I should stop by and say hello." Nick replies and I have to bite down on my lower lip to keep from laughing at how wide Josslyn's eyes got at Nick's subtle threat.

"I'm actually here with a few other colleagues."

Josslyn tells us before her eyes land on me. "You look beautiful Talia. Don't you agree Nick?"

Nick shrugs. "I guess."

"I'm going to leave. I see enough of the both of you during the week." I say. "I'll see you guys on Monday." I make a quick exit before either of them can say anything.

I make it outside the restaurant just as Caitlin and Ryan approach.

Caitlin looks gorgeous in a hot pink dress with her dark her falling in waves over her shoulder while Ryan looks handsome in a light pink dress shirt.

"Hey honey," Caitlin greets me before she's bringing me for a hug. "Where are you going? "Where's my brother?"

"Inside. We ran into one of my other teachers inside, so I had to come up with an excuse to leave." I explain.

"Shit." Ryan curses.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Caitlin wonders.

"For ruining our dinner plans. I should've known that coming out with Nick wasn't a good idea."

"Hey, it's not your fault. You had no idea something like this was going to happen." Caitlin reassures me.

"Don't worry about dinner, we can always go somewhere else."

I open my mouth to tell her they shouldn't have to change restaurants because of me when Nick calls out my name.

"We'll give you guys a minute." Ryan says before he wraps an arm around Caitlin's waist and guides her towards the entrance of the restaurant.

Nick guides me off to the side of the restaurant so we're not blocking the entrance and we'd have a little bit more privacy.

"I hate this." I says, speaking in a hushed tone. "I hate that I can't be with you in public. We should be in there together right now."

"I know. I hate this too. But we can always go somewhere else?"

"Can we? What if we run into the fucking dean this time?" Were all our dates destined to be indoors and town away where no one could see us? I was starting to feel like his little secret and a dirty one at that.

"I know it's hard, but this is what we signed up for when we agreed to give our relationship a try."

"I know, but I don't think I can handle keeping us a secret anymore. I want more Nick. I want to be able to walk down the street and hold hands with my boyfriend without looking over my shoulder."

"We can't."

"Maybe we were just fooling ourselves, Nick." I say, suddenly feeling exhausted. "We're too different and dating someone shouldn't be this hard. Maybe we should take a break."

"You don't mean that."

"I do," Even though my heart was breaking, I meant it. "Goodbye Nick."