Away With Him

10 - Skipping A Beat

Glorious. If I could use one word to describe my next few weeks in France, it would be glorious. I couldn't really believe that this was my life. I was living with a boy who made me feel so special and who I loved being around. And the best part is that he loved being around me too. I couldn't remember a time in my life when I had constantly been this happy.

Mom and Dad had calmed down after only a minute of my most recent phone call with them. They said that I sounded much better than normal. And they sounded much happier hearing me be happy.

Although there always has to be negatives. It was really hard to restrain myself from hugging or kissing Max in public and I could see that it was difficult for him too. Every time I saw him I just wanted to wrap my arms around my boyfriend. I still get tingles saying those words. He's my boyfriend.

In the evenings we can make out to our hearts content in either of our bedrooms but we have to stay quiet in case anyone else in the house hears us and comes to investigate. That's especially hard when Violette's room is right beside Max's, and the walls are thin. Any time we hear even the littlest creak of a floorboard we leap apart from each other and attempt to regain our composure before either Camille or Louis come into the room, which really kills the mood.

I do love the nights when we take long walks through the fields behind the cottage and watch the sunset. Sometimes we lie down in the grass and stay there for hours, not caring about the cold breeze or the dirty ground. Sometimes we'd talk, or sometimes we'd just enjoy each other's presence. It could be pitch black around but I always felt safe because I knew that Max was there right beside me. Princess the dog would occasionally accompany us on our nighttime adventures. Aside from Ellie, she was the only other being who knew about our relationship.

Something that wasn't so glorious was school. It was frustrating being so close to Max but being unable to see him. And I think some of Max's friends were starting to notice that he wanted spend more time with me than with them. And they didn't like that one bit. Frankly I couldn't care less what they thought.

"Pssst, Riley are you coming out with us this weekend?" Charles poked me in the arm with his pencil as he loudly whispered to me. We were supposed to be studying silently in class.

"No, I can't do this weekend. Sorry," I replied.

"Aw come on! You're gonna ditch on your girlfriend again?"

"For the hundredth time she's not my girlfriend," I groaned, lightly punching him in the shoulder. He held his hand over where I had just hit and gave me bashful look to which I just laughed and rolled my eyes in response.

Charles had become the closest thing to my best friend in France, beside Max of course. We had the same twelve-year-old sense of humour. He was the only bearable thing about spending time with Nadine. Because Danielle was basically attached to Nadine at the hip, Charles followed wherever she went. It was clear to me that Charles wasn't all that interested in Danielle and only stayed with her for a high position on the school's social ladder. Honestly I couldn't blame him for that. It seemed like they were both happy enough to make out and have sex in order to stay popular.

Charles had confided in me that he didn't have many male friends. Usually he'd get to know whoever Nadine was dating but that never lasted more than a couple months.

"I just don't get why you don't want to be with her," Charles continued, "Dude, she's the hottest fucking girl in the grade, maybe in the school. And she's throwing herself at you. That never happens."

"All I hear about Nadine is how she gets with a guy and then moves onto the next one when she's tired. I don't have time to deal with that. Besides, she's not my type anyway," I explained quietly. Charles considered what I said before nodding in agreement. My leg was nervously shaking under the table, hoping that Charles wouldn't ask me what my 'type' was. I didn't feel comfortable telling him that girls aren't my type at all.