Page 17 of Never Forget You

I feel like he wants to say something more, but he doesn’t. I should feel relieved since I’m looking forward to breathing easier again, but I’m not. I want to know what he has to say. I’m intrigued by him and his thoughts. If he brings up things between us from the past, then finally, I will be able to explain myself. I can’t be the one to say it first because it’s too embarrassing for words… or maybe I could, but I haven’t worked up the courage yet.

But he didn’t say it and there is a reason for that, because he doesn’t want to go back, so I need to stop this right now. I have to remind myself over and over again that he is Ella’s teacher and nothing more. Whatever he meant to me ten years ago is long in the past. The healthiest thing that I can do for both of us is to forget it.

Every aisle.Did I really have to bump into him on every aisle? It started off funny, then got weird, and at one point, we tried not speaking to one another but it didn’t work out. That ended up being more embarrassing. Honestly, what was supposed to be a nice and calm shopping trip to give me something to do while Ella is at her slumber party has become the most awkward rush of teenage hormones that I’ve ever experienced. Well, aside from when I actually was a teenager. But I might as well be again because I don’t know what to do with myself around him.

But the funny thing is I did know how to act around him back then. He was the only person who made me feel comfortable with just being me. That’s what made me so addicted to him. So, it must be me now who’s the issue. I’m all confused and don’t know what’s for the best. I guess that’s why it’s easier meeting with him only at the school because we both know exactly where we stand there. We have our roles assigned to us.

I pay quickly and escape out into the open air, carrying my bags with me as I go, looking forward to my break from this strangeness. Seeing Harry has left me breathless and quite honestly a little dizzy…

“Georgia.” Oh, God, it isn’t over yet. Why do I feel so damn excited about that? “Do you want a ride home? Those bags look heavy. I can get you back in a moment.”

It’s dangerous to say yes, isn’t it? I know it is. So, why the hell am I nodding?

14

HARRY

I’m not done talking to Georgia. This is the first chance that we have had to speak alone since she moved back, and I justknowthat I need to make the most of it. It seems like Ella is away for the night as well, which means she isn’t going to be in a rush. Perhaps this will be the time that we most definitely need to discuss everything.

“Do you need to go right home?” I ask as soon as she’s in the passenger’s seat next to me. “Or do you have time to go for a drink? There’s a nice bar nearby where we could go and… I don’t know, chat, I suppose.” I smile, trying to hide my awkwardness. “If you haven’t got any other plans for your night off? I don’t want to get in the way…”

“Shopping was it.” Georgia shrugs her shoulders. “So, yeah, I don’t see why not. I never got to know the bars here before, obviously because we were underage, so it’ll be nice to see another side of the town.”

Relief floods me as I start driving. Since I do know the owner of the bar, I also know that it won’t matter if I leave my car in the parking lot overnight. I’ve done it before on a Friday night andgot it on a Saturday morning, so if I want to have some alcohol myself, it won’t be an issue, and I might need a drink to have this talk.

Yep, I definitely think that we need a drink as we speed along the road, and there doesn’t seem like we have much to say. In reality, we have things that we want to get out, but it’s too awkward. Once we start this chat and unravel everything, a can of worms will be opened and we’ll have to get through it all. Right now, it feels like a thick bog and I don’t know how we’ll wade through it without drowning, but we aren’t going to have a better chance than this. If it isn’t now, then it might not happen at all. It’s scary, but I hope it’ll make things better in the future.

“Here we are.” I stare at the bar, now seeing it through Georgia’s eyes, or how I think she might be seeing it anyway, and it looks shabby and small. I know that this might not be a date, but it’s a little embarrassing. I wish I knew somewhere a bit flashier that I could take her, somewhere she’s a bit more used to. “It isn’t much.”

“It looks lovely.” But she’s smiling widely. She looks like she’s excited to go inside. This is the Georgia that I remember, the one who isn’t concerned about what anything costs or is worth. She’s just happy to do whatever. It floods me with an intense warmth that I just can’t get enough of. “I’m excited. I don’t know what to get to drink, though…”

She makes me laugh. I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to stop myself. There is still something naïve and sweet about her, a bit like she’s still the teenage her I once knew. I love having that side of her because it’s familiar.

“Well, we can experiment, can’t we?” I offer her a one-shouldered shrug. “See what we like.”

We head inside, and the warmth of the bar shrouds us quickly. There’s a real small-town feel to this bar that I haven’t noticed until now, but now that I’ve seen it, I can’t not notice it any longer. But it isn’t a bad thing to spot. I like it. Especially when it seems to pull Georgia magnetically closer to me, our bond tightening by the minute.

“Anything but wine, please.” She screws up her face in disgust. “I presume you’re buying, and I don’t like wine. It’s horrible. Bitter. I don’t get why wealthy people drink it all the time. Something like fruity cider, maybe.”

She takes the table in the corner of the room as I head up to the bar. I order the drinks, but I’m barely paying attention to anyone else surrounding me. All I can see is her. Georgia is so beautiful, so sweet, so stunning. I thought at some point that I might have put her up on a pedestal and imagined her as more gorgeous than she really is, but definitely not. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Angelic. Perfect.

I love her.I know that I shouldn’t. I haven’t forgotten what my mom said to me, and I do want to protect myself, but my heart flip-flops for her. I can’t stop myself from tumbling headfirst all over again.I will always love her.

I take the drinks over to the table, and after a few sips, we slip into a place of reminiscing. It isn’t exactly us talking about what happened, we are just skating around the issue, but it’s better than nothing. Plus, I like talking about the past. It’s fun. We shared a lot of good times together. We had fun. With all of the heartbreak that came afterward, sometimes it’s hard to remember that we really did have the best time ever.

But with every drink that flows, more memories come out and we end up laughing like crazy. We giggle wildly, probablymaking enough noise to have everyone in the bar looking at us, but neither of us notices. We’re too busy focusing on one another, making eyes at each other, amping up the definite sexual tension between us. We can try and deny it as much as we want to, but it’s buzzing and sizzling between us. We might as well be on fire.

“You know, I saw Matthew the other day,” she suddenly declares, soaking me in shock. I didn’t expect the conversation to go this way, but I guess now we’re here. “Not to talk to or anything, but I did see him.” She looks away from me and begins swirling the liquid around in her glass. “He really doesn’t like me, huh? I could see it.”

“Oh…” I’m stunned. I don’t know what to say to that one. “Well, I don’t know that he doesn’tlikeyou…”

“He thinks that I broke your heart.” Now she meets my eyes, and I can’t find the words to say anything, even to deny this to protect her. “And I probably did, but I would like you to know that it isn’t what you think.”

I don’t knowwhatto say. For a few agonizing moments there is nothing but silence between us. I have to fill it.

“I sent you a lot of messages,” I declare quietly. “And I didn’t get a reply to any of them, even though you promised in your letter that we were going to keep in touch, that we were going to find one another…”

The pain that I’ve tried to lock away for a decade rolls off my tongue. I can’t stop it. I would like to reel it in a bit so I don’t make things any worse for her, but it’s too late. It’s out there now, and she can feel it too.

---