Page 75 of Student Seduction
She nodded her approval but I could see the disbelief all over her. She wasn’t buying what I was selling.
Before she could ask any follow-up questions, I practically sprinted out the door, nearly slamming into Aiden on the deck.
“Nice place,” he said, leaning back to get a good look at the house.
“It’s got a beautiful view,” was all I could think of. It wasn’t my house. It was my dad and Deb’s. I slept in a guest room. Which I would do until I started school in Santa Barbara in a few weeks.
He glanced out at the ocean. “So…how’s school going?”
It was the equivalent of him asking how’s the weather. Surely he hadn’t come all this way to make small talk.
“Uh, it’s not.” We made our way down the stairs to the path where the sand was firm. “I talked to my dad and with so much going on, it actually made more sense for me to get my GED.” Unsure what to do with my hands, I tucked them into my pockets as we walked. “Most of the art schools around here accept them. I applied and got into the Santa Barbara Art Institute. They’re letting me start taking classes this spring.”
He angled his body toward mine. “Emersyn, that’s wonderful.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t qualify for any scholarships but my dad is helping and I’ll take out loans.”
“How’s Ethan doing? Still playing baseball?”
I nodded. “They let him have a walk-on tryout at his new school and he made the team. They have their first game in a few weeks.”
“And your mom?”
I sighed. “She’s traveling with her friend, or her girlfriend really. Kat. We don’t really talk a lot but she does text and tell me she loves and misses me and she’s proud of me. So that’s something.”
He stopped walking. “It will be dark soon. Feel like getting wet?”
His words stirred something that had been lying dormant inside of me. Deb had wanted to me to get counseling. She was worried I was depressed. But I hadn’t felt depressed. I just hadn’t felt anything.
Now I felt…something.
“Like in the ocean?”
He nodded. “I have an early flight tomorrow. But I didn’t want to come all this way and not at least step foot in the ocean.
It was warm enough out but the water would be cool. “Okay. It will drop ten degrees when the sun goes all the way down, so if we’re doing this, it has to be now.”
My stomach did the somersault routine it usually performed in his presence as I stripped down to my bra and panties.
He got down to his boxer briefs as I admired the view.
“You got new tattoos,” I noted once we were standing knee deep in the ocean.
On his left shoulder was fresh ink he hadn’t had before.
“I did.”
I took two steps closer so I could inspect it.
My stomach did a quick dive and swooped upward at the sight of the dark marks on his skin.
It was my painting, the mixed-medium one I’d done for my class at Southeastern and left behind in North Carolina.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said softly. “I went by your house and your mom told me I could have it.”
The sunrise I’d painted in ketchup and mustard then transferred to canvas was now inked permanently on his shoulder along with fragments of broken glass and a ferris wheel. Looking closer I could see an ocean wave threatening to drown it all. The shading was impeccable.
“Aiden,” I began, unsure of how to put my feelings into words.
