Whilst the unsuspecting pair sat at the other end of the pub, they had no idea, that they were in actual fact in full view of their colleges, who by now were sat with a look as disbelief written all over their faces. They had not taken their eyes off the pair since they had re-entered the pub with mussed up hair and flushed faces.
Letting out a low whistle of approval unheard by the two new arrivals, Steph wheeled round to look at Matt, before sticking out her hand and demanding the £20 she had bet him that Rachel and Eddie would get together at some point during the school, year. Her pay day just seemed to have moved up by a few months.
"Come on hand it over, there is clear proof right in front of you. I don't even need to cheat this time round." Steph taunted as she watched Matt dive into his wallet and rummage around, before he produced the note, handing it over with a disgruntled look on his face.
"That's not fair Steph; we bet they would get to last school year, not this. So technically I don't owe you anything." Matt whined back as he placed his now lighter wallet back into his coat pocket.
"Shh, it doesn't matter I still win. Just be happy that you're losing this now and not later on in the year. Me winning this now means we can start a new bet which this lot, if they want, can be involved in." She replied as she got up and made her way to the bar and got a round of drinks in, never taking her eyes off the newly formed couple, who had yet to break from their kiss and acknowledge the area surrounding them.
"Thank god, that's finally happened, now we don't have to sit through meetings where they have eye sex, across the table." Tom groaned out, though still happy that his friends had finally found the happiness they deserved in one another.
"Eyes sex?" Jasmine questioned, unsure of what Tom was talking about.
"Yeah you know, that thing they do when all they do is stare at each other and it gets really awkward after wards. It's them having sex with their eyes, sometimes it does get a bit annoying. It usually happens when we have a meeting or at break and lunch in the staff room. Then again it happens just about every time you see them together." Davina explained to her confused friend.
"Oh" Was her only reply as she sat back with her drink in hand and observed firsthand what Tom was talking about.
"Yeah oh and to think it's going to get worse if they don't hurry up and get it on in the bedroom soon." Tom groaned.
"Hush you, I think it's sweet, they both deserve each other, god knows that they need each other after last school year and if the beginning of this one is any indication it's going to be one hell of a ride." Davina said as she made her sentiments known to the group, who by now were steadily becoming more tipsy, with each passing trip Steph or Matt made to the bar.
Sitting back with a new round of drinks in front of them, they continued to spy on the bosses, whilst keeping up a lively conversation on how the first day back from the summer holidays went off with a hitch or two.
The reality of the situation finally dawned on the grumpiest of the group, when Grantly exclaimed to no one in particular.
"Great now the heads of the school are going to be off doing who knows what in a cleaner's closet. This school really has stooped low. Not that it wasn't that low before, considering the children we teach every day, but now it's really going to the dogs. "
"Oh hush up Rugly, just because you ain't getting any from Fleur, you don't have to be a spoil sport about Rachel and Eddie. They are happy and that's all that matters. You just sit back with your pint and try to keep your hair on." Steph smiled sweetly at Grantly, knowing that the expression on her face meant pain if he opened his trap again and said a bad word about the couple in front of them who had finally managed to detached themselves and make a start on the drinks on their table, oblivious to the curious stares of their colleagues.
"What you know it's true, just you wait, as soon as the door to Rachel's office is closed, they will be at it like bunnies"
"That ain't a bad thing seeing as though they both need a, decent shag or two." Matt said sounding very proud of himself, for making such an obvious, observation. "Hell knows I need one." He muttered under his breath, so only he could hear, knowing that if one of them heard him, they would tell Steph and she would be on his case like a rabid dog, setting him up with some of her friends.
"Matt's right, they both do need a good lay and just by looking at them you can tell they will be happy together, so you can't begrudge them for that. Anyway enough about those two, what do you think to the Kelly's?" Tom said as he backed up Matt's claim in the process once again shutting Grantly up, always a plus in anyone's book.
"Barking bloody mad the lot of them. That Earl Kelly should be locked up, you know he had the nerve to sleep in my lesson, and then he walked out, as if my lesson meant nothing." Steph exclaimed, thankful for a new and interesting subject to gossip about.
Turning back to their discussion on the latest arrivals and problems of Waterloo Road, they couldn't help but notice 20 minutes later when they had exhausted the new line of gossip that Rachel and Eddie were getting ready to head out.
Disappearing out of the door and round the corner without looking back and showing any regret over their decision to try and make it work between them.
Outside as their colleagues continued their quest to drink the pub dry and Steph's ear bursting cover of 'Like a Virgin', Rachel and Eddie had started the short walk back to the school car park to pick up their cars and part from a very life changing evening at the local pub.
"Rach we can head back to mine and I can cook for us. That is only if you're okay with it?" Eddie suggested a bit uncertain as to how she would receive his idea, as they approached where her car was parked.
"I'd like very much, just please don't poison me." Rachel laughed as she climbed into her car. "I'll follow behind you."
"Alright." He replied, relieved that she hadn't shot him down at the first hurdle.
"Hey I resent that, I can cook you know." He shouted as he got into his car, only just cottoning onto her little joke about his cooking skills. All he could see was her laughing figure, through the windshield of her car.
20 minutes later, they had finally arrived at Eddie's home and had gotten a bottle of wine from out of the fridge, were stood in Eddie's case and sat in Rachel in his kitchen, preparing their evening meal, of the only thing he could make, spaghetti bolognaise.
Looking up from the stove Eddie couldn't help but stare at the beautiful woman in front of him, not quite believing that she was there, sat in his kitchen, drinking his wine and minutes away from sharing a meal with him.
Feeling Eddie's eyes on her Rachel looked up from where she was, swirling the wine in her glass around and looked directly at him and for the first time in a very long time, feeling content and happy with the risk she had taken by letting him into her heart. Smiling softly at him, she slipped off the stool nearest the breakfast bar and started to walk around the 1st floor looking at all the pictures that adorned his walls.
Watching her walk off and seem so like she belonged there, Eddie returned the meal, not wanting it to burn and prove her right on her earlier assumption, that he couldn't cook. Figuring he could leave the bolognaise slowly cooking on a low gas setting he, pulled off the apron and followed her route into the living room.
Sneaking up behind her and winding his arms around her waist, causing her to jump, he lightly dropped his chin onto her shoulder and peered at the picture that had her attention. Seeing that it was the one of him and Michael, from when they went to Alton Towers not even 2 weeks earlier.
"You have a very beautiful son Eddie; I wish you got to spend more time with him." Rachel whispered as she continued to study the laughing faces in the photo.
"I agree, but he's nothing compared your beauty." He answered as he placed delicate kisses on her exposed neck.
Shivering from the sensations he was evoking in her, Rachel twisted around in his arms and captured his lips with her. This kiss was slow and gentle, no mad rush to explore unknown territory, they took their own sweet time to learn and the nuisances of the other. Compared to their other kisses that were more rushed and lust fuelled, this kiss wiped any leftover doubts they may have had that their relationship wouldn't work outside of professional bounds.
Breaking from the kiss, due to pressing need for oxygen, they stood there just revelling in each other's presence.
"Dinners nearly ready and I haven't burnt it, thank you very much." Eddie said earning and laugh from Rachel, leaving Eddie thinking that her laugh was the most amazing thing he had ever heard. Taking her hand, Eddie led them back into the kitchen so could serve up the Spaghetti bolognaise, thankfully it hadn't gone up in flames as they had their little moment in the living room.
"This looks wonderful Eddie." Rachel commented as she carried the wine and their glasses to the table. Taking a seat opposite him, Rachel couldn't help observe how relaxed he looked compared to the man who she spent 6 hours a day with sorting out the delinquents and moody teachers.
"Thank you; this is probably the only thing that I can cook without burning the house down, apart from pizza."
"I'm not really any better in the kitchen, my Mum always tried to instil some housewife qualities into me, I just couldn't seem to concentrate on anything she was saying, she gave up after her 3rd attempt when I did a runner from the house when she called for me. I came home later on that night, to find her and my Dad on the sofa watching some soap with my dinner in the oven keeping warm; she didn't bother trying after that, she started on my younger sister." She regaled, as Eddie absorbed all the information she had given, him as she didn't often talk about her family and her childhood.
"My Mum was like that but she seemed to give up after an hour when I managed to burn the chicken, set the kitchen on fire and singe 1 of her eyebrows." He retold as she burst into laughter, imagining the scene he had described, knowing that only he could manage something like that.
"Now that is something I can actually picture you doing." She managed to get out through her giggles.
"Well let's just say I was grounded for a month after that, the only reason I can even cook this is because when I was 15 I spent the summer at my great Aunts and she is one of those women who adore cooking. Anyway someone must have told her about my kitchen mishap and she then made it her mission for the end of the summer to have me cooking at least one edible dish. We had so much fun, from the flour fights to the smoke filled rooms when I fell asleep waiting for some cookie's we had made to finish cooking. I don't think the local firehouse had ever had so many calls in summer except that one." Eddie recalled, waving his arms around to emphasize just how much of a mess he had made. "Though as the end of the summer approached she had given up on complicated dishes and set about teaching me simple pasta dishes and I guess this one just stuck." By now he had Rachel in a fit, holding her sides that were aching, with all the laughter she had done.
"She sounds like a wonderful woman, especially with the amount of patience she had with you, I know I wouldn't have been able to put up with you wrecking my kitchen every other day. That's it you aren't going anywhere near my kitchen." She joked hoping to lift his spirits, even just a bit as he seemed to have become a bit melancholy.
"Yeah she really was. She died just before I went off to college. She was probably the only family member after that summer I felt connected to. She made that one summer the best I ever had, even though she was over 60 with a hearing aid and walking stick she still found a way to make everything fun and exciting." Eddie said as tears shimmered in his eyes. Reaching over and grabbing his hand, Rachel offered him comfort as he remembered the woman who essentially made him the man he was to the day.
"I wish I could have met her." She whispered, thinking that she would have loved to see the woman who had given her the man before her a chance to grow and mature and still keep his boyhood innocence.
Eventually he gathered his emotions back inside him and turned back to the food laid out before him and attacked it with a vengeance, causing Rachel to once again laugh as she followed his example and started to eat her food.
As the night wore on and the light outside started to became darker and the streetlights started to come Rachel and Eddie could be found on the sofa, curled up watching Scooby Doo 2 as it was the only film Eddie could find that was still in its box and not strewn somewhere, where he would find it later on.
Sitting back they were now on their second bottle wine and neither were making an effort for the night to end, not that Rachel could drive home with the amount of alcohol she had drank, though neither really wanted the night to end.
"Eddie, can I ask you a question?"
"You just did."
"You know what I mean."
"Of course you can, you can ask me anything."
"Anything." Rachel replied waggling her eyebrows. "Seriously though, what happens tomorrow? Do we go back to being colleagues or do we keep this quiet for now?"
"Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives together and don't think for one second that I want to go back to just being colleagues, I want you for as long as you will have me, anything to do with work we will work it out as it comes at us. I love you and that isn't going to change for a very long time, understand?" Eddie said passionately as he looked directly into her eyes, showing her all the love and reassurance she needed. Sweeping down and placing a chastise kiss on her lips to prove his point.
Snuggling back down into his embrace she listened to his heartbeat. "I Love you too. I don't think I've told you before, but I do so much, that sometimes it hurts when you're not around." Sighing softly she curled up and drifted off to sleep the sound of his thundering heartbeat lulling her securely into the land of dreams.
Hearing her say that she loved him just as much as he loved her, sent Eddie into a state of complete euphoria, knowing that she was going to let him past all her carefully constructed defence and taking a chance on him by giving him her heart, was the only thing that he had ever wanted from the woman sat in his arms.
As her breathing evened out and her grip on his hand loosened, Eddie decided that the best thing for him to do was carry her to his bed and let her sleep somewhere, where in morning she won't wake up with terrible neck ache.
After waiting to make sure that she was in fact sound asleep, Eddie carefully extracted himself from her and lifted her with ease and manuvered himself out of the living room, up the stairs and into his bedroom. Pulling back the covers he placed her on the bad and set about removing her heels and ankle socks, once that was finished he turned to leave when her small and sleepy voice caught his attention.
"Stay, please stay."
Not finding it in his heart to not comply with her wish, he copied her by getting rid of his shoes and shocks and climbed into bed with her. Rachel for her part as soon as he had got comfortable in the bed, she rolled over and curled up into his side, meaning she now had her head in the crook of his neck, an arm strewn across his chest and she had shoved one of her legs in between his. Wrapping his arms around her, once again sleeping form, he moved his head to rest lightly against hers and placing a gentle kiss in her forehead and taking in a long breathe and sighing into her hair he slowly fell asleep with scent of her hair wafting in his nose.
Yes life had certainly taken a turn for the better for the 2 sleeping figures. Now all they had to do was face friends and family and just live the life they deserved together, having no secrets and no reservations. Then again something always happens to the teachers and students of Waterloo Road; it's only a matter of time before a new source of trouble finds them, which is inevitable as they seem to have a trouble magnet attached to them and a banner attached to the school saying.
'TROUBLE WELCOME! THE MORE THE MERRIER!'