Chapter 3

Jen flung right back into reality. Again, all her self control had gone right out the window and she found herself in another dangerous situation with the teen. She had just put her whole career carelessly on the line by sharing another kiss with the student with her boss sitting just a few metres away. What am I doing? She thought to herself wiping the remains of her tears on the sleeve of her cardigan. Jen slowly rose out of her seat to face Mr Keeler, to find out if she had just blown all her life efforts away. With an obvious frightened look on her face, she said faintly "Sorry Sir I was miles away, I'm feeling a bit unwell this morning." Within the few seconds before the reply, a million thoughts were running through her mind, thinking of how she was going to explain this to her parents, to the university, to the police when Mr Keeler replied with "Oh its fine, I can see you're looking a bit under the weather today. If you start to feel any worse let me know and I'll take your group if you need to come and sit back on the coach." Jen smiled softly, the sickly feeling in her stomach started to relieve, the colour in her cheeks started to return and her heart rate slowed in relief. Tilly stared at her with a blank expression on her face realizing that it was happening again. She had just come so far with Jen and she could see that she was about to hear the "I can't do this" or "I'm sorry" tirade another time. Preparing for the worse, Tilly held her head in her hands losing all hope when she felt a nudge on her shoulder. Looking up with tears sitting in her eyes, she took a deep breath in and prepared herself what was almost inevitably about to follow.

Jen noticed Tillys state, realizing how vulnerable she had caused this strong minded girl to be feeling a strong pang of guilt. "That was too close Tilly, what are you doing to me huh?" Jen said smirking slightly to reassure Tilly she hadn't changed her mind again. "We need to be so careful; I'm risking everything for you, well us. Now get your things were getting off now, go and enjoy yourself with your friends and we'll chat later yeah?"

Tilly was astonished, her eyes widened in amazement at the words she had just heard. Shaking her head to make sure she wasn't dreaming, she hesitantly replied to her "y…yeah… ok see you later then."

She picked up her bag and in a daze strolled off the bus to face a rambling Maddie. "I can't believe I had to endure a half an hour trip sat next to Mr Keeler, he was telling me about how brilliant these silly statues are and how Jen had convinced him to organize this whole thing, typical eh!" "Yeah, typical" Tilly replied now realizing that Jen may have wanted a little more out of this trip than just helping inspire her students.

Strolling down the beach arm in arm with Maddie, all Tilly could think about was the amazing moment she shared with her teacher earlier. The feeling of Jens soft lips caressing hers, the feeling of her hands around her waist pulling her closer their bodies touching, the overwhelming warmth and rush of passion that came over her when in Jens grasp . "Tills…Tills, hey what is up with you today, you don't seem all there?" Maddie giggled oblivious. "Oh I'm just worried about coursework and stuff that's all" She said briskly coming out of her daydream knowing her lie was believable as Tilly was known for how conscious she was about her work. "Oh relax, let's sit here, you can catch up on your art whilst me and George catch up on a month of Mags we have missed, ok?" Maddie chirped rolling her eyes. Tilly agreed, she did need to focus on her work today too.

Pencil in hand, Tilly stared in awe at the beauty of the sea. The sun glaring down making it sparkle like an array of diamonds, the waves lapped against the shore roughly, the mild breeze brushing the golden sand lightly down the beach. Small moments in life like this Tilly appreciated. Something her and Jen shared mutually remembering the time Sinead mentioned that Jen was up at 4am to see the sun rise. The smell of the salty sea air was refreshing and the surroundings peaceful and almost empty as Tilly began to sketch the magnificent Anthony Gormley statues taking into account Jens "Pretentious" comments she received back at the exhibition. She looked up every so often making sure that every detail was perfect, every aspect of the drawing looked accurate and professional, that the form of the body was proportionate adding diversity to her technique to impress Jen. Glancing up again at the stretch of statues, her eyes were drawn to another perfect figure. She watched Jen her admire the statues once more, evidently giving her group of students an insight into their meaning, expressing such passion in her words. The students began to trail off, it was lunchtime. Maddie and George were going to explore the shops on the front of the beach asking Tilly to join them, making up an excuse that again she needed to finish up her work, they left without a second thought. In the distance Tilly could see Mr Keeler walking the rest of the students off the beach also towards the shops with Jen following behind.

Tilly felt a little rejected sat on her own staring into the distance once more, she thought back to the time her and Jen first visited this place with the happy memories flooding back. She wished things were as simple now as they were then although hoping that she had finally changed Jens mind. She remembered the feel of Jens hand on her shoulder, their bodies pressed together as their lips connected, and the spark that was ignited between them. Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt a presence behind her as a pair of hands covered her eyes and pulled her back. Trying to wrestle away, the hands left her face and were now around her waist. "Jen! You almost gave me a heart attack then, what are you doing back here?" Jen grinned at Tilly hugging her tightly, "I told Keeler I was feeling a bit ill so he's taken my group, he thinks I'm back at the coach its fine, I… I was missing you." Tilly turned to stare into Jens deep brown eyes, gradually bring her stare down to her perfect lips, butterflies began to form in her stomach as she leaned in on her.

Jen moved her right hand from Tilly's waist slowly up her arm to her neck; she caressed it softly and passionately pushed her lips against Tillys. Their mouths locked together as Jen took the kiss further by pushing her tongue through her lips into Tillys mouth searching for hers. As their tongues met, both women let out small moans and Jen pulled Tilly even closer to her, her arms wandering from her neck to the small of Tillys back and under her blouse. The feeling of Jens fingers moving softly over her skin made Tilly melt inside, she didn't ever want this feeling to stop. Jen carried on dancing her fingers around her back moving towards her stomach. She laid Tilly slowly and softly on her back onto the sand breaking the kiss. Jens breath was shallow and fast, she stared lovingly into the redheads glistening blue eyes before planting little kissing down the girls neck. This sent shivers through Tillys spine as she threw her head back gesturing for more. Jens hands moved towards Tillys inner thighs, moving them slowly almost tickling them she began to plant more little kisses on Tillys stomach. She just couldn't stop herself. She was caught in a moment, her heart overpowering her thoughts. It was clear now that she had found her soul mate and was in love with Tilly. The sound of muffled voices became apparent pulling Jen and Tilly out of their trance like state. Jen felt disappointed but also relieved that they stopped at that point even though she wanted nothing more than to take things further with Tilly. Her feelings for her were much deeper than she thought and she knew Tilly had never gone that far with anyone else before. Jen wanted to make their first time special for Tilly, somewhere where they didn't need to hide away or hold themselves back. Jen was willing to wait as long as it took until the moment felt right.

Tilly quickly brushed the sand out of her hair and readjusted her clothes whilst Jen sat up and grabbed her sketch book, pretending to draw with her breath slowing as the group of students drawn nearer…