Is this thing on?

Can you hear / read me?

Wow. It's been two months. How have you been? Thanks for the reviews and the patience since last time. I hope it won't take me another two months to update.

Have fun.

21. From best friends and jealousy

"Maybe we could get them graduation gowns and caps." Nicole proposed with a raised hand, earning an approving round of nods.

Leila, Nicole and I were sitting around the table in the stuffed conference room, which also was used for personal phone calls in the middle of the day by teachers frequently, with steaming cups of coffee and notes in front of us, our bodies' full of caffeine and our minds focused on our task to start planning the graduation at the end of this school year.

"That could be pretty expensive though. We don't have the budget and I would hate to ask the parents." Leila said with pursed lips.

"Andrea's mum is a seamstress. Maybe she could help us." Nicole said, her pen tapping against the table in a rhythmic way. I frowned, more because of the headache that was trying to squeeze its way into my head than her words.

"We can't have her make nearly 20 pairs of gowns and caps for free. That's hours of work she would have to invest." I said, reaching for my mug of yummy coffee. It was a good thing that I had let my kids outside to play a little early, otherwise we would have been forced to drink what Jose dared to call coffee. For a single guy who loved his daily dose of caffeine so much, you would think that he was remotely good at making coffee.

Andrea and Jose were nice enough to be, what Jose called, the Guardians of the sandpit with all of our students running happily around them, swinging on the swings, playing inside the sandpit with little colorful shovels and buckets or playing hide and seek between the bushes. When Leila had announced that she wanted to talk to me and Nicole about the coming graduation of our students, Andrea had given us the stinky eye for letting her alone with the little monsters. Jose had promised her to be on her side all the time.

"She wouldn't have to make them for free, of course. Maybe just a discount since we are friends and colleagues with her daughter. Besides we could help her." Nicole looked at Leila with an optimistic expression, our boss pouting her dark purple colored lips as she thought about my colleague's words.

"I think I like the idea. In fact, we could even ask some of the parents for help and that way we could have a parent and teacher type of event." Leila mumbled before she gave me a questioning look.

"What do you think, Ana?" She asked with one raised eyebrow.

"We first have to speak with Andrea about it, but I like the idea, too." I confessed, seeing her visibly relax. I knew how much Leila hated to came up with ideas of her own, so she welcomed any proposal of us with great gratitude. Until now we had decided on the where – the kindergarten of course, the meadow around our playground was beautiful for a little barbecue afterwards – and that the kids should wear gowns and caps. There was still so much left to plan, like the activities we would offer that day. Leila had even asked us to brainstorm over the last couple of days but a certain car doctor had kept me on my toes with his surprise visits and invitations.

I wasn't complaining though.

In the last week he had literally swept me off my feet with dinner dates, make out sessions at the movie where we definitely didn't watch what was going on screen, dirty texts during the day and breathy phone sex extravaganzas at night. During the week, it was hard for us to have our beloved sleepovers since I had been squirmy about spending a night at his place with Ellie next door. He hardly could leave her home alone and asking his mother to stay with his daughter while we had hot, intense, teeth clenchingly good sex at my place made me feel horrified. She would totally knew what we were doing if he was staying over the night, and even if it wasn't something we hadn't done before I still didn't need to know that she knew about me regularly fucking her son. Christian and I were not so patiently waiting for the weekend when Ellie was staying at her mum's place again. In fact, we were counting hours which made me feel terrible because I caught myself being happy about Ellie's absence. Damn you, Christian Grey. You and your penis have made me a selfish bitch.

"You would think as a kindergarten for the rich we would have more money." Leila groaned, taking me back to the now and then.

"It's graduation. We suffer through it each year and each year it turns out good. And what good do too expensive gowns anyway? It's not like the kids can wear them anytime. Next year this time they will have grown out of them." I tried to cheer her up, gently patting her arm.

"Maybe we should reuse them next year. You know, instead of giving them to the kids." Nicole suggested with a shrug.

"But it's an important memory. They should be able to have something that reminds them of these days." Leila whined, making me snort.

"Leila, you can't honestly expect them to remember their times at kindergarten when they are older. I mean, do you remember your kindergarten graduation? I don't think I had a graduation gown even. There was probably some cake one of the mothers made and that's about it." I joked, making her lips curl into a small smile.

"This is what we get for having a fancy clientele. Damn you, Mum." Leila cursed with furrowed brows. "If we were living in a small town, we wouldn't have these problems. Ladies, we need something to shut the cakeholes of these rich bitches. If we don't deliver they will eat us alive."

I rolled my eyes with a sigh. "If they want a fancy party they can throw it themselves or sponsor ours. It's not like they are paying us a fortune. We will do what we can with our sources and their help and I am sure the kids will love it. That's what matters, right? You said you wanted the kids to have an important memory, something they can remember."

"Thanks, Ana. You are too sweet." She smiled at me with a thankful expression on her face, sighing deeply before letting go off of her sad attitude. Leila was the master of mood changes, her poor exes could sing a song about it.

"Okay, okay, we got this. So, party at the meadow with barbecue afterward, gowns by Andrea's mum with the help of the parents. What about activities? I know it's only a few weeks left, but maybe we could write a small screen play for the kids. Ana, that's your thing, right?"

Oh dear.

After our meeting which ended in agreement on some things we still had to discuss with Andrea and Jose before we informed the parents, I made my way to the rest rooms where I took care of my human needs, my thoughts full of Leila's excitement about screen plays. She was convinced that I could either write something Shakespeare like myself or find something splendid because being a bookworm and a British Literature degree automatically made you a literary master mind. Shamelessly, I took advantage of the few private minutes I got at my job and took a look at my phone. A grin spread on my cheeks and my heart beat flipped when I noticed the new message from Christian.

What are you wearing today?

- C ;)

I squealed, doing a little happy dance behind the closed doors of my cabin, before typing an answer to his text with from excitement shaking fingers. The things this man made me feel were unreal.

Wouldn't you like to know? You will have to wait and see ;)

- A x

His answer didn't take long. I bit my lips at the thought of him waiting for my text, a silly thought because his days were usually too busy to wait with his phone in his hand.

Come on, sweetheart. You know I'm not patient. Take a picture.

C

Bam. I was shot with lust and my bleeding wound could only be healed by a certain Mr. Grey. I loved his tone, demanding but charming, and that bastard knew how to use it. Good thing he wasn't standing in front of me. My phone gave me power.

See you later ;)

A

When I made my way to the grounds, I couldn't stop grinning viciously. I loved our banter, him demanding things, me declining, or the other way around, and I was happy that we weren't one of these boring couples. We weren't bungee jumping or go-cart driving or anything what other people would call adventurous, but in our own way we were keeping things fresh. Sometimes with silly texts like this, other times with new restaurants we tried, and then a few times with new positions in bed – Christian liked the last one especially, his enthusiasm seemed to be endless. We had a routine, we had to have one because we had a child to think off, but the routine I had with Christian meant more to me than the excitement I had with my exes. Just sitting on a couch with him in each others arms with a silly movie on TV excited me more than any bungee jumping could do – my heart skipped beats, just to flutter unexpectedly while I was with him, just like jumping from a building while only being attached to a rode would do.

I knew these feelings had a meaning, and I knew what they meant, but I wasn't ready to think about it yet. The thought of jumping into a conclusion too early was terrifying, I wanted to test waters first. All that counted was that we were happy.

"There you are. You totally had phone sex with the hot daddy, right? You ho. I knew it. That's why it took you so long." Andrea said with her hands at her hips when I found her at a bench where Nicole was sitting on. I rolled my eyes at my friend's words, she loved to be theatrical.

"Why would I have phone sex with him at the restrooms of my work place?" I asked, taking a seat beside Nicole who was grinning at our banter.

Andrea huffed.

"Why wouldn't you? He is hot." She said, crossing her arms at her chest. "Leila would have no problem with it."

"What is it about you guys' weird fascination with my boyfriend?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.

"You guys are our OTP." Nicole said with a shrug while Andrea nodded in approval.

"How old are you again? OTP." I said underneath my breath, shaking my head.

"Since I am single right now, I need to get my fix from somewhere. Romance is my fix, baby. Especially sexy romance. And Christian and you are sexy romance." Andrea explained to me matter-of-factly. "So, unless I find a boyfriend this very second, you will have to endure our, as you called, weird fascination with your boyfriend. Beside we are not the only ones who are weirdly fascinated by him. He has a full mommy fan club."

"Don't remind me. They have visibly changed their behavior toward me even without knowing we are dating." I groaned at the reminded of the cold looks I got from certain mum's and even from a dad.

"Fuck those bitches." Andrea whispered as a loud gang of children ran past us, considered enough not to curse out loud near innocent eyes. "They are just jealous."

"They probably saw you when you went out, though. I am sure they have at least heard about you having dates with the hot, single dad. Words get around, you know." Nicole said softly, making me squirm. What had I expected? A public announcement that we were dating read by Leila in front of all parents like kingdoms did with their folk? Christian and I were still acting like we had nothing but a teacher – parent relationship whenever he came to pick Ellie up in front of the other parents, but outside of kindergarten we were nothing like that. Crap. I didn't want to imagine what the parents thought of me, a hussie who flirts the dads of her students. Or worse. God.

"Don't freak out. It's not like you are breaking a law. You have the permission of your boss, so don't be bothered of jealous bitches." Andrea said when she saw how I visibly freaked out internally. That woman could read me so well, it was scary.

"Easier said than done." I muttered, the topic ended when Nicole announced that she had to use the restrooms. There was not much left of the day, an hour before the kids would be released to meet their parents. Andrea tried to drag me to the swings where Jose was helping a few kids, but I declined and decided to stay at the sandpit. Last time we left the kids there alone, someone tried to eat a handful of sand. I didn't need a repetition of that.

Just when I was standing up after Andrea went away, I saw what was happening inside the sandpit. Nobody was eating any sand thank God, but the image in front of my eyes made me arch an eye brow with confusion spreading through my body.

Surrounded by wobbly sandcastles with flowers as flags on the tips of their crooked towers, the two children were standing in the middle with their hands grasping each others, their friends with grinning faces standing around them, the little ceremony right in the middle of the sandpit. Their usual toys were laying neglected at the side, their concentration on something far more important.

"What the hell." I muttered underneath my breath feeling confused, starring left and right to see if one of my colleagues were seeing what I was seeing, too. Andrea and Jose were helping a few kids at the swings and Nicole, who seemed to be back from the restrooms, was attending a girl's boo boo who must have fallen down while playing hide and seek. It seemed like I was the only one witnessing the weird occasion.

The kids standing around Ellie and Roman, a boy her age from Nicole's class, clapped as those two hugged, my confusion reaching its peek. There was nothing wrong with them hugging each other, but the surrealism of the image in front of me was more caused by the ensemble the kids had created for what seemed like a normal hug.

I would even dare to say that it looked like a fake wedding ceremony.

Please don't let it be a fake wedding ceremony.

My eyebrows reached my forehead as Ellie tenderly kissed Roman on his blushed cheek, the girls standing around them squealing in awe. Eventually my shock was replaced by my sense of duty and I made my way toward the little celebration, its participants slowly scooting away from the crime scene, leaving Roman and Ellie alone who were holding hands now. The blonde girl grinned widely when she saw me approaching them.

"Hey, kids." I greeted them tenderly, not wanting to scare them away.

"Look, Miss Steele. We are best friends now." Ellie squealed, ranking their hands up so I could see how her little fingers were intertwined with Roman's.

Best friends. I didn't know you needed a wedding ceremony for being best friends. I thought to myself. Ellie was quick to explain, though.

"Last year, my mum's cousin got a best friend, too. She wore a white dress that day and they swore to be together forever. Roman and I want to be best friends forever, too. Look, my t-shirt is white. I wanted to wear a dress, but Daddy said I had no white dress." She babbled, her excitement embarrassing poor Roman who blushed when our eyes crossed. I felt as overwhelmed as him, but Ellie wasn't bothered about that.

"Maybe Nana will buy me one. I want a pretty white dress like a princess. Do you like white dresses, Ms. Steele? My dad says you look beautiful all the time. I am sure you would even look more beautiful in a white dress."

"Um. Thanks, Ellie. Yes, dresses can be pretty and I am sure you will look pretty in a white one." I mumbled, nodding toward the sandcastles.

"Did you make those?" I asked, desperate for a topic change because the thought of wearing the white dress was something I didn't want to think about now. Ellie shook her head with pouting lips.

"I didn't make any sandcastles today. Oh. Roman and I could make a best friend sandcastle. Roman, will you help me?" She asked her best friend who nodded excitedly. They didn't bother talking to me anymore, their attention now on making their best friend castle, as they called it. I tried not to feel hurt when a building made out of sand became more important than me, but I was happy that shy Roman had a good friend now. From Nicole I knew that he was more of a silent type kinda like Josh. Ellie had managed to get both of these shy guys out of their shells. She was a wild social butterfly.

I wondered what Christian would say to her new friendship.

"Look at what Mrs. Price is wearing. She looks like a fashion faux pas from the 80's."

"Andrea. Shh." I warned my friend with a frown on my face as we stood side by side saying our daily goodbye to our students and their mums and dads. I waved after little Alice and put on a smile for her so she didn't mistake my frown for being caused by her – although she had really pushed my buttons today when she started drawing inside one of the story books we had in our classroom. Thank God, said book was saved from her colorful Picasso moment with the beginning of lunch time.

"Is it my fault that she is wearing blue eyeshadow up to her eyebrows?" Andrea whispered to me, brushing over her blue sleeveless shirt. It was a pleasantly warm day with the sun high on the horizon, only a few clouds trying to hide it. I had listened to the weather forecast a few days ago, taking notes so I could pick up the right outfit to wear in the next couple of days. Today I had dared to wear a skirt – usually something risky because little kids loved to surprise hug your legs and a skirt could give their innocent eyes a show of your daily underwear if you weren't careful -, feeling confident in my skin and especially in my shaved legs.

"What are you girls gossiping about?" Suddenly Jose was standing behind us, craning his head over our shoulders so he could listen to our words, his hand at the small of my back.

"Andrea is playing fashion police." I said with an eye roll, earning a whispered bitch from said woman beside me. I tried not to grin when she crossed her arms at her chest in a juvenile way.

"It is about Mrs. Price, isn't it? I swear, the second I saw her I knew A's fashion senses would be alarmed." Jose chuckled, moving to stand on my left now, his arm brushing mine in the process. Unobtrusively I stepped away from him, careful not to bump against Andrea in the process.

"Even Jose knows what I am talking about. You have to agree that it looks ridiculous." Andrea said accusingly, her blonde hair bobbing as she turned her head toward me. I sighed, feeling too exhausted to argue with her. I just wanted to go home, take a shower, eat some leftovers and fall asleep before 9am on my couch.

"Leila isn't paying us to gossip." I said dryly, my eyes scanning the sea of heads in front of me. I felt how Jose tugged at my sleeve, his tone worried as he spoke.

"Everything alright, Ana?" He asked, his eyes burning holes into my face.

Andrea snorted, smacking her lips.

"I know why she is being so moody. She missed the hot daddy the whole day." She said mockingly, unfortunately hitting the nail right on the head. Damn her and her hawk eyes.

"Not everything has to be about him." Jose snapped a little too furiously, making me remember Andrea's words from a few weeks ago. Apparently he had a crush on me, his sour tone at the mention of Christian only strengthening that statement. I tried not to be awkward around him but it was impossible not to think about his feelings for me while I had nothing but friendship to give. I didn't know if I should be angry at Andrea for making me feel like a miserable friend or if I should be thankful for making me rethink my decisions about Jose. I tried not to be overly friendly in order not to give him false hope, making sure that he still knew that we were great friends – friends only. I was even contemplating talking to him but something told me that it would embarrass him to the ground.

"The way he looks everything should be about him, dude." Andrea chuckled, making me roll my eyes at her. My friends – except Jose – were all Team Christian.

"And men are blamed to be superficial. You girls are worse." Jose muttered, making me feel sorry for the whole conversation. It must have been awkward for him to talk about my new boyfriend while he had the hots for me.

"Don't worry, J. Not all women are like that." I said with a small smile, bumping his shoulder with mine.

"Women like you make me trust that, Ana Bear." He said, his teeth visible as he grinned. I wondered how I had never noticed the way he looked at me before, his look something between loving and mocking, a smile only reserved for me on his lips and his voice soothing and alluring at the same time.

Thinking that he stared at me a little too intently, I blushed heavily and looked away, my guts clenching at the feeling of embarrassment and guilt, his words only worsening it.

"What are you trying to say, Rodriguez? Do I take your faith in humanity from you?" I heard Andrea snap, her tone pissed, just when my eyes crossed with an intense pair of gray ones, their owner standing only a few feet away from me with his little daughter babbling about her day at kindergarten. I hadn't see him arrive thanks to Andrea and Jose, but now that he was here, I felt like a firework had started inside me, my mood lifted up.

I smiled brightly at him, surprised when I only got a barely visible curl of his lips which didn't reach his eyes. Frowning at him, I looked around quickly to see if anybody was watching our exchange, happy to find out that only Andrea's hawk eyes were watching us. I admired how she could argue with Jose while still paying attention to us.

The mum's and dad's of Mrs. Williams' were intently trying to listen to their excited kids words', feigning attention to their stories about their daily activities while trying to make them say goodbye to their friends faster so they could go home. Christian's fan club, the chic ladies of Bellevue, were ogling him with puckered lips and glistening eyes. The ugly feeling of jealousy tried to rose in me, but I suppressed it like the rational person I sometimes could be because there was no need to be jealous. Christian had only eyes for me, especially when I was wearing nothing but his favorite t-shirt.

"You know what, Jose? I won't hook up you up with one of my friends anymore. Next time a good looking friend of mine is visiting, I won't introduce you to her." Andrea said with a flip of her hair, turning away from him, the conversation obviously had ended for her. She had far more interesting things to talk.

"Your daddy is watching you." She whispered to me, her smugness audible in her voice. I grimaced at her words.

"Ew. That sounds so dirty." I scolded her, barely hearing Jose snort underneath his breath, but he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.

"No kink shaming, Ana Bear. Some people are into that kind of stuff." Andrea giggled, once again making me roll my eyes. I didn't understand why she was insisting on talking about anything that remotely inappropriate at our job, but I had other stuff to think about anyway. For example Christian's frown.

"Look, daddy. There is Miss Steele." Suddenly Ellie's excited voice was loud enough to be heard by everybody, all heads turning to the waving girl whose gray eyes were looking into my direction. It was impossible not to smile at her excitement as I waved back.

Ellie was officially back since her doctor's appointment last week, something she was immensely happy about. The first day after her two weeks break, she was welcomed by her classmates with applause and cheers, they had even persuaded me to allow them to hang up the pictures they had drawn for her in our classroom – now the left wall was full of pictures of a blonde girl with a boo boo on her ankle, usually this spot was reserved for the weekly masterpieces of my students featuring different sketches.

Her latest injury hadn't changed Ellie's persona and behavior at kindergarten. She was sweet as usual, never breaking any rules, only a little bit cranky when she wasn't allowed to play some games her classmates liked to play, anything that could hurt her newly healed injury. I had feared that my relationship with her father would confuse her since we saw each other every day at school where I was only her teacher, but Ellie, God bless her soul, hadn't lost a word about it.

After our dinner on last Sunday, we hadn't spend time together the three of us, but from Christian I knew that they were talking nonchalantly about me, the mention of my name always putting on a smile on his daughter's face. Christian had been right about his daughter's maturity, she could understand more than I had expected from someone her age.

"Just go say hi to your bae." Andrea whispered to me, taking me back to the now and then.

My heart fluttered with joy as I made my way toward my boyfriend, or bae as Andrea had called him being the teenager by heart that she was, my face blushed with embarrassment since all eyes were on me and my short skirt. Dammit. I should have worn something else. God knew what those spiteful ladies were thinking, they had already announced their disapproval of me being friendly with Christian by giving me only cold nods instead of the polite smiles the other teachers got.

"Hi." I greeted them with a shy smile, Ellie hugging my leg as a greeting. I patted her head, careful not to give her a view of my forest green panties, my eyes on her father's face who looked at me with an impassive expression, his eyes empty. I frowned at him, trying to pay attention to Ellie's babbling.

"Miss Steele, did you see the sandcastle I made today? Wasn't it pretty? I will make another one tomorrow. Maybe I will even make sand cookies but I won't eat them because they are not real." She said, her arms gesturing wildly when she had let go off me, her little face featuring the ambition she felt concerning her big plans for tomorrow.

I laughed as I spoke.

"Yes, it was beautiful, Ellie. I will help you bake those sand cookies tomorrow, okay? Maybe we can even bake a sand cake."

Her eyes widen as she looked at me with awe.

"A sand cake. Oh that would be awesome. Can we make sand brownies and muffins, too? A whole bakery made out of sand?" She asked, not waiting for my answer as she turned around to look for her friend.

"Maggie, Miss Steele will bake sand stuff with us tomorrow." She cried out, making red-haired Maggie look toward her with an 'O' shaped mouth. She let go off her mother's hand and tugged at her pigtails, obviously thrilled to hear the fascinating news. Ellie ran off toward her friend, her father and me forgotten as she talked to Maggie. I giggled at their behavior before I turned toward the suspiciously silent boyfriend of mine.

"It's good to see you, Miss Steele." He greeted me with a polite smile before adding his next words with a hushed voice so I was the only one who could hear him. "Especially in a skirt like this."

There was it. The flirting, the hushed whispers, everything I loved and missed so much. It was certainly better than the frowns he had been giving me today, I had no idea what had caused them.

"It's good to see you, too, Mr. Grey." I batted my eyelashes at him with a crooked grin, resisting the urge to push out my boobs which looked admittedly good in my tight shirt. He noticed quick enough since his eyes darted toward them more than once.

"Although I have to confess that your frowns are not good to see." I added nonchalantly, fully aware of the looks his fan club was given us. I felt their stares burning a hole into my head, knowing well that they probably hated me right now. Andrea always liked to joke that those lusty hens were probably vodooing me whenever they saw me talking to the hot daddy. She also liked to point out that it would explain my weird behavior. I had no idea what she was talking about, I could proudly state that I had gotten less weird since I started dating Christian Grey. He literally fucked my weirdness out of me whenever he could, even enduring my sudden bursts of giggles whenever I remembered something funny in the middle of having sex. By now Christian knew that my head was a weird place, so he didn't question me and my giggles.

"My frowns weren't addressed directly at you. Just the whole situation in general." Christian said, stroking the nape of his neck before crossing his arms at his chest. I frowned at his distressed looking posture, tilting my head.

"What situation?" I asked, watching him sigh. He looked around before he stepped a little closer toward me. Suddenly the sun wasn't the only thing that turned up the heat of my body.

"This situation." He whispered as I flushed, his minty breath brushing over my face. "Our situation."

"What about it?" I asked, stepping one step back so we didn't look too cozy with each other.

"Well the fact that I can't kiss you or even hold your hand now." He muttered with a longing expression on his pretty face.

"I am at work. We can't kiss while I am at work." I said with a dry throat, feeling all eyes on us. I tried to ignore them, my boyfriend was talking too weird to be concerned with anyone else right now.

"Kissing might be more of an impulsive example because I am dying to kiss you right now, but what I was trying to say is that we have to pretend to be something we are clearly not."

"What are you trying to say, Christian?" I asked with a stern look, now getting tired of him beating around the bush.

"Friends. You can be friends with Mr. Rodriguez in front of the other parents, but not with me?" He asked brusquely, something about his tone making me frown. I didn't like how he pronounced Jose's name.

"Mr. Rodriguez is my colleague at work and friend in my private life. Beside being friends with him in front of parents isn't a capital felony, is it?"

"But being friends with me is?" Christian arched an eyebrow. I huffed, shaking my head.

"It wouldn't be if we were friends. I think it is easy to say that we are more than friends." I stepped away from him slowly, seeing how he clenched his jaw. I didn't understand what he was trying to say or what he was implying, and mostly I didn't like how he made it sound like being friends with a male colleague was taboo. Taboo according to who? The other parents or my jealous boyfriend?

"Oh, I know we are more than friends. It's one of the reasons why I want everyone else to know. My daughter knows, your boss does. So why not everyone else?" He tilted his head, waiting for an answer from me. I blushed as I tried to find the right words.

"Um. Because... Christian, I don't know how to do this, okay? The whole telling the parents thing." I stuttered, biting my lip as he smiled softly.

"We wouldn't have to tell them. You could just let me hold your hand now and they would know. We don't have to give them an explanation, for God's sake. Just show them." He whispered encouragingly, my resistance crumbling. When he was saying words like this, caring about others was immensely hard. He was right, we had told his daughter and my boss, the only people whom we had to care about, so why not the rest? Because they would hate me? Because they would think that I am a hussie?

They already did that. They already had made assumptions. And like he had said we didn't need to give them an explanation.

"Now?" I whispered, feeling a thrill going through my body.

"Now or never." He nodded, licking his lips. I looked around for a last time, seeing the nosy eyes watching us, seeing my friends who were grinning suspiciously as they tried to look anywhere but at us.

"Okay." I sighed, my palms sweating as I slowly reached toward his, grasping them gently. His skin felt as rough and warm as always, his proud smile making my heart flutter as I stepped a little closer to him.

"Are they staring at us?" I whispered, terrified to speak louder since I felt like this moment would be ruined. Gray eyes were flashing at me, a sweet smile encouraging me.

"Even if they are, who cares?" He whispered back. "We are just a couple who is holding hands so everybody knows that we are a couple."

I giggled.

"We are weird. Who holds hands as a public relationship announcement?"

"I mean, we could kiss if you don't like holding hands. I am all for kissing." Christian joked with a raise of his brows, making me flush.

"There are kids around. I would hate to make my students see me make out." I hushed, imagining their reactions. Kids were usually disgusted with kissing.

"Too bad. We can kiss later, of course. For now this is more than enough." He said, his eyes hushing to the left where my friends were standing. I saw a satisfied grin tugging at his lips, his eyes giving him away. One look toward my friends only strengthened my assumption. While Andrea and Nicole were celebrating silently, Jose looked like somebody had pissed on his parade, his arms crossed at his chest, his body turned away from us.

"You are such a jerk. You know that, right?" I hissed at Christian, feeling sorry for Jose. I hadn't thought about him when Christian had persuaded me to hold hands, his smiles too distracting to be a supportive friend. Christian shrugged non apologetically, feeling too smug to care.

"I need to scare off any potential rivals. It's obvious he likes you, but I like you, too. What I don't like is sharing or other men starring a little too intently at my girlfriend."

"Still, there was no need to put on a show for him. Jose knows you are my boyfriend. He would never cross a line." I said as I let go off his hands, my eyes instinctively looking around. I didn't know what I had expected to happen when we finally hold hands in public, maybe a theatrical gasp, maybe someone fainting with shock, maybe even an angel chorus singing a blessing song, and definitely toxic looks from some mums. Jealousy didn't look good on anybody, not even on my hot boyfriend.

"Well, sweetheart, better safe than sorry. You look too pretty in this skirt to be sorry." Christian said with a flirty wink, his wink combined with his cologne bewitching my mind. Damn him.

"You want me only because I look pretty?" I asked sulkily, watching him smile.

"I want you because you make my whole life prettier."

Daddy C's ass belongs to Nataly29 for this chapter ;)

You all make my life prettier :-*

Until next time

Melii xoxo

P.S. At my Milo boo, yes I cut the lemon. How evil of me :D