Love lessons revisited.

Chapter 1

Prudence King smiled and shook the hand of yet another member of the upper class society, while they congratulated her warmly on the success of her newest art exhibit. Inside her head she was screaming, dying to get home, slip into her pyjamas and watch mediocre TV on her sofa. She had just wanted to paint, she thought to herself, she didn't want this. Sadly, getting her paintings seen by "the right people," meaning, people likely to have the money to buy them, meant playing the role, drinking expensive champagne and pretending to laugh at someone's joke who was only there so that they could claim that they "supported the arts." Wealth, she didn't mind, but the snobbery! Prue smirked inwardly at the thought of what any one of these people would make of her less than affluent upbringing, the girl in the homemade dress made from cheap fabric from the car boot sale. The dresses here were from the hottest designer labels and cost upwards of 1000 each.

Once the last person moved away, she allowed herself a small sigh and glanced down at the elegant watch on her wrist. At least another hour. She fiddled with the clasp on her watch impatiently, it was coming undone again. Expensive, a watch built to look pretty, not really practical, but required to play the role.

"Congratulations." A male voice said above her said "This is a fantastic piece."

"Oh, Thank you." She replied, her back to him, not glancing up. "I'm Glad you like it. Sorry, I'll be with you in a moment. Blasted thing never stays closed long, it was more money that it was worth"

"I wouldn't have thought it was really your taste Prue." The amused voice of the faceless stranger said.

She frowned slightly at the "Prue." She hadn't been called that since high school, it was always Prudence or Ms. King.

"And what would you know about my tastes...?" She said finally looking up. The end of her sentence trailed away, as she studied the face of the man in front of her in disbelief.

"A lot." Rax replied, swallowing nervously. "Hi Prue."

Prue didn't reply. She didn't move. She just continued to stare up at the man she hadn't seen since she was 14 years old. "I'm dreaming." She thought to herself. How many times had she dreamed this moment? How long had she waited? Then finally, stopped waiting, stopped hoping and Tried to keep going, knowing all the while that he had forgotten her.

She studied his face. The neat little beard was gone, he was clean shaven now and his face had barely aged in the 10 years they'd been apart. He had to be at least 35 now surely, though not a day of it showed on his face.There was no longer an earring in his ear, and he was dressed differently to how she'd ever seen him, although maybe that was the formality of the occasion? His eyes were the same as she remembered though, a warm, kind, deep brown, crinkled at the corners and holding a smile that didn't stop at his lips.

She took a faltering breath, then another, the room closing in and spinning around her as her body tried to adjust to the shock. She was going to faint, she knew it. This wasn't happening, couldn't be happening.

All at once she couldn't do it. Couldn't look at him, couldn't be near him. She'd resisted consciously thinking about him for 10 years, forcing herself into physical exertion or painting whenever her mind threatened to stray to warm thoughts of him which inevitably brought only pain and heartache. She couldn't do this again.

She turned and started towards to the door as quickly as her tight evening gown and high shoes would allow. Her head spun, her stomach turning over, "just make it to the door," she willed herself. Heads turned and whispers started, wondering where the star of the show was going.

"Prue!" Rax called after her. "Prue, please wait!"

She ignored him and carried on briskly walking until she reached the quiet cool of the nighttime air outside the exhibit, stepping into the alley beside the building. She wouldn't be missed. The posh snobs upstairs would continue their mind numbing conversations and drinking their expensive champagne without her, looking at the art that many of them wouldn't even try to understand. She shuddered in a breath, trying to get air into her starved lungs. She had been holding her breath, she realised, no wonder she felt faint. Wrapping her arms around herself against the bitter cold, she let go and the tears she had held in came, burning down her frozen cheeks.

The door to her right opened and Rax stepped out, a worried look on his face as his eyes anxiously searched the street for her. She realised that he couldn't see her from where he was standing, and she watched him with interest for a few seconds, taking in his smart suit and neatly trimmed black hair, how he still ran his hand through it when he was anxious.

"Prue!" he called desperately down the street, his head turning from side to side, trying to spot her, "Prudence!"

"You sound like you're shouting for Harry again." she said quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear.

Rax's head turned sharply at the sound of her voice and his face flooded with visible relief as he approached her, his nerves apparent even in the dimly lit street.

"You know, that wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for in there." He said after a few awkward moments, gesturing back towards the building.

"What kind of a reaction were you hoping for after 10 years Mr. Raxberry?" She said meaningfully, studying his face for a reaction, and feeling a smug satisfaction when her words obviously hit home.

"Don't call me that." He said quietly, taking another step towards her.

"Call you what? Mr. Raxberry? Oh you're right, I forgot, your not my art teacher anymore are you? You know Rax, I'm surprised I even remember you!" She said in mock surprise "What was it you said to me? Someone would ask me about my first love and I'd struggle to even remember your name!" She laughed bitterly, without humour, anger taking over from shock.

"I should never have said that to you." Rax replied quietly, his wary eyes on her. "I'm so sorry Prue…. I was just trying to make the situation easier for us both. Another thing I was wrong about." he sighed deeply.

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds and Rax used the silence to drink in the sight of her. That wild, curly hair that stalked his dreams was pinned up tight against her head in a bun, so tight it must have been hurting her. He fought the urge to unpin it, instead noting how much more grownup she looked. Part of him was still expecting a 14 year old girl in a red and white tablecloth dress. The tight green dress she was wearing contrasted well against her dark hair and olive skin, and hugged her figure tightly, emphasising her slender figure and shapely breasts. She certainly looked like a woman now, a breathtakingly beautiful one at that.

"Why are you here?" Prue asked, snapping Rax out of his reverie, and she fought back the urge to smile as he blushed, realizing he'd been caught staring.

"I work in advertising now. Designing leaflets, that kind of thing. My company produced the flyer for your exhibit, when I saw your name...I wanted to see you."

"Why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"Why did you want to see me? It's been 10 years. You can't go in there and grade each piece you know. B, lacks depth."

"I know. I wanted to see you because..." Rax stopped, trying to find the words. He'd thought about how he would do this every day for years, playing out her reaction, all the things he'd say to her, all the things they'd do...and now he couldn't find the words. He took a deep, fortifying breath.

"I wanted to see you because I haven't stopped thinking about you for 10 years Prue, wondering where you were, what you were doing, if you were…m-married with kids of your own by now and if you still thought about me...and when your flyer landed on my desk and I saw you were still so close after all this time, it was like a sign. I couldn't resist coming. I'd tried a few times over the years but I'd always lost, well, the courage. I even went to your old bookshop, only to find it was closed down. I wanted to see you because..." Rax took a deep breath, preparing to say the words he had waited to say for 10 years "Because I haven't ever stopped thinking about you Prue. I didn't know…I wondered if you'd hate me now, if time had changed your…image of me. If you thought I was a…predator or something! I just…I at least wanted to explain about…I never saw you as 14 Prue!!" He yelled the last words, his eyes beseeching her to understand. "And maybe I should have but I couldn't! I didn't! I fell in love with you despite all that because of who you were, your soul! Not your age! and I've never…I've never stopped. I still love you…I just….I love you. Maybe that's wrong but I couldn't help it then and I can't help it now! I just let them send you away and I'm so sorry."

The words had come out in a rush and Rax took a deep breath, his hands over his tear filled eyes. He was pale, wary of her reaction, she realised. A predator? She had never thought that. Therapists she had seen certainly had but she had never. She didn't know why she hadn't, she knew of course that they could come in all shapes and sizes, even handsome, compassionate art teachers, but in her bones she had always known, Rax was not a dangerous man.

Her heart was still skipping a beat at his words, the words she longed to hear for so long, that she never thought would ever come from his lips. Rax loved her. Rax wanted her. Rax was back for HER after all this time. But...

"What about Marianne? Harry and Lily?" Prue asked softly, dreading his answer. She noticed his face relax, clearly relieved she was still here, talking to him.

"Marianne and I divorced about a year after you left Wentworth. I ended it with her, it was too cruel to her to carry it on. I couldn't bear to look at her or be around her, or even sleep in the same bed, much less...She knew something was wrong, although she didn't know what. I told her I wanted a divorce and to be honest I think she was relieved. As for Harry and Lily I see them every other weekend. Lily is 10 going on 11 now and Harry has just turned 14...the same age you were when...anyway, the point is I don't have a family anymore. I'm a free man." He smiled tentatively, taking a careful, small step towards her. "Please Prue, I need to know…do you hate me? Did you think I was a…" He swallowed hard. "God, I can't even say it! It wasn't that way I swear Prue!"

"Shhhh!" She pressed a shaking finger to his soft lips, "I know it wasn't, I never thought it was, I never thought of you that way Rax." Prue whispered. Rax released the breath he had been holding, a solitary tear of relief sliding down his smooth cheeks.

Prue had a thousand thoughts slamming through her mind at once. Shock at him being here, excitement at his admission of love, and an unkind relief that Marianne was no longer in the picture.

Rax hesitated for a second before he closed the distance between them, pulling her into his arms and holding her close to him as her own arms snaked instinctively around his waist. She closed her eyes and sighed with contentment, the warmth of his chest feeling familiar even after all this time and the sound of his heart beating comfortingly against her ears.

Rax inhaled deeply, his head in her hair as her delicates floral smell mingled with her sweet smelling perfume filled his nostrils. He let go of her back, his hands reaching for her hair as he started to unpin her tight bun, the pins dropping to the ground, smiling as her wild, almost black hair fell loose around her shoulders.

"That's much better. There's my Prue." He whispered, mostly to himself, and Prue raised her head to look at him, tears twinkling in her eyes. "Hey" he said softly, wiping her tears away with his thumb, "why are you crying?"

"I just…can't believe that you're here" Prue whispered, before the dam broke and she sobbed openly against his chest, her tears darkening his baby blue shirt. Emotions she had suppressed for 10 years pouring out of her, for the first time she let herself lose control of the feelings she had always kept tightly in check, since the day she left wentworth.

Rax held her as she cried, stroking her back and gently kissing the top of her head, whispering soft words of comfort into her ear until finally, her sobs quietened and she raised her tearstained face to look at him.

"Rax…I love you" she breathed, her voice barely a whisper.

"I love you to." Rax replied, as he lowered his head to kiss her. Finally.

Prue's heart skipped a beat as his soft lips met hers, coaxing her mouth open, his hand on her cheek. She could feel the tiny bits of stubble he had missed whilst shaving scratching her upper lip. She kissed him back deeply, the long since extinguished fireworks in her stomach reigniting, sending her back to a place she had forced herself to forget. She felt rather than heard Rax's low moan, as every thought of him from the last 10 years intertwined into this one blissful moment, her in his arms and his mouth on hers.

After several minutes of joy, she pulled away, and looked into his eyes, and she saw the love reflected there that she was feeling in his chest.

"So what happens now?" She asked him quietly after a moment

"Well, for starters, let's go get a drink. We've got a lot of catching up to do..."