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Seduction of Summer

Chapter Two: Slipping off the edge

"Everything around it but he's too distant
I wanna feel his body I can't resist it

I know my hidden looks can be deceiving
But how obvious should a girl be?"

Sugarbabes – Push The Button

As Luke continued to run his oh-so-very-talented hands across my back, I began to think about the last six months we'd spend together. Those that had come after the death of Flynn. Ric and Cassie had been withdrawn from both our friendships at that stage, so Luke and I had been left to our own devices, wondering how we could help our friends during their greatest time of need.

Knowing that Flynn and Sally accepted them both into their home, Ric and Cassie, both of whom needed a family, had created one with the young couple and their daughter Pippa.

The death could've thrown the family apart, and for the first few weeks, I was worried that this was what it would do. Ric and Cassie were barely speaking to one another, let alone anyone else, and Sally had built a wall so high around herself she had yet to grieve for her late husband.

Trying to get them to open up, dragging them places whenever we could, subtle changes between the two, and our dynamics as a foursome began to show. The small cracks that had appeared after his death became larger and larger until everything was ready to break apart. And while Luke and I had done everything during their time off need, sometimes sorry just isn't enough.

Everything had changed… deep down we all knew this.

However one day, everything went back to normal. Or so it appeared. Ric and Cassie turned up at school with smiles on their faces, stealing chaste kisses every time they thought no one was watching.

During our lunch break, sitting at the diner, they were still all smiles, as I watched in amazement. Something had happened, as yesterday, both had gone home to check on Sally, as usual. Sally had even come into to the diner that day, with Pippa sitting on her hip. Both looked like they had spent the morning at the beach, building sand castles and playing in the waves.

Both were all smiles too.

Flynn was gone, but not forgotten. They all knew that he would've wanted them to live life. That's what Cassie told me, later at the beach, when Ric and Luke were walking somewhere deep in conversation. Flynn wanted them to be happy. And they were.

But the cracks were still there… still threatening to break at any time. More had changed in that time, than any of us were willing to admit.

Than we were ready to admit.

Shaking myself out of these thoughts, I pushed myself up off the ground, effectively stopping the massage, and turned to face Luke. He wore his usual expression he showed when we two were alone. His deep and bitter sadness showing through his eyes. He looked old, and tired. I did all that I could do, when he was feeling this way, but nothing ever seemed to take away the pain. I pulled him into a tight hug, and whispered in his ear "I'll always be here for you". Instinctively his arms tightened around me, pulling me closer. Sometimes he just needed to know that he'd be okay in the end.

Sometimes I think we all need to know this.

Suddenly I felt tired too, as if the last six months had piled up on me at once. Thinking about them brought back some tough memories, even for those who weren't as close to Flynn. I pulled back from the hug, as told Luke that it was time to sleep. He silently agreed, before playfully throwing my pajama's at me. Neither of us was wary of changing in front of one another, as we'd grown closer, all thoughts of physical insecurities had faded away.

While this created no issues when one had to get changed in front of the other, sometimes, knowing that there was a lack of thrill seeing each others half naked bodies, I would wonder if sex would really live up to all the expectations that had been created around it. It was supposed to hurt like hell the first few times, and I'd heard the pain was second only to childbirth, but after that, would we grow bored quickly, because of the time already spent observing, and obsessing over each others bodies? Spending as much time at the beach as we did there wasn't really much left to the imagination about Luke's body… however that being said, there was still so much more I had yet to explore.

So much I was craving to explore.

Laying down next to one another, curled in our own sleeping bags, I thought about how often we'd been in this situation. The last six months had also changed our relationship, as our parents had moved us in together into one giant house. The idea of living together was inspired. Neither of us minded our parents dating, as long as they kept their lovey-doveyness to themselves, and our rooms were at the other end of the house.

Initially we'd been cautious, because it wasn't just Mum and Tony we had to worry about, Jack had been there too, and Robbie and Kit had also been with us. Mayhem ensured for the first couple of weeks, and I thanked god for the lock on the bathroom door every time I would hear someone go to come in without knocking.

But change was always occurring within our small lives in Summer Bay, despite the boredom that it brings with it. Jack and Martha had soon found their own place to rent, mainly for Jack to keep his sanity I think, and Robbie and Tasha had found their way back to one another, and moved our shortly after Jack. After a couple of weeks in the bay, Kit, much to my disappointment decided to head back to the city, taking an extremely happy Kim with her. Sparks had reignited between the two, and even though they had yet to confirm my suspicions of a relationship being formed again, I didn't think they were that far off it.

Now all that remained in a once busy household was two parents and two teenagers, both in love, or lust. Both enjoying the space that came with peace and quiet. Luke and I had welcomed this, and sleepovers in each other's rooms had become a somewhat regular occurrence, despite our parents' protests. Tonight, it just seemed as though we were back in Luke's room, huddled in his bed together, drifting off into sleep. In his arms, I felt a certain comfort, and I yawned and closed my eyes, willing sleep to come.

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Damn that chirping was annoying. Why did birds have to get up so early, especially in the bush, ESPECIALLY when I was snuggled up nice and close to my boyfriend? As I pondered this simple fact, I felt Luke wrap his arms tighter around, and pull me in closer.

As I felt myself fit perfectly into his body, I recalled a conversation that had taken place a few weeks after we moved house.

Mum and Tony had called a 'family meeting' with the lame excuse of wanting to discuss the new living arrangements, now that everyone had left. They shared a mutual look between one another, and if to say 'Well, it's better to get this over with now than never', before Tony began to speak.

"Now, Beth and I are both aware of your relationship, and how it's differed now that we're all living under the same roof. We've talked about it between the two of us, and want to share with you some of our concerns" he finished, looking slightly less composed than he had to begin with.

I subtly rolled my eyes, getting their implication almost immediately.

"Now, we know that, being teenagers, there are some things you want to… explore" my mother began quickly, before I cut her off.

"We're not having sex." I told them flat out. And even if we were, I wouldn't own up to it. I had thought to myself.

Mum and Tony's eyes shot up towards us, slowly taking in my words, looking between us to see if there was even a hint of a lie.

Luke's trusting face would never have failed me if I were lying; but thankfully, the whole truth was out there on the table. Both mum and Tony looked years younger knowing that we weren't engaging in sexual activities.

"But I would like to go on the pill, just in case." I finished.

How's that for a bombshell? I reflected, as three pairs of eyes started at me this time.

Mum was the first to recover. I suspected my revelation had been a huge shock for both males, neither of which was able to look me in the eye.

"Well, I think that's a matter that you and I should discuss with a doctor tomorrow Maddie" she rushed, as if willing this conversation to end.

"We believe you both,' Tony began ' but you will come to us if the situation… changes" he finished. Luke and I solemnly nodded our heads, and make for a quick exit. However I believe all four members were relieved to have THAT conversation over and done with. I silently wondered to myself as Luke and I walked back into his room, how Tony had coped giving Luke the 'birds and the bee's' talk. Mentally, I stored that away as a question to ask when I was bored.

Moments later I felt Luke's eyes on my back, and I knew what was coming.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. His voice wasn't judgmental or angry, just curious and questioning.

"Because I knew how you'd react" I sighed, not really wanting to get into this with him.

"And how would I react?"

"Like this. You'd question me and then you'd question yourself, until you had over analysed the situation and concluded that we're both too young to make big decisions like this. Only you wouldn't have told me, you would've kept it all shut up inside yourself, and written it down in your journal, leaving that casually somewhere, knowing that I would look in it eventually."

Yea, I'd read his journal many times before. It had become habit. If he wanted to tell me something huge generally about his mum or his feelings about me he'd write it down, and then leave the journal somewhere I was sure to find it. It gave me both reassurance and a feeling of unease, knowing he could trust me with his deepest feelings, but also knowing he couldn't tell me them to my face.

This was Luke's queue to sigh, before turning me to face him.

"I just wish you would've told me, so I didn't look like such a fool out there" he finished, wanting to calm the storm before it threatened to destroy.

Such was our way. I had a temper, and Luke avoided conflict as much as possible. There was never any conflict, but there was passion.

I'd been on the pill for three months now, and we hadn't discussed those implications since the night of the family meeting.

I had hoped it would be a big enough hint for Luke to take the plunge, but, as I shifted, and felt something slightly digging into my thigh, I realised I had hit the brick wall of Luke's mostly endearing, but sometimes absolutely annoying stubbornness for the last time.

Moving around a bit, knowing Luke would awake to the feeling of pleasure, I decided it was time I took matters into my own hands.

Luke groaned the second time I wriggled against him, and I felt him make an effort to stop me.

"Maddie,' he said sleepily 'what on earth are you doing? It's early and I'm desperate for a sleep in."

Typical I thought he's avoiding the topic completely.

I feigned innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about. But I'm bored. The birds are all chirpy and stuff and I can't sleep. I wanna be amused." I cried, putting on my best baby voice.

In my head I saw him rolling his eyes as he began to stand up, pulling me gently up with him. "You're just lucky you look so damn cute with morning hair", he said.

"I have morning hair" I half screamed, before digging in the bag Luke had packed for me, desperately looking for a mirror and a brush. I heard a chuckle behind me, followed by a mumble, which sounded something like 'girls', but I was too intent on not having morning hair to reprehend Luke for mocking me.

Seeing an opportunity to begin my plans, I bent over a little more, giving Luke a wonderful view of my, well… my better side. Grinning evilly to myself, knowing what this could do to a man, I heard a sharp intake of breath, quickly followed by a zipping sound. When the zip moved again seconds after, I sat quickly onto the ground, not wanting to admit defeat. Luke, it appeared, while not immune to my charms, was doing very well at controlling himself around me.

Score one to Luke, nil to Maddie.

Time to pull out the big guns, I decided, while rummaging in my bag, hoping I knew Luke as well as I thought I did. Finding what I wanted down the very bottom of my bag, I cried "Ah ha!" triumphantly, before quickly changing. Pulling my hair back into a messy ponytail, and grabbing some last minute items, I exited the tent, hoping to find Luke immediately.

Searching quickly with my eyes, it wasn't hard to find a half-naked Luke standing about 20 meters away, with a towel thrown casually over his shoulder. Approaching him slowly, I saw his cheeks were flushed, his brows knitted together in confusion. Able to walk right up infront of Luke before he noticed I was coming, and I scared him half to death when I said "Hey"

Jumping backwards, I just had to laugh as he tumbled to the ground. Picking himself up and brushing the dirt off his board shorts, he was almost exactly facing my chest on the way to standing upright when he noticed what I was wearing. His eyes lingered on my cleavage a little longer than necessary before he stood upright. Playing it cool, as only Luke could, he said to me "Decided to wear the swimmers I brought you for your birthday then?"

I followed his eyes as they slowly looked up and down my body; I could only answer with a small shrug, playing the whole thing down.

He let out a low whistle of approval, before pulling me close and whispering "I like them a lot more than when they are actually on you" before attempting to kiss me.

I shoved him quickly away, while telling him "Ewww Luke, morning breath! Besides, we haven't even had breakfast. What's on the menu, I'm starving!"

"Cereal actually, we didn't really pack much else." He replied, taking my hand and leading me over to a makeshift kitchen.

"What do you mean, you didn't pack much else. There's food for lunch and dinner, right?" I asked, suddenly aware that I had let two teenage males pack everything that we were supposed to survive off for a couple of days. Would we make it out of here alive, or die from starvation and malnutrition?

Luke laughed at the serious look on my face. "Of course we did,' he said "just not for breakfast. Ric and I thought we wouldn't be seeing each other until middy most days anyway" he finished, looking at me as if I had done something wrong.

I'm not the one saving myself till I drive my girlfriend mad… I thought to myself, but whined at Luke instead of speaking the words I really wanted to. "It so wasn't my fault about the birds. Blame nature. Blame yourself, you're the one who brought me out here" I finished, poking my tongue out at him. It was an extremely immature gesture on my behalf, but he had actually suggested it was my fault he was up early this morning, instead of realising it was parts of his anatomy that had woken him up. I smirked to myself. It's not my fault his body responds to being rubbed that way. Not my fault at all.

Sitting down at the table across from Luke, he handed me a bowl of cereal, milk and all, and a spoon, for my eating pleasure. We ate in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, before I realised what exactly I needed to go, to get the point score even once again.

"Why haven't we had sex yet?" I asked as I finished chewing on my cereal.

And the score now?

Luke: One, Maddie: Infinity.

Take that.

His face was priceless. Half-eaten cereal was covering the table. His mouth was gaping open, then closing, as if trying to formulate in his mind, the implications of my statement. Finally, after about five minutes of deep breathing, I saw Luke's face calm, or as calm as it could be after such a life changing statement.

"What?" he finally asked, hoping that he'd heard me wrong.

God, I thought. Subtle doesn't work, but neither does in your face screaming, "HAVE SEX WITH ME!" When you hear teenage girls muttering 'Males', you never quite understand their meaning until you have to live though your own issues with one. At this stage, I could take the high road or the low road.

What's a girl to do?

Take the low road, and scream.

"You know what. Fine. We won't talk about this. You want to run away and write in your diary, go ahead. But I'm not waiting around for you Luke, not if you're going to take this long."

With that I walked off to the lake, leaving him alone to get lost in his own thoughts once again.

AN: Did you like it? Hate it? Is it becoming repetitive? Read and Review people, they are always appreciated. BTW my sister has just informed me that it's Mattie for Matilda… I personally don't like this, but if you have a problem, tell me and I'll change it all.