The Distraction Trilogy: Distraction Part 29

Wasn't it just fifteen minutes ago that he told me to forget it ever happened?

Men!

I stomp into the living room, growling under my breath. I don't know what the h.e.l.l has him so chipper and I don't want to know.

I can't believe he just said that to me.

"Everything alright, Elle?" Judith smiles a warm smile and sips her drink with a hum of appreciation.

"Don't mind her, she's grumpy." Isaac answers for me, winking at Susanna who is going to giggle herself into a coma if she doesn't stop it. He looks at me smugly.

"Aww, no, what's wrong, Elle?" Judith reaches her hand to mine and gives me a squeeze.

"She's female; there doesn't have to be something wrong."

I throw a biscuit at him, happy when it hits him in the temple. Susanna's giggling only gets louder and this time it's mixed with Judith's.

Isaac picks up the biscuit from his lap and places it on the arm of the chair. "See? That actually hurt. I could give you a detention."

"You can't give sixth formers detention, Mr Price." It's true; you can't. They either behave and stay or play up and leave.

"My dad runs the school. I could get him to make an exception."

I sip my drink. It tastes so good. I notice Isaac's eyes go to my lips when I lick them clean. "If he was going to give me detention, he would have done so already. I did apparently steal the contents of his wallet during our last chess match, remember?"

"I do love watching you two play chess." Judith pushes her new gla.s.ses up her nose.

"I've heard it gets more aggressive than a room full of men watching a football match." Susanna isn't wrong.

"Yeah, I get accused of being a cheater and then, when he does win, I get accused of going easy on him."

Isaac places his cup on the tray and I notice that the biscuit that was on the arm of the sofa is no longer there. I scan the tray and cup for it, but it's not there.

When I finish my cup and Susanna and Judith do the same, Isaac nods at the tray. "Take that out for me. We'll start on dinner in a minute."

"Okay." I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, but I can't see what his game is.

When I step back into the room, something crumbles on my head and his hand starts rubbing at my hair.

I stand in shock, unsure of how to react to what he just did.

My hands ball into fists by my sides as a rage comes over me, too powerful to suppress. "You do not ever mess with a girl's hair!" I turn on my heel and stomp into the kitchen.

"Men are stupid," I hear Judith sigh.

"I was just playing," Isaac grunts and I hear his footsteps follow me into the kitchen.

It's then I turn with a handful of flour and release it from my grasp only an inch from his face. He freezes, much like I did when he crumbled the biscuit in my hair. The flour clings to his long eyelashes and brows, settling in the front of his hair and across his lips.

He moves quickly, too quickly. I feel granules fall over my bra and chest before I realise he's holding my top open and is pouring instant coffee into it.

I squeal and grab the only thing available on the side. It's Susanna's leftover coffee and it hits him in the neck, turning his white s.h.i.+rt transparent and slightly brown. I don't feel an ounce of remorse.

"Oh, you are so dead." He hisses and pulls an egg from the egg basket on the side. I shriek and race around the table, but he's too fast. The egg cracks on my head and slithers down my forehead and through my hair as the sh.e.l.l tumbles to the ground.

Flour flies, syrup joins it, milk and water get thrown and it doesn't stop until we hear a loud booming voice from the doorway. It belongs to his father and he is p.i.s.sed off. "CLEAN THIS UP NOW!"

We both stop, dripping with different textures and colours. "Yes, Sir."

I glare at Isaac before taking in the mess around us.

Oh s.h.i.+t.

"She started it," Isaac decides to call two minutes later, but his dad doesn't respond.

Isaac sits on a chair by the fridge as I start by sweeping the mess from the ground. He pulls a packet of crisps from a nearby cupboard, opens them and proceeds to eat whilst his eyes linger on me.

Using my wrist, I push my sticky hair from my forehead. "Are you going to help?"

"Nope." He pushes another crisp into his mouth.

I stop, the broom in hand and a squirt bottle in the other. I decided I'd spray the sides as I went along, giving the mess time to soak and loosen. "So you're going to make me do this all by myself?"

He grins, still crunching on a crisp. "Yep."

"I used to wonder why you weren't married yet," I lie. I've never wondered that. Mostly I was happy he wasn't married, because then I wouldn't have to ever feel jealous over him fawning over another woman. "Now I know why."

I crouch on the ground and sc.r.a.pe the mess onto the dustpan before tipping it in the bin. Something small hits me on the back of the head. I ignore him and his crisp flicking ways.

"I'm an eligible bachelor." He says this smugly and I can't help the laugh that bubbles up from my chest.

"You're only an eligible bachelor for another year or so and then you're just the old guy that won't settle down."

His face drops quicker than a boulder from the sky. "I'm only twenty nine and I could settle down if I wanted."

"Don't sound so grumpy. I was just kidding."

"No you weren't. You're spending too much time with my mother. She thinks I should have a litter of kids and a mansion by now."

"Kids are overrated." I stand by my statement. I don't think I'll ever have kids. I don't feel an urge to become a parent one day. I don't feel like I'm failing as a woman because I don't have that urge either. It just doesn't seem like something I could ever do.

"Amen to that." He's smiling again. "You don't like kids?"

Tough question. "Meh."

He laughs and nods his agreement before standing and finally helping me with the cleaning. "Yeah, take them or leave them, right?"

"Better when you can give them back."

"You're young. You'll change your mind."

I shrug. "I doubt it, but if I ever do, it'll be when I'm ready."

Smiling warmly, almost in awe at me, he reaches out and pulls a piece of egg sh.e.l.l from my hair. That one simple touch does more than I ever thought it would. "You're old before your time, Elle."

I smile back, but the tension is too much. "You have flour on your face."

And just like that I ruined the moment.

"This looks better, but neither of you are leaving until it is spotless," Mr Price Senior states, entering the kitchen once more. "I'm appalled at the both of you. Especially you, Isaac."

I've never seen Isaac look so vulnerable and uncomfortable. "Sorry, Dad."

"Sorry, Mr Price."

The old man winks at me and walks away chuckling.

I turn to Isaac and mimic in a babyish voice, "Sorry Daddy... I fix it Daddy."

"You're not funny."

"Aww, don't cry little baby." I pat him on the head, but seconds later I feel teeth sink into my wrist and shriek, smacking him on the head with the spray bottle in an effort to get him to release me. "a.r.s.ehole."

"Detention."

Eye roll. "That again?"

"This time I'm serious."

I look at the ring of teeth marks embedded in my flesh. "Then I'll just report you for a.s.sault."

"Two days of detention."

Sigh...

Isaac I think back to the food fight and it still brings a smile to my face. I don't ever remember a time where I had that much fun.

What's even more fun is sitting at the top end of the hall monitoring the twelve or so students who are currently writing lines on blank pieces of paper. Eloise is among them and she looks extremely p.i.s.sed.

I wander around, checking to make sure everybody is writing the lines a.s.signed to them. They usually receive lines based on their punishment.

'I must not play on my phone during lesson.'

Is one of them.

'I must not argue with my teacher during lesson.'

Is another.

My favourite, however, is this...

'I must not throw eggs in kitchens and proceed to beat someone over the head with a bottle of any kind.'

Although she hasn't quite written what I've told her to.

'Next time I'll just hit harder.'

I laugh, causing the students to look my way, but s.h.i.+ft it to a glare. They quickly turn back to their own work.

The thing is, I didn't actually manage to get Elle into detention. My dad decided that, as punishment for our fight, she'd be in detention and I'd be supervising. So basically I'm also in detention, I'm just not writing lines. I haven't told that to Elle though. She thinks I'm here to gloat.

And that's what I'll continue to let her think for the next forty minutes.

I'm so hungry. Normally I'd grab something on my way home on the nights I don't go to my parents, but this detention has kept me in an hour too long. I need to eat.

When the hour is up, the students file out one by one. I smile when Eloise waits behind for me. She looks unsure about whether or not I want her here. I'm not a mind reader, but Eloise isn't hard to figure out.

"Did you have a good weekend?" I start pus.h.i.+ng the tables to the corner and, with her help, we stack them properly.

"It was okay. I had a job interview at that shoe shop in town, the one on the corner of the high street."

I know that one, I think. "Zone?"

"Yeah, I think I got it, which means twenty five percent discount. Can't go wrong with twenty five percent discount."

This is true. "Well, good luck. If only the other students had your drive."

"I'm lucky." She tucks her hair behind her ear and helps me lift another table, sliding it into place.

"How so?"

"I know what I want. I know that being a teenager isn't going to last and I know that, in order to get where I want to be, I need money."

"You're a smart girl."

She shrugs. "I just pay attention."

This makes me chuckle. "Not including during my lessons."

"Yeah, it was easier when I didn't find my teacher attractive." Her eyes widen as she turns her face away from me. I try not to laugh, but fail and it feels good. "I can't believe I just said that."

"I can." Okay, so my new found arrogance might annoy her, but I can't help it. She makes me feel good and I like to tease her when I feel good. I shouldn't. It's not appropriate. I just don't know how to stop and, even if I did know, I don't think I would.

"Can we just do this already?" I know she's referring to the table, but my mind still wanders to other places. I can't get it out of my head, the way she responded to my touch and kiss. It can't happen again, but it'll be something I fantasize about for a very long time. "The table I mean." She flushes pink along her cheekbones and curses under her breath. I guess I'm not the only one letting my mind wander.

We lift the final table and slide it into place. I'm still smiling and she's still blus.h.i.+ng.

"I should go." She grabs her bag off the floor and slips it onto her shoulder.