This pleasure is different though, it’s even more intense, and I think that’s because we know we’re not going anywhere, and this is it. Our childhood promise coming true.
We’re coming together, shuddering hard, our bodies clinging to each other so I don’t know where I end, and he begins which is exactly how I would like it to be for the rest of my life.
Chapter 28 – Ted
Six Months Later…
“Everything okay, Ted?” my boss, Robert, asks me with a concerned look on his face. “You’re looking at your phone a lot. Is today the day when your grade comes through for your first online course thing?”
“Sure is.” I force a smile on to my face as I shove my phone away. I don’t want him to see quite how nervous I really am. “I just want to know as soon as I can. You know? I want reassurance that I’m on the right path.”
“Oh, you are.” He pats me reassuringly on the back. “I can tell just by how hard you have been working. Here and at the college course. You have a determined attitude every single day and that’s half the battle.”
I try to breathe through my nerves and trust his words. It doesn’t matter how many people try to tell me that it doesn’t matter what the result is because I can make it up another time, but I want to succeed. Sure, it’s me putting all of the pressure on myself, but I need it. This is me getting back on the right path.
“I hope you’re right.” I don’t even realize that I’m back on my cell phone until I see that I have no new messages. “Anyway, I’m going to get my head back in the game. Focus on work.”
Robert pats me on the back again and nods gratefully. Luckily, the work doesn’t take up too much of my brain power, so I can do it even when I’m distracted, which is perfect for today because my brain is all over the place. It’s even worse because Chloe’s mother and her English husband, Aaron, are here and I want to show them that I deserve Chloe. Of course, her mother has been nothing but lovely to me, despite everything, which I don’t understand because she would be perfectly within her rights to want to kick my ass, but I still need to prove myself. I have to show her that I’m a good guy now.
I just about manage to stop looking at my cell phone every two minutes up until my lunch break, changing it to every five instead, which might be how I miss the email when it finally comes through. By the time I see it, I click on it and my eyes are so blurry with nerves that it takes me a couple of moments to see anything. But when I finally get my eyes on the words and I drink them in, I almost pass out from excitement.
“I did it!” I yell out happily. “I passed…”
It might not be a lot to some people because I obviously still have a long way to go, but I did it. For me, this is a leap in the right direction. I couldn’t be happier about it. My coworkers understand. They rally around and cheer with me, patting me on the shoulder.
We knew that you could do it Ted. I don’t know where these words are coming from, they seem to be circling me from every angle, but I’m glad to have such supportive people in my life. Even Robert makes a silly little speech about how the college course will mean I eventually leave them, which he doesn’t want because I’m such a hard worker, but that he’s proud of me.
Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…
As my cell phone rings, I struggle to yank it back out of my pocket, and as I do I expect to see Chloe’s number on the screen. She knows better than anyone how anxious I am about today, and she’s bound to want to know… but it isn’t, it’s my mother, who will also want to know how I did. So, I excuse myself and find a quiet place to pick up.
“Hi, Mom, good news,” I tell her right away to put her out of her misery. “I passed my first semester.”
“Oh my God, that’s amazing. I didn’t know that you were finding out today.”
“Well, I just got the email right now, so that’s good timing for your call…” It suddenly clicks in my brain. “Oh, wait if you weren’t calling about my college results then what’s going on?”
She never calls me during working hours, she always waits until the evening, so this now has me nervous. I start chewing on the same thumb nail that I seem to have been biting all morning long while I wait for her to speak.