Trick Me Twice

I’d done it. I’d managed to switch from my original university to a degree course in textiles at Southwark University in south London. Carter and I would be an easy train ride apart. Since I’d become his girlfriend, I no longer had the burning desire to escape from Alstone that I once had. My priorities had changed. Carter was everything to me, and I didn’t want to gain everything and lose him in the process. This was a compromise—I got to do the degree that I’d been working towards all this time, but I’d be close enough that we could spend every weekend together, plus time during the week, depending on our class schedules.

It was scary putting myself out there, but as Lena kept reminding me, I had to push myself out of my comfort zone.

Now, I had to break the news to Carter.

Walking through the hallway towards the cafeteria, I breathed in and out deeply, clutching the letter in my hand. I knew Carter wanted me, but there was always the tiniest doubt in my mind. Would this be too much? Would he be happy about what I’d done? I paused in the doorway, just watching my gorgeous boyfriend on his table at the centre of the room. He was seated casually on the table itself, long legs propped up on the chair in front of him. He’d taken his school blazer off, and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing his strong forearms. His presence dominated the space, confidence radiating from him as the group surrounding him hung off his every word.

As if he sensed me, his gaze swung upwards and locked onto me, and a huge grin spread across his face. He crooked his finger at me, and I swallowed nervously, moving over to him.

“Hey.” He swung his legs off the chair when I reached the table, tugging me in between them and gripping me lightly around the waist. “How’s my favourite girl doing?”

“Good,” I whispered. The letter was still clutched in my hand, the paper crumpled between us.

“What’s up?” He cupped my chin. “What’s—” Then he must’ve noticed the crinkling of the paper because he reached between us and pried the letter from my fingertips. I stood, the nerves rooting me in place, as he silently read the letter.

When the silence stretched, I swallowed hard, then spoke. “Carter? Say something, please.”

He finally raised his eyes from the paper. “What’s this all about? You’re giving up your dream degree course?” A flash of anger appeared in his eyes, and my stomach rolled.

“No. It’s not… The location doesn’t matter. The course is almost identical. I only picked my original university because I wanted to get as far away as possible. But now I have you, I thought… I wanted to be close to you… I’m sorry…” My voice faded as I dropped my gaze.

“Rai.” He tilted my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “Fuck.” He scrubbed his hand across his face. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

I nodded. “Completely. My priorities have changed, now.”

He stared at me for the longest time, the gold in his eyes sparking as he held my gaze. “You know I love you, right?”

“What?” My shocked whisper was echoed next to me, as Xavier, who was eavesdropping and not even being subtle about it, stared between us both.

Carter’s lips curved into a blinding smile. “Yeah. I love you. You. Raine Laurent.” Suddenly, he was standing up and cupping his hands around his mouth, shouting out for everyone to hear. “I love Raine Laurent!”

“Carter, sit down now!” I hissed, my face flaming as every single person in the cafeteria turned to stare

at us. I ignored the laughter of his friends around me, sinking into the chair and hiding my face in my hands.

Then, he was gripping my hands and prying them away from my face and tugging me into his arms. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. I want everyone to know how much you mean to me.”

I melted a little at his words, allowing myself to relax against his body. Throwing my arms around his waist, I stood there holding him as he stroked his hand up and down my back. As I grew calmer, I forgot about the attention of the other students and focused on what Carter had just said.

“You love me?” I drew back and stared up at him.

“Yeah. A whole fucking lot.”

I smiled. “I love you.”

He gave me a wide grin. “I know.” Then he kissed me, before taking a seat in the chair and tugging me into his lap. Picking up his phone, he scrolled through his emails. “I can’t believe you did all this. And you know what the weird thing is?” Pushing the phone in front of me, he tapped on the screen. “Look. I’ve been emailing Newcastle University to see about transferring there once my first semester in Alstone College is over.”

Reading through the email, my eyes widened in disbelief. “You were going to do that?”

“I’d do anything for you. The thought of us being so far apart…I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t. And now, you don’t have to worry. I already looked at the trains between here and my new uni, and there are loads every day. Not only that, just think of the weekends we can spend together in London.”

A gleam came into his eye. “Yeah, maybe I could get season tickets for Chelsea.” I groaned, and he laughed. “Just kidding. Maybe just one or two games.”

“I can deal with that. I can even deal with the season tickets, if it means I get to spend time with you.”

As he kissed me again, I didn’t even care that people might be watching us. The person I loved, loved me back, and I no longer had to face the prospect of being apart from him.