Changing The Rules

“I can’t believe you are going to be away all of spring break” Becky whined as she gripped my hand over the lunch table, everyone else nodding their heads in agreement.

“I know but it’s been ages since I’ve been home and I really need to see my family and friends back there”

“But we are so much cooler” Sara laughed as I rolled my eyes. Sara was the only one who knew Nick was coming with me, whereas the rest were none the wiser. I could not wait to just get on that plane and to be able to spend the entire week with my boyfriend, not having to worry about being seen.

“Guys spring break really isn’t that long. Plus I’ll bring you all back a little something” Huge grins all appeared on their faces, all of them nodding like dogs. I laughed, shaking my head as I secretly glanced over at Nick’s table.

Nick POV

“I can’t believe you are going to be away all of spring break” Jay groaned, pouting like a child.

“Yeah but my parents are insisting I go and visit my Nan in Texas so I’m ready to party down” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“Seriously man, you are going to be so bored down there. Just convince your parents to let you stay here where all the parties are going to happening. I mean come on Nick, this is our last spring break as high school students and you’re going to be spending it with your Nan” Ryan said with an eyebrow raised. I nodded, pretending to look gutted when in reality I could not wait to board that plane with the love of my life on my arm.

The bell rang and because it was the last day before spring break, we had to spend our final class in home period considering teachers knew no one had any intention of doing any work. Me and the guys all picked up our stuff, slowly trudging to our class, wanting the final bell to go more than anything, especially me. We all took our seats in our usual places at the back, throwing our bags on the tables or the ground. Jay and the guys started talking about their party plans but since I wasn’t going to any of them my mind drifted off to what my spring break would be like. I imagined Charlene and I walking the streets of London hand in hand, taking loads of random pictures to last a life time before heading down south to her hometown.

I tried to hold back my smile when Charlene came into the room with all her friends, laughing at something Sara was saying to her, throwing her head back in amusement, her long brown hair falling gracefully back down. She smiled at Henry, high fiveing him before taking her seat with Sara. I sank down into my seat, crossing my arms over my chest, looking like I was observing the entire class when I was actually just watching Charlene, wanting nothing more than to just run up and take her in my arms, kissing the living day lights out of her. I watched in amusement as she slowly moved her head just slightly, looking at me in the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly more, looking into my eyes, smiling with her own before turning back to her friends. That was all I needed. I just needed to look into her beautiful eyes and all of a sudden nothing else in the world mattered. She was my world.

“So ladies” I jumped as Jay started speaking loudly, sitting on the desk for superiority. What a dick. “Any wild spring break parties planned?” He said smarmily, running his tongue along his bottom lip. I watched as most of the girls blushed whereas Charlene just scoffed, rolling her eyes. That’s my girl.

“Wild? I don’t think so” Sara laughed, shaking her head.

“How about you Charlene? I bet you enjoy getting your freak on” Jay smirked, his eyes looking Charlene up and down. Charlene rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disgust. I wanted to just stand up and punch Jay right in the nose but it would have looked weird considering to other people, it looked like he hadn’t done anything wrong to me.

“Well Charlene will be ‘getting her freak on’ in England.” Becky said with her eyes wide open in an accusing manner. Charlene smiled, bringing her legs up on her seat and up to her chest, leaning against the wall.

“Oh you out of town as well?” Aaron asked.

“As well? Who else is fleeing?” Charlene said. Oh my girl was quite the little actress. I saw Aaron turn around and point at me, most of the girls in the class sighing. Why? I have no clue. “Oh what a shame” Charlene replied sarcastically, glaring at me.

“He’s ditching us to be with his nan in Texas. Can you say mummy’s boy?” Aaron laughed, high fiveing Jay as they both grinned at me. I playfully pushed Aarons arm, folding mine back again, looking up to see Charlene smiling at me. “You’re not going to spend time with his Nan as well are you?” Aaron laughed.

“Sadly not. I’m going back home to my own grandparents. Rave” She said nonchalantly, making the guys laugh. I knew most of the guys thought she was hot which made me feel even better knowing I had her and that none of them stood her chance. She spun back around in her seat, placing her hand up to hide her face as she continued her earlier conversation with her friends, clearly sending the message to Jay and co to just leave her alone.

For the rest of the hour, I pretended like I was daydreaming and staring out of the window when in fact I was staring at the beautiful figure in front of it. I watched all of her little habits that just made her…her. The way she would occasionally get a nervous twitch in her eye when she was trying not to laugh, the way she would swing her legs in rhythm as if there was always a song in her head. And my favourite; the way she would sit and toy with the ring I had given her, often resting her hands in front of her face and I would catch her occasionally, pressing her lips to the ring, mouthing stuff subtly to herself. I didn’t even realise that as I was watching her I was playing with Jesse’s dog tag around my neck which I had convinced my friends was my dead grandfathers from the war. A lot of them tried to touch the necklace which would have given me away but I always shooed their nosy hands away. I would see Charlene smile softly when she could see me rubbing the necklace, a silent communication passing between the two of us.

There was cheering all around as the bell rang, everyone yelling and running out.

“Ok class have a good Spring Break” Our tutor said quickly as we all ran past him to our lockers, wanting to get out of school as soon as possible.

“Bye man, have a good time in Texas. I’ll miss you buddy” Jay said, giving me a hug which I returned.

“I’ll miss you too; this break will definitely be different.” I laughed, smiling internally knowing that this was going to be the best spring break of my life. I patted his shoulder as I waved goodbye to all of my friends, quickly walking out of school and around to Anton Road. I unlocked my car, throwing all of my stuff in the boot, leaning back on my door again, as I slipped on my aviators which I knew Charlene loved. I grinned as she rounded the corner and I couldn’t help but run down to meet her, spinning her around in my arms.

“Hello to you to” She laughed, pressing her lips to mine. I took her bags, walking with her back to the car where I put them safely next to mine in the boot. I walked back around to her as she lent on the door of the passenger side. I placed my arms on either side of her body, bringing my lips down to hers, smiling to myself as she wrapped her arms around my neck, entangling her fingers in my curls. I loved it when she did that.

“You excited?” She grinned. I nodded, not being able to wait for this break, to get her all alone, where we could just be ourselves. Our true selves.

“Let’s go” I said, pecking her lips once more, pulling back to open the door for her. She smiled, softly pressing her lips to mine as she slid into the car before I closed the door behind her. England here we come.

Charlene POV

My parents had been planning this trip for ages and I thought I was going to have to beg and plead for them to let Nick come but they agreed straight away. Seriously, who else has parents as great as that? They agreed to give Nick and I our own space and thankfully agreed to leave the two of us in London for a few days before heading down to them. Hallelujah.

I smiled up at Nick as I sat on his lap in the boarding lounge, waiting for our plane to be ready. He looked down at me, smiling softly before pecking my lips.

“I love being able to do that in public” He whispered as if it was our little secret. As soon as we had got here, we ensured there was no one we knew and thankfully everyone was back in their houses, no doubt partying the night away.

“Me too” I whispered back, brushing my lips over his before settling my head back on his shoulder.

‘British Airways flight 404 to London Heathrow, now boarding from gate 12’

“Come on then” My dad said, slapping his thighs as he stood up, picking up his hand luggage. I jumped off Nicks lap, putting my handbag on my shoulder, smiling at Nick as he took my hand in his, following my parents lead.

We took our seats and Nick being the gentleman that he was, gave me the window seat. My parents were sitting on the other side of the plane, both of them arguing over who was going to sit window.

“Have you ever been to England before?” I asked him, placing my hand on his on the arm rest.

“Nope. I’ve been to Italy once but that was years ago. We usually take our family vacations in Texas with my grandparents.” I chuckled at his emotionless face. “Yeah, it’s really not that fun” He flashed his crooked smile, pressing his lips to my forehead.

“Well I’m sure my grandparents won’t be much better, except my granddad is kind of crazy.” I said which made him laugh, which was my favourite sound and never failed to bring a smile to my lips. “Ok replace kind of, with extremely”

“Don’t worry, this holiday is going to be amazing” He said to reassure me as I held my lips in a straight line, hoping he wouldn’t think my family was nuts no matter how much I loved them.

A few hours into the marathon flight and Nick was asking me loads of questions about England, the people, the way of life and just generally how its different to everything he has ever known.

“I actually cannot wait to see the sights, although you are definitely the best sight England has to offer” He smirked. I scoffed, hitting his chest in a hope to distract his attention from my ruby red cheeks.

The lights of the cabin went off and as if on queue I let out a loud yawn which made Nick laugh at me. “Shut up and let me sleep on you” I mumbled as I stretched my legs, lifting the arm rest and relaxing into his arms.

“You're such a moody little thing” Nick chuckled, resting his head on top of mine.

“Shup” I mumbled, my voice filled with sleep. I moved my head slightly to get comfortable, sighing when I relaxed, quickly being carried off into a deep sleep.

…..

“Babe. Sweetie.” I heard Nick saying softly as his fingers ran up and down my face. “They’re serving breakfast now”

My eyes fluttered open, locking onto his. “Morning” He said gently with a smile.

“Morning” I whispered, pointing to my lips. He grinned, softly moving his lips against mine. The perfect wakeup call. I stretched my body, rubbing my tired eyes. “Well what an amazingly comfortable pillow I had last night” I said as I smiled at him, my attention being needed elsewhere by the steward offering a rather repulsive looking breakfast which I grudgingly accepted.

A few…well more than a few, hours later and London had come into view, the airplane flying over the famous landmarks; the millennium dome, the eye, the Thames, everything. I had switched seats with Nick who I knew wanted to look out of the window more than me considering he had never been here before whereas for me it was home. Well my home away from home, considering I believed where I belonged was in Nick arms. Nick didn’t say anything for over half an hour as he just sat there staring out of the window, his mouth open slightly, taking it all in.

…..

“Ok we will see you two in three days time. Call us if you need anything and remember everything when packing. Make sure-” My mum rambled as Nick and I were getting into our own cab.

“Mum! We’ll be fine; I think I know my way around pretty well. We’ll see you in a few days” I said with a soft smile when I saw my mum’s worried expression which was always there. We hugged my parents goodbye before slipping into the cab and be whisked away into central London, our hotel being just around the corner from all the action of the city. We finally arrived at the hotel, paying the driver a hefty fee before taking our backs out the back.

“I wonder what floor we’ll be on” I said to Nick as I started rolling my bag. “Nick?” I stopped, turning to see him leaning his head over the road, looking at all the hustle and bustle. I laughed, quickly walking over to him and placing my hand on his shoulder. “Come on, we can go to all the tourist spots shortly, let’s just settle in first.” He nodded, rolling his own bag along side mine as we walked into the rather expensive looking hotel.

“Good morning, how may I help you two today?” The overly smiling hotel receptionist asked, eyeing up Nick immediately.

“We have a booking under Franton” I said as I smiled fakely at her, already sick of this slut. Her eyes turned cold as she looked at me, quickly whipping on a plastic smile, some how managing to type something into her computer despite her far too long fake nails getting in the way.

“So where have you come from?” She asked, looking at Nicks bags, clearly not from around here considering how large his suitcase was.

“Just outside Chicago” As soon as Nick spoke, her eyes lit up like the desperate little bleep that she was.

“Ohh an American boy. So what do you think of the English girls then?” She smirked, running a hand through her hair. How the hell did someone like that work in such a posh hotel?

“Well I don’t know about all English girls, but my one is nothing short of amazing” Nick smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, kissing my temple. I smiled smugly at her pissed off face. She rolled her eyes, handing us the keys.

“Room 318, 7th floor, enjoy your stay” She said flatly, handing over the keys.

“Thank you for all your help” I smiled widely at her. “Come on boyfriend” I said loudly, taking Nick’s free hand with my own. She scowled at me before throwing a piece of gum into her mouth. I hoped she’d choke on it.

“Well what a lovely young lady” Nick said sarcastically as he lent on the wall of the lift.

“Ugh she was all over you” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. Nick smiled; walking closer to me, brushing some hair away that had fallen from my loose bun.

“So. You are the only girl for me and the only one I will allow to be all over me, and I mean that in more than one way” He smiled slyly, pressing a kiss just behind my ear, making my legs go weak. The lift rang as we reached our floor. Nick grinned at me, taking his bag and rolling it out as I tried to catch my breath again. What a tease.

“Wow” I breathed as I entered our room which overlooked Piccadilly Circus, the huge crowds and busy streets below us. I walked over to Nick, resting my chin on his shoulder as he looked out the window.

“I know” He said in a breathy voice which made my heart go a million miles an hour. It had been a while since Valentines day and the infamous Jacuzzi fun and we had not been able to be intimate in so long, what with school and everything and my desire for Nick was now at a ridiculous level. “The bed is huge” He said as he grinned, turning around in my arms, his eyes engulfed in lust, but more importantly; love. I had a feeling he had been feeling the same as me.

“How about we do our own sightseeing?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, running my finger over his chest. Nick didn’t reply, he simply lifted me up, my legs wrapping around his waist as we kissed furiously, Nick managing to kick open the bedroom door where we most certainly enjoyed the attractions.

After our morning of love, we explored the city which I had so sorely missed, taking Nick to my favourite parts that few people knew about, wanting to share everything about my life with him. It felt like a Topshop spree was well overdue and I squealed as we turned onto Oxford Street, my second love, Topshop right in front of my eyes. Nick laughed, squeezing my hand.

“Ok you go in there I’m going to have a look around” He said over all the traffic noise behind him.

“Ok” I smiled, pecking his lips before vanishing into a shop full of people. Over an hour later and I had finally picked out some clothes and was standing in line, talking to an Australian girl who was here for the first time, asking me where some shops were. She was stunning to say the least, with her golden Australian tan compared to my bland English one. I felt a presence behind me and turned to see Nick smiling at me.

“Hey” I grinned, pressing my lips briefly to his. As I was about to pull out my card, Nick quickly handed his own over, smiling at my shocked expression. I thanked the shop assistant, walking with Nick, a look of shock still on my face.

“You didn’t have to do that you know”

“I know, but I wanted to. I know how much you love that place, I mean you spend all of your time on their website” He laughed.

“Thank you” I said genuinely, linking my fingers through his. “But now let me take you to the most amazing candy shop ever!” I said, running across the zebra crossing with him, to my other love…candy.

……

We lay in our hotel bed on our last night in London, looking through the pictures that we’d taken over the past few days. I had my head and arm rested on his bare chest, laughing at every other dorky picture we had taken. He turned off his camera, putting it on the bedside table before turning on his side to look into my eyes.

“I cannot believe I am here, in London, with the love of my life. I just never thought this kind of stuff would happen to me” He said which brought an immediate blush to grace my cheeks. I moved my body over, our faces barely apart.

“And are you happy it has?” I asked quietly.

“Happy does not even begin to explain how I feel. I could not ask for anything more, you are all I could ever ask for and more” He said just before I blanketed his lips with mine, our tongues dancing together. I rolled my body on top of his, pulling away when he gasped in pain.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked in worry, stroking his face.

“I urm…I sort of got something done.” He said sheepishly as I rolled off his body.

“Something being?”

He turned with his back to me, revealing a small white patch over his skin on his shoulder blades which made me wonder how I hadn’t seen it. “I got it on our first day when you were in Topshop” Ok, how had I missed that? Then again, I tended to spend more time staring at his bare chest than his back, because seriously no one has a chest that amazing.

“Can I?” He nodded, allowing me to delicately pull the patch away, wondering how big his cut was, but I gasped when I realised what it was. “You got a tattoo” I said quietly with a smile. “Aww my Nicky is growing up” I laughed, thinking it was one of the hottest things I had ever seen. Nick always had this effect on me.

“Look at what it says” Nick said. I moved closer, analysing it, my heart melting when I saw the intertwined N and C. I knew it would still be quite painful considering the skin around it was still very red. I slowly pulled the patch back over the tattoo, pressing a kiss delicately to it, moving back to let Nick turn around.

“You’re amazing” I whispered, running my fingers through his curls which is something I knew he loved. “You realise that is for life?”

He nodded, flashing me that irresistible charming smile. “You are for life”. I knew he would come back with something like that.

“You are my life” I retorted with a grin, I knew he couldn’t top that. He lay there, his eyes to one side in thought.

“I love you” Was all he had to say and that was more than enough. I grinned, wrapping my arms around his neck, wary of his still raw tattoo.

“I love you too” I said onto his lips, which was the last thing that was heard before we were both claimed by sleep, dreaming of nothing but each other.