The Trouble of Taboo

We were sat in a cute little restaurant, a little further out then the next town after ours. It was small but amazing, with its high ceilings and mini chandelier, it looked like something out of a little French town, but with Italian food, it was perfect.
“Wow.” I said again as I looked around me, I couldn’t get my head around this place. Neil laughed slightly, and I looked at him smiling. He reached over and entwined our hands, sending tingles through my hand.
“So what do you want to eat?” He asked me and I looked back down at the menu, it had some many things that sounded mouth watering, that I was having trouble deciding.
“I think I’m going to have the ricotta pasta.” I told him smiling slightly, I felt like an actual grown up, on a proper date. “How about you handsome?” I asked him, the nickname slipping out, but sounding right that I didn’t even blush as he looked back up from me his menu and smiled.
“Probably the pasta with bacon.” He said and I smiled at him. “Did you call me handsome?” He asked me and I smiled.
“Yep. Is that okay? It is true after all.” I told him, feeling myself blush just a little bit at how romantic and gushy it all sounded. He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it.
“It’s more than okay. Just thought I was the old fashioned one, after all, is it not all about being “hot” and “sexy” now a days?” He asked me and I had to giggle at that. He smiled at me, his eyes dancing as I giggled. “You’re beautiful you know that?” He told me and I stopped giggling and just smiled shyly at him. I’d never thought of myself as beautiful, and no one had ever called me it before. I leaned forward to kiss him, when the waitress came back to take our orders. “Um, yes. Hello. We’d like the ricotta pasta and the pasta with bacon. Also can I get a bottle of white wine please?” Neil took charge, clearing his throat and acting all in charge was a huge turn on. I moved my leg forward and leant it against his, he felt so far away, and I just wanted to feel closer to them. It made me smile that the whole time he was ordering, he never looked from my eyes for more than 2 seconds. The waitress took our order and left without saying a word, and I was so glad for that. This was our time, and her voice would have shattered our bubble. We just sat there looking at each other as we waited for our meals and the wine to come, and when it did we pulled away from each other. I smiled up at the waitress in thanks, and she smiled back, she seemed nice and didn’t look like she was judging us at all.
“I brought two glasses for your wine, is that okay?” She asked, giving me a small smile as she looked at Neil who just nodded. When she left I laughed a little bit and he looked at me weird.
“It’s just nice that someone see’s the gap but doesn’t care.” I told him smiling as I got lost in his eyes. “It just made me feel happy.” I concluded and he smiled, kissing my hand again, as we tucked into our meals.
Neil’s POV
It’d been about a month since we went out for our meal, and how amazing that month had been. It’d been hard to begin with, seeing her at school and not being able to kiss her or anything. We had decided we shouldn’t act differently at school and most definitely no more kissing sessions in my classroom. We didn’t want to risk it. Paige always said I had so much to lose, but she did too really. She could get kicked out of school, and lose her education, she could be stuck with her parents again and lose her freedom. I had managed to calm myself down more when she spoke about her parents as if they had done nothing to her. I knew I couldn’t cause trouble otherwise I would lose her and that’d be awful.
Paige had been out a couple of times with Ali after school, which made me happy. I didn’t want her to be so dependant on me, she needed friends of her own age who she could mess about with and not have to worry about being with an older man. It was at these times that I sent Lucy’s stuff to her parents. I didn’t think Paige had noticed they were gone, basically because it was essentially my house with her things in it, so apart from a few pictures that I either sent to her or threw away, when you looked around the house it wasn’t obvious she had lived there.
It was lunch time at school and I was sat in my room marking the books. I was trying to concentrate but all I could think about was that I had Paige next. She’d come in earlier than most, telling Ali she needed the toilet and would meet her in my class room, and for them few moments I can see her without worrying about saying something that would give away our situation. I picked up another book, and found a piece of paper underneath it. I picked it up confused, trying to figure out why someone in my class would have left a piece of paper with my marking. I opened it up and nearly choked on my own breathing:
I know what you and her are doing. I know your secret. It’s sick! You shouldn’t be a teacher!
Stupidly I looked around the classroom to see if something there would tell me who had left it there, but obviously it didn’t. I looked at the books and saw it was in between Paige’s and Ali’s books. I sat there stunned, dropping the piece of paper onto my desk and just looking at it, trying to figure out who could have put it there or who could have found out, we’d been so careful. It could have been anyone in the school; they could have slipped in at break or something and slipped it near Paige’s book.
I was still sat there trying to figure out how this could have happened, when Paige walked in.
“Hay Neil.” She said, her silky voice sounding happy and cheerful. I looked up at her, I didn’t want to ruin her day, but I couldn’t keep it a secret from her. She came over to me when I didn’t reply. “Neil? What’s up?” She asked me, trying to comfort me but stay a safe distance away as well just in case someone walked in, I looked up at her and grabbed her hand, and thankfully she didn’t pull away. I needed her to comfort me. “Neil. Seriously, what’s wrong handsome?” I smiled briefly at the nickname, put then picked up the piece of paper and handed it to her, sitting back in my chair, my head leant against one of my hands as I tried to think of something we could do. She looked up at me, her happiness gone from her face. “Well, it might not mean us...” She trailed off looking at the floor.
“How many females do you think I have a secret with?” I asked her, my voice slightly angry. It hurt that she had said that. I know she was just wishing it not to be true but still, I couldn’t believe she said it.
“I don’t... I’m sorry Neil.” She told me, and I could hear her voice faltering. I looked up at her and grabbed her hands in mine, until she looked at me.
“Don’t cry baby, please? I’m sorry. I’m in shock, and I know you are too. Lets just deal with this later at home yeah?” I asked her, standing up to wipe away her tears, she smiled slightly and I hugged her kissing the top of her head. She pulled away a little bit; her eyes wary and I nodded understanding. Just as we pulled away others started to file into the classroom. “So, just read that chapter and it should make sense. If you need any more help, just come and see me again, okay?” I asked her, covering our asses and hoping it was believable.
“Yeah. Thank you Mr P.” She half whispered, I smiled at her and she smiled back, which was good, otherwise Ali was going to know something had happened. Paige seemed to know what I was thinking because I saw her build the walls around her, and plaster a smile onto her face, as she walked away as happily as she’d walked in. If I didn’t know she was upset, it would have been impossible to see, which scared me a lot. How could she hide her feelings so well? What if she did that to me? I wouldn’t be able to tell and she could be hurting inside. It worried me greatly, but I knew I had to trust her to talk to me, and so cleared my throat and started my lesson.