Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 25: Home Bound

EMMA's POV

I ended up chatting and staying longer than I should.

Hailey and Kirsten were such a joy to be around with.

I learned so much about lan and his childhood within ten minutes of talking to them, more than I ever did our entire relationship.

I learned lan was always gifted in the arts, at three years old he would color the entire living room wall with crayons, and at thirteen he would color the neighborhood's wall in spray paint.

Apparently, he used to get into a lot of trouble, like all boys would, according to Kirsten.

lan was mostly silent as us girls continued talking about him.

Kirsten mentioned that he was a talented kid all around, not just in the arts.

He also played soccer and baseball and oh he rocked the cutest Justin Bieber hairstyle growing up. I made up my mind to steal some of his childhood photos.

They're a national treasure! I also heard some things about lan’s dad.

From what I gathered, he was a very stand up guy, an all American dad.

He used to play baseball with lan as a kid, but when he died, lan stopped playing sports altogether.

His dad died at such a young age due to a car accident when lan was just sixteen.

lan looked extremely uncomfortable around the topic of his dad, so I didn’t press too much into it.

I changed the topic to Hailey instead, asking her about college.

"So, I heard you're in college?"

"Yup, sophomore year.I go to Wellesley.Where do you go?"

"I-uh," my breath was stuck in my throat.

I couldn't possibly say I go to West Lake high school where his brother teaches! I shot a look over at lan for some help.

"She goes to"

"Oh, that’s right!" Hailey cut in,

"You two met in Emory.I forgot. How silly of me,"

"Right..." I nodded my head,

"We met in Emory..." Which was true.

We did meet there. I just didn’t go there.

The rest of our conversation went by without a hitch.

I found out that Hailey was four years younger than lan, which meant she was four years older than me.

She didn’t know that, though.

Somehow I managed to make her believe that we were somewhere around the same age.

After a while of talking, we heard the loud honking outside the house, a signal that my friends were here to pick me up.

I tried to hold off as long as I could because I wanted to keep talking to Kirsten and Hailey, but I knew my time was up when my phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

"Okay, I guess I really have to go now," I sighed and grabbed my things.

"I'll walk you out," lan followed after me.

"Breakfast was amazing, thank you again. And it was very nice to meet you two,"

I smiled at Hailey and Kirsten.

"Same here. I'll give you a call if I'm ever in Georgia,"

Hailey smiled back and I nodded.

"Are you sure we can’t talk you into staying another night?" Kirsten pleaded.

"Oh, I wish I could,"

"Emma has to go, mom,"

lan came to my rescue as we heard the car started honking again.

"Well okay, but next time please stay longer," she said again right before I left the kitchen.

"I will," I replied.

"That means there will be a next time,"

Kirsten said it to me, but her eyes were staring straight at lan, and she winked.

"Of course," he shrugged.

She smiled victoriously and finally she let us go.

lan walked me outside where Tiff and Carrie were waiting in my car.

My friends gave lan a little wave and he nodded back at them.

I noticed the air of awkwardness, so I quickly pulled him by his collar and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for letting me stay the night," Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

"Anytime," he said as his body relaxed.

"Your mom and sister are amazing by the way,"

"Thanks. They think the same of you too,"

"How'd you know?"

"They told me. When I was telling them about you,"

"What did you tell them about me?"

"That you're this amazing girl and I'm head over heels for you.But...life got in the way and we couldn't be together,"

"What did they say then?"

"They were nagging me to get you back.They were saying that I shouldn't let life get in the way and do everything I can to make this work between us.Of course, they don't actually know the whole reason why we had to end things in the first place,"

"It's a stupid reason,"I muttered quickly.

"Yeah, I'm never doing that again,"he said with a laugh.

He had the most gorgeous smile and I was sad that I had to leave this gorgeous smile behind.

"I'll miss you,"I said as I linked my arms around his neck.

"I'll miss you too.I'll be back in Georgia after the New Years,"

"Okay,"I paused for a moment to count the days.

"So I guess I'll see you at school?"

He nodded and said,

"See you at school,"

With that, he leaned down and pulled me in for a kiss.

A long, gentle, tender kiss.

I kissed him back as my fingers ran through his hair.

He responded by pulling me even closer and deepened the kiss.

We knew we weren't gonna see each other for a while, so we wanted to make it count.

My stupid friends had to ruin the moment, of course.

They were honking and cheering like crazy.

I had to put my middle finger up in the middle of the kiss to shut them up.

lan just smiled and laughed, but he refused to break the kiss.

Finally, after we were all out of breaths, we pulled away and stared deeply into each other's eyes.

He let out a sigh as I stood on my tippy toes and kissed his cheek one last time, before turning to my heels.

He waved goodbye as I sat in the backseat of the convertible.

He was waving at me and I was waving back at him, but my friends joined in on the waving and yelled, "See you at school, Mr.

Hayes!"

"Guys, just shut up and drive,"

I rolled my eyes dramatically at them and the car speeded away the next second.

God, I hope his mom and sister wouldn't think too much of it.

"So..."

Tiff said as soon as the car turned a corner.

"So?"

I pretended to play dumb.

"Tell us everything!"

she demanded.

"Every little detail!"

Carrie followed.

"Okay, well, basically...

lan and I are back together!"

I exclaimed.

"Oh my god, yes!"

"Woo! I knew it! I knew you'd pull this off,"

"Couldn't have done it without you guys,"

I said as I linked my arms to both my friends who were in the front seat.

"How did it happen? What did he say?"Carrie asked.

"It's a twelve hour drive.We want to know everything,"Tiff commanded.

We managed to make it back to Georgia by 11 PM thatnight.

My parents didn’t suspect a thing and I was just glad that they weren't one of those weird parents that would check the mileage in their daughter's car every night.

Because in that case, I would be screwed.

lan and I stayed in touch over the phone.

He’d call on FaceTime and we'd talk until we fell asleep with our screens still on the entire night.

I only had to wait a week for him to return, but a week could feel like ages when you're in love.

I spent most of my days in the house.

I hung out with my parents, had my friends over for a sleepover, and I talked to lan on FaceTime.

People made fun of the guy or girl who stays home every night doing nothing, but that was only because lan Hayes wasn’t their boyfriend.

I had a blast chatting with lan.

Even when it was New Year's Eve and everyone was out an about celebrating, I couldn't care less.

I’d much rather stay in my room, watch TV, and hear another one of lan’s stories.

"Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us?"mom knocked on my door for the tenth time that night.

She was wearing her long black dress and dad was wearing a suit.

They were going to dad’s New Year's Eve office party.

"I definitely don’t want to spend the New Years with dad’s colleagues, no offense,"I nodded to dad and he nodded back.

"None taken.If it wasn’t for your mom, I wouldn't wanna go too,"

"Tiff and Carrie aren't coming over?"mom asked again.

"No, they're going to a party at Madison's.I don't feel like going, I’m just gonna stay here and watch TV,"

Mom and dad shared a worried look.

Maybe even a little pity.

"Don't look at me like that.I’m totally fine.I just wanna kick back and chill,"

"Okay, you stay here and chill.If you need anything, call us,"mom said finally.

"We'll be back a little after midnight,"dad added.

"Sure, sure.Off you go, you two,"

I said as I pushed them towards the door, "Enjoy your night.Happy new years,"

Mom and dad looked happy as they walked to their car.

They hadn't had a date night in so long and they deserved it.

Of course I wished I had a date night too.

But my date night tonight would have to consist of my phone, a tub of ice cream, and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin’ Eve.

It was 10 PM and I was lounging casually on the couch.

I tried to call lan, but for some reason he wasn't picking up.

He was probably busy.

I figured he'd call me back soon, so I just put my phone down and focused on my Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey instead.

I didn’t know what happen, but I must have fallen asleep.

I woke up to the doorbell ringing and my buzzing.

I checked the time and it was 1159 PM.

lan was calling me, so I quickly picked up the call while I walked over to the door.

"Hello?"I said over the phone.

"Hey, where have you been?"

"I fell asleep.Hold on, someone's at the door—"

I opened the door and the shock of a lifetime hit me.

lan was standing there in his glorious smile.

He turned off the call on his phone and I just gaped at him like an idiot.

I looked down at my phone and back to him, still unable to process the fact that he was actually here.

In front of my doorstep.

"lan...?"

"Hey," he smirked.

It really was him.

I lunged myself forward and pulled him in for a hug.

When I felt his rock hard body around my arms, I could finally accept the fact that he was in fact, real.

"I thought you won't be back until after the New Year?" I said to his chest.

"I just can't wait that long.Especially knowing that my girls here on New Year’s Eve alone, without anyone to kiss,"he said as he tilted my face up with his hand.

"So you came back because you wanna kiss me on New Year's Eve?"

"That, among other things,"

"10...

9..

8...

7...

6..."

we could hear the countdown coming from the TV in the living room.

"Happy New Year, Emma.Here’s to a new beginning,"

he said as he cupped my face and his eyes bored into mine.

"5.

4.

3..."

"Happy new beginnings, lan,"

"2

1."

And we kissed. My heart was beating so fast like they were made of firecrackers.

Our bodies molded into one another like we were water.

My insides were burning with passion and fire and the kiss translated it.

This felt like a dream, except this was better.

It was real.

When we finally pulled away, I fluttered my eyes open and saw that his dark piercing eyes were gazing onto mine.

He leaned our foreheads together and we smiled from ear to ear.

Nothing else could ever feel this right.

And if this was how lan and I rang in the New Year, I had a feeling it was going to be the start of a beautiful new journey.