Only You, Only Us

Chapter 8

Jeremy’s kisses make me feel like I’m the only person on the planet. I get lost in them — taken away to a place where we’re the only ones in the world. They are all-consuming, infecting every part of my mind and turning my limbs soft like marshmallows. It’s the kind of feeling I thought was only true in movies, but now I have it for myself.

He picked me.

I still have to pinch myself when I wake up in the morning and remember.

We’ve been inseparable through our mock exams. It’s still new, and I’m enjoying the attention. He holds my hand as he walks me home. He comes over for films, but we still study — quizzing me on science topics like the first time he came over.

We eat pizza like it’s the only food choice on earth, and he shares the ice cream out of the tub now.

I’m careful not to forget to make time for Sammy. She’s my best friend, and I don’t want to be that girl who ditches her mates because a guy comes on the scene.

Jeremy

Am I coming over later?

Anna

Sure. Although I’m going out for a meal with my mum later. End of exams and all that.

She’s excited to celebrate with me, even though we finished a few days ago. I thought Jeremy might throw a party. All his mates seemed to want him to, but he didn’t, so we all went to Stuart’s house — he has a big garden — and played music and hung out. There was beer, but I didn’t enjoy it.

Mum has been working hard, and with Jeremy coming over so often, we didn’t have as much time together as we usually did. It was an adjustment. But we’d have our time in Cornwall in a few weeks.

Jeremy

Ok. I’ve got something to ask.

Anna

You have my attention.

Jeremy

Patience, Anna.

Anna

Evil.

I’m curious and excited when he finally knocks on the door.

“Hey.” I bounce up at him. “So?”

“Not here.” He bends down to kiss me — chaste and not the usual display of affection I’ve grown accustomed to.

We go upstairs, and I pull him towards the bed. We both crash down, but before he can kiss me again, I push him away. “So?” I ask as I turn on my side to face him.

“Fine.” He rolls towards the ceiling, looking a little uncomfortable, but then turns back. “How do you feel about coming to Cornwall with me this summer?” He leans back and puts his hands behind his head.

My cheeks lift, and my smile runs away with me. “Um, really? But not the whole summer, though.”

“Why not? We’re leaving next week. I don’t want to be apart from you for all that time.”

“But I’m coming down anyway at the beginning of the holidays with my mum.”

“I can’t spend three and a half weeks without you. Come down with me, stay, and see your mum when she comes later on?”

The summer of my dreams spins out in front of my eyes as I imagine what this will mean. “Just,” I sit up on my knees and look at him. “You’re serious?”

“Deadly. Come on. It will be the best. And you’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to bring. You’re the only person I can imagine spending that much time with and still not getting enough.” He smiles at his little declaration, and my pulse quickens in my chest.

“Yes!” I lunge towards him and hug him fiercely. “But we still need to get my mum to okay it.”

“She’s cool, though, right?”

“There’s cool. And then there’s letting your sixteen-year-old daughter go on holiday with her boyfriend.”

“My parents will be there. Most of the time. And, you’ll have your own room,” he states as if he’s prepared for all questions.

“Really?” The idea of separate rooms is a little bit of a relief. We’re not there… yet. And having some space would be nice, I suppose. My mind runs over thoughts of what could happen. All that time together. In the house and on the beach. Sunkissed skin, glistening water, cosy evenings.

“Of course.”

“Do you want to come and ask with me?” I smile.

“Now?”

“Yeah. If you’re going next week, I’ll need to go shopping.”

“We have everything at the house. Just bring you, a bikini, and maybe a top or two.” He waggles his eyes at me.

I drag him up from the bed and go downstairs, giggling as I go.

“Mum?” I walk through to her space. “Mum, I have something to ask.”

“Shoot.”

Jeremy is behind me; I can feel him standing there with no space between us.

“Jeremy has invited me to his place in Cornwall for the summer. They leave next week.” My grin is so big my cheeks hurt.

“Oh!” Her eyes pop. “Wow. That’s a generous offer. Um, okay. All summer?”

“I’d come and stay with you for the two weeks you’ll be there. And then either come back with you or stay a little more?” I turn and check with Jeremy.

He nods. “And, Becca, my parents will be there, and we’ll be supervised. We have a live-in chef and maid, so we’ll never be left alone. Plus, Anna will have her own room. You have nothing to worry about.” He leans over and clasps his arms around my neck.

“Well, you’ve certainly thought of everything. Maybe I could have a conversation with your mum? I’d like to make sure everything’s all okay. And you’re missing the end of school.”

“Seriously, Mum?” I protest, embarrassed. “My grades are fine, and I can just get extra reading.”

“Anna,” she warns, and I dip my eyes.

“That’s fine, Becca. I’ll have my mum call you.”

“Cheers, beautiful.” Mum holds her glass up, and we clink.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nice to do this. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve not been anywhere.”

“I know, but Jeremy is taking up a lot of your time.”

My eyes roll, not wanting to have this conversation.

“You’re growing up. I get it. And I need to let you go, even though I don’t want to. You’re my baby girl.”

“Hey, you’ve been working loads, which I’m happy about. For you, I mean. And when I’m gone, I’ll be down the road from where we usually stay. And I’ll be coming back to be with you. Our tradition won’t stop, I promise.” I grab her hand across the table.

“He’s special to you, isn’t he?” she muses, like she already knows the answer but wants me to confirm it, and I know why. It took a long time to get to this point.

“He is. I know I should be careful after how things started. But he makes me feel like I’m the only girl in the world now. It’s like I just needed to crack that exterior of his a little.”

“Just be careful. And I mean that in every sense of the word.”

“Mum!” I duck my head. “We are not having that conversation here,” I whisper-hiss at her. She just chuckles to herself.

“I suppose you’ll want to go shopping. I mean, I’m sure the stuff in your closet might need an upgrade.”

“Yes! That would be amazing. If you’re okay with that,” I tack on the second part.

“Of course. It will be fun. No online shopping — this is my indulgence before you go. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Despite being with Jeremy for weeks, this will be the first time I’ve seen his house.

Mum and I drive up and stop at the driveway entrance, taking in the expanse of real estate in front of us. The house is off-white with dark accents and huge windows decorating all the aspects. It’s a mansion, not a house. Their Range Rover is parked on the lower drive, next to a triple garage, so Mum drives up and around to what looks like a second drive area. She turns around and then cuts the engine.

Jeremy jogs up to us and wraps me in his arms as soon as I get out of the car. “Hey. Want me to get your bags?” But he’s already opening the boot and getting them out.

Mum nods towards the house and raises her brows. I know what she’s thinking — it’s bloody massive. I take in the house but feel a little anxious at the idea of leaving for the first time without my mum.

“Come here, you.” She pulls my shoulder around and grabs me for a hug. “You’ll be fine. Have fun. You’ve got everything you need, and I’ve put some money in your account. I want regular updates, though — no ghosting me. I’m putting a lot of trust in you, so?—”

“I know. Respect it, and don’t push my boundaries.”

“Ready, Anna?” Jeremy calls.

Am I ready?

“Sure.” I squeeze Mum one last time, then wave her goodbye.

Jeremy pulls me over to him then goes to speak to his parents.

“Hi, Mr and Mrs Archer,” I greet. I’d never met them before and hadn’t realised they were waiting to leave. “It’s nice to meet you and thank you so much for inviting me to come along with you. It’s very kind.”

“You’re welcome, Anna. Jeremy has told us all about you,” Mr Archer starts. He sounds very… proper. Jeremy’s mum just keeps looking out of the window.

I pull Jeremy’s hand, point towards his mum, and mouth, “Is she okay?”

He nods.

“Ready then?” he checks.

“Sure.” But instead of letting me get in the car with his folks, he pulls me towards the garage.

A shiny black version of his parents’ car is behind the door.

“When did you get your own car?” I stare, agog.

“When I passed my test two days ago.”

“You didn’t say. Are you keeping any more secrets?” I narrow my eyes at him, a fizzle of frustration burning in my chest.

“Nothing from you. I thought it would be a surprise and good to have our own space.”

He opens the car door for me, and I see he’s already put our bags in the back. We get in and start to follow his parents out of the drive.

At every opportunity, Jeremy reaches for my hand, holding it in his. It makes my heart sing, and my head nearly explodes as I realise what I’m doing — driving down to spend the summer with my boyfriend. My grin can’t be controlled, and I enjoy watching the world slip by. The sun shines, and I feel excited and hopeful for a new adventure.

Several hours later, we finally arrive. Much like his house, the Archers’ place in Constance Cove is impressive — a work of art.

“Jeremy, this place… it’s amazing.” My eyes can’t take it all in as we pull up a few minutes behind his parents. There’s glass and white walls everywhere. An expanse of wooden floors leads us from the entryway and down into the kitchen area, which already smells delicious. I see a woman in her early thirties at the stove and assume she’s the chef. The space is too big to be called a room, and I admire the slide-away doors that lead to the outside deck and a pool beyond that.

“Want to see your room?”

I smile, lost for words that we’re here.

He leads me back the way we came and up a wooden staircase to the second floor. “I’m here.” He knocks on his door but doesn’t go in. “And you are in here.” He opens a door two more down from his.

It’s stunning, filled with light from the huge window overlooking the garden and a view of the cove beyond that.

This is unreal.

The room has a light wood beach vibe, which fits perfectly with the location, a white linen-dressed bed, a simple wardrobe, and a desk. The light wood floors make me feel like I could be stepping right off into the sand.

“Happy?” Jeremy nudges me.

“Are you kidding? This is amazing. Thank you.”

“Unpack, and we’ll meet downstairs for lunch. Then we can do whatever you want. Dinner will be at seven with my folks. We’re hosting a welcome party here tomorrow, so it will be pretty full-on. We’ll want to be out for most of the day, and the weather looks good,” he says everything with a grin on his face.

“Why are you still smiling?”

“I can’t quite believe you’re here. In my house. For the whole summer.”

My feet close the distance between us, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Pretty cool, right.”

“Absolutely.” He bends to kiss my lips. Not deeply, just softly, like I’m something fragile, and he doesn’t want me to break. He often surprises me with that, but I like it, and it makes me feel special.

The next few days are a blur of great food, swimming in the ocean, and spending time with Jeremy. But also, his parents.

Their welcome party was overwhelming. So many people were there, all from the Cove. I looked a little underdressed compared to the cocktail dresses and other posh frocks and heels. Jeremy told me I looked pretty, but his words didn’t stop me from feeling out of place. It was like a reunion of sorts, everyone knowing each other and catching up. And everybody wanted to meet ‘Archer’s girl.’ That was my name for most of the night, even though Jeremy introduced me to everyone as Anna. To his credit, he never left my side, keeping my hand firmly in his. I’d have died if he left me.

Every time someone called me Archer’s girl, he’d run his thumb over the back of my hand as if reassuring me. I never wanted him to let it go.

His mum was like a completely different person at the party than when I first met her on the driveway. She was loud and over the top, but also made sure she was the ultimate host of the party. She kept fawning over me, fixing my hair and ensuring I had a glass of bubbly in my hand whenever she saw me. Even pulling me this way and that to show me off to her friends.

His dad was pretty absent in comparison, and I wondered if it was to escape all this fuss.

Just like at school, everyone called Jeremy, Archer, but I couldn’t see him as anything other than Jeremy.

When we were together, it was better — just the two of us. We spent time at the beach, lounging by the pool, or just hanging out together.

And that’s how things went for the first week. We spent time on our own during the day, and if his parents were entertaining, joined them in the evening. I didn’t want to think back to the argument we had all those weeks ago, where Jeremy warned me this was how it would be, but he was right. It felt like there was an unwritten expectation that if I dated Jeremy, then this was what was required as his girlfriend.

But they graciously opened up their home to me, letting me eat their food and do as we wanted most of the time. The least I could do was show up when asked and smile.

The first bonfire party on the beach was fun. My nerves were excited nerves, like butterflies taking flight inside my stomach. It was the first time we were going to a party with his Cove friends and going back to where we first kissed.

It seemed to go pretty much exactly like last year. People arrived, drank beer, and watched the bonfire. It was later into the evening before they set it alight, as it was still that time of year when the days seemed to stretch on forever, and you never wanted the sun to set.

Only this year, he kissed me as we watched the sun dip beneath the waves, his fingers tangled in my hair. The kiss I had imagined in my mind unfolded right in front of me, cast in golden light, and it fed something inside of me, knowing that after all this time, we’d made it.

Jeremy never left my side. He kept my hand in his and made me feel important to him. It was perfect.

“I want to take you to the boat tomorrow,” he says as we sit on the soft sand.

“The boat?”

“Yeah. It’s at the harbour. We can reach it from the garden down the path.”

“There’s more than all of this?”

He smirks at me. “We’re not taking her out or anything. We can swim off the jetty.”

He speaks like it’s completely normal to have a boat and a jetty. “Okay,” I agree and lean my head onto his shoulder, a little starstruck.

It’s hard not to feel impressed. But the longer we stay I can’t help but wonder if I’d want to live like this — with everything done for us — waking up in the morning and breakfast already made, coffee and juice on the table. We don’t have to wash up or clean. My bed is made every day, and I think the sheets have already been changed twice. It’s nice. Luxurious. But for longer than a few weeks? I can’t comprehend.

We leave the bonfire, and Jeremy walks me to my room. He stops, kisses me on the top of my head, and I give him a little pout. “You know if I kiss you properly, I won’t want to stop.” His eyes stare into mine, and I can feel the heat building from just that look. I nod, as I’m also starting to feel impatient about the physical side of our relationship. It seems to stall at kissing, and that isn’t enough anymore. I want to do everything with Jeremy.

My black bikini has just been returned from the laundry, so I choose it for our trip to the boat. I didn’t know if I’m expecting a sailing yacht that would look fitting on the Mediterranean or a speedy power boat from the movies. After breakfast, Jeremy leads me through the garden and out of a gate I hadn’t noticed in the far corner of the property. It winds down a little path adjacent to the direction we’d take if we were heading to the beach.

“Do many people come down here?” I ask.

“A few.”

He keeps walking, and then the path opens up to a small, private harbour. There are a handful of boats moored along the main boardwalk. “This is ours.” He points to a small jetty and, next to it, a sleek-looking power boat.

“Wow. I bet this place is popular with your friends.”

“No. I don’t come here with anybody. They all have their own things to play with. But it’s quiet here. A place to escape, so I thought you’d like it.”

He pulls his hand free from mine and starts to run at full pelt the length of the jetty, leaping off the edge. “Woohoo!” he cries before he splashes into the water.

I jog after him, laughing at his antics, and saunter to the edge. It’s a little bit of a jump to reach the water. If we sit on the edge, only our toes will tickle the surface. I keep looking for him below, but there’s no sign. The ripples his jump sent out across the water simmer down, but he still hasn’t emerged.

“Jeremy, come on,” I call. My heart starts to rush, beating faster in my chest, and then he surges up and out of the water.

“Hey! I haven’t done that in years.” His smile is infectious, and I choose to keep my little panic to myself. He flicks his hair from his eyes and pushes back, floating on his back. “Come on in.”

But I shake my head and sit down, happy to flick my toes through the water, and lean back, the sun warming my skin.

“Come on, Anna.” Jeremy splashes water at me before swimming around the end of the jetty and climbing up the steps at the side. He drips water over me and pulls me to my feet. “Your turn.”

“Um, okay.” I peer over. It’s only a few feet. No problem. I take a quick breath and psych myself up. But then, I feel the shove to my shoulder, sending me off balance and down into the water. I plunge under, and as I do, I hear another rush of sound in the water and feel bubbles racing all over my limbs.

As I frantically kick my legs to make my way to the surface, I look around for Jeremy before he pops up next to me, grinning. “You jerk,” I splutter at him.

“Not even close.”

I push over to him and wrap my arms around his neck to dunk him back under. He comes back up, and we start to laugh as he grabs for me. My legs wrap around his waist, and he holds us both afloat as he pulls me in for a kiss. His lips are cold and damp, but it doesn’t matter. It sets a fire racing through my veins. Nothing matters except for this moment. Being here — with him — without a care in the world except for each other.

We’re both grinning behind the kiss, unable to keep the sheer joy of the moment from our lips.

“I adore you, Anna Rose,” he breaks our kiss to say. His words spear my heart, ensuring their permanent mark on my flesh. There are three other words that most girls want to hear, but in a way, these are better.

I can wait for the others.