Passionate Exchange

Chapter Seventy

I reveal still mesmerised by what's in front of me, "my eyes were already open when you said that." She elbows me causing me to grin sheepishly. If I knew she wanted me to close my eyes I would have. Probably.

I'm staring at a framed photograph, hanging on one of the first walls you see when you walk into the house. Not just any photograph though, a giant family portrait. I know it's not unusual to have family portraits up in your home. But my reaction is justified seen as I'm in it!

I remember taking this photograph, but I never imagined they would display it in their home. My heart swells that they consider me a part of their family.

This was the day we all went to the beach. It seemed like it was a nice day at first and, seen as Sophie and Henry had the day off, we decided to make the most of it. This photograph was taken right after we all piled out of the car. We hadn't even taken our bags out yet. Sophie said that the view behind us was too good to pass up.

I agree. It was amazing.

I remember Penny moaning that she just wanted to get on the beach rather than takes photographs in front of it. Her mum managed to persuade her with the promise of ice cream though. She's still a child at heart.

They put the camera on a timer, and we all had to rush into position. I didn't know where to stand so I just slotted myself wherever there was space. It turned out that space was directly in front of Archer, and I got a bit too close for comfort. Thankfully, you can't see the panic on my face in the photograph, but it was definitely there at the time.

It was back when we were hiding what was going on between us. My fear of them finding out was heightened after Scarlett revealed to me that she knew something was going on between me and him. I thought that they would all notice any little thing.

They didn't notice how close I was to him and Archer didn't seem to mind either. As soon as we took the photograph though, I went straight for the bags, hoping that I wasn't blushing. At least the photograph turned out okay though. I forgot to ask at the time because I was too conscious about them finding out.

Maybe it would have been better if they found out then though. At least they would have realised it on my own accord rather than from Scarlett exposing us to the entire school. Maybe then things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. I wipe the thought out of my head. It's already happened now. There's nothing I can do to change how they found out. All I can do is be grateful that they forgave me for it.

"What do you think?" Her eyes poured into mine.

"I think that you're keeping a photograph of me in your house!" I exclaim. She chuckles softly.

I wrap my arms around her to show my appreciation and she does the same. I squeeze her tightly while looking at the photograph in shock. I still can't comprehend that they wanted a photograph of me in their home.

"Of course, you're part of the family." A warm smile lights up her features.

"I'm honoured to be on your wall."

I find myself thinking back to that day again. I was so afraid that they'd see right through me and I was confused about what I and Archer were. We hadn't spoken about it. The fact that he wasn't bringing it up made me even more worried. I thought maybe he simply considered us friends. I even thought he might have been using me without having any feelings towards me.

I can't do that again. There were many sleepless nights where I stayed up, convincing myself that I shouldn't ask him what we were. I thought it would only make things complicated and I didn't want that. But now that I've been through the stress that it brings, I don't want to experience that again. We need to be clear on what we are this time.