There was a downside to being Reece Nicholl’s girlfriend. The first being that I was Reece Nicholl’s girlfriend. Despite dating for almost three months, the boy still managed to find new ways to irritate me constantly. At the moment, it was his unhealthy obsession with my feet. Before that, it was the daily updates about what he ate for breakfast. As if I wanted to know that he has four hard boiled eggs and soldier toasts every morning before school. And before that it was the way he kept playing his God awful music on a loop in my car. My car.

That said, I was completely, irrevocably, and rather stupidly very much in love with him.

Swings and roundabouts, as my Gran would say.

The other downside to being Reece Nicholl’s girlfriend was the situation with his twin brother- you know, the one I thought I was in love with before I was actually in love with the other brother?

Dylan and I were still friends, but our friendship had evolved slightly. We didn’t hang out as much now as we did before, and those rare times that we were together, I found myself looking at him and thinking- how was I ever in lust with you?

Compared to Reece, Dylan was inferior in every single way. Reece had the brains, as I found out when he had to help me with my math homework. Now for someone who doesn’t do math A-Level, Reece was actually helpful. Then I realised that he was a Physics A-Level student- maths is a Physicist’s first language.

Reece also had the most brawns. I’d found myself liking rugby a lot more now, especially since I actually bothered to learn the rules, which apparently are called laws and not rules. Reece took his rugby playing very seriously, and I joke that rugby is his mistress, but playing the sport was what Reece loved, and if he loved it, I would just have to learn to love it too. And I do. Any sport that can give my boyfriend a body like Adonis is my favourite sport in the world.

My boyfriend also turned out to be a real gentleman. He held doors open for me, pulled out chairs for me to sit, and never once let me pay for anything. I tried, of course, but one look from Reece and my brain would shut down and all I could think of was reaching over to him, tangling my fingers in his hair and kissing him senseless.

There had been a lot of kissing. Ever since the night of the Sixth Form Ball, I’ve become addicted to Reece’s lips. I’m pretty sure not even clouds are as soft and pillowed as his lips. And they have this intoxicating taste that makes me want to go back for more. My obsession with kissing him was slowly ruing my life- in the best possible way.

God, Reece was amazing…

Wait, wasn’t I talking about Dylan? Saying something about how our friendship wasn’t the same now?

Whatever… let’s talk more about Reece.

“Babe?” Reece calls at me with his pet name for me. I hated being called ‘babe’ but for some reason when it came from Reece’s mouth, with his amazingly deep voice, all sultry and sexy and… “You’re not even listening are you?”

“Hm?” I make a strange sound before I finally tear my eyes from his mouth and look into his spectacular eyes. “What were you saying?”

“I’m going to throw myself off a tall building,” he says with a roll of his gorgeous eyes. I frown at him. “I was kidding. I asked if you wanted to do something Friday night.”

“Oh, yeah, that’ll be good,” I nod rather eagerly. Spending time with Reece was my new favourite hobby and I couldn’t get enough of that either. “What did you have in mind?”

Now it was Reece’s turn to frown. “Do you even know what day it is?”

“Tuesday,” I answer, but then pause to think of the actual day. “Wait… no, it’s definitely Tuesday. Why?”

“We’ve been together three months,” Reece grumbles. “I knew you’d forget. This relationship is so messed up. I’m meant to be the one who forgets things like anniversaries, and you’re the one who’s meant to remind me.”

“Our anniversary isn’t until next week though,” I tell him.

“It’s this Friday, Cadence,” he sighs. Reece still refuses to call me Cady, but at least he won some bonus points with my dad for not calling me by my nickname. “It’s been twelve weeks. Why would you think it’s next week?”

“Because I go from when you asked me to be your girlfriend,” I shrug. “Why do you think it’s this week?”

“Because I go from the night of the Ball,” Reece gives an identical shrug back at me. “I thought, after you rammed your tongue down my throat in front of the whole Sixth Form, that we didn’t need to make things official.”

“But things aren’t official until you make them official,” I counter, although I know I’m going to lose this argument.

That’s another downside to dating Reece Nicholls. Now that we’re together I don’t have anyone to fight with, at least not the way I fought with Reece. He still tries to engage me in arguments but I just cave in and give him whatever he wants, which is usually victory. Why? Because it’s usually followed by a long, deep, hot kiss.

“Are we going to have a fight about this?” Reece asks expectantly, like a child asking if Santa has been.

“No.”

Reece pouts. “You’re no fun now that you’re my girlfriend,” he says. I’ve heard this before, but I just ignore him and concentrate on the way his lips move. “We should probably break-”

I cut his words off with a kiss.

We were lying on my bed, as we usually did after school, and as his arm snaked around my waist, I pulled myself up so that I was lying on top of him.

“What were you saying?” I ask, as I pull away from the kiss with a smirk on my face.

“Nothing,” Reece shakes his head vehemently. “Nothing at all.”

“That’s what I thought,” I nod self-satisfactory.

“I love you,” Reece says just before I can steal another kiss from him.

“I love you more,” I smile back at him.

“No, I’m pretty sure I love you more,” he smirks.

“Doubt it,” I grumble.

“Are we going to have an argument?” Reece asks with that look on his face again.

I roll my eyes. “Fine, let’s argue.”

Reece clapped his hands together, moved himself from under me and started to pace the room. All the while I gave him my best sultry stare and licked my lips just to remind myself how he tasted.

“Damn it,” Reece sighs after five minutes of silence. “I can’t concentrate when you’re doing that?”

“Doing what?” I ask innocently.

“Driving me crazy,” he answers.

“Well, it’s not my fault that you’re in love with me,” I pout. “So, what was your opening argument?”

“I don’t remember,” he frowns and shakes his head. “You chased it out of me.”

“Good,” I smile brightly. “Now, if you’re quite finished, do you mind coming back over here and finishing what you started? I need you to come over here and show me that this is real.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Reece salutes me as he returns to the bed, his lips finding mine instantly. “God, I love you.”

“I love you too, Reece.”

“Say that again,” he demands me.

“I love you. Reece.”

“Yep,” he nods mischievously. “Sounds about right.”