Not missing a beat, Joy jumped up and grabbed the trash bag, digging through it. She came out with a stack of papers. "Wedding stuff," she told Silas, tossing it all inside the fire and watching with satisfaction as the flames ate it up.
Joy pulled a sweatshirt from the bag next. "I was going to give this back, but … " trailing off, she smiled deviously. "This is so much more gratifying."
Joy emptied out the rest of the bag into the pit after tossing the sweatshirt in, feeling the last bit of her attachment to Dallas slip away with the smoke. The last item she pulled out was a diamond ring on a small silver chain.
Silas furrowed his brows. "Is that-"
"Sure is," Joy cut in, tossing the ring inside the pit without so much as a second thought. "I doubt it'll melt in there, but it's at least worth a shot."
The pair stood in silence as they watched it all turn to dust, the reflection of the fire illuminating their vastly different complexions.
"Thanks," Joy spoke up. "This was a really good idea."
Silas pursed his lips into a smirk, giving her a soft nudge in the side. "You should listen to me more often," he called out as he started back towards the house. "I'm usually right."
Joy rolled her eyes and followed after him, tossing a pebble at his back. He lost his balance trying to dodge it, and she watched in horror as he flailed his arms trying not to fall into the pool. It was just his shitty luck that it didn't work.
Joy's laughter was the first thing that greeted Silas's when he surfaced for air. He glared at her from underneath sopping wet hair, but she was too busy doubled over to care. "Are-are you okay?" she choked out, her dark eyes giving way to her amusement.
Silas pretended to grumble, but deep down he wasn't really all that mad. Joy offered him her hand to help him climb out, not realizing what a colossal mistake she'd just made until it was too late. With one sharp tug of his arm, Silas brought her tumbling into the pool right alongside him.
Joy shrieked, running a hand through her ruined hair as Silas stared with obvious amusement. "Oops," he said with a grin, not sounding even the least bit apologetic. "Looks like you might have slipped."
Joy glared at him, or at least that's what Silas thought she was doing. It took him no more than a second to realize she was squinting because her glasses had gotten knocked off.
"Hold on," he told her. Using the pool lights to help guide him, he found the frames sitting on the bottom of the pool and dove down to grab them.
"Here," Silas said, moving her bangs off to the side so that he could slip them back onto her face. "Better?"
Joy nodded. "Much," she whispered, so mesmerized by the way the light from the fire was illuminating his face that she barely even noticed how hard her heart was beating.
And then he was kissing her, and not just any kind of kissing. The kind of kissing with intense it left her feeling like she'd never been kissed before.
Slipping his hands down her body, Silas pinned her up against the pool wall and cupped her face in his hands. Her hands went straight for his, tangling in his hair as he did everything in his power to keep from having his way with her right then and there. He kissed his way down her jawline, savoring the scent of her body wash as he did. She tasted faintly of coconut oil, and a little bit like chlorine, but he honestly didn't mind, because she was doing this incredible thing with her tongue that made him lose all ability to think coherently.
It was, in a word, perfect.
***
"Meet me in my room in ten."
Joy slipped into her room after exchanging one last kiss with Silas. She changed quickly, running a towel over her hair to try and soak up as much moisture as possible. She smiled as she let the warmth of her pajamas settle over her skin. Tonight was certainly not panning out the way she'd thought it would, but she would have been lying if she said she wasn't beginning to develop feelings for the man she'd always known as nothing more than just another spoiled rich kid.
Quite the contrary, Joy had come to learn that Silas's wasn't that person at all. Or at least, that wasn't all he was. He could also be funny, and sweet, and smart in his own Silas-like way. And he definitely wasn't bad on the eyes either.
Still, like the smart girl she'd always prided herself on being, Joy shook the thought from her head before it could spread. Dallas aside, it wasn't like her to be this giddy over a guy. The problem was, Silas didn't feel like just another guy. He felt real. So real that it hurt. And she couldn't help but feel as though they balanced each other out somehow. It was an odd thought for her to have considering they'd only interacted a handful of times thanks to their shared group of friends, but that didn't make it any less real.
With that in mind, Joy made her way down the hall to where she was pretty sure Silas's room was located. It took her awhile to find it, and when she finally did she was surprised to discover that he wasn't in it. Taking the opportunity to explore it on her own, she became transfixed by a row of photographs on his dresser.
Walking over to take a closer, Joy smiled when she saw that they were all from when Silas was much younger. One in particular showed him no older than five, covered in dirt and holding a flower out to a pretty brunette woman whose pride was evident in her eyes.
"That's my mom."
Joy jumped at the unexpected voice behind her. She turned to find Silas standing in the doorway holding two mugs of hot chocolate. "Sorry," she said, setting down the frame. "I was just waiting for you and they caught my eye..."
Silas shrugged, handing her one of the mugs. "It's cool," he said, taking a seat on the edge of his bed and motioning for her to join him.
Joy did so, taking a small sip of her drink once she was comfortable. She was pleased to find that it wasn't hot enough to burn her tongue. "She's beautiful," she said, nodding towards the pictures.
Silas followed her gaze and smiled, but there was something sad about it. "Thanks," he whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "So are you."
Joy looked up, surprised by his words. "Really?"
Silas nodded, placing his mug down on the nightstand before reaching out to tuck a damp piece of hair behind her ear. Keeping his hand on her cheek, he leaned forward and drew her into a deep kiss.
This kiss, Joy thought, was the total opposite of the searing ones they'd shared out in the pool. It was slow, and sweet, and within seconds her entire body felt like it had turned to mush.
Eventually they broke apart for air, but not for long. No longer satisfied with taking things slow, Silas pulled Joy roughly into his lap and let her settle against him before stripping her of her clothing.
Within seconds, they were both completely naked and panting, armed and ready to shed themselves of the ‘just friends' label once and for all.
The moment Silas entered Joy, it ceased to matter that they'd soon be heading back to school, where reality would intrude on them as it always tended to. The only thing that mattered was her.
Chapter 9
10 years later
"I'm gonna call it a night," Joy informed her boss, making her way into the employee coat closet to grab her jacket. "I'll make sure to have those exams on your desk first thing Monday morning."
Joy was always eager to welcome in the weekend. To her Friday nights meant volunteering at a shelter for runaway teens, where she exercised her real passion of helping young women through difficult ordeals. It was this desire that led her to a career in high school substitute teaching in the years after she graduated college, but she quickly discovered that sitting at a desk all day wasn't enough for her. She was a trained listener with a real compassion for troubled youth, and she wanted to put those attributes to work where they were needed the most.
The reason was simple.
It was a gesture she'd wished so often wished someone had extended to her when she needed it most.
Shortly after Joy graduated from college, she returned to her childhood home and kicked off the occasion by swallowing down a handful of sleeping pills. A third trimester miscarriage had left her life in shambles, catapulting her into a depression so deep she could hardly gather the energy to get out of bed. It didn't matter that the baby wasn't planned. She grieved the loss the same way any mother would, and eventually there came a point where she just didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel anymore.