Back to safe territory

“When we aren’t in public like this or in danger of being seen by someone we don’t trust, sure. Now though, we need to be on our best behaviour for the final week at school. After that… we will see” you replied, giving Sarah something to look forward to in the future.

She very quickly nodded her head in agreement and only then did you back away from her, the arm you were using to hold her to the wall now dropping to your side as you took a step back.

You did a quick look around and made sure there was absolutely no chance that someone could have seen you. The porch had covered a lot of the viewing angles and even having the house be so far set back from the sidewalk did even more to hide you away. Still, you checked to make sure you were totally in the clear before you let yourself relax and calm back down.

With that out of the way, you knocked firmly on the door and waited for someone to answer. You didn’t have to wait long until Emma opened the door to greet you.

“Hey!...You okay? You look a little…” Emma asked, turning her attention towards Sarah when she still had a flush of red in her cheeks.

“She’s fine, right?” you said, replying for her.

“Yeah, totally” Sarah added, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she still looked slightly frazzled over what had just happened.

Emma looked back to you after you seemed to be acting like a forceful boyfriend to Sarah in this situation and even if you understood how it looked, all you could really manage to do was mouth ‘I’ll tell you later’ to Emma who seemed to understand.

“Mom said she will give us a lift so you can come inside for a bit” Emma explained, opening the door fully to let you both pass.

You let Sarah through first and as you got closer to Emma, she leaned over to whisper into your ear.

“You really need to catch me up. Mom was in a really giddy mood when she got back and she showed me some of what you did but you know… I was only able to see some of what you got up to when I had a dream” Emma said, looking slightly irritated.

More at the situation than at you. Her having a nap when she got home meant that when you had used the dream effect, you assumed she didn’t get to experience the full dream effect like she usually would and instead got a limited version. Also depending on when she woke up, you didn’t know how much she would have seen while you and Grace were in her office at work.

“I will, don’t worry” you reassured, keeping your reply quick so you didn’t leave Sarah on her own again.

When you all ended up standing together however, you could see that Sarah was shooting a lot of nervous glances Emma’s way while you made normal conversation. You had just warned her about communication being key but if it was something she specifically wanted to talk about with Emma, you could see why there would be some embarrassment that made that difficult on Sarah’s part.

“Am I good to go see what Grace is up to?” you asked, watching Sarah’s reaction as you spoke to see if she wanted you to leave or if that would freak her out even more.

At first she just stared at you as if she didn’t think anything of your request but when she saw you studying her, she seemed to connect the dots and gave the briefest of nods to try and hide her agreement from Emma.

“Sure, she should still be upstairs in her room” Emma replied, seeing the silent exchange between you and Sarah but deciding to keep quiet, curious as to what was about to happen.

You gave Emma a brief kiss before moving towards the stairs, giving Sarah the space she needed to get whatever she was worried about off of her chest.

Now that you were climbing the stairs however, you realised that you had actually not thought of anything to say or do with Grace once you saw her, only planning your escape to help out your sister.

You thought about taking the coward's way out and just hanging around the landing at the top of the stairs or going to hide in Emma’s room but you were slightly curious as to how Grace would react to seeing you.

There was also some hesitation on your part as the last message you had given her was a giant “I love you” written on her back, something that felt right in the moment but now that you had a clearer head, there were definitely some thoughts going through your head that it may have gone too far.

You could hear the sounds of movement coming from Grace’s room and before you could hesitate,you pushed yourself forward and put the more negative thoughts behind you so you could go and see her.

“Emma?” Grace announced after you knocked on the door.

“It’s Max, Emma invited me and Sarah inside and they are both downstairs. I thought I’d come check on you” you replied, waiting at the door for some sort of response.

For a second, you heard nothing but silence and felt your nerves start to get the best of you before the door suddenly swung open. With her arms wide open and a huge smile on her face, Grace stood there topless and physically pulled you into the room and into a hug that almost knocked you off your feet. The difference in your worries compared to what was actually happening threw you for a loop but you ended up recovering due to the sheer absurdity of finding her half naked.

“I was so happy last night it was unbelievable. I mean I got home and went straight to a mirror so I could read everything! It felt like I was reliving everything we did when I saw each word. Things did get a little heated just seeing everything” Grace admitted, giving you a smile as you knew she enjoyed revealing that to you.

You planned to wait for her to bring up what was on her back but what you were too curious about was something else you had written.

“Get Emma”

“Let her see you like this”

Written across her thigh, had been a highlight of the ideas you had come up with and while you knew you wouldn’t have been there to see the reveal, you did want to hear all about it from either one of them.

“So, I did give you an instruction for when you got home. You did say you read everything so you must have seen that right?” you asked, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

“Ah, well…” Grace started to reply, some genuine embarrassment making her hesitate in revealing what happened.

Author's note: Spoiler chapter will be updated shortly and I will be going back to amend typos I've missed from people's comments :)