A Forbidden Finale (Student/Teacher Romance)

Epilogue

Epilogue

I was only a backing dancer, and people's eyes weren't on me as I bowed in front of the Newcastle Theatre Royal's audience, but that didn't matter.

I'd made it.

I'd just performed Swan Lake on the stage that I'd grown up watching people perform on. My smile was dazzling as we bowed again, people on their feet. Ethan and my parents were on the first row of the upper circle, leaning over and cheering.

My heart was pounding. This was what success felt like; what realising your dreams felt like.

We took a final bow and filtered off the stage. There were lots of pats on the backs and congratulations around the cast and crew. Molly, a girl who'd joined at the same time as me, gave me the tightest hug. "I can't believe we just did that!" she exclaimed, hopping with every step. "We just performed for a real audience, in a real theatre."

My grin mirrored hers, and I engulfed her in another hug. "This is perfect."

We remained in our costumes, just swapping out the ballet shoes for something more comfortable, and then grabbed the charity buckets. It was part of the routine—trying to get people to donate to our chosen charity after the performance.

We exited the changing rooms and entered the lobby, all smiles for the people leaving. I didn't care about raising money this time, though. I headed straight for Ethan and my parents.

They were loitering, my mam in active conversation with Ethan, hand gestures and all. As it turned out, she liked him even more than she'd liked Leon. He was actually perfect, she'd decided when I'd invited them out to dinner with us a month after graduation.

Ethan wrapped his arms around me, avoiding a kiss right in front of my parents. I knew I'd be getting plenty when we'd escaped behind closed doors later. "You were great," he congratulated, his nails digging into my back and letting me know how desperate he was for us to be alone. "The whole performance was."

"Thank you." I hugged my parents next. They echoed his sentiments. All three put ample donations into my bucket. "That was amazing. I never thought I'd really get to this point."

Ethan wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I did. Maybe not at first, admittedly." He chuckled. "But I figured it out pretty quickly."

It had been an evening performance, so it was going on ten o'clock now. My parents had always gone to bed early, so they were happy to be off. They gave me one more squeeze each. "We're so proud of you, pet." My mam held my shoulders and beamed at me. "And we'll be here for every performance."

"Thanks, Mam."

They left, but Ethan stuck by my side as I worked my way through the lobby with the bucket. Afterwards, when I changed out of my stuff in the changing rooms, Ethan had to wait outside. I rushed through gathering my things together, dying to be in his arms. Dancing was such a sexual thing for us that I just wanted to go home and let him take out all the pent up desire I knew he'd be feeling from watching me perform.

Wrapped up in my parker and an unattractive pair of trackies, I knew it would make no difference to him. I pulled my hair out of the tight bun it had been in for the performance.

Wafting it out so it framed my face, I exited the changing rooms. Ethan pulled my hand into his and we started walking towards his car. "Was it everything you'd hoped it would be?"

I squeezed his hand. "Yes. It was." At first I'd been conscious of talking about how brilliant being a part of the ballet was—I didn't want to rub it in—but I'd soon realised that Ethan didn't care. He was happy for me. He didn't want me to hold back in my happiness. "It was really perfect."

"I'm glad."

When we got to his car, parked in a quiet car park in the city centre, he pushed me into the side of it and took my face in his hands, pressing his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and grinned into the kiss, our bodies pressed together.

We couldn't let it go too far in a car park, even if my hips were rolling against his and I was desperate to unzip his trousers. "We should go home," I told him, brushing my hand against the bulge in his trousers.

He hummed against my ear. "Yes, we should."

Home.

To our home.

***

I was jumping in my seat—the same seat my parents had sat in when they watched me perform in the end of year show a year ago—and Ethan chuckled, resting a hand on my thigh, which had been bouncing up and down. "Calm down."

"I'm excited!" I exclaimed, eyes glued to the stage. They'd be coming on in a few minutes.

This year, Ethan had choreographed the end of year performance. And he'd refused to tell me a single detail about it. I didn't even know what music had been chosen. I'd bugged him endlessly, as well. Despite all the constant conversations about it, he'd never budged.

Now I was sat on the edge of my seat, dying to know what was happening. He'd steered me away from the programmes with a hand over my eyes and I didn't want to imagine how many funny looks we'd received.

The room went silent and Ethan's hand moved from resting on my thigh to holding mine. I recognised the beginning of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty within the first thirty seconds and fired him a grin.

Another romance.

We'd be trying some of these moves together as soon as possible.

At the interval, I slapped Ethan on the sleeve. "I can't believe you kept this a secret from me. It's gorgeous."

"It's better to see it for the first time on stage." He stood up. There would have to be some mingling in the short, ten minute break. "You like it?"

"Of course! I can't wait for you to show me the moves properly."

Ethan and I had bought a house together when I graduated. Well, Ethan had put a deposit on a house for us when I graduated, and I was steadily paying him back as my wage came in, as well as contributing to the mortgage. It was on the outskirts of Leeds. Perfect for both of us. Ethan retained his room at the Academy, so we could pick and choose where he stayed.

We always spent our weekends together, even when I'd been touring Swan Lake. He'd come to every performance.

Mrs. Mellier approached us during the interval. We weren't being overtly romantic—I never held his hand, or kissed him—but she still looked displeased by the situation. I just smiled politely and dealt with the small talk. When we sat back down, Ethan smirked. "She hates that you're here. I get it, I suppose, but it's not like anyone knows we're together, or that you were my student."

"Yeah, we're allowed to be friends."

"We're allowed to be anything. You've graduated."

I grinned. "That's true."

This time when I held his hand, I did it in my lap rather than dangling between our bodies where no one could see. He was right; we could be and were whatever we wanted. And that was happy.

We were happy, together. 

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So, it's over! I can't thank everyone enough for all the support I've had for this story, it means the world to me! I hope it was enjoyable. 

If you have a Goodreads account, I'd love it if you could rate/review this book on there! The link to its Goodreads page is in the external link. 

This story might be over, but I'm currently writing and posting another student/teacher romance called Reining Her In that you can find on my profile. It gets updated every other day! 

I also have another book on Amazon, another student/teacher. The preview is on my Wattpad page, and if you're interested in a free copy in exchange a review on Goodreads or Amazon, send me a PM! 

Again, I'm so overwhelmed by how many people have enjoyed this story, thank you all so much <3