The Music Teacher

Chapter 9 - Leah's POV

I couldn't believe that Tom had found another girlfriend that fast. I mean, it had been like a week and a half? I was mad at myself for wasting my chance, but also mad at Tom. I felt like he couldn't have been sincere about his feelings for me, if he could just find another girl that quick. But there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I just went on with my life. I kept picking up Jake as usual and avoided Tom at all costs, luckily it seemed like he was avoiding me too, so it was an easy enough task. Then I just had to live through Jake's obsession with Tom, which was still going strong. And even though it was still really cute, and Jake actually had started taking guitar lessons because of him, it also hurt a bit to think about Tom.

I guess it had been like a month and a half since I met Tom's new girlfriend, and I was still feeling kinda gutted but life went on. I was on my way home from work and had just gotten on the bus. I scanned the bus for available seats and spotted someone familiar. It was Danny. He was sitting with headphones on, looking out the window. I went over to him.
"Hey Dan!" I said and sat down next to him. He jumped in his seat.
"Bloody Hell! Ya scared me!" he said. I laughed.
"I'm sorry!" I chuckled.
"How ya been?" he smiled.
"Alright I guess," I said and shrugged.
"Heard about Tom's new bird, huh?" he said and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"You never know what you have until it's gone, right?" I said and cringed at my own cliché sentence.
"I'm sure he liked you better than her..." he said. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"... we liked you better than her at least," he added and laughed a bit.
"Is she awful?" I said, kinda hoping he'd say yes.
"She's alright I guess, we don't really hang out much with her," he said, "I just don't like the way she's always trying to change him I guess..."
"Well, he chose her," I said and shrugged. "It was my own fault for shooting him down too many times before I realized what I wanted."
"But you do want him, right?" he said, something like hope glistening in his eyes.
"I mean... Yes, but-" I started.
"Maybe you should tell him that! You never did, right?" he said almost getting up from his seat in excitement.
"That would be a dick move, Danny..." I said.
"Who cares! In love and war, right?" he smiled.
"Maybe..." I sighed.
"Well, this is my stop, but I'm having a birthday party next month, you should come!" he said before getting up. He took his phone out and let me type in my number for him.
"I'll text you the details later!" he smiled.
On the rest of the ride home I thought about what Danny said. Should I just try to tell Tom how I felt?

The next day I was picking up Jake and I was determined to talk to Tom no matter what. I sat down outside the classroom and luckily there was no sign of the girlfriend, Jessie. When Jake came out I asked him to wait for me in the hall and then I marched into the classroom. Tom looked up as I entered and closed the door behind me. First he looked shocked and then nervous.
"Leah? Is everything alright with Jake?" he said.
"Oh, yeah, no worries," I quickly said and smiled reassuringly.
"Oh, okay... So what's up?" he said still nervous.
"Actually... I wanted to talk to you about... Us," I said, trying to read his expression as I said it, but he had a very good poker face on. He didn't say anything, just waited for me to continue, so I did.
"I know I shot you down a few times, but I've been thinking and... I really fancy you," I said and closed my eyes for a few seconds. It felt like jumping out from a cliff and I didn't want to look as I hit the ground.
"Oh..." he said. Then there was silence. I opened my eyes and he was looking a mixture of surprised and disappointed. "You do know I've got a girlfriend now, right?" he then said. I nodded.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to say anything," I said and felt the disappointment wash over me.
"I'm sorry, Leah, I think you're great, but I'm with Jessie now, and-" he started.
"It's fine," I cut him off, I didn't need to hear anymore. "Just forget I said anything."
I hurried out of the class room trying to hold back the tears.

I felt so stupid for putting myself out there and letting myself get hurt. It was stupid of me to assume that Tom would just drop everything to be with me now when I'd been such a twat to him. So... Time went on and we went back to avoiding each other when I came to pick up Jake. Luckily it seemed like it never affected the relation between Jake and Tom and I admired him for that.
Safe to say I was feeling depressed. My parents noticed, but I didn't wanna talk about it. Afterall nothing could be done. I'd confronted Tom and he'd shot be down. I just needed to get over him.

Jake and I were at a local café one day after school. I'd promised him a cupcake, mostly because I myself needed to eat my feelings after briefly having eye contact with Tom today at school. Jake was happily munching away at his cupcake, when I suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Leah? Hi!"
I turned my head to see my ex boyfriend smiling at me. I could tell that he'd been working out. He looked good.
"Hi Darren, what are you doing here?" I said, rather surprised to see him in this area. Also, I'd been so preoccupied with the whole Tom-situation, that I hadn't thought about him for a while.
"I was just in the neighbourhood for a job and decided to grab some coffee," he said, "Hey Jakey, you've gotten so big!" He smiled at Jake.
"Hi Darren" Jake said with his mouth full of cake.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked me and motioned towards the empty chair at our table.
"Sure," I said and he sat down.
"So how you've been?" he asked.
"Good. I'm good." I lied.
"Sure? You usually dont eat cupcakes unless you're upset..." he said and reached over the table to give my hand a squeeze. I let him do it. I sighed, I forgot how well he knew me.
"It's nothing," I insisted.
"If you say so," he said with a smile, still holding on to my hand.
"Listen, I gotta go, but do you wanna grab a drink with me tonight?" He asked. "Just to catch up." He added.
I agreed. I didn't know why, but I did.

Later that night I was getting ready to go out. My dad came into my room, as I was putting on my makeup.
"You going out?" He said as if it wasn't obvious.
"Yeah, im gonna go have a drink with Darren," I said. My dad was silent for a few seconds.
"The Darren? The Darren who shagged your best friend, Darren??" he then said, disapproval dripping from every word.
I sighed, "Yes, that's the one."
"Why??" He said.
"We're just gonna have a chat, no big deal," I said. The truth was that I didn't know why I agreed to go out with him. I hated what he did to me. But it was also comfortable to be around him, and I needed a distraction.

When I met him at the bar he shot me a wide and flirtatious smile. I instantly felt unsure of the situation, but I gave him a hug nonetheless and we sat down at a table after getting some drinks.
"I'm so happy we're doing this," he smiled and put his hand on my thigh.
"Yeah..." I hesitated and looked down on his hand.
"Im sorry, old habits die hard," he said and removed his hand.
"It's fine," I said, "How are you these days?"
"Im so good, I started doing crossfit and I never felt better!" He beamed.
"I can tell," I commented unintentionally flirty. He proceeded to tell me about his work where he got a big promotion.
"What about Hannah?" I asked.
"Hannah? What about her?" He asked the guilt clear on his face.
"Are you still seeing her?"
"No! That was a one time thing, I told you." He said and grabbed my hand.
"Also, it was the biggest mistake of my life," he was staring into my eyes now with a sincere look on his face.
"I'm so sorry, Leah." He said.
I quickly closed the distance between us and kissed his lips desperately. I think it took him by surprise, because he took a few seconds to kiss me back. But then our bodies took over. They knew each other so well, that we didn't even have to think. Of course we ended up in his bed.

The next morning when I woke up I felt sick. I hadn't even been drinking that much but I felt as though I had the hangover of the century. I looked at Darren who was sound asleep next to me. Last night had felt so safe and familiar, but I also knew deep in my heart that it was over between us. Firstly, I couldn't forgive him for what he'd done. Secondly, my heart belonged to someone else...

One day I got a text from Danny about his birthday party. He wanted me to come despite all the stuff with Tom. I didn't really know if I should go or if I even wanted to... Afterall it would be at Tom's house and that was just... weird. But in the end I couldn't really stay away. I know I should have gotten over Tom a long time ago, but I just couldn't seem to. Also I kinda missed hanging out with the other lads. So I agreed to come.