Teach Me

twenty six (the finale)

ryan's pov

"ari, i have go be honest." i say.

"oh God, that's never good." she sighs and looks up at me.

"well, cassidy and i have been seeing each other. we never defined anything but we've been taking care of RJ, as a family." i explain, struggling to look at her face but when i do, she has a smile on her face.

"i may have had something to do with that." her eyes shifted away from me.

"what? how?" i had never been more confused.

"i actually texted her a few days after she gave birth. i told her i didn't think i was coming back but i knew that having a family would make you feel better. now, looking back, maybe i shouldn't have done that." she kind of chuckles.

"that's insane. that's actually fucking insane." i say.

"i'm sorry ryan, are you upset? i really didn't think through. i just didn't want you to have to grow through this alone. i left at a shitty time." she keeps rambling until i finally cut in.

"i understand." i grab her hand and intertwine our fingers. "let's start over, okay? clean slate. i just need to take care of this, then we start all the way over."

"deal." she shakes my hand as she wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.

we sat in my car for a while, catching up. i showed her a bunch of pictures of my son and she told me about her job at the new school. she was so happy and i was so happy she had gotten her peace back. i just wish she didn't have to do it so far away from me.

we finally parted ways and i went back home. when i walked in the door, i saw cassidy sitting on the couch. she was watching television while our son slept on the floor in front of her.

"hey, where did you go?" she got up and greeted me at the door.

i stayed silent, not knowing where to or even how to start. i knew she was only here because of ariana but i didn't know how it would effect my need to leave her.

"why are you staring at me like that?" she asks.

"let's sit down." i walk toward the dining room table, keeping an eye on my son who was asleep on the floor.

"just get straight to the point ryan." she rolls her eyes as she sits next to me.

"okay, ariana is back." i say.

the look on her face made it seem like she had just seen a ghost.

"i- wha- are you serious?" she stands up in front of me.

"yeah, you asked for me to get straight to the point, so there it is." i also stand up to face her, crossing my arms across my chest.

"so just like that and you're replacing me with her?" her eyes began to tear up. "she left you and i stayed here with you."

"cassidy, you can't even put our son down for a nap on time. you knew this wouldn't last, we both did. and i know the only reason you're here is because ariana told you to be." i didn't hold back. Cassidy and i had been butting heads for the last few months, i knew something would happen for us to separate.

"wow this all over again. she told me she wasn't even coming back. youre really gonna get back with a person who left you without a word for a year over the person who stayed here and consoled you when she left?" she had raised her voice at this point. i looked over to see my son slowly waking up.

"dude, my kid is sleeping." i whispered aggressively. "look, don't have to explain why i chose her and will always choose her. this wasn't all that great and one of us will end up hurting each other if it keeps going. we don't belong together, that's it." i say, noticing the tears falling from her face down her neck.