A Fractured Lover (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 39

I spent the entire weekend emptying my eye sockets, downing bottle after bottle of wine, and most of all, ignoring every beep of my phone that was undoubtedly altering me to yet another message from Nathan.

He had been sending me messages ever since the night that I broke up with him. The texts ranged from simple hello's to the ever painful 'I love you' messages that would evoke sob after pitiful sob from me, resulting in Rachel taking away my phone for hours on end and monitoring my messages and calls.

I hadn't spoken to anybody about what had happened yet besides for Rachel, Ben, and Mia. I considered calling my mom but the notion of just hearing her soothing voice sent my mind into a downward spiral of depressing emotions.

The weekend felt endless and yet Monday slipped up far quicker than I was prepared for.

I couldn't miss anymore classes this close to the end of the semester. That meant that just days after having my heart ripped brutally from my chest by the actions of Nathan McCoy, I was going to be forced to be in the same room with the heart breaker himself.

I tried with my appearance, I really did. Yet, just seconds into looking for a shirt to wear I came across various articles of clothing that wickedly taunted me, reminding me of different occasions and memories that I had made with Nathan wearing that very piece of clothing.

In the end, yoga pants and an Aerosmith T-shirt made the cut as I ran a brush through my wavy hair and applied the minimum amount of make up to my face to try and conceal the dark bags under my eyes due to the sleepless, miserable nights that I had endured over the weekend.

"Alex," A knock sounded at my bedroom door. "You up?"

I trudged past the piles of clothing on my floor and made my way to my bedroom door.

"Yeah, one minute."

I placed my hand lazily on my bedroom door handle and turned in, opening the door to reveal an extremely somber looking Ben, a supportive smile set on his lips.

"You ready?"

"No," I answered honestly in a gruff voice. Whether I was ready to face Nathan again or not mattered very little as I sulked my way out of my bedroom and walked aimlessly to the front door, knowing that Ben was close behind with both of our school bags in hand.

The short drive to school seemed considerably shorter today. While Ben drove us along the familiar path to the University, he tried to cheer me up with jokes, loud music, and a variety of other things that unfortunately didn't elicit but a small uplift of my lips that I knew looked as forced as it felt.

My stomach began to twist uncomfortably as the school came into view and my eyes searched for and spotted Nathans car on their own accord. A large part of me hoped that he would stay home for the day or switch jobs over the weekend to keep both of us from having to endure any further agony of seeing each other three times a week for another three weeks until the semester ended.

I was far too engrossed within my morbidly hopeless thoughts that I hadn't even realized that the car had come to a stop and Ben was standing outside of my car door, waiting for me to join him.

Reluctantly, I opened the passenger side door and stepped out onto the warm asphalt, the sun's rays soaking through my flips flops on the ground. My hardened heart rejected all forms of warmth though, intent on staying cold and isolated for as long as possible.

Ben's comforting stare met mine as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me towards the looming building in front of us; the building that contained the one man I desperately loved and despised all at once.