beauty behind the madness | the weeknd

6

Rose

Saturday evening, I close the door behind me and stick my headphones in my ears. For a second, my eyes catch sight of Tesfaye's house across the street. I shake my head and start jogging. 

It's been days since I've seen Tesfaye - I've been avoiding him ever since I . . . kissed him. What was I thinking? Why did I just kiss him like that? 

I'm too into my thoughts right now that I almost bump into someone. "Sorry!" I shout after them and they shoot me an annoyed look. "At least I apologised!" I roll my eyes and continue jogging for another twenty minutes. 

By the time I come to the park, I'm out of breath. I sit down on the bench, breathing heavily. God, am I unfit or what. 

My mind goes back to Tesfaye. I should really see him and apologise about what I did the other day, even if I did kind of enjoy it. I get up and start walking back home slowly, legs feeling like jelly.

When I push open the door to my house, I hear my mum laughing and speaking to someone. I step into the living room and my heart starts thumping and my mouth goes dry. Tesfaye is here, in my house, sitting on my sofa, talking to my mum. What the hell?

My mum catches sight of me in the doorway. "Rose!" she says happily. "You didn't tell me that Abel was your teacher!"

I frown. Abel? Oh, right, that's his first name. It's nice, suits him. "Um, yeah," I mumble, not looking Tesfaye in the eye. "Sorry. It must've slipped my mind."

"Hi, Rose," Tesfaye says, smiling. 

"Hey, Mr Tesfaye," I mutter. I can tell that he's trying to get my attention, but I don't look in his direction. Instead, I look ahead at the fireplace. 

"Abel's been telling me that you've been late to his classes so far," my mum tells me. She looks at me pointedly. 

I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah?" I ask. I turn to look at him, narrowing my eyes. "What else has he been saying?" I hope he hasn't told her about the club.

He tries to cover a smirk. "That you're a good, clever, hard-working student," he says softly. He looks from me to my mum and her eyes brighten. She beams at me. Does she really think that I'm all the things Tesfaye described me as? I roll my eyes and then stop. I look at Tesfaye, who bites his lip. 

"I have to go! It's an emergency!" my mum says. No, no, no! She can't leave me alone with him. "Abel, it was nice meeting you. Rose, show Abel out, please." I nod my head and watch as she slips her jacket on and walks out the door. I don't speak until I hear the engine start and the car drive off.

"What are you doing here?" I hiss at him.

He looks at me, amused. "What?" he questions, innocently. "I wanted to thank your mum for giving me those cupcakes." I fold my arms across my chest and he gets up from the sofa and walks towards me. I step away when his inches away from me. "You've been avoiding me. You haven't been coming to my classes. Why?"

"Why do you think?" I snap. 

"Because you kissed me?" he whispers, touching my cheek and I roll my eyes and nod.  He grabs my chin and makes me look at him. "Do you want to do it again?" He leans in closer and so do I, but I quickly pull away.

"You need to go," I tell him quietly. He pouts and I swear, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. "Please?" 

He looks at me, amused. "Fine," he says, touching my cheek. "But you should know, I wasn't kidding about making your eyes roll." He smirks and I can't help but smile.