pervorto | on hold

two

"hey," lauren nudges me gently with his elbow, making me shift my gaze from the screen of my phone back up to him, "you've been pretty distant lately. what's going on, rei?"

i press the button on the side, locking the device before he can get a glimpse of the message that has been stealing my attention for the past twenty minutes.

ashley told me that someone had seen professor nash groping a student somewhere near the campus parking lot. if only i could be that lucky :(

marissa's words swirl through my mind over and over, making my stomach shrunk by each second that passes.

"nothing," i put the phone down onto the table, turning it face down in case marissa decided to send another text, "just rough week. you know how many assignments did i have to finish this week."

the lie rolls off my tongue without further thinking; the time spent with kaden has been sure rubbing off on me.

"come here." lauren pulls the paper box with noodles out of my grip and setting it onto the small coffee table, he pulls me into his lap. "you're being too hard on yourself, babe. it's just college, not the end of the world."

he twirls the unruly strand of my pale hair around his finger, putting his entire focus on playfully toying with it.

"it's easy for you to say," i roll my eyes at him, "you don't even have to study to have A's, meanwhile i can barely get C from at least half of my classes despite studying for up to three hours each day."

"don't be ridiculous, reina. you're one of the smartest people i've ever come across, some stupid grade can't qualify you."

"try telling that to my professors." i snort.

"i think that's enough of this. i can go only so much talking about school before my head explodes." he tugs the stray of hair behind my ear and leans forward to give me a tender kiss.

"how has your day been besides letting school suck the life out of you?" he offers me a heart-warming smile when he pulls away from me. "what about marissa? how is she doing?"

marissa? i furrow my brows in confusion before my brain slaps some sense into me. oh, right. he thinks the reason of my late arrival is the fact that i've been at the library with marissa.

a knot twist in my stomach, guilt gnawing at my insides. "she's great actually. just uh-" i try to think of something believable, "-- being a bag of nerves at the moment. the break up has really gotten to her."

"the break up?" his brows knit together, making a little crease appear on the smooth skin of his forehead. "did she and tony have a fight again?"

the concern in his voice can't be overheard and i make the move to reach out to comfort him. i know he cares about marissa, they've known each other since high school and the friendship they've built is quite admirable.

the hypocritical part of myself used to be jealous of her for some time, though i quickly understood that there's no possibility of more than a friendly relationship between the two of them.

i know lauren loves me, which only makes what i'm doing thousand times worse.

i'm not a cheater. i'm not a whore trading beds every night while her boyfriend is waiting for her at home.

the only reason why i'm doing this is travis. if it wasn't for him, my life would be still a perfect resemblance of a happily taken girl.

but much to my dismay, that's not the case here. i don't have a choice. it's either this, or something much worse. though, i can't really imagine how much worse my situation could get in the future since it's already fucking terrible now.

my phone on the coffee table buzzes again and lauren moves to gently put me beside him.

i'm quick to lock my arms around his neck, clinging to him like some four-year-old child fearing from losing their favorite teddy-bear.

"what are you doing, rei?" he looks up at me with confusion written all over his face, pulling his head away from me slightly.

"i just--" i stutter, suddenly feeling the tears prick at the corners of my eyes, "--i just don't want you to go yet."

"i'm not going anywhere, i was just giving you the space so you could answer whoever the hell is trying to reach you so desperately."

my gaze settles on his incredibly dark brown eyes as i rake my pale hand through the dark locks of his hair. "whoever is on the other side of the line can wait, lauren. i doubt that it's that important."

"but it could be --"

"i'm with you now, okay?" i tell him softly, inching my face closer to his. "i don't want anyone ruining that."

"reina, what if it's someth--"

i cut him off by pressing my lips hard against his. his body jerks a little under mine but the solidification quickly diminishes. "i'm telling you, it's nothing important." i whisper against his mouth, letting his watchful eyes search mine curiously.

i don't have a single doubt he'd be able to uncover what is going on if he saw the name of the person currently calling me.

lauren is not stupid. no one in their right mind is stupid enough to think that it's completely normal for a teacher like kaden nash to be hassling a student from his personal number at the time of the day that it's supposed to be spend with her actual boyfriend.

a/n: i sincerely apologize if this chapter is sucky. this is my first short story ever so i'm really trying my best to fight my vice of writing too much, haha. hope you can bear this with me for a little longer, i promise i'm going to get better at this.