beauty behind the madness | the weeknd

22

Rose

Ten minutes later, I'm still walking and don't know where I'm going. I sigh and give up. I'm lost and I don't know how I'm going to get home. 

Maybe I should've taken Jeremy up on his offer - it's not like I had to talk to him or anything. An idea comes to mind and I fish out my phone from my bag. I dial Abel's number. He doesn't pick up. I phone a couple of more times and he doesn't pick up again. I mentally curse him in my head before going to option A.

I dial Jeremy's number and he answers straight away. "Rose?" he says, the panic evident in his voice. "Where are you?" 

"I haven't got a clue," I say. 

"Just wait wherever you are," Jeremy instructs. "I'm coming to get you, okay?"

I grit my teeth. "Thanks." I hang up the phone. I really don't want to talk to him right now. I'm not in the mood and neither do I have the energy. 

Ten minutes later, he pulls up to the side of the road and I get in the car. "You okay?" he asks, starting the engine and driving away. I don't answer. "Rose, stop being petty."

I whip my head to the side to look at him, anger burning up inside me. "Petty?" I echo. "How can I not be when you were talking shit about me, Jeremy?"

He sighs. "I swear I didn't say those things, Rose," Jeremy tells me. "Don't believe anything that comes out of Ty's mouth. He's always talking shit."

Again, I don't say anything. I don't know if I should believe him or not. "Like what?" I want to know.

"Well, after me and Sarah got into that accident, he just started shit," Jeremy tells me. "He told everyone that I got Sarah drunk and made her drive." A pained look is plastered across his face and I bite my lip, feeling bad. "And he kept telling me that that night, Sarah kept flirting with him and was  acting obsessive over him. Apparently, she followed him around everywhere and kept telling him that she wanted to sleep with him." 

I frown. "Is that true?" I ask.

"No," Jeremy says.

I shouldn't get involved, but I decide to anyway. "How do you know, though?" I challenge. "Was she with you the whole night?"

Jeremy frowns. "I don't really remember, to be honest," he tells me. "I was really out of it. All I remember is her driving and the car accident."

I squeeze his shoulder. "I'm sorry," I say and he looks at me and smiles. I sigh. "I'm sorry about slapping you. I shouldn't have believed anything he said."

"It's fine," Jeremy says, laughing. 

When he pulls up in front of my house, I look at him. "Thanks for the ride," I say gratefully.

"No problem," Jeremy replies. "See you later."

When I watch his car disappear around the corner, I start walking to Abel's house. I'm annoyed that he didn't answer any of my calls, but then again, it was good because I was able to work things out with Jeremy. He opens the door when I knock.

I walk into the house. "Is there something wrong with your phone?" I ask and Abel looks at me with a confused expression. "I called like five times and you didn't pick up."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Rose," he says and I sigh.

"It's fine," I say, deciding that I don't have the energy to be annoyed with him. I wrap my arms around him and bury my face into his neck. He wraps his arms around me too, pulling me closer to his body. 

"Why'd you call?" Abel wants to know.

"Because Jeremy took me to a party and I got annoyed with him and I needed a ride home," I say in a tired and bored tone. Abel pulls back from me, a concerned look on his face. "Don't worry, I didn't take anything or drink anything," I say quickly when he's about to speak. "I was only in there for a couple of minutes."

"Why'd you get annoyed with Jeremy?" Abel wants to know. 

I roll my eyes. "It's nothing," I say. "Just a misunderstanding."

"Did he try to kiss you again?" Abel asks, clenching his jaw and I shake my head. "Okay. Good." He kisses my head.

"So, what have you been doing?" I ask.

"Thinking," Abel answers.

"About what?" 

Abel rakes a hand through his hair. "I think I'm going to leave my job," he says and m mouth falls open.

"What?" I ask. "No, Abel, you can't. Why do you want to leave?" He raises his eyebrows. "Because of me? No, no, no. You can't leave your job because of me. That's just . .  .stupid."

"It's not stupid," Abel tells me. He takes my hand in his. "Look, just think about it. If I leave, we can finally go out together, go on a date. We can tell your mum about us."

"My mum?" I echo. I shake my head violently. "No, she can't know about us."

"Why not?" Abel asks.

I open my mouth to answer and then close it again. "Because you're my teacher," I answer. "And it's wrong. Plus, she won't exactly be happy to know that I'm dating my teacher." Abel looks hurt. I bite my lip, feeling bad.   

"I'm sure she'll be happy to see that her daughter's happy," Abel says and I consider it for a moment. Would she? I can just imagine her face when she finds out that I've been hooking up with my teacher. I shudder thinking about it. But Abel does make me happy, so she might be happy, too.

I look at Abel now. "I just don't think you should leave your job," I tell him and he frowns. "Look, in a couple of months, I'll be out of high school and then we can be together or whatever. We just have to wait."

Abel sighs heavily. "Okay, fine," he says, leaning his forward against mine. "We'll wait."