Saved By Steven (finished)

21. Seeing Steven Again

The ringing of the doorbell woke Lauren up. She had fallen asleep on the couch. She quickly shoved the left over drugs in her pocket and opened the door, still half asleep.

"Morning." A happy man's voice chimed. "Ready to go to work?"
"Morning." Lauren said, half asleep. "Work?"
"Today is your first day back. You got only three classes."
"What?"
"Honey, don't you remember? You agreed to come back for a few days a week while teaching only two classes and three hours a day."
"Sorry, I didn't have my coffee yet." Lauren said, realizing she didn't remember that deal.
"Well, just get dressed, we'll stop by Starbucks on our way to school."

When the car pulled up to the school Lauren felt sick. She didn't want to go back to work. She needed out. Out of this town, out of this life. Mick parked the car near the teachers entrance and got out. He opened the door for Lauren, as she didn't do it herself.
"Ready?"
"Never." Lauren said.

Mick knew this was hard on Lauren. She had been through a lot and teaching wasn't an easy job. In the teacher's lounge people were whispering when Mick and Lauren walked in. Feeling all eyes on her Lauren told Mick she couldn't do it and walked outside. She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. Why am I back here? I hate this. Don't talk like that, you just need a fix.

The bell rang and the kids went to their classes. Lauren ran to the bathroom to get her fix and joined Mick in the hallway to walk to class, even though she didn't want to teach. Her first class was easy. It where first year students that didn't ask too many questions and just did as they were told. Even though the class was easy, Lauren was exhausted when the bell rang.

Mick came over before the second class started to make sure Lauren was okay. When he knew she'd make it through her second class he left to teach his own. The second class wasn't as easy as the first. The kids where asking questions about why Lauren had been absent. She tried to talk over the subject but when she found out she couldn't she answered a couple of questions, to prevent rumors from spreading.

After her classes Lauren sat in her classroom. She was exhausted. She opened a window and smoked a cigarette. There was a knock on the door. Without turning to see who it was Lauren heard the person walk in. She blew out smoke and threw away the cigarette. When she turned around she was stunned.

"What are you doing here?"
"I came to drop of some tickets."
"I thought you had a show."
"Yeah, that was yesterday. Well we came back early and I wanted to see how you were doing."
"I've been better, Steven."
"I know you have, love."
"It's so good to see a friendly face." Lauren said as she walked over to Steven and gave him a big hug.
"It's good to see you too." He said, wrapping his arms around her.

When the bell rang a class walked in, followed by their teacher. Steven and Lauren didn't notice until the teacher scraped his voice