The Journalist's Job

Part 7

You lowkey wanted to die as you sat in the car with your teacher.

It was dead silent as he drove and you honestly didn't know what to do.

Your heart was beating so loud that you that Mr. Stan might be able to hear it....

"(y/n)?" he asked, looking over at you.

'Can you tell your heart to stop beating so fast and loud? I can hear it,' you imagined him saying.

"Mr. Stan?" you mimicked the tone of his voice and he looked at you disapprovingly.

"It's too quiet in here...you wanna search through the radio stations?" he asked softly and you just nodded awkwardly.

You flipped through a few until you landed on a song that you knew.

Nervous, by Shawn Mendes, "You told me to come inside, caught me staring in your eyes and i'm not usually like this. But I like what you're doing to me. Ah, what you're doing to me."

You couldn't help but feel even more nervous as this song was playing as you were in the car with your teacher.

You felt him give you a side glance, "Shawn Mendes?"

"Is there a problem?" you asked, reaching your hand to switch the station.

"No- no problem," Mr. Stan said, stopping your hand from switching the station with his hand.

You pulled your hand away quickly, your heart racing at just the slightest of contact.

It was just a split second but you could still feel the ghost of his fingers on your skin...

"I think Shawn Mendes is actually a pretty good singer and I happen to like a lot of his songs," Mr. Stan said, reeling you back into reality.

"Oh." you replied; why did you feel so antsy??

Your teeth started chattering and you suddenly remembered that you were drenched. It was right as Mr. Stan stopped at a stop light and suddenly your teeth couldn't stop chattering.

"I'm sorry the heaters in this car don't work very well lemme see if i have something in the back for you..." he said as he turned around and fumbled for a second before quickly turning back around to hand you a sweatshirt. Then the light turned green and he continued driving.

"I hope it doesn't smell bad," he said as you put it on, his cologne immediately attacking your nose.

Dang, he smelled good.

"No. It smells fine," you lied, not wanting to admit how intoxicating it was.

•••

Mr. Stan finally pulled into a neighborhood and soon into the driveway of a small cozy-looking house.

Mr. Stan parked and it was still pouring rain so he insisted that you stayed in your seat and he would come around and get you with his umbrella.

So you waited until he opened your door and you hopped out, under the umbrella with him. You closed the door behind and your heart raced as you quickly walked to his front door in close proximity to remain under the umbrella.

You got onto the front porch and he closed the umbrella since you no longer needed it and then he took out his keys and unlocked the front door.

"Maybe I'll just wait outside while you get the jumper cable..." you began to offer, but he quickly waved that thought aside, "No, no. i'll have none of that come on inside."

You reluctantly followed him inside and you were taken aback at the inside of the house.

It was so cozy and welcoming.

To the left there was a small room with a wall of books and a couch and reading chairs.

To the right there was a room for a piano.

"You play?" you asked, gesturing to the piano as he turned around from closing the door.

He just nodded and walked past you, so you followed him further into his house. It led straight to the kitchen which was also attached to a family room in a main open area. There were couches and a TV in the family room portion. After the kitchen the hall continued on to what you assumed were rooms and specifically his bedroom.

"So, what do you think?" he asked.

"I think you need to get your jumper cable so we can go," you replied, and he just sighed.

"Here but why don't you change into some dry clothes first I bet you're freezing wearing that. I'll get you some if you follow me," he suggested and you reluctantly followed him down the hallway you hadn't entered yet.

You passed by closed doors which you assumed were a bathroom and closets and storage and at the end of the hall was an open door. He walked through it and you followed him.

You were in your TEACHER'S bedroom!! you thought as your heart picked up speed.

He just went to his closet and you waited near the door until he came back to hand you a shirt and some pants and a belt.

"Those pants are super small on me so hopefully they won't be too big on you. I honestly don't know why i still have them," he said as he gave them to you.

"Thank you," you replied.

"You can change in the bathroom down the hall. First door on the left," he said and you nodded before leaving the room.

You found the bathroom and walked inside, seeing a bunch of his stuff everywhere.

Yikes.

You closed the door behind you and pulled off his sweatshirt and then your drenched shirt underneath that was clinging to your skin. You took off your pants too and put on the pants he had given you and they weren't too horrible once you had the belt on. Then you put on his shirt and the sweatshirt over the shirt because you were kind of obsessed with the way it smelled.

Finally you were gathering your clothes and leaving the bathroom. You walked out to the kitchen and Mr. Stan was already fishing through cabinets, probably for a snack.

"Mr. Stan?" you asked.

"(y/n), please, we aren't in a school setting- call me Sebastian," he replied.

What a nice name.

"But you're my teacher-" you started to say.

"Are we in a classroom?" he interrupted.

"No."

"Sebastian."

"Okay...Sebastian..." it felt so weird, "Can I have a bag for my wet clothes?"

"Yeah sure," he replied and as he left to get one you couldn't help but wander back to the front room to the right and sit down at the piano.

You set down your wet clothes and opened up the piano. You hadn't played in such a long time but as soon as your fingers hit the keys, you began to play a song from memory.

You didn't know why but you just started to play Someone Like You by Adele and you even began to sing. As you listened to your voice carry out all the notes beautifully you realized how much you missed singing and playing- you forgot how good you could sound...and as you continued singing and playing suddenly Mr. Stan was sitting on the bench next to you playing along with you and the way both parts flowed sounded beautiful. You could even hear him softly singing with you...

Finally, the song ended and you both stopped and it was as if time itself was nonexistent.

He turned to look at you, "Wow you really have a beautiful voice."

"Thank you.." you stammered, making eye contact with his beautiful blue eyes.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment (you were currently WAY too close to your teacher-but wait, he wasn't technically...) but then he snapped both of you out of it by saying, "Well i got your bag for your clothes and the jumping cable so we can head on back now."

"Oh...okay...yeah. Great."

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