After Class (Janet and Aaliyah)

Chapter 35

Acacia

My head was spinning, both figuratively and literally. I knew I was still drunk, otherwise I wouldn't have asked Aaliyah over here so soon after I had done so many things wrong. We were over. I just knew. There was no way she could forgive me for the thing's I'd done tonight, and I didn't blame her. I threw on some sweats and paced my house, trying to figure out the best way to tell her. What to tell her first. It was too much. I'd fucked up so bad this time. All I could hope was that she didn't hate me. I made myself some tea, took a couple painkillers and sat down on my bed, almost shaking.

This was not good.

Beyond what she would say, Matt knew. Matt was jealous. Extremely jealous. He had tangible evidence. I told him. I had to talk to him, too. Lord knows what he would do to hang this over my head for my years to come. I had to leave that school. I had to kill him. I had to do something.

I wondered what he would tell the school. If he would tell them right away. The only glimmer of hope I had was that all he had to go by was my word. There were no cameras, no audio recordings, no other students, that could back him up. Maybe I wouldn't have to skip town, but in all honesty, my main concern was Aaliyah. I didn't want to lose her. Not tonight, not ever.

But I couldn't see how she could ever get past this.

I heard her coming in the door and up stairs after calling my name. I started to feel hot.

  "Acacia, baby," she said, knocking on my bedroom door.

  "Come in here," I said, trying to get my nerves under control.

  She emerged from the hallway, looking extremely concerned. "Hey, what's wrong? You look so pretty," she cooed. I couldn't look her in the eyes anymore. But as she came to my bed and kissed me softly, I felt like I owed it to her to give her the whole truth, even that which I held in my eyes. When she pulled away and searched my face, I kissed her again, over and over until she was running her hands all over my body. God, I would miss her if she left me. But I was avoiding my issues. I had to tell her.

"How was the party?" She sat next to me and rested her petite hand on my thigh.

  "Good, bad... really bad..." I shook my head. I still felt a little foggy.

  "What happened? You've been drinking. You taste like sangria."

I mustered up a chuckle and I nodded my head with a sniffle. She was making it so hard for me.  "Yes, baby, I had sangria."

  "I love that drink," she said. "Was it good?"

  "Really good. Too good. Terrible. Look, Aaliyah, some things happened tonight that I just—I could never live with myself. I can't right now, it just—" I started to tremble beneath her touch. "I'm not saying don't hate me, not to get mad, but don't yell."

  "Acacia, you're scaring me..." she leaned away. "Just spit it out, okay? I promise to stay calm."

  "Okay, okay. So... I went to Matt's house, and all of the faculty was there. Really nice, everyone is super friendly—"

  "Stop stalling."

  "Matt offered me that damn sangria. He made it himself, and it was good. I had a few. One too many."

  "Did he try to make a move on you?" She asked. "Did he spike it?"

  "No, no.. well... he invited me out on the porch to apologize about some things that have happened between us in the past..."

  "What kind of things? Look at me, Acacia."

  I turned my head slowly and looked into her eyes. It took all I had not to start crying. "He's been suspicious about us for a while."