Don't Leave Me

Chapter 9-What's in it for me?

Something about you made me feel a little more alive and a far less lost.
-The better man project

I can't believe this just happened! What was I thinking? What was he thinking??? He's my teacher... he's 27. This is all so wrong. I entered the room and let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

Piper was still asleep and I thanked the gods for that. I was a mess and I don't think I could handle talking to anyone right now. I grabbed my stuff and went to take a shower. There, like an unpleasant guest you don't ever want to see, was the tattoo of his name; on my body like a sour reminder of what happened today.

When I got back, Piper had just woken up. She got up, really excited and grabbed my hand, dragging me to her bed.

"You have to tell me everything!" My first instinct was to say 'I don't want to talk about it', you know, trust issues and all that. But the truth was that I wanted to. I really wanted to tell her what happened. Of course, I had to start with what bothered me.

"So, we were having lunch and everything was fine; and then out of nowhere this woman appears. She was in her mid-30s and she was so fucking gorgeous. She had perfectly styled cocoa hair and green eyes. She had a killer body, like she seriously looked like a model. And the way she talked to him, like they were so familiar; it didn't feel good. So, the question is: who the hell is she?"

"Do you know her name?"

"Yeah; it's Julie. No, wait. It's Jean. Yeah, that's it." I stopped for a minute to think because it didn't sound right. "Oh, no, it's Jane."

"And he never told you anything about her?"

"Not that I remember. She was British so he probably knows her from when he lived here. But I still didn't like it. Anyway, now let's talk about the nice things."

I did and she listened carefully. I told her about the springs, the restaurants, the spa, the clubbing, but I had to take a moment before I could bring myself to tell her about the kiss. I knew she wouldn't tell anybody, but I still felt like it was something so private.

"And we also kissed." I finally told her. She gasped; her expression was of pure disbelief. And then she laughed. Yes; laughed. I was a mess because I didn't know what the hell was happening and she was laughing.

"I didn't think the two of you had it in you. But honestly, thank God. You've been so repressed and frustrated trying to hide your feelings for each other."

"I do not have feelings for him!" I protested, outraged just by the thought of it. She raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. "I was just curious about how it would feel to kiss him."

"You need to stop lying to yourself. I didn't say that you love him; even though it would be perfectly fine if you did." She stopped a bit when she saw my scandalized face. "I just said that you feel something for him. You care about him; and he obviously cares about you, otherwise he wouldn't have done all that for you yesterday." She took a long pause, choosing her words carefully. "It's okay to let him in. I know he hurt you. But everyone deserves a second chance." Her voice was soft and she sighed, hugging me tight like she wanted to put back together all the broken pieces.

I knew that she was probably right, but hey, have you met me? I never do what's right and I never listen to others. But bad choices make good stories, right? And so, I did make a bad choice; it seemed good at the time. I mean, as long as I was fine, who cared about the others suffering the consequences, right?

I tried to avoid Evan as much as humanly possible. I didn't go to training anymore, I went to breakfast, lunch and dinner early, because I knew he was always late; that way we never met. Unfortunately, I had no way to avoid gym class, but that was pretty much the only time I saw him. Sure, it happened a few times to meet him accidentally on the hall but I turned around and went in the opposite direction.