Miss Grande

Chapter 33: Am I A Bad Person?

   "You're kidding," Trent let out a loud laugh that seemed to echo throughout his Jeep.

   "I wish I was."

   "You must have a thing for teachers."

   "Or the universe just loves to watch me suffer." I sighed and leaned my head against the window, watching the tress pass by in a blur.

   "Don't the timelines overlap?"

   "Unfortunately, they do. It's not as simple as it seems though."

   "Want to explain it to me then?"

   We pulled up to my house, and I turned to face him.

   "Just come inside, and I'll lay everything out for you."

   "What about your family?"

   "My dad is the only one that could be home, and he's probably watching a game at the moment."

   "Soccer enthusiast?"

   "Fútbol, but yes."

   "And now it clicks. 'Lincoln High's women's soccer captain gets her love of the sport from her very own father,'" he attempted an announcer voice.

   I laughed and hit his arm. "If that's your best, you might want to keep trying."

We hopped out of the car and had a brief argument over who was carrying what bags, despite the fact that they were mostly mine, before heading inside my house.

"Gooooooal," blasted through the house along with the sounds of my father cheering.

"Now that is an announcer voice," I mocked at Trent.

He rolled his eyes and laughed, following me through the house.

We made it to the stairs before I ducked my head into my dad's viewing room. "Dad I have a friend over."

   "Okay dear. Let me know if you need any snacks, and I'll bring them during the commercial breaks."

I laughed and thanked him and made my way up the stairs with Trent hot on my trail.

We plopped down on my bed with a loud sigh.

"Your dad doesn't have a problem with you having a boy in your room?"

"He doesn't know that you're in my room; he was way too engrossed in his game." We both chuckled before I turned my head in his direction. "He trusts me though. Since I like whatever, it wouldn't really be fair for him to trust me with one group and not the rest. He knows me better than to assume like that."

Trent smiled. "I like your dad."

I shot him a dirty look. "He's my dad, you can't have him."

We laughed again before just relaxing in the room for a second. It was nice to be with someone and not have to worry about one thing or another, just existing in the moment.

   It was bittersweet. This was everything I wanted with Ariana: to just relax and exist side by side, not having to worry about getting caught or risking everything.

   "How did it happen?" He asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

   "Which one?"

   "Just start from the beginning."

   So I did. I explained seeing Ariana on the first day in the hall and then walking into her class late, getting immediately star struck, and all of the different occasions in various public bathrooms.

   It's honestly a miracle that Trent is the only one to know.

   I explained after our incident at the party that I seemed to party hop from and ended up with Katy somehow and, consequently, started getting to know Justin.

"It's so weird hearing you call him 'Justin'. No wonder you sounded so uncomfortable calling him 'Mister Bieber.'"

"I'm glad you find this so funny."

"I think the way that things worked out is so interesting. I mean, what are the odds that you'd get a crush on your teacher and coach who you would eventually form a weird relationship thing with while you fought the attraction and tried to be with your new friend's brother who ended up teaching at your school?"

When you put it that way... "Apparently high enough because here I am."

   "So you guys are calling it quits?"

   I looked at him expectantly.

   He looked back at me for a second, the confusion etched into his face, before he caught on. "With Mister- Justin... Are you and Justin going to call it quits?"

   I sighed and leaned against my pillows. "Yeah. We agreed that with him teaching at the school it just wouldn't be right. Well, he said it wasn't exactly something he felt comfortable doing, and I wouldn't want to push him into it. Am I a bad person?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "I am cutting it off with Justin but not with Ari- Miss Grande. Her name is Ariana. I feel like it's not fair for the reason that I cut it off with Justin to not be the reason for me to cut it off with Ariana. At the same time, he made it the main reason while she is attempting to do the same, but whatever I have going on with her isn't the same thing I had with him. Both things, whatever they are, were kind of happening at the same time. How did my love life become so complicated?" I groaned dramatically and threw a pillow over my face.

   "I don't think you're a bad person. You're trying to make everything work to make everyone involved happy. You told Ariana how you felt and that I know, which is why things are weird now, and you cut it off with Justin. You can't help how you feel... Trust me, I would know."

I looked at him and just thought for a second. At this point, Trent knew me better than anybody else in my life. He didn't know every little detail about me, but he knew my deepest secrets and my accidental entanglements. If he still thought I was a good person, my only option seemed to be to believe him.

I gave him a bland nod and pulled him down beside me to give him a hug.

"Thank you," I mumbled into his chest.

"No, thank you. You're helping more than you know."

We smiled at each other and just relaxed in the moment.