DELICATE ★ JENLISA

Chapter 10

-Lisa-

I heard the front door of my apartment opening and closing, letting me know that Jennie had gone to work. I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad for making her walk; I was much too bent out of shape about Jackson showing up. I'd explained to him on more than one occasion that what we had would never be more than a little bit of fun, and that if he couldn't handle that, then we would have to stay friends- friends that weren't sexually involved in any way, shape, or form.

I wasn't exactly proud of myself for preferring sex over romance, but I'd known Jackson for a while and even if I did somehow manage to move past the fact that I couldn't open up to people anymore, I probably wouldn't have started with him. He provided me with a release, and as much as I hated myself for thinking it, he wasn't all that great for much else. He could be sweet, sure, but he would never be able to make me genuinely laugh and he would never be a shoulder to cry on. Not that I cried anymore; I hadn't allowed myself to cry in two years, and I highly doubted anything could change that.

He had been over after I dropped Jennie off at the grocery store yesterday, and in a not-very-surprising turn of events, we fought. We weren't together, which was my doing, because if Jackson had his way, we would be more than just occasional sex and brief conversation. He seemed to think that we already were more than that, which is why he became pissed every time he found out I slept with someone else. He yelled and I yelled back, and I'm assuming he decided to bring over flowers and apologize because he knew I wasn't going to be the one to do it. It's not like I wanted Jackson out of my life, but I knew that continuing to sleep with him would only hurt him, and I didn't want to do that.

I wasn't an idiot with my body, and I might have been very... sexually active, but it wasn't with random strangers that I met off the street.

Well, with the exception of Jennie.

Most times were men because it was easier for me to develop an emotional attachment to women and I wouldn't allow myself to do so, so sleeping with guys to relieve my frustration tended to work out better. Unfortunately, for a reason that seemed to escape me now, I decided that I wanted to switch things up on that night in the hotel. As much as I hated to admit it now, Jennie was sexy and her personality intrigued me even more that night, and I didn't want to say no. I thought, one night with a woman couldn't hurt, right?

I couldn't have been more wrong. Maybe if she had actually been a woman and not a seventeen year old, things might have worked out differently. But now I had broken the law, and on top of that, I was providing a home to the person who prodded me to do so. I was still pissed at her for lying to me, but for the time being I was pushing that out of my head. I was trying to push it all out of my head because I needed to focus on ensuring her safety, but she made it ridiculously hard. It seemed as though every minute she got the chance, she was mentioning the night we'd spent together. I didn't want to hear about it anymore because I couldn't take it back and now I would always have this weighing on my shoulders, as if I didn't already have enough to deal with.

My mind was fucked up as it was, I didn't need Jennie coming in and making it worse.

I didn't know how long I lied in bed for, nothing but a towel covering my nude body. I was too distraught to actually get up and put clothes on, but when the light outside of my bedroom window started to fade, I finally decided to pull myself together. I texted Jackson and told him that I was sorry, which was mostly a lie because I didn't think I had anything to be sorry for. Before he'd even laid a finger on me, I told him I didn't, and never would, want a real relationship. But regardless, I couldn't have him coming over tomorrow and acting like he had today in front of Jennie, so I told him what he wanted to hear.

I threw athletic shorts on again and a tank top, grabbing my jacket because I knew I couldn't let Jennie walk home in the dark. Her situation was fucked up, and I didn't know how I got to be involved but I couldn't just let her go home to more abuse. It didn't matter how mentally unstable I was, I still knew that I had to get Jennie out of that house. I'd heard the sharpness in her voice as she spoke about her past, and somehow I knew that sharing the information I'd learned about her adoptive father wouldn't help anyone. I wanted to, but I believed her when she said that she would only face worse conditions if she was taken out of his house.

And even though I was dreading seeing her again, solely because of the fact that Jackson had referred to her as my play toy while she was in the room, I ate dinner and patiently waited until it was time to pick her up. I knew Jackson had seen her and assumed that she was just another girl that I'd invited over and slept with for one night, only to toss aside the next morning. He had no idea why she was really in my apartment.

I grabbed my keys and left my apartment, starting towards the grocery store. I didn't know how to feel towards Jennie; I wanted to stay mad at her, but it was ridiculously hard. I knew about her home life now and a little bit about her past, and how could I blame her for wanting to escape it for one night? I would be lying if I said I hadn't done it before.

I pulled into park outside of the store and waited until nine, unable to think about anything else. I hadn't ever seen anything like Jennie's stomach before, at least not in person, and I doubted the image would ever leave my mind. I found myself desperate to know everything about her, which was shocking because I never wanted to know anything about anyone anymore. It seemed inevitable that if someone were to tell you something about them self, they would expect you to share information too. I didn't want to share anything about myself with anyone, so I mostly stayed quiet. But Jennie fueled the curiosity inside of me, the worry, and the emotion that I'd been trying to push away in the last two years.

I noticed her walking out of the store then, her hands shoved far into her pockets with her light brown hair resting over her chest. I pulled my car door open and ran over to her, but I was behind her and she didn't notice me coming. My sudden grip on her upper arm caused her to whirl around and her eyes held a considerable amount of fear, real fear, until she saw that it was me.

She released a shaky breath and her voice was tense, "Don't fucking do that."

I realized that she must have been dealing with so many different things in her head, and one of them was probably her fear of Charles. I silently reminded myself not to approach her from behind again. "I didn't mean to scare you. Come on, let me drive you back."

"Why, because you miss your play toy?"

"Don't," I said sharply, "Let it go Jennie, what Jackson said honestly has nothing to do with you. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

She turned on her heel and started walking away from me. "Yeah, story of my fucking life."

I sighed and hurried after her, this time lightly reaching for her arm instead of forcefully. I didn't know if she had triggers or panic attacks, but I didn't want to take any risks. I honestly didn't know how abuse actually affected the victim. "Come on Jen." I said, my voice softening. "You're not walking to my apartment in the dark."

She nodded, "Okay." Then she turned and started walking in a different direction, only to have me chase after her.

"Where are you going now?"

"Home."

"No you're not." We stood there staring at each other, both of our eyes challenging the other. She knew I wasn't going to let her go back to Charles's house, but she was just as stubborn as I was and getting her to do something she didn't necessarily want to do proved to be a challenge, even for me.

I stepped forward, my height providing me with an obvious intimidation factor. She tilted her head to look up at me and crossed her arms, clearly refusing to back down as she waited for me to speak. "Get in the car Jen."

"Do you have candy?"

I narrowed my eyes, "Why are you so damn stubborn?"

"I don't know, I'm a lot of things. Cute, smart, funny, mind-blowing in bed-"

"Stop," I groaned, "Please do not continue. I don't doubt that you are a lot of things Jen,, though I'm not sure that mind-blowing is one I'd use to describe you.."

She smirked, "Are you sure about that? Because just about the only thing I remember from that night is that you got loud, so either I'm really good in the sack or you're just a screamer-"

I groaned again, briefly turning away from her. I'd never in my life met someone so.... How could I even describe her? She was just so.... different. I would have been lying if I said she didn't intrigue me, but I had at least a little bit of sense and I couldn't push the fact that she was my seventeen year old student out of my mind. I was very aware of the fact that I'd almost kissed her last night, and honestly, I fucking surprised myself. I was never one to have a lack of control over myself, as much as Jackson liked to think otherwise. If I wanted something, I went for it, but that doesn't mean I went for things I knew were out of my reach. I wasn't stupid, and I knew that getting involved with Jennie was illegal, so I should never have had a problem distancing myself from her like I distanced myself from everyone else.

But I obviously did, and it was a problem that I needed to get rid of as fast as possible. She was not only driving me to lose control in such little time, but she was also making me want something I hadn't had in more than two years.

A connection with someone.

I sighed, redirecting my train of thought. "What is it going to take to get you in the car?"

She looked down for a while, before looking back up at me and smirking. "Nothing, I'll get in, I just wanted to screw with you for a bit."

The brunette tossed me a sly smile and walked over to my car, taking no time before sliding into the passenger seat. "Coming?" she asked, teasing as she turned back to look at me.

I stood there for a while, before finally facing reality and slipping into the drivers seat. I refused to speak during the car ride and Jennie seemed content staring out the window, so we sat in relative silence. Eventually, I unlocked the front door to my apartment and threw the keys on the counter, immediately heading to the couch.

"Help yourself to whatever is in my kitchen, I don't know what you eat but you really need to stop skipping meals."

She shrugged. "I eat when I'm hungry."

"So you're never hungry?"

She stared at me for a while, before sliding onto the stool by the counter and resting her head on her hand. "My body is kind of accustomed to a low-calorie diet."

"Are you trying to lose weight or something?"

Her eyes never left mine, and I saw some sort of emotion pass but then she shook her head. "Sure, let's go with that."

It was obvious that she wanted to avoid the subject, and I had a good idea of what she really meant. I thought back to Thursday when I chased her into the bathroom, and she had angrily asked me if I'd ever been starved. Did Charles neglect to give her food? She wasn't short but her body was extremely thin and I wouldn't have been surprised if she was underweight. I wasn't sure which I would've rather been true; the fact that she had been starved or the fact that she could, forever whatever reason, believe she needed to lose weight. I truly hoped she didn't have body image issues though, because she honestly had nothing to be worried about. Eventually her bruises would fade and her body would return to the near-flawless state it'd been in that night... though it probably wouldn't have hurt her to put on a few pounds.

I closed my eyes, shaking the image out of my head. Looking at her in the moment didn't help me to do so, so I turned my attention to the television. I heard her shuffling around in my kitchen but I couldn't force myself to look over at her. I knew if I did so, I would only see her body underneath mine, squirming in pleasure. I never got hung up on people after I had sex with them, so for me to still be thinking about Jennie was bad. I couldn't allow myself to think about her in that way, not only because she was my teenage student but because even if she wasn't, I still was not stable enough to be in a relationship.

"You look like you're thinking about something really serious," Jennie said, lightly sitting down on the couch next to me. She was way too close for my liking.

"I am."

"What are you thinking about?"

I shook my head, sinking into the couch and folding my arms over my chest. "Nothing that concerns you."

She ran a hand through her silky brown hair, smirking slightly. "I doubt that."

"Did you forget conceited when you were spouting off your character traits earlier?"

"I'm not conceited, believe me Lisa. I'm quite the opposite, actually." Her tone was dejected as she looked away, and I frowned slightly.

"Jennie."

She looked back at me, waiting for me to speak. I bit my cheek and stayed silent for a while, before asking her, "Are you depressed?"

She raised her eyebrow at me. "Um, no, I don't think so?"

I sat up and looked over at her. "You just look so sad all the time..."

She lowered her eyes. "Yeah well, I don't have a whole lot to be happy about. But I'm not depressed anymore."

"Anymore?"

"I'm tired," she said, standing up abruptly. "I need to go back home tomorrow to get a few things. I'm going no matter what you say, but if you really want to come with me, then you need to promise me that you'll stay in the car until I come back out of the house. You are not coming in with me, got it?"

"No, you're not going in by yourself-"

"Stop. You can't tell me what to do in this situation Lisa. I'm going into the house alone and that's the end of it. If you really want to drive me, fine, but you're staying in the car."

I didn't want to agree but I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with her by saying no again. When I stayed silent, she simply nodded and started toward the bedroom without saying another word. I decided that I was going to sleep on the couch tonight because I couldn't let what happened last night happen again. I knew I moved a lot in my sleep but I figured I would at least stay on my side of the bed. I was wrong, and instead of putting myself in a situation where she could put her hand on my ass again, I decided to stay in the living room.

I needed to clear my mind of any thoughts regarding Jennie, and I wasn't going to be able to do that while sleeping next to her.

And especially not if I was watching her get changed.

***

I woke up in the morning to see Jennie sitting in my kitchen, her hair falling around her as she sipped something out of a mug. I usually woke up really early on Sundays but for some reason I slept in today, and I saw that the clock read ten am. I wondered why she had slept until afternoon the first night, which I half expected because she was a teenager and teenagers slept late, but now she was waking up before me.

I sat up on the couch and rubbed my eyes, adjusting to the light seeping in through the window. Her eyes switched to mine and she honestly looked exhausted, but I didn't comment on it. "Sure Jen, you can have coffee."

She narrowed her eyes at me, speaking softly. "You literally told me to help myself to anything in your kitchen. Was I supposed to take that some other way?"

"No."

"Well," she said, standing up from the stool. "I made you some too."

I silently stood up and ran a hand through my hair, finding half of my coffee pot full. I poured myself a cup and fixed it the way I liked, before sitting down in the stool she'd been in before. She turned and leaned on the counter across from me, gazing out the window. Her profile was undeniably beautiful, and I hated the fact that that was the first thought to come to mind. She wasn't wearing any makeup, presumably because she didn't have any with her, but I couldn't find a flaw. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion, I could tell, but somehow there were no bags under her eyes and her skin was clean.

Suddenly she turned to me, catching my eye. I tried to pretend like I wasn't looking at her, and if she noticed, she didn't mention it. "I need to leave in the next five minutes. Charles should be out on his Sunday morning run right now and I want to get in and out before he comes back."

I ran a hand over my face, mumbling, "Alright... are you sure he's out right now?"

"Yes I'm positive." She set her mug down by the sink and picked up her bag off of the floor by the front door. "Is there anything I can possibly say to get you to stay here?"

"No," I answered. I didn't know what to expect, but I did know that if Charles came home and put his hands on her, there was nothing she would have been able to do to keep me in the car. And I certainly wasn't going to let her leave my apartment alone. "Is Cate going to be home?"

"Probably, but she's not a threat to me."

"She sounds like an enabler."

She shook her head, lingering by the door. "She's doing everything that she can do. She stops him when she can, which is impossible for her to do because she probably weighs less than a feather, and she knows better than you do that reporting this to anyone would only be worse for me in the long run. So please, don't view her as the bad guy because she's trying her best." She paused, before glancing at her phone. "We need to go."

I stared at her for a moment, trying to comprehend how she could be so understanding towards a woman who seemingly introduced her to such hell. I didn't know what she'd been through before she was adopted, and I wasn't sure if I was even ready to hear about it, but still, how could she defend a woman protecting the man who abused her?

I finally nodded, grabbing my keys off the counter. She pointed me in the direction of her house but stayed silent for the rest of the car ride. I pulled up outside of a rather large house, taking notice to the black mustang in the driveway. "He's not doing so bad money-wise, is he?"

She frowned, "No, he's fucking loaded. It makes me so fucking mad to know that someone as shitty as Charles is living with good money, while good people who age out of the system resort to fucking selling their bodies and stealing to make enough money to buy food."

It was strange for me to see her in such an angry state. I'd only ever seen her being flirtatious, bored, or ridiculously stern. She didn't let off much emotion when it came to Charles or her past, aside from the fear I'd seen in her eyes last night. "The world is.. screwed up like that."

"Yeah," she said, tightening her jaw and turning to me. "Look, I'm not fucking joking when I tell you to stay in the car. Charles isn't home right now, hopefully, but he could come back and he cannot see you."

"My car is not exactly in the best hiding place."

"I don't care if he knows someone is here with me, I care if he actually sees you. He's never going to forget what you look like and he'll always be able to use you against me if he knows you're associated with me."

"He's willing to hurt people that can easily report him to the police?"

She shook her head, looking out the window. "I don't know, but chances are if he knows you're with me, he'll know that he can use the threat of me being sent back into the system to prevent you from reporting him. I don't know if he's noticed my absence yet, but I'll be damned if he doesn't do everything he's capable of to get me to come back when he realizes I'm gone. You are not going to put yourself in the middle of that."

I stayed silent for a while, taking in her words, before turning to her. "I'll stay in the car Jennie, but you're wasting the time we have before he comes back. Go get your stuff, and hurry the hell up."

She nodded and got out of my car, hurrying into the house. Being here made me anxious, and I was usually an expert at pushing away my nerves. I couldn't shake the thought that Charles would come back and start beating her in front of me, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. It didn't matter how against growing close to her I was, she was still my student and I still worried about her safety.

After ten minutes, I wondered what the hell she was doing. All she needed to do was grab a few things, right? I sighed, trying to push bad thoughts away as I waited for her to exit. I saw movement outside of my windshield and I looked up, seeing a familiar man walking down the street with his earbuds in. His shirt was draped over his shoulder and he was quite obviously built, and when he turned toward Jennie's house, it clicked.

That was Charles.

His hair was dark and he was tall, lean and muscular. I suddenly grew angry; he put his hands on Jennie, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it because he was twice the size of her and appeared ten times stronger. He was obviously an attractive man, and though I was repulsed by him because I knew what he was capable of doing, it became quite clear in my mind why Cate married him. He was a complete dickhead but he had money and an attractive physical appearance; was this woman truly shallow enough to marry him for those reasons?

Jennie came out of the house then, a duffle bag thrown over her shoulder. Her eyes connected with Charles's, but even though I was far away, I could tell that the fear that had been there last night wasn't there today. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall, waiting for Charles to speak. They seemed to be talking like two normal people would. Was that not the man who had been abusing her for the past year?

She finally started toward my car, and I was completely ready to get out and deck him if he decided to try and stop her, but he didn't. Instead, he waved to her and started into the house. Jennie pulled the passenger door open and got in the car, throwing her bag on the floor and sinking into the seat.

"Was that not him?"

She looked over at me, "No, that was him."

"But..."

She sighed, "He's not a bad guy when he's sober. I mean, don't get me wrong, I fucking despise him regardless of whether or not he's drunk, but he's only abusive after drinking alcohol."

"So because he's sober, he's completely okay with you staying with me?"

She shook her head, "No, he would probably have a conniption if he knew that I'm not coming back. I told him that I'm staying over a friend's for the night."

I looked back at her house for a while, before pulling off of the street because I didn't want either of us to be here longer than we had to be. Not to my surprise, our car ride was silent, but when I lead her into my apartment, I spoke up. "Listen... I need to watch my niece today and I planned on taking her to the park as soon as my sister drops her off.."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't trust me enough to leave me in here alone."

I shook my head. "That's not what I was going to say... you can stay here if you want to. I was just going to say if you want to join us, you're.. welcome to. I know my place isn't exactly the most entertaining."

She parted her lips and spoke, "Oh.. uh... sure. I don't have to go to work today... so.. I guess I'll tag along."

"Do you need to shower?"

"No, I already did."

I tilted my head in question, asking, "How early did you wake up?"

She looked away, walking towards the kitchen. "Early."

I sighed, taking her lack of interest in giving me a real response as my que to exit the room. I stripped and showered, this time making sure the bathroom door was locked. I knew Jennie had already seen my body before, but that didn't mean she should continue seeing it. Fuck, I could get in endless amounts of trouble for this shit. Not only had I slept with a minor, but she was also my student and now she was fucking living with me. I could only imagine Taylor finding out and asking me about it. How the hell would I ever explain that to someone? 'Oh, I met Jennie at a bar and fucked her because I was frustrated and horny, but that was before she became my student. Then, I neglected to report her abuse to the police and instead, invited said seventeen year old to live with me.'

Yeah, that would go over real well. I'd be in cuffs before I could even bat an eye. Now, instead of working for law enforcement in forensic science like I had wanted to all my life, I'd be on the opposite end. In fucking prison.

I stepped out of the shower, feeling the urge to bang my head against the wall. It's not like I wished I hadn't seen her bruises, because that was not the case at all, but why the fuck did people like Charles have to exist in the first place? I had enough floating around in my mind, I really did not need to be constantly worrying about Jennie.

But now I knew what she was going through, and I had no choice because she didn't deserve to be treated like this.

I pulled on dark blue jeans, a black v-neck, knee-length boots, and my dark red leather jacket. I grabbed my sunglasses and exited my bedroom, almost immediately catching Jennie's eyes. Her eyebrows shot up and she smirked, "Well your style certainly varies, doesn't it?"

"Problem?"

She smirked, letting out a short breath of air that sounded like a laugh. "No no, you look fucking hot, I just think it's a little funny how you go from the uptight teacher in a mini-skirt, to the athlete, to the bad girl in a leather jacket."

I paused where I was, my mouth falling open a little bit. Did she have a filter or did she simply not care that I was her teacher and calling me 'fucking hot' wasn't exactly appropriate? "Jennie.. you have got to stop with comments like that."

She leaned against the kitchen counter. "What?"

"You can't hit on me, I'm your teacher."

She raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't hitting on you."

I rubbed my temples and walked to the cupboard, pulling out a glass. "Jennie.."

"Okay, okay," she said, holding her hands up. "I'll just stop talking."

I sighed. "I never said you have to stop talking..." I looked up to see her eyes on my chest, my v-neck allowing for a considerable amount of cleavage to be shown. "Just please, limit the comments about my appearance and for the love of god, please stop staring at my boobs."

Her eyes met mine again and she looked flushed, but quickly shook it off and smirked. "Yes ma'am."

The door bell rang then, and I shook my head at her. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

She shrugged and I headed towards the front door, opening it quickly to see Ashley and my seven-year old niece standing next to her. "Hey," she said, pulling on her blazer. "I really have to go, thanks again Lisa."

I nodded, opening the door completely so Izzy could enter. Ashley looked up from her phone and connected eyes with the brunette sitting at my kitchen counter, furrowing her eyebrows. She turned to me, whispering, "Don't freak out, but there's a gorgeous brunette in your kitchen."

I rolled my eyes at her, glancing back at her and Izzy. "Dude, you have a husband."

"Dude," she mocked, "What the hell does that have to do anything? I'm allowed to acknowledge another woman's beauty, aren't I?" She eyed Jennie momentarily, before leaning in towards me. "Holy shit, did you fuck her last night?"

I groaned, "No Ash, didn't you say you had to go?"

"I'll catch another fucking flight," she said, widening her eyes. "Who the hell is that?"

"A friend," I muttered.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," she answered, tilting her head, "but Sorn is the only friend you haven't completely shut out of your life. So let's try this again, who's in your apartment?"

I sighed heavily. "Let's do this some other time. In case you've forgotten, I have a certain seven year old that I'm supposed to be watching."

She waved me off. "Oh please, Isabelle will live for a few minutes alone. Besides, it looks like your friend is doing a pretty good job of keeping her company."

I turned to see Jen crouching down in my kitchen, shaking Izzy's hand and smiling. The sight almost confused me because she never smiled. Had Izzy broken that side of her or was she just putting up a front because of how young my niece was?

"Ash seriously, it would take all night to explain the relationship I have with Jennie, not to mention I really don't want to."

She narrowed her eyes at me, shifting her weight to the other heel and running a hand through her dark brown hair. "I have to go Lisa, I'll be back to pick up Isabelle next Sunday. You should know me well enough though to know that I'm not going to drop this, so you're either going to call me while I'm away or next Sunday you and I are going to have a chat."

I sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Whatever Ashley."

She smiled slightly, "Thanks for this though, I don't know what Jake and I would do without you."

"One of you would have to quit."

"Not in a million years," she said, turning to glance past me into the apartment. "Isabelle!"

The seven year old stopped her conversation with Jennie and tilted her head toward her mother, immediately running towards us. Ash held her tiny arms and pulled her into a hug. "I'll miss you baby, be good for Aunt Lisa okay? I'll see you next week. I love you."

Izzy pulled away from Ashley, smiling. "Okay mommy, good luck with your trial. I hope you win."

Ashley ruffled her hair, smiling back. "I will." She turned to me, "Call me tonight."

"If you so desperately wish to talk to me.."

She raised her eyebrows, smirking. "I'd actually like to say goodnight to my daughter, but I suppose talking to you wouldn't be the worst thing in the world either."

I rolled my eyes as she turned down the steps and waved, before disappearing behind the corner. I closed the door and turned to Jennie and Izzy, grabbing my sunglasses off of the counter. "Ready to go to the park Iz?"

She excitedly jumped up and down, running toward me. I picked her up, situating her in my arms. "Is Jen coming with us?"

I turned to her and she nodded, pulling a green jacket out of her duffle bag. "Yes, I believe she is."

She shrugged on her jacket, watching me hold Izzy. We walked out to the parking lot, and I set her on the ground to pick up the car seat Ashley had left for me to use. "So that was your sister?"

I looked at Jennie, before nodding. "Yeah."

"She's just as intimidating as you and I didn't even speak to her."

I smirked, buckling Izzy into the backseat. "I'm starting to think you put the 'intimidating' label on anyone over five foot five."

She shook her head, "No, I think it's just the people you're associated with."

"Why?" I asked, walking around to the driver's seat. "You think Jackson is intimidating?"

"Are you kidding me? I almost shit my pants after I told him to wait in the hall. He didn't appear to like that very much."

"Yeah... he doesn't really like people telling him what to do."

She slid into the passenger seat and she seemed happier than this morning, which pleased me because I didn't like it when she looked depressed. "She has your eyes," Jen said, breaking the silence.

"How could you tell from the kitchen?"

She shrugged, "Wasn't hard, they're bright.. fierce, like yours."

I took my eyes off of the road at a stop light, staring at her profile as she turned to look out the window. I liked talking to her; it felt easy and she didn't piss me off like most people did. I tried not to like talking to her, I honestly did, but I failed miserably. "Are you watching her for the day?" she said, looking in the rear-view mirror at Izzy, who was smiling like the happy little seven-year-old she was.

"No, the week."

"What about school? Where does she go while you're teaching?"

I made a left turn and then answered her. "She's in second grade, I'll have to drop her off before I go to work."

She nodded. "What does your sister do that she's gone that long?"

"She's a lawyer," I said, pulling into a parking space. "Freelance, but she's ridiculously good at her job and travels a lot to make her clients' cases. She loves it, I think she just wishes she could be with Izzy more often. Oddly enough, not that many people in this town need a lawyer."

"Well, at least you have her if things between me and you ever go south and someone finds out about you-know-what."

I had never turned so fast. I narrowed my eyes at her and my voice hardened. "But no one is going to find out, are they Jen?"

She held up her hands, flattening her back against the car door. "Holy shit, I was just kidding. I swear on my life I would never tell anyone about what we did."

I relaxed a little bit, sighing. "Sorry, I just.. I get freaked out. Jennie, I could get in so much trouble.."

"For what Aunt Lisa?"

I'd almost forgotten Izzy was in the back seat, and I widened my eyes. "Umm... I..." I couldn't think of something 'bad' that I could tell her without Ashley jumping down my throat if she ever found out. "I... left my trash on the ground at the park last week."

Jennie smirked into her hand and started giggling lightly. I had to admit, it was pretty fucking cute.

Since when did I find anything cute?

Izzy tilted her head, "You went to the park without me?"

"Sorry kiddo, you were in school and I was really in the mood to.. uh, play on the jungle gym."

"You don't fit on the jungle gym, you told me that last time you took me to the park."

I groaned, sinking into my seat as Jennie laughed harder in the seat next to me. "I mean I wanted to swing. Go play Izzy."

"But swinging makes you sick-"

"Izzy."

"I want Jen  to come with me."

"Well you need to give her a minute," I answered, reaching back to unbuckle her seatbelt and gesturing to the empty park that I could quite clearly see out of my windshield. "Go on."

She sighed and ran towards the playground, starting up the stairs. Jennie laughed next to me, turning to me with a wide smirk on her face. "You bad ass litterer you, you sleep with students and leave trash on the ground? Somebody seriously needs to lock you up."

I groaned, lightly pushing on her shoulder. "Oh shut up Jen."

She smirked, "That kid is fucking clever."

For the second time in four days, she got me to laugh. My closest friend couldn't even force me to laugh in the last two years, and here I was with Jennie, laughing for the second time in four days. "She's just like her mother, I swear. She'd make a good lawyer one day. I can't escape it, they both badger the shit out of me before I even know it's coming."

She laughed and looked over at me, genuine happiness appearing on her face. She stared at me for a while, before shaking her head. "How the hell do you do that?"

"What?"

She pursed her lips, shaking her head. "I don't laugh."

I tilted my head at her, "Yeah well, neither do I."

"You just did."

I nodded my head, "I know, that's my point."

She pulled her lips into a line, tilting her head and searching my eyes. I stared back at her, until she exhaled sharply and got out of the car. I did too, because the tension inside of the car was strangling me. Jen walked around the car towards me and pulled her arms in towards her chest as we walked toward the park. "It's a little chilly."

I shrugged, "It is, but it's not too bad."

We stood by the fence, both of us leaning against it and watching Izzy slide down the slide and excitedly bound back up the stairs. Another family walked over from the soccer field and their children joined her in the playground. I was kind of worried about someone at the park seeing Jennie and I together, but I was keeping my distance and even if someone saw us, I could just say that we ran into each other. It was the fact that she was living with me that was a little hard to explain.

"If I'm allowed to ask, is Charles-"

She cut me off almost immediately, "I don't want to talk about him. At all. Can we please just talk about something else?"

I stared at her as the wind blew her light brown hair around her, making it impossible for me to draw my eyes away. I hated what I was feeling; I simply didn't get this fucking feeling and I wasn't going to start now, and especially not with Jennie. I turned away and nodded, "Alright. What do you want to talk about?"

She shrugged slightly, sitting down on the bench next to us. I joined her, making sure to keep my distance. "I don't know, what was your high school experience like? A lot different than mine, I'm sure?"

I scratched the back of my head before folding my arms across my chest. "Probably.."

"God you and I just go into depth when we talk about ourselves, don't we?"

I shook my head at her. "Love the sarcasm. I just, I don't like talking about myself."

"Well I dislike it even more, so tell me, were you the school's ice-queen? Popular girl? Nerd? Or.. did nobody know who you were?"

"I wouldn't say I was popular, but I was certainly popular in my group. Everyone who played a sport knew who I was."

"What were you? The athletic prodigy?"

I shrugged. "Not quite, but I was good. I used to be pretty skilled at soccer, I was the captain of my swim team, and I played lacrosse too. I was actually offered a full ride to play lacrosse in college but I denied it."

"Wow, look at you," she answered. "Miss big shot. Denying free money."

I frowned slightly, keeping my eyes on Izzy. "It wasn't like that, playing a sport for a college is a lot of pressure and it just wasn't what I wanted to do. High school drove me to hate the game, even though I loved the sport. They're too competitive and it sucks ass, especially in college."

"Oh," she muttered, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I've never played a sport before."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "You haven't even tried? How do you know you wouldn't like it?"

She sighed, "I never had the opportunity."

"I know it's a little challenging to make a high school team, but they have park and rec teams in middle school, why didn't you try then?"

She shook her head, "No, I don't mean I couldn't make a team, I mean I just didn't have the chance. I've been to more schools in my lifetime than I can count, and I couldn't even try to join a team because I would have to leave it a week later. Even if I wanted to play a sport, I really couldn't."

"Oh," I said, unsure of what else I could say. She was slowly starting to let me in, whether she realized it or not, and I wasn't sure if I was ready. I obviously wanted to hear about what her life had been like in the foster system, but based on what I'd heard from her, I was sure she had some pretty hellish stories and I didn't know if I was ready to hear those.

She didn't continue the conversation though, so I spoke up. "Would you have, if you could've?"

She looked over at me briefly, allowing me to see her brown eyes shining with the sunlight. "I don't know, I'm sure I would have tried. I think I would've really liked soccer. I'm much more of an artist than an athlete, though."

"Oh yeah?"

"I love drawing, sketching.... shading. I just lose myself in it, you know? And I can draw what I want, and no one can fucking tell me otherwise. It's my escape... my sober escape anyway."

I nodded lightly, "Can I ask you something?"

She sighed, "I guess."

"Why do you get angry like that? I mean, why does talking about drawing make you... I don't know, you just..." I sighed too, unsure of how to get out what I wanted to say.

She pulled her lips into a thin line. "Some things just get to me more than others, I guess. I really don't get angry very often, only when people are being ignorant or when I'm.. thinking about the system."

"Is it really that bad?"

She shook her head, scoffing, "What, do you think I'm overreacting?"

I realized that my question kind of sounded condescending, especially with the way I said it. "I didn't mean it like that, I mean, does every foster kid have a rough time?"

"No, just the ones with bad luck. I told you already, the system isn't so bad if you're lucky enough to get adopted when you're young. The older you get though, the smaller the chance you have of getting adopted. Most of us age out, and nobody has money when they age out. The government doesn't help you at that point, and you're on your own. You can't get a job because you have no experience and chances are you have some form of 'delinquent behavior' on your resume. It.... it sucks."

"What about the actual foster system? The foster homes, are they... bad? What do you mean when you say you've been through hell and back?"

She shook her head, sinking into the park bench. "I'm done talking about this."

I eyed her profile for a while, but she refused to meet my eyes. She seemed frustrated now, which was unfortunate because she was in a good mood before and I didn't mean to make her upset. Izzy came running over to us then, pulling at Jen's hands. "Jen! Jen! Come on, you said you would play with me. Aunt Lisa is too boring."

I folded my arms across my chest, "I am not boring."

Jennie smirked slightly, "Okay Izzy-"

The seven year old spoke up, "Aunt Lisa is the only one that calls me that.."

"Oh," she said, "I'm sorry. What do you want me to call you?"

My niece tilted her head, "Actually, I like Izzy when you say it. Aunt Lisa just does it to annoy me."

"I do not-"

"Do too."

Jennie laughed lightly, and I watched her as she took Izzy by the hand. "Yeah, Aunt Lisa has a thing about nicknames.."

She turned back to me and smirked, and I just smiled slightly and shook my head at her. For the next twenty minutes, I watched her and my niece playing together on the playground, and I honestly had to admit, I enjoyed the sight. Jennie seemed to be playing with her care-free, and she didn't have that exhausted, heavy look on her face like she usually did. Instead, she had a smile on her face. It suited her and it outlined her features, allowing her face to appear even more beautiful than it usually was.

Why...

I internally groaned, trying to distract my thoughts but I couldn't. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my eyes on Jennie, and she repeatedly looked over at me and caught me staring. Eventually, I beckoned the two of them over and I think the older of the two was grateful because she'd been playing with the little one for quite a long time.

I buckled Izzy into the back seat and Jen glanced over at me from the other side of my car. "How the hell does she have so much energy?" she mouthed.

I smirked, "I don't know, but thank you. For playing with her."

She nodded and slid into the car. I drove both of them back to my apartment and fed Izzy dinner, pulling out the bag of toys I had set aside for her and setting them down in the corner of my living room. Jennie and I sat down on the couch with the food I had prepared, and she spoke up.

"So, school is tomorrow, does that mean this side of you disappears and I get Ms. Manoban back?"

"What does that mean?"

She raised an eyebrow, prodding me. "Ms. Manoban, the bitch?"

"Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes, raising the fork to her lips. "Please, you even admitted to me on Thursday that you know you're a bitch at school."

"I agreed I was strict, not a bitch. I don't even talk to my students, how could I possibly be a bitch to them?"

"Maybe it's because you don't talk to your students."

I sighed, turning to the TV. "Well just for you, I suppose I'll try and change that."

"Aw, you're so fucking sweet."

"Jen," I whispered, "There is a seven year old a good ten feet from us. Lower your voice or stop cursing."

"Oh, sorry."

I shrugged, lowering my own voice. "Not my kid, but I'd really prefer not to be badgered, as I said before, by my sister when Izzy comes home with the word 'fuck' in her vocabulary."

She stayed silent for a while, before smirking and eyeing me briefly. "You're cute when you play aunt."

I stared at her, unsure of how to respond. I felt my cheeks growing hot, which was something I honestly didn't think I'd felt since sophomore year of college. Fuck, she was my student for God sakes. This was ridiculous, and she couldn't continue doing this. I didn't want to have to stop myself from trying to kiss her, I just wanted to not feel the want to kiss her. It was only lust, I reminded myself. I didn't grow attached to people anymore.

She was beautiful and yeah, she was pretty good in bed. I was lusting after her, I reminded myself. I could just as easily find someone else that wasn't my student or underage.

I turned away from her, refusing to acknowledge her comment. "I need to put Izzy to bed and she usually sleeps on the sofa... which means I'm going to need my bed."

She shrugged, and I could tell her mood had deflated when I mentioned Izzy instead of answering her. "I'm not stopping you, you're the one that has a problem staying on one side of the bed."

"I'll tie myself down," I muttered. "Iz, go brush your teeth and go to the bathroom, you know the drill. Mommy wants to talk to you."

She nodded and hurried off, and I picked up my phone off the coffee table. "Don't call me by my first name in school tomorrow."

"I hadn't planned on it," she mumbled as she stood up, putting her plate in the sink.

"Think you can find something to do in my bedroom until you want to go to sleep? Izzy really needs to go to bed and she gets antsy when the TV is left on."

She nodded, walking toward my bedroom. "I'll manage."

I called Ashley and let her and Izzy talk for a while, before putting my niece to bed and shutting the light off. I entered my bedroom to see Je on top of my bed, staring at the ceiling. She wasn't in my clothes this time but instead in her own short, tight green shorts and an oversized t-shirt.

"You just going to lie there and stare at the ceiling?"

"I'm thinking."

I pulled my boots off and shrugged my leather jacket off of my shoulders as well. I could feel her watching me, and I hated it, but what could I tell her to do? Go somewhere else? I was forcing her to stay in my apartment, and I'm pretty sure she would eagerly go back home if I let her. This situation couldn't be any more comfortable for her than it was for me.

"Stop watching me."

"Why?"

"Because," I said, exhausted. "It makes me uncomfortable. Focus your eyes somewhere else."

"Whatever," she said, turning away from me. It was early but she pulled my bedsheets over her body and exhaled. "Goodnight. Try not to be too much of a bitch tomorrow."

"Try not to be too much of a nuisance tomorrow."

"I'm a fucking pleasure," she muttered, and I sighed, sitting down on the other side of the bed and putting my head in my hands.

Our situation was so fucked up.