Unexpected

10.5

Josh's POV

            Sixteen? Sixteen-years-old? I couldn't wrap my head around it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined Katie to be so young. She was perfect, funny, kind, and smart, everything I ever wanted in a girl. When we kissed, I felt like nothing could feel as amazing as that one moment, and I never imagined it would all be ruined so quickly.

            Sure, everyone had flaws and bad habits that drove everyone around them crazy, but it was usually something that could be changed or at the very least ignored. Someone's age wasn't something that could be ignored or changed, and I felt helpless and angry. In good conscience I knew that no matter how much I cared about Katie, being with her was wrong. I was nineteen years old, and was an adult, Katie was still in high school. It was wrong on so many levels and for that I knew I had to be the adult in this situation and walk away.

            Seeing Katie's tears and pleads nearly made it impossible, but I knew when she left the staff room that I'd made the right choice. No matter how selfish I'd been in the past, I knew I couldn't be selfish then. I couldn't ruin Katie's life by robbing her of the typical high school experiences like prom, homecoming, and winter formal. All these things I couldn't give her, all these moments she'd have to sit out on or go to alone if we were to continue dating.

            I glanced at the clock overhead and groaned when I saw it was almost seven and that meant I was supposed to be teaching a self-defence class not moping over a sixteen-year-old girl. Sixteen, Jesus Christ, get a grip Brueckner.

            "Ready Josh?" Joanne, one of my co-workers asked from where she stood in the doorway. Joanne taught one of the kickboxing classes and she competed in local MMA competitions just like I did. She was a solid sparring partner and a decent friend too, there was only so much time you could spend with someone before you started to get to know them. "You okay?" She asked, staring at my miserable looking expression.

            "Fine," I mumbled unconvincingly. I would've loved to open up to her and get a female's perspective but between having a class to teach and not wanting to come off as a creep who'd been unknowingly hanging out with a sixteen-year-old I opted not to.

            "I'm here if you want to talk," She offered, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder as I passed by her. I smiled gratefully at her and headed off to class.

            The next hour and a half I was on auto-pilot, I couldn't have told you a word of what I'd said or any of the exercises I'd demonstrated in kickboxing or self-defence. I was thankful that all that knowledge was muscle memory at this point or else I would've crashed and burned miserably.

            I loaded up my bag quickly, eager to get away from every reminder of Katie's tear streaked face. Even though I knew I'd done the right thing, I felt awful about it. I didn't know how I was going to face her in class, that was if she even decided to show up for the rest of the week.

            "Hey Josh," Denise greeted, flagging me down before I could make it outside. Denise was pretty in a dangerous eccentric kind of way, with her dark purple hair and multitude of tattoos standing out against her pale skin. She looked more like one of the pin-up girls featured in the motorcycle magazines my friends liked to look at when we stopped in at the gas station convenience store.

            "Hey Denise," I greeted, looking around I hoped whatever she had to say wouldn't take too long. "What's up?"

            "How was your day?" Great, small talk just what I didn't need today.