Smoked Success

17.

What is Christian doing in here? I do not want to have any contact with him, at all. I wear my sunglasses, hoping he does not notice my existence, but I fail. He looks at me, touches my hair but I shove his hand away. The closer he gets, the more steps I take backwards. I never expected to see him again, I'm shocked. I really hope Smith isn't picking me up today, I don't need to explain all of this to him. Christian deceived me into believing he actually loved me.

"Jess, please talk to me." He pleads, smiling weakly. "Give me a shot, I can explain." What will he explain? He can suck my ass, I don't need any of this. I don't tell him anything, I just walk away, but he wraps his hand around my wrist. I try to let go, but he doesn't let me.

"Christian, we're done, or as you say in Italian, finito." I snap at him and try to let go, but he doesn't loosen his grip.

"Jessica, we'll never be done, it was true love." He states, and I laugh. True love? Of course, that's why he cheated on me, with a model.

"Go fuck Hannah's friend, she's pretty, and not to forget, has a tiny waist." I remark, reminding him of the underwear I've found in his room three months ago. "Leave me alone, I'm fine." I just couldn't cope with him anymore, I am sick of this. Christian doesn't let go of my wrist, instead he kisses me. But I don't feel that spark anymore, I don't even feel the urge to kiss him back, or to worry of how my mouth tastes to him.

"What the fuck dude, she told you to leave her alone." Andrew appears out of nowhere, snapping at Christian. As nice as it is of him to defend me, I didn't really need that, it didn't have to be a scene, I was about to be over with him.

"You're fucking students now?" Christian scoffs, letting go of my wrist. I glare at him, very angry. How could he? Why would he think I'd do that. Yes, I'd done a few one night stands ever since we broke up, but I wouldn't date a student, specially not Andrew.

"Miss Styles is the most-" Andrew starts, but I cut him off. "Leave this to me, Andrew please."

"Christian, I thought we knew each other, since we've dated for 2 years. But now, it just seems like we were strangers dating. You got me thinking you loved me everyday, and I waited everyday so I can see you again. And I thought you knew me, but saying I'm fucking students, oh that's new. Just because I had an unprofessional relationship with you, doesn't mean I'll have another one. It was a huge mistake, Christian." I look at him, my eyes full of regret. "Thanks Andrew." I walk away, not wanting to see their facial expressions. Tears run down my face, and I walk, not knowing where my direction is. I don't want to see Christian again, I don't want anything to do with him.

It's just, I was young and stupid when we dated. We were on tour, and it was my first one and last, I fell in love with him like a stupid teenager, which I wasn't at the time. If Angelina ever falls in love with her coworker in the future, I'll be the first to stop her. I really want to drink, but I'll still meet Andrew this evening. I check my phone, Smith has texted me of his incapability of giving me a lift since he's got a meeting. I call Carmel, hoping to vent to her everything that's happened.

"Jessica? Why are you late?" Carmel answers on the first beep, seeming worried. She's on vacation today, for Hanukkah. She'll also have a one week vacation for Christmas, but she'll spend it alone, Sasha spends it in Texas, with her father, I'll be in DC.

"I met my ex." I tell her, skipping all the details. I know I'll have to tell her everything eventually, but I don't want to do it all at once.

"Oh my, where are you?" She asks me.

Carmel has advised me of going for a run, she said it helped me when Christian cheated on me, it'll help me get this off my chest. I have fifteen minutes left, I'm late for Andrew's hour today, but it's not like Carmel and Sasha would rape him. Running did help me, but I'm super sweaty, should I care what Andrew thinks? I have no idea. I'll wipe all the sweat and put perfume quickly if he seems in a rush. I'm in a t-shirt and a pair of leggings, which is the tightest thing he will have seen me in since the beginning of the year. I get up to our floor, using the stairs but being as cautious as I can, and unlock the door. Andrew's the one opening it, great.

"I'm so sorry, I hadn't noticed the clock." I apologize, sort of lying. I am sorry, but I did notice the clock. I'm still breathing heavily, but I don't care. "I'll take a very quick shower and then we can start, if your parents do not mind these extra fifteen minutes."

"Oh, they only pay, that's all they do, I drive myself home." He states. "It's okay, take your time. Must've been a long day for you." He smiles and sits down on the couch. I wonder what he means by long day, I mean yeah it was a five minutes fight with my ex-boyfriend, but that's it. It hasn't really affected me as he thinks. I head to the bathroom and take off my clothes. Despite of the cold in Los Angeles, I was sweating like a pig while running.

"Andrew, wait!" I try to catch him before he leaves, we need to talk about that envelope and the one he just gave me.

"Yes?" He knots his eyebrows in confusion, his grey eyes twinkling.

"Here you go these envelopes." I hand him both of them, even the opened one. "This tutoring thing, I'm not doing it for the money." It would be nice to get extra money, but I do not need it so far.

"I'm literally wasting your free time, you deserve this money." He says, giving them back.

"No Andrew, please. I would kindly like to refuse Mrs. Haddad's offer, I'm not taking any money for this. I'm your teacher, I'm here to give you knowledge. If you go out of my class without having the capability to process what I told you, then I'm not doing my job. Please, just keep this money." I smile apologetically at him, hoping he accepts my offer.

"Mom's going to be pissed." He confesses, looking at me in the eyes.

"You now have two hundred dollars, get her a gift and tell her I say hi, okay?" I offer my hand for a handshake. Andrew was one special student, he'd make schemes of what I said and he'd understand very well. Schemes were never my forte, I always liked paragraphs.

"Okay Jessica." He laughs nervously, probably hoping this 'call your teacher by her first name' thing passes just fine with him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything." I fake a smile and shrug. Andrew's very inquisitive, I've remarked.

"What's your daughter's name?" He asks, glancing at his phone.

"Angelina." I answer him, as honest as I can be. I hope he doesn't tell other pupils the answers I give him. "What's Mrs. Haddad's first name?"

"Carla." He's still glancing at his phone, and that does get annoying sometimes. It's a nice name, but all the women I've met with this name were either very rich and businesswomen, or just very obnoxious. Let's not be judgmental and hope she's nice. I do not want to be straightforward with him and tell him to leave, so I'll get him a drink and tell him smoothly when he finishes.

"Want to drink something?" I offer, glancing at my phone as well. Hannah, Tyler, and Mom. Hannah's upset since she doesn't get to spend Christmas with me even when we're in the same country. Tyler's offering to share presents with him. Mom's giving me updates about Angelina, she seems less scared with mom.

"Not really," He starts, locking his phone, "so, you smoke?"

I'm sorry, what did he just ask me?