Beautiful Blonde Professor

Chapter 8

As much as we wanted to stay curled up in that position we knew we had to get back to school. So after a quick shower we headed back. When I parked I sighed and looked at my unlikely lover. "This is going to be difficult you know?" Newt nodded his head before staring deep into my eyes. "I know. But bloody hell it will be worth it." I smiled and pulled him in for a short but passionate kiss and then jumped out of my jeep. Thoughts of Aris began racing through my mind and my stomach twisted in guilt. How am I going to let him down easy? The whole 'we can still be friends' almost never ends well. My train of thought was interrupted when Newt looked at me with concern. "You're thinking about Aris aren't you?" I looked at him sadly and nodded. "I'm ok if you need to take time to break it off with him. Make it easier. But the longer you wait the worse it is going to be for him." He's right. Of course he is. But I have to do this painlessly. If only I knew how. Newt and I parted ways so I could head to lunch and he could get ready for his next class. "Yo Thomas!" A wide grin settled on my face as Minho patted the spot next to him and gestured toward the boxes of pizza spread around our group. "Alby hooked us up with some of the best pizza you will ever taste!" Instantly a piece was shoved in my face so I happily took a bite and groaned at how right he was. Aris strode up to me and sat down so our thighs were tightly together. "Hey." He smiled at me and I tried to hide my emotions as I replied. "Hey you." Aris leaned in for a kiss and I quickly pretended not to notice and took another bite of my food. I looked up and Teresa was looking at me with an eyebrow raised so I gave a small smile and she nodded in understanding. When we all dispersed to get to our classes, which I thankfully have with Teresa, she walked up to be so we could walk together. As soon as we were out of earshot from the others she spoke up. "Are you going to tell me what happened there or do I have to guess?" I kicked a rock in my path and looked at her sadly. "Newt and I decided to give it a chance...but I don't know what to do about Aris. I don't want to lose him as a friend and I definitely don't want to hurt him. What the hell do I do?" Noticing my frantic voice she instantly took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Are you sure about him, Tom? You know how complicated it will be." "I haven't been more sure about anything in my life. He's amazing, T. He makes me smile and he's constantly on my mind. I can't imagine not being with him..." Teresa smiled and looked up in thought. "Ok, then we have to figure out what to do then." "We?" The smirk on her face told me so many things, but mostly that I'm an idiot. "Yes. We. You don't really think I'm going to let you do this alone do you?" I chuckled and opened the door for her to walk into class. "I knew I could count on you, T. Thank you." Throwing her hair over her shoulder she smirked and took her spot. "Now down to business..."

By the end of the day I was exhausted. But I have one more terrifying yet nessecary thing to do. I hurriedly made my way to Aris's door and gave it a short knock. "Thomas thank goodness you're here. I've been wanting to talk to you all day!" He quickly pulled me inside and we took a seat on his bed. "We need to talk..." I looked at him with confusion and gestured for him to continue. Aris cleared his throat and let all the words out in a rush. "I really really like you Thomas. But I don't think we're going to work out. I just see how univolved you are in this relationship and after talking to Teresa I know why." My blood ran cold and I felt my heart start to rapidly beat in my chest. "You can't ruin your chances of being here. Which I understand. You have a lot of work and studying to do so you can get into the field you're aiming for. So I wanted to make this easier on both of us. Maybe one day in the future when your life has settled down we can try again if that's still what we both want." I almost sighed in relief. He doesn't know about Newt. And wait...did he just break up with me? That was so much easier than I though. I sent out a silent thank you to Teresa and put on my best sad smile. "I'm sorry if I led you on, Aris. You know that was never my intention. I thought I could balance both school and a relationship but it's proved to be a much more difficult task than I imagined. We're still ok though right? Even if we aren't together I really don't want to lose you as a friend." Aris took my hand and smiled. "You'll never lose me I promise. Now that we are on the same page...how about we try out my new Xbox I just got?" I beamed and nodded happily.

A couple hours later I was in my bed with a smile on my face. That definitely went so much better than planned. I can't express just how happy I am that I walked out of there knowing that we're still friends. No matter what.