My Straight Teacher? [Discontinued]

35-"How long?"

A/N:

Sorry this chapter is a bit late! Just got on vacation, and, ya know...
Anyways, enjoy!

Ajax-

"Grace loves me."

Addy continued to repeat the phrase as she sat, paralyzed, on her bed.

I sighed. "Addy, it's not..." I started, but I knew I couldn't save it. She had heard Grace say the words herself.

"How long?" Addy asked, eyes still glued to the floor, he'd voice flat.

"Huh?" I asked.

"How long have you known?"

I sighed. "I don't know. A few months?"

Addy finally met my eyes. Her confused and slightly pained green eyes brought pain to my blue. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Grace told me not to!" I argued.

We sat in silence for a while, no other sound than our heavy breathing. We continued to battle with our eyes, though I didn't know what the battle was even about. I could see the conflict in Addy's eyes, and it was as if she thought looking at me would solve them.

I finally got the courage to speak. "So?" I questioned simply.

"So?" Addy repeated.

"How... how do you feel about Grace?"

Addy groaned, putting her face in her hands. "I don't know now! I never thought of her as anymore than a friend!" Addy suddenly lifted her face, eyes wide as she stared at me. "You have to do something."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like-like, make Grace not like me anymore! Change her mind or something! Or tell her that I don't like her!"

"Addison," I said in a voice so stern it made her flinch, "I am not getting into this."

"Well you already are!"

Before I could respond, the door to the bedroom was opened. "You guys alright?" Nathan asked, poking his head in.

Addy and I both plastered on fake smiles. "Of course," Addy said.

"Then what was all the yelling I heard?" He questioned.

I quickly ran through all of my lies. "Oh, just practicing for debate."

"Debate?" Nathan repeated, clearly surprised.

Addy and I both nodded, and I continued. "There's a debate in English class. We're learning all about Lincoln-Douglass debates, and we're going to do one ourselves."

Nathan smiled, eyes flickering between us, clearly eating up the lie. "Well, I won't keep you two up then." He quietly shut the door, but Addy and I still waited until we could no longer hear his footsteps to continue.

Addy opened her mouth, but I instantly cut her off. "I," I started in a low, harsh, and stern voice, taking my time and drawing out each word, "will not break my friend's heart. Do you hear me? This is your problem now. I have nothing, nothing to do with this."

Again, Addy and I stared at each other in silence for a while, leaned in and breaths heavy. Finally, Addy leaned back reluctantly, hands up and rolled eyes. "Fine," she told me. "Fine. Be that way."

I scoffed, getting off of Addy's bed. "You know what? I'm just going to leave." As I stormed off, I could feel Addy's eyes burning into the back of my head. But I didn't dare speak a word. I didn't dare turn around. I didn't dare do anything except keep my pace to my room.

Once finally in my room, I immediately called Steve. "Hey baby," he greeted, his voice warm. "What's up?"

I sighed. "I just needed to hear your voice," I told him. There was a pause. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Ajax. But, is there any other reason you're calling me?"

I groaned, rolling on my bed. "I'm just so sick of my drama."

Steve chuckled on the other end. "Oh, how I'd love for teenage drama to be the worst part of my day."

"So I'm taking the deal isn't going too well?" I asked hesitantly.

Steve scoffed. "No. Eli may lose his gallery up here unless we get some good press. Some good press, or good money."

"Sorry for holding you from business with this," I sighed.

"It's no problem. It's a good break. And, I love you," he assured me, making a kissing sound into the phone.

I chuckled. "Thanks."

"So... what's this drama you're talking about?"

I groaned, eyes rolling so much they practically went back into my head. "Well, Grace—"

"Wait, which one is she?"

"Grave has the light brown hair, grey eyes, pink skin."

"Oh, so Echo has the darker skin, black hair, and... brown eyes?"

I giggled. "You know your stuff, Grand."

"I try," he answered with a slight chuckle.

"But, anyways, Grace has a crush on Addy, and Addy just found out, and she knows that I knew, and know she's freaking out."

"That's sounds hard."

"It is."

Steve sighed, but said nothing. I opened my mouth to break the silence, but Steve beat me to it. "When can I... you know... meet them?" He asked hesitantly.

"What? But you've already met them."

"Yeah, as their teacher. Not as your boyfriend."

I thought about it. "I don't know. I'm assuming you want to do it soon?"

He chuckled, clearly nervous. "Yeah. I mean, we've been dating for a while, and I haven't really gotten to know anybody that you know, you know?"

I shook my head, a smile on my face, though Steve was oblivious to it. "I know. We can arrange something."

Instead of a response, I heard some muffled voice on the other end—it wasn't Steve's, so I assumed it was Eli's, who he was sharing a hotel with while they were gone.

I'm not going to lie, I felt a lunge of jealousy. Eli was a man—he didn't have these teenage issues, he could take care of himself, he didn't have to sneak around with a boyfriend... I was worried Steve would start dating him. But, Steve assured me multiple times that if either were to make a move, they'd have done it by now.

"Shit." The muffled curse word from the other end brought me out of my memories. Suddenly, Steve's voice was back, and directed at me. Though, it was filled with stress and worry. "Ah, sorry Ajax, but I've got to run. Call you later?"

I nodded, but from the lack of response I remembered that he couldn't see me. "Alright. Skype tonight?" I offered.

"Yeah. Same time as normal?" He asked.

"Same time works for me."

"Great. I love you."

"I love you, too," I sighed.