Don't Let Go (A Student/Teacher Relationship)

Don't Let Go (A Student/Teacher Relationship) Part Seven

A/N I’m sorry guys, I didn’t intend leaving you on a cliffhanger but I wanted to get something up and I ran out of time (bad timing I know)! Thankyou for reading this J if you like it, keep commenting and voting. I really appreciate it!

         He leaned in slightly, his head tilting to one side and I closed my eyes…

     

My heart was in my throat, hammering against the back of my Adams apple as I felt him pull me slightly closer, so our hips were touching. His hands rested on my waist and I felt mine snake up to his shoulders as his lips met my own. A strange tingling feeling ran through my entire body as he pressed his soft-yet-firm lips to mine and I stopped breathing. It was only for a second and then he was gone again, torn away from me entirely leaving me cold and confused. What had just happened? After a moment I stopped reeling and saw him, his back facing me a few metres away while he leaned over a desk, cursing quietly to himself.

“Mr Evans…” I said quietly, my fingers touching my lips lightly as the tingling sensation from his started to fade.

“Riley” He sighed, turning around to face me, his face plastered with guilt “Riley, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have done that” His gaze met mine and I began to flounder in the sorrow and guilt in his crystalline eyes.

“Don’t be sorry. I liked it” I whispered, my fingers still held awkwardly against my lips. He sighed heavily and sat on the desk nearest to him, dropping his head to his hands and running his fingers through his hair.

“That just makes it worse. I’m sorry Riley, I was leading you on and there’s nothing more to it. Okay?” He said, his voice harsh but I could hear the inflections in it that made me wonder if his words were painful. I suddenly realised that even if they weren’t to him, they were to me. My heart crashed back into my chest, leaving disaster in its wake and stopping my breathing. Why had he kissed me of all people if he was ‘just leading me on’? Why a teenage girl? I didn’t understand but I wasn’t sure I wanted to as the tears sprung to my eyes and I hastened myself trying to grab my back and jacket. I could feel his eyes still watching me, making me panic as I tried subtly to wipe away tears. Suddenly there was a loud rip and the strap on my bag tore away from the rest of it.

“Damn freaking bag!” I cursed loudly and tried to grab all the books that had fallen out, stuffing them under one arm. When I finally had all my stuff, I made a beeline for the door but his gaze, burning holes in my back, and his voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Riley, I want to ask you not to say anything about this to anyone? We could both be in shed loads of trouble for that, I’m sorry for putting you in this position.” He asked me quietly and this time I could definitely hear inflections of pain in his voice. I just nodded my head, not trusting my lips to open and not betray my secrets “I still expect to see you in detention tomorrow after school” He warned me and with that I was gone.

                  “Damned English Teachers!” I huffed as I tipped my head back to drink some water. I sat back on the rowing machine for a second, putting the cup down and taking a few deep breaths to calm myself. Then I got back to exercising, it was the only way I could work out the frustration that I was getting buried with. As my watch turned to 106 minutes, I heard the door creak open and I cranked my music up. Music was another escape from the World; whether I was listening to it, playing or singing, it always managed to soothe me from whatever emotions I was feeling. Even the crazy, intense work out I was doing now wasn’t helping as much as my iPod and I was grateful I hadn’t given it to… him; he probably wouldn’t have given it back. Suddenly a familiar figure was walking in front of me, heading for one of the treadmills, and I froze. His back was towards me but I would’ve recognised that messy hair and slender but muscular physique anyway. I ducked my head, yanking the arms of the rowing machine back roughly. Something pinged in my shoulder and I let out a cry of pain, clutching it tight and trying to stop the tears from escaping my eyes. I slid sideways and tried to stand but dizziness swooped across my head, making the room swim sickeningly. I groaned and tried to stop myself falling, wincing in pain as I reached out with the wrong arm to find some purchase.

“Ow, Ow freaking ow!” I complained as I sat back down on a bench at the side of the room, gripping my arm tightly as I tried to steady my ragged breathing. Apparently I’d managed to make quite the scene, despite my attempts not to and a warm body sat down beside me.

“Riley, what happened?” The familiar deep voice asked with obvious concern.

“I don’t know. My shoulder, ow” I winced as I tightened my grip on it slightly and pain flared up violently. It was on fire, acid burning through my veins and making me want to scream in agony. “It hurts” I said, clenching my teeth and trying not to let out a sob, in spite of the tears filling my eyes. His hand closed over mine on my arm, prising my fingers away just to replace them with his own.

“Where does it hurt Riley? I’m going to press it gently; I want you to tell me when it hurts.” I wasn’t sure I could unlock my teeth to speak without screaming or crying or something else embarrassing. I nodded violently, my stomach swooping again and I felt sick. I felt his fingers prodding the top of my shoulder, on the bone, with almost exaggerated care. Slowly his fingers worked their way down and suddenly he was pressing again and it made me scream in pain.

“Ow, get the hell off of me!” I groaned, trying to still his fingers which still moved over my shoulder, pressing bits of it. After a few more screams and curses were thrown at him he spoke up again.

“I’m hoping you’ve torn the muscle. There’s a really distinct line going down from the origin of the deltoid on the clavicle which could also mean some kind of tendon damage but I’m hoping it’s the first one. You need to go to ER though.” He told me and I rolled my eyes.

“Great. Fricking Awesome!” I groaned sarcastically and dropped my hand to my head. I had absolutely no way of getting there; both mum and dad had already texted me telling me they would be working late so may not be home ‘til the early hours of the morning. I don’t think I’d ever felt so sick of it, of them, as I did at that moment.

“What’s wrong?” He asked kindly, his hand still holding my shoulder gently.

“Looks like I’m walking for an hour in the rain to get to the bloody emergency room because I’m not important enough for my parents to want to see me and can’t afford to buy a damn car. Seriously, am I really that horrible that even my own parents don’t love me? Why is it always me?” I blurted, slamming my good hand hard against the bench and pain shot through my knuckles. “Jeez that hurt” I rested my throbbing knuckles on my leg and wincing slightly but Mr Evans just chuckled.

“Maybe because you do silly things like work out for hours on end and punch benches.” He said and I looked up to glare at him and the amusement dancing in his eyes.

“I didn’t work out for hours on end. It was only 106 minutes or something!” I insisted, knowing I wouldn’t get away with objecting to the second part of his accusation since I had punched a bench and now my knuckles were aching painfully.

“Come on then, I’ll drive you in” He said, standing up and the sudden movement of taking the pressure off my shoulder made me wince. I looked at him awkwardly, not sure if I really wanted to be alone with him again. I mean, I know we were alone now, but I was in pain, it was different.

“Thankyou” I half smiled gratefully at him as he held out an arm to support me while we headed out of the gym. At the last minute he pulled my badly fixed bag onto his shoulder.