Sunshine (Student/Teacher Romance) 18+

15

Abel

"What am I going to do with you..." I stare down at her as she sits on my couch just like she did that night a week ago. The same look on her face. Shame, exhaustion, uncertainty.

It's contagious.

Thank God for tinted windows and having a garage connected to the house. I don't think I could have pulled this off if it weren't for that.

Here she is, in my house again and I'm the one who brought her here this time.

This one's on me.

"I'm sorry for trying to steal, Mr. Caswell. I'd just been walking for a long time, and I don't have any money."

"I can give you money. How much do you need?" The words leave me before I can even register how problematic that sentence sounds. "Ari, where are your parents?"

"I don't know. Dead, probably."

"Probably?" I sit down on the coffee table in front of her. "Who takes care of you?"

"My foster mom, I guess. I've been in the system since I was a little girl, Mr. Caswell. I barely even remember my real parents."

A twinge of pain pierces my chest, seeing the way her face drops as she speaks those words. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

She shrugs.

"Why haven't you been at school?"

"I've been working."

"If you've been working, why are you stealing water from the liquor store?"

Her naturally pink lips part, but no sound moves past them. I figure I'll lay off on the questions for now. I'm sure the last thing she wants to do is talk about what's troubling her. I'll get it out of her some way, and once I do, I'll be able to decide what my next move should be.

My hands press to my knees as I rise from the coffee table, my tired sigh giving me momentum. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I've probably been here too long."

You shouldn't be here at all. "I don't like the idea of you walking around on the streets, stealing. You should eat something while you're here."

She nods, folding her arms over her chest.

I fixed her a sandwich, figuring it's better than anything else I could come up with that requires a flame or a microwave.

I left her alone while she ate, and I drank a beer in the kitchen as I stared at the text thread between Shyla and I.

Drinking while stressed with a phone in my hands is recipe for disaster.

I'd been thinking about her a lot more the past two days. Since I had that talk with Hailey, especially. Maybe I am having a hard time letting her go. Maybe I always pictured her here with me. I always thought when I'd started my career, she'd be by my side.

Helping me.

She always said I never made good decisions and as I glance over at the seventeen year old picking apart the sandwich I'd made her, I'd say that was more than true.

But what the hell do I do now? I've waited too long to get the cops involved. That should have been done as soon as she came to my door last week. How am I going to explain this to them? That I picked her up and brought her back to my house a second time and fed her.

Offered her money.

These are all grounds for being banned from any school in the state, not to mention the possible jail time, because who's going to believe I wasn't preying on her? Who's going to believe I wasn't interested in a beautiful girl like Ari? Even with no evidence of foul play, the accusation could be what kills me.

I set my second beer bottle down on the coffee table before having a seat in that same spot again. "Ready to talk now?"

"I can't go home," she blurts. "I can't go home and I don't have anywhere else to go."

I hold my palms together and touch my lips with my index fingers, taking that in. Something I already knew because she'd said it multiple times already, but it didn't help me come up with a solution.

"I know how you feel about me being here, but I turn eighteen in like four months. You won't get in trouble, Mr. C. I won't be any trouble."

"Ari." I shake my head, deeming it impossible. "Even if you were eighteen now, you're my student. It's not appropriate for a teacher to live with a student, whether you're legal or not. It'll cost me my job. I want to help you, I do—"

"This past week I've only ever felt safe when I was here, with you."

Her words stun me so deeply that I sit still, my eyes scouring an empty wall diagonally from me.

I stand up, cupping my hands over my mouth as I exhale.

I can feel her eyes on the back of me, waiting on me to deny her once more. Probably waiting on me to reach for my phone and dial the cops, which is what I've needed to do from the start.

"We've...We've gotta have some rules, Ari" I say.

Her eyes sparkle, her face illuminated as soon as my gaze has returned to her. "Thank you, Mr. Cas. I promise I won't tell anyone. Never."

"First things first," I begin, sternly. "You need to attend school. Every day."

She nods.

"Second, we don't discuss anything non-school-related at school." I arch a brow, kicking myself for even saying these words. "We leave at separate times, and you are only to enter through the back alley way."

She nods affirmatively as I bite my nail. It's too late to go back now, Abel.

"Third, this stays between us. Forever."

"Forever?" Her tone challenges me, a brow risen as she scoops back a wavy strand of hair behind her ear.

"Forever. No one can ever know about this, even after you've graduated. Even if I transfer schools, even if I pack up and move across the country."

"Okay. Anything else?"

I lick my lips, crossing my arms. "Yeah. The day you turn eighteen, you have to have some place to go."

She nods eagerly, her eyes softening with something like relief. She barely smiles. "Thank you, Mr. C. I swear, you won't regret this.