I Won't Give Up (Teacher/Student)

Chapter 6

Jackson walked into the room and gave me a hug despite my protests that I was a smelly and sweaty mess. He then stepped away and stood between Mr. Livingston and me, looking between the both of us.

"What's wrong with you two?" he asked.

"Nothing," we simultaneously said without sparing each other a glance. I didn't want to start talking to him like nothing had happened. If I pretended like his actions didn't hurt me, then nothing would ever change.

"Yeah sure," Jackson said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You two couldn't stop looking at each other and now you're on opposite sides of this room. If I wasn't here you'd probably be on opposite sides of the apartment."

That was in fact true. I spent most of my time doing my work at his dining room table or laying down in his beanbag area and I think he spent his time in his room or the living room. The closest we ever got was me having to sit in the front of the classroom every day.

"Jack, leave it alone. We're fine," Mr. Livingston said.

"Just dandy," I said, probably not helping.

"Ah hell, guys. It's alright, all couples fight. This is just your first of many," Jackson said, smirking. Mr. Livingston glared at him and Jackson quickly shut up, taking a protective stance in anticipation of another slap to the head. His visible fear caused me to laugh in return.

I left them in the living room and took a long shower to avoid spending too much time with them. Jackson was really growing on me, but he was also nosy as hell and I didn't want to sit through any more questions about Mr. Livingston. Once I finished, I wrapped the towel around my head and joined Jackson on the couch. A re-run of an old sitcom was playing but nobody was watching it and the room was mostly silent except for Jackson's occasional comments.

Jackson's brown hair was slightly lifted and pushed more to the right. While Mr. Livingston was taller and lean, Jackson was still tall but had more bulk to him. The black t-shirt he was wearing hugged his arms and was tight enough around the chest to show some muscle. As I was indiscreetly looking him over, he sprang up from the couch and clapped his hands together.

"Alright losers, get dressed," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I'm bored and you need some fun before you turn into my brother."

"I'm fun!" Mr. Livingston said. Jackson and I looked at each other and laughed.

"Where are we going?" Mr. Livingston asked.

"Let's go out. Bars are open until 3 tonight," Jackson said. I sat up in my seat quickly, a big smile stretching across my face. I was so excited to finally do something outside of this apartment. Dressing up was always fun because I rarely did it and I loved music and dancing. Normally Cassie and I would go together and come back home with most of our makeup running and our feet sore from jumping around.

"Nope, absolutely not."

"You can't consider yourself fun if all you do is say no, Cade," Jackson said.

"Did you forget she's underage, idiot? And her father would kill me."

"So we'll go to one that wristbands eighteen-year-olds," he said. Jackson put his arm around me and pulled me into his side, messing with my hair. I pushed his hand away and smiled up at him.

"No drinking," Mr. Livingston said.

"What!" Jackson whined.

"I'm talking about Diem," he said. I was a responsible drinker! My dad let me have a couple of glasses of wine during dinner and he was a freaking lawyer. You know how many eighteen-year-olds get black-out drunk at their college while the administration does literally nothing to ensure that they are at least safe? Here I was with an opportunity to drink with a cop and a pain-in-the-ass, so even if I wanted to get myself in trouble I couldn't.