The Substitute Teacher

Part 30 ~ "Make Him Fall in Love With You"

~ Ariana's point of view ~ 

We're on our way back home.

I've never felt so awkward in my entire life. Carli is sitting next to Adrien. . they seem to be fine with this whole thing. I can't believe how relaxed and happy they are . . they actually enjoy each other's company! . . well, they kinda have to now, I mean, they're married. . . UGH . . all this is just so damn confusing! I look over at Michael . . we're not sitting next to each other. . but he's sitting fairly close to me. I'm surfing the internet on my ipad . . he's doing the same. 

I'm looking at Carli and Adrien and I'm f*cking jealous!!! . . why can't that be Michael and me?? I've always had a crush on him . . but I'm not talking about school when he was my teacher . . I was a freak back then . . . ughhhh . . am I that crazy for liking this whole fake-marriage thing? . . I'd be crazy if I didn't, I mean, he's a handsome guy and he's a teacher . . he's a dream come true . . for real . . ughh . . I need to stop dreaming . . but it makes me happy to think that we had fun in Vegas :) . . but it rips my heart out to know that he's unhappy about this . . . and I don't blame him . . I'm as shocked and confused as he is.

The mere thought of us being married sends feelings of happiness right through my heart . . . I'm crazy about him. I just wish he would feel the same way . . . this is the closest I will ever get to him . . . he'll always be my ex husband, which sounds better than 'The man I never had'

Adrien and Carli and kissing each other, holding hands like newlyweds -.- 

Well, they are . .

But why do they have to be so damn happy?!! Michael doesn't even give a shit about me right now . . I know he doesn't want this marriage, I mean obviously but . . ugh . . can't he just PRETEND?! I'm being stupid again . . . how stupid of me to think that Michael and I are actually going to BE . . 

I'm wearing the ring and he isn't . . 

Surprised? . . nope. 

I'm all chocked up . . I just wanna get up, go to the bathroom and cry. . seriously. This is depressing as hell! . . he's probably counting the minutes right now, hoping those 10 days will go by fast . . I don't want these 10 days to go by AT ALL! . . . can't he just pretend to like this? . . can't he just act like he's my husband? just for a day? . . not even for an hour?? . . no, of course not . . . 

"Michael?"

He looks at me. "Yes?"

*silence* 

"Nothing . . nevermind :)"

"Ok"

UGHHHHHH . . . I want him to sit next to me!!! . . instead, I'm sitting next to Shane who is burping up a storm!! . . I give Carli a light kick on her foot. She looks at me. "What's up?" 

"Can I please talk to you privately for a second?" 

We get up and disappear in the bathroom

"Ok, girl . . are you like for real right now? kissing Adrien and everything?!"

"Ariana . . I know this may seem crazy to you but I like him . . I actually LIKE HIM! he's so funny . . I mean, the marriage thing is crazy, I know . . but I'm actually ok with this . . and he is too . . he said he would like to start dating and everything . . you know, give us a try . . and I mean, why not?"

"Carli . . I'm . . I'm happy for you, I really am but . . while you and Adrien are kissing, I'm feeling like a piece of shit . . Michael doesn't even care . . he doesn't even pay attention to me"

"Girl . . talk to him! tell him that you want to give it a try . . you have to tell him that you like the idea of being with him . . . tell him how you feel . . I know you want to, girl . . I can see it in your eyes . . you wanna cry now, don't you?"

"Until I'm all cried out . . Carli, I can't . . I know he doesn't want me . . I'm loving it and he's hating it. . and I can't even be mad at him . . being married to him feels AWESOME but knowing that all this is just an 'accident' to him then I can't help but feel like a stupid piece of crap . ."

"Or . . you can take advantage of this . . which you should do, Ari . . ."

"Take advantage? . . what are you talking about?"

"You guys are married . . he's your husband . . it's a husband's duty to keep his wife happy . . you know you're gonna get a divorce in 10 days . . so make the BEST of these 10 days . ."

"Yea right . . Michael doesn't even make eye contact with me!!! and he's not even wearing his ring!! he's not taking this seriously . .  and why should he? it was JUST AN ACCIDENT! why should he care about keeping his ''wife'' happy? for him, we're not even married . ."

"He maybe isn't but you are . . the man married you . . drunk or not, you guys are husband and wife. . you better ask for a key to his house or he's gonna be in some major trouble, girl!"

"A key to his house?? I'm pretty damn sure he's not even gonna drive me home from the airport!! what the hell are you even talking about?? . . . girl . . you're ridiculous . . you keep forgetting that he doesn't want this!!!"

"Well. . . then you force him to"

"Oh hell no . . I don't want him to believe I'm still the freak I was in school . . I have respect for him. . major respect . . I like him . . I really do . . I don't want to ''force'' anything on him . . if he doesn't want this then I have to respect that . . . why would I wanna scare him away? I scared him once . . it's not gonna happen twice . . . thanks for your help but . . . this ain't gonna happen" 

She takes my arm just as I'm about to open the door. I have tears in my eyes . . and Carli knows . . she knows how badly I wanna cry right now . . .she pulls me up to her and hugs me. 

"You know what, Ari? let's have some fun with this . . you don't have to force anything on him . . . make jokes about it . . act cool and witty! don't show him how hurt you are . . . take advantage of how crazy and funny this really is! Make jokes, make him laugh . . let him see the happy girl in you. . believe me, you will feel much better if you just smile . . crying and being depressed about it won't help neither of you . . . . keep a smile on your face and who knows? . . maybe he will fall in love with it . ."

"Yea right . . ."

"You got 10 days, babe ;) . . make him fall in love with you"

~ to be continued ~