The bad boy and me

Tutoring

I smiled once I finally found River in the far corner of the library with his back facing me and his head propped up on his arm. I almost laughed at the poor guy in front of him as he tried to explain to River about some random concept of science with sweat literally dripping down his poor forehead.

His tutor's face snapped away from his book to look at me as I got closer. River followed his gaze back, and smiled when he saw me, although it faltered a little at the look on my face.

'You okay?' He mouthed while patting the chair next to him. I nodded and gave him a fake smile while putting my backpack down and sitting in the chair.

"We're almost done baby, can you wait for us to finish?" He whispered while kissing my forehead. I nodded and he smiled contently before turning back to face his tutor, who was staring at two of us with a shocked look on his face.

River told him to continue, and he snapped out of his little trance. He resumed talking about the science thing while River absentmindedly traced circles on my thigh.

I laid my head down on my arm and tuned out the rest of their conversation.
Questions about my encounter with Brad started to fill my head. Why was he acting so strange? Why was he so aggressive when I tried to leave? Why was he so worried about River being here?

And most importantly, why the heck did I hurt him? Seriously, one second he was grabbing my wrist, the next he was laying in the ground. I don't even know what happened, it's just some instinct in me made me push him away, a little to roughly for my liking and now he's hurt.

The sound of books closing and bags zipping up broke me out of my trance. I looked up to see both River and his tutor packing their things up. I took that as a queue to stand up and I pushed my chair in.

River signaled for me to follow him and we exited the library through the back door that leads us straight to the parking lot.

"You okay baby?" River asked me with concern once we got outside. All of a sudden, all of the negative emotions that I'm feeling because of whole encounter hit me, guilt being the strongest, and I tackled River into a hug.

"Aww, baby it's okay. Tell me what's wrong precious," he cooed while softly stroking my hair. I hiccuped and pulled him closer.

"I-I hated it River," I whined. River whispered sweet nothings while encouraging me to continue telling him what's going on.

"A-and I think I hurt him. I d-didn't mean to, I promise!" I whimpered as tears filled my eyes. I feel so guilty about hurting Brad. Even though he scared me, it makes me upset that I hurt him.

I'm a monster.

"What do you mean you hurt him?" River asked, his tone changing into one that I've never heard before. This is it, River is going to hate me because I'm a terrible human being.

"Well he scared me by grabbing my wrist, and before I knew it he was on the ground," I whispered barely audibly as I stared at the ground while fiddling with my fingers.

River was silent for a few seconds as I closed my eyes in anticipation. Is he going yell at me? Call me a disgusting person? Or even worse, break up with me?

"Baby, you pushed him on the floor. How did he react?" River finally asked, breaking the silence. I looked up to see his face full of anticipation and a little bit of impatience.