Chapter Twenty-Five
"Dustin I--what are you doing here?" I stuttered shocked that he was standing right in front of me. Well, actually I'm not that shock, this is a typical Dustin mood but I did not expect this right now. I didn't know how much he'd seen but if it was just a little run in now, it wasn't much and he wouldn't have anything on me. Either way my heart was still beating a mile a minute.
"What am I doing here?" He asked while laughing. "The better question is what are you doing here and why are you with a teacher?" He asked bringing his eyes to Caden with a scowl. From the corner of my eye I could see Caden's hands balled up into tight fists that settled at his side as he stared at Dustin venomously.
"That's none of your business." I told him now annoyed.
"I just can't believe you Diem, you rebounded to a teacher, really? You stoop that low?" He asked and I bit the inside of my mouth to keep myself from saying some real harsh things, whether he deserved it or not, I wasn't going to use fire against fire.
"Whatever you think you know, you don't, so whatever you say or think doesn't matter." I told him.
"Oh but I'm sure the school would be interested in a student screwing her teacher." He told me with a smirk but slight anger shaking his voice. I could see the fire in his eyes as he looked at Caden and I knew that this whole thing was bringing him over the edge, if that was even possible.
Caden was about to say something but I beat him to it. "Listen Dustin, I'm not screwing anybody and even if I was it's not any of your damn business, nothing about my life is your damn business so why don't you just leave me alone? God knows I want you to!" I told him breathing heavily by the end of it.
Dustin reached out and grabbed my upper arm tightly while pulling me into him. "You are my business, and everything you do is my business. And from these last couple of days that I've seen you, I can tell that this relationship between the two of you is more than professio--" Dustin was cut off by Caden ripping him away from me and stepping in front of me protectively.
"Listen you piece of shit" Caden said his voice menacing and so low that it was a bit frightening. "You're really beginning to get on my last nerve, but teacher or not, you lay a finger on her again and I'll make sure it's the last time you ever do." He told Dustin stepping closer to him so that they were toe to toe both looking at each other like they wanted to rip each other's heads offs.
Dustin began to laugh like a maniac, "you know you're really disgusting. You can't find a girl your own age? Instead you have to look at your class roster for a girlfriend. I might be a little messed up in the head sometimes but at least I'm not a pedophile." Dustin said smirking at the fuming Caden and I grabbed the back of Caden's jacket to pull him away from Dustin, knowing how angry he was right now.
"Dustin you don't know shit first of all. He is only twenty-four years old, and second we aren't a couple and we haven't done anything. I don't even know why I'm explaining myself to you, because I don't need to. Whatever you think you have on us is shit because we didn't do anything so have fun with your psycho life." I told him and he smirked while rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, you think that Diem. Anyway, I have to get going now... I'll see you later, possibly." He said sending me a wink before walking off and I let out a sigh of relief. I wasn't really that worried but at the same time I felt like crap right now because all I could think about was the fact that Dustin had been watching us. Did that mean he knew where Caden lived, and if so how did he find this out and for how long had he been watching? This was really freaking me out...
I didn't know what Dustin was thinking of doing, and what if he really could get us in trouble? Wouldn't Caden lose his damn job? He wouldn't go to jail though right? It's not like I'm underage and we didn't even.... yeah.
And what would happen to me? This would all go on my record and I'd probably get expelled. No school would want me, and we'd risk all this for what? A thing that wasn't even going to develop into anything further but snuggling on a couch?
Not to mention how all my classmates would react if they heard about Caden and I. No doubt that Dustin would tell them if I pushed him over the limit. Well, it was more like he was the one doing all this pushing. I don't really care about what my classmates would say, but at the same time I don't think I'd be able to handle all of the attention and negativity coming towards me.
The whole car ride between Caden and I was quiet right now. While I looked out of the window, he had one hand on the steering wheel and another covering half of his face as his body was held in a stress filled manner and his elbow propped against the window.
I can't even imagine what's going through his head right now. His thoughts are probably ten times worse than mine and I've never seen him so angry. I could just see the pure hatred towards Dustin growing out of Caden and it was developing more and more as Dustin continued to show up around us.
He probably wasn't taking this whole Dustin following us around situation well either. If someone told you they were following you around for the past couple of days and trying to threaten you, you'd react the same way as Caden did.
We finally got back to the apartment and as soon as I stepped in I took a seat on the couch, my feet tucked under me, as my thoughts raced in my head while I stared at the blank wall opposite me. I couldn't help but think how simple this wall was and I wished my life could be as simple as it. Now look at me, comparing myself to a damn wall.
Caden sat down beside me took off his jacket while throwing his keys on the table. He brought his fingers to both sides of his head and started to rub his temples as he threw his head back against the sofa with a loud sigh. "Caden" I said quietly as he looked over to me finally while opening his eyes. "What do we do?" I asked while playing with my fingers.
"I don't know Diem." He said sighing and rubbing his eyes. I felt so bad for putting him under all of this stress. He didn't deserve this, especially not when I didn't even give him the decency of committing to a relationship.
"Well we have to do something. He obviously knows something."
"Please he doesn't know shit, he's just trying to fuck with your mind and make you paranoid. You can't let him get to you, not after all that he's put you through. Don't let him win." Caden told me but honestly I wasn't really listening right now I could only focus on the fact that Dustin had been following us!
"You could lose your job!" I exclaimed.
"He has no proof and even if he did..."
"Even if he did what Caden? Don't be stupid and throw away everything for me! Dustin obviously knows something and I don't want anything bad to happen to you, and plus its not worth the risk." I told him and he seemed slightly pissed.
Caden wouldn't be that stupid to risk his future and reputation over us. We don't even have an "us" that's how stupid all of this is! It isn't worth it and he needs to see it, I need to get that point across to him.
"What are you trying to say Diem?" He asked obviously seeing where I was going with this.
"I'm just saying, we should just keep our relationship professional from now on. All I am to you is a student you're supervising while my dad is out of town and all you are to me is my biology teacher." I told him and he looked at me like I had three heads or something.
"You're just going to let him win is that it?" He asked in disbelief and annoyance.
"No! I am thinking about our futures! This whole thing isn't worth it! We aren't even a 'thing!'" I told him and he rolled his eyes.
"This isn't about Dustin."
"What?! Of course it is!" What else could it be about?
"No. It's not. You're just using this as an excuse. You're afraid of commitment and it's scaring you that you're developing feelings for me so you're trying to push me away." He told me while I stood there shocked at him.
Why did he do this to me? After all that happened to me he was bringing it back to me? Talking about my fears of commitment. That wasn't even the case, I wasn't afraid to commit to anyone, I was afraid to get hurt, and from what I've been feeling this overall year was a lot of hurt.
"Caden please stop."
"No! Why can't you see that I won't hurt you Diem? Just cause you're parents didn't work out doesn't mean that every relationship in this world is doomed! You can't keep thinking like that or you're going to miss out on something good one of these days and regret it." He told me and I hid my face in my hands not wanting to hear any of this right now.
"I don't care!" I shouted frustrated. "I don't give a damn about what I'll miss out on and what I'll regret! I'm not running away from anything, I'm just being practical Caden! I mean what did you expect? For this to be some easy little love story and that we'd start dating, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after? Life isn't a damn fairytale! It freaking sucks! And thinking that you and I would even work out is ridiculous, I'm already so screwed up and then add an illegal relationship between a student and her teacher, with a clingy ex boyfriend, and we're as bad as it gets! We. Would. Have. Never. Worked. Out. So I'm saving you the trouble now because you honestly deserve better."
"This is what you want?" He finally asked and I took a while before finally nodding answering his question. He stood up letting out a breath in the process, "unbelievable" he said shaking his head in disbelief. "Humor me for a second." He began, "if you weren't all screwed up from your parents problems would you have given us a chance?"
Instead of answer the obvious yes that my mind was telling me, I shrugged my shoulders deciding to make this easier on the both of us. No doubt that if I told him the truth and yes that he would try and convince me more about how not all relationships were terrible. Believe me, I get they aren't all terrible, but from what I've seen, all the relationships that were linked back to me always ended up a disaster. So I was just preventing another one from occurring.
"So why did you make me waste my time?" He asked as he grabbed his jacket from the couch and put it on.
"I'm sorry." I said not knowing what else to say.
"You know Diem, I told myself that I wouldn't give up on you, but I officially am. I'm not going to keep trying to make this work when you're unwilling to. So I guess I agree with you too, our relationship will be strictly professional from now on." He told me and I nodded slowly.
I don't know why or what the feeling actually meant, but I felt this weird pain in my chest for some strange reason. I never felt this before and couldn't understand what was going on right now. I was afraid that I was going to have a heart attack any second now. Add on to that the strange feeling that I felt like crying and I was officially freaked out with my bodies feelings and actions.
"Where are you going?" I asked quietly as I watched him grab his keys and slip his shoes on.
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll be back eventually." He told me before walking out the door. Again, this tug in my chest increased as I watched him leave. It was such a strange feeling arguing with Caden. Usually we always laughed and smiled when we were around with each other, so all of this that just happened between us was strange, and so were the feelings that came along.
I grabbed a pillow beside me and screamed my lungs out into it, "Why am I so freaking stupid! Why can't I just be simple and open up to him and the idea of relationships. Why do I have to be the way that I am right now?" I asked staring up at the ceiling above me, demanding an answer, but I got nothing, so I came up with my own answer.
Because I'm stupid....
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IMPORTANT: please let me know what you guys think and your feedback on it because that's really important to me to know if you like it or think its stupid.
NOTE:
Don't hate me guys!! I promise it'll be worth if you continue on it.
QUESTIONS: what do you think Caden will do now? Move on?
-do you think Diem will continue being stubborn?
-do you think Dustin will try something again?
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