Ava's POV:
Mr.Nocella isn't a bad man.
I learn a lot about him in the nurse's office bed and the bedroom. One thing I realize from all the shit in the past is that people open up with a pillow underneath their head and a white ceiling above them. Mr.Nocella is a very endearing father and husband. He likes to take his sons out for baseball games. He is very particular about his body, despite having an excellent one. He enjoys cooking breakfast for his cheating wife. Mrs.Nocella is a bitch for cheating on him.
But, she is still better than me.
I'm the one who ruined his life a year from now. He ends up in jail for having sexual relations with a minor. We got caught by the school nurse, Mrs.Nash.
I stood up and walked towards the board without a single complaint. Grabbing the marker, I began scribbling numbers on it. Placing the cap back on, I walk back to my desk.
The whole class was quiet.
Mr.Nocella coughs, covering his mouth with a fist. "E-Excellent." His cheeks turned pink, and my lip tilted upward. He always does that when he's embarrassed.
When the class bell rang, I continued sitting there debating on whether I should tell him. Despite our messy past, Mr.Nocella is one of the few men who are kind towards me. Yes, we slept together, but he never asked me to leave the hotel room when we finished. He would order me room service and offer to take me home. Of course, he dropped me off two or three blocks away, but it was nice, nonetheless.
The best moments are when we would lay in bed together, without sexual pleasures, and talk. He would tell me the small things he did during the week, and I would tell him what I did.
There is a part of me that wished I could've loved him, and he would reciprocate the feeling.
The only problem with us was that there were never any sparks.
We were both broken.
We accepted each other's broken parts.
However, we couldn't accept our own.
I stayed in a delusional attachment with Luke.
Mr.Nocella stayed in a loveless marriage with his wife.
If society labeled me at that moment, it would be - homewrecker.
But, when I entered the game, there wasn't a home to wreck.
"Miss Makee, is there a reason you're disturbing my break time?" he asked, pulling out his lunch bag.
I continue sitting there, staring at him as my emotions whirl into an uncontrollable spiral. He opened his lunchbox and began eating, dismissing my presence.
"Mr.Nocella," I would say, while he pulled out a book and continued eating. He had always been like this. If he is on his break, no one shall disturb him. "Would you fuck me?"
He chokes on his sandwich.
I watch as he hurriedly grabs the water bottle and chugs it down. Once he finishes, he wipes his lip and glances at me. "Do not ever say that again."
I tilt my head, "Is that a yes?"
"It's a definite no. I will never touch my students." If only he knew how much of a liar he is right now.
"Hm," I responded vaguely while he did what I expected. He covers his fake cough with his fist and looks away, pretending our short conversation did not occur.
"Mr.Nocella...Did you know there is a sale at Pearl Plant this weekend?" I question, and his brows furrow, "I heard that's what all women like nowadays, pearls."
His lip pucker, "They do?"
I grab my backpack and swing it over my shoulder, "Yeah. It's a promotion where they are giving the first fifty people present a half off deal. It's a bit of a drive, but it's worth it." I took a step forward and tucked my fists inside my jacket, "Perfect for a wife."
The edge of his lip tilts upward, "Thank you, Miss Makee."
I nodded and headed towards the door.
"Miss Makee?"
I turn around, "Yes?"
"You do know that it's not that you're not attractive. You're a pretty young woman, but we can never-" He scratches his head, wanting to gently turn me down. Perhaps, this is why girls swoon over him. He is gentle and kind, a man who doesn't want to hurt others.
A man whom I hurt in the end.
"Miss Makee...I never blamed you for what had happened between us." He would say, his voice barely whispered through the phone line. "I choose this path, and this is the price I have to pay." He smiles, "I never once regret it because you help me breathe when it's difficult...even if it's only for a while. You made me feel alive again."
Mr.Nocella died due to an unknown reason three weeks into prison.
Rumor says he was raped to death.
I smile, "I'm teasing Mr.Nocella. I know you would never do that to your students." Liar.
A little white lie doesn't hurt, right?
He smiles and nods, "Thank you...again."
By lunchtime, the rumors haven't died out - not even a bit.
Searching through my bag, I wonder if I left my keys in the locker. Wedges pounding against the pattern tiles ground, I search through the black hole, "Keys...Keys...Keys."
Passing by a vending machine, I glance at it before taking out my wallet. Placing several coins inside, I click on the familiar numbers, which quickly end with a clack. Lifting the black hood, I grab the fresh orange juice before resuming my walk inside the empty halls.
Tucking a strand of hair back, my perfect style nails tap against the bottle, but stop when I see Luke, who was shuffling through his locker. His hands search furiously, throwing crunch up papers back and forth. "Fuck...where is it?" he hisses lowly bending his knees, changing the angle of the image in front of him.
He threw his book back into his locker, rushing his fingers through his hair, "Fucking shithole!" He screams, pounding a fist against his neighbor's locker.
The intense violent action got me leaping back a little. My hands clutch around the strap of my bag, feeling the brutal beating inside my chest. I had only witnessed Luke's angry side twice.
The first was during his fight with Seth.
Second...was when he threatened me to stay away from Mina.
Luke flips his bangs and looks up, eyes meeting mine. After a few seconds, his eyes stray away, and he closes his locker. He threw his bag over his shoulder as his legs began to move towards me.
His eyes pin on everything except me as I stand there. I stood there, motionless...breathless as his scent invaded my senses-his shoulder brush against mine without a single word.
"Are you okay?" I ask, unable to stop myself.
The pounding of his footsteps halts, "Yeah." His response was short and cold, not allowing us to further the conversation.
He resumes his walk.
Before allowing a hazy breath to exit, I close my eyes. With another sigh, I open them. "Lu-" I turn around, seeing him standing there.
"Yeah?" he responds slightly too fast, with slight discomfort jerking all over his face looking like a child who got caught sticking his hand in the cookie jar.
I walk towards him and lift the bottle of juice. "Here," I said as his eyes cast down towards the bottle. "You were looking for money to get this, didn't you?"
Luke tilted his head slightly before, snatching the juice from my head. I swallow, feeling his burning flesh grazing against mine as his eyes drip deeply into my soul. "Thanks," his voice was less edgy.
I respond with a single nod before turning around.
"Hey, Makee," he said, and I turned around. "Sorry."
I stood there, eyes analyzing every inch of his features. I wonder what happened last weekend for Luke to get beat up this badly. "For what?"
His grip tightens on the bottle, "For everything."
Silently, I nod.
His hand shook the bottle, a bad habit he claims whenever he attempts to calm himself down. "You don't believe me."
"What makes you think that?"
Luke took a step...then another...and another until his face met mine. "Because I know you, Makee."
My gaze drifts from the deep cut on his lower left lip towards his crystal green eyes. "Do you? Do you really, Parker?"
His breath soaks into my skin due to our proximity as his heart beats against my chest. "I know you," he spoke with a confident tone.
"Entertain me," I spoke in a sharp, sarcastic tone as my arms fold against one another, elbows grazing along his firm chest.
The air is so brittle it could snap, and if it doesn't, I might.
I hate it...his eyes.
I want to dig his eyes straight from his sockets, so I don't have to look into them...get lost in them.
No one speaks, what is there to say?
There shouldn't be anything left between us.
Absolutely nothing.
"I know you still care about me," he said with pure confidence as the bottle resting in his hand grazed against my fingertips.
"Can you say the feeling is mutual?" The sparkling touch in his eyes died down as mine began to tear up.
Luke knows exactly what I meant.
"You can't...can you?" my voice broke with the syllables.
He didn't say anything.
I sniff, feeling my guts tightening under his watchful eyes. "If you knew how I felt since the beginning...why would you do this to me?"
Perhaps, this is what I need, an actual ending between us.
His adam apple began to move as his shoulders dropped, "I'm sorry."
I smile, a sorrowful bitter one as the memories between Luke and I flashes through my mind, "There are some things - I'm sorry - can't fix."