Out There

Eventually, I stopped crying and spoke to Mr. Way. I explained how scared I was to go home and showed him the texts my mother had sent.

"You can stay here today." he had said, his expression unrevealing. His lip was tight and his eyes fluttered as he stood up and left the room, leaving me feeling empty.
There was a stirring downstairs and I gathered that Mikey had woken up. I had that feeling in my gut where I knew they were discussing me. I peered out of Mikey's room, hoping to get a better insight to their hushed conversation.

"I think Aeida's sick, she's not going to school today." Mr. Way mumbled.
"She wasn't there when I woke up." Mikey replied, which triggered my guilt.
"She was probably throwing up in the toilet, I think she's sick." Mr. Way repeated.
"She didn't very sick last night." Mikey muttered. "How do you know?"
"I think she's in your room right now. You should go see her before we leave." Mr. Way said, ignoring the question. I quickly sat down on the bed and took a deep breath, waiting for Mikey.

When he walked in, I let the breath out allowing the lightheadedness to flee.
"My brother said you felt sick." Mikey said, a slight trace of sympathy on his face. "Are you feeling alright? Do you want me to take the day off with you?" he asked, joining me on the bed.
"I kind of do want to go to school, so I don't fall behind and stuff. Mikey you have to go to school, God knows how behind you already are." I joked, a weak smile disguising the gut wrenching guilt that was lying to my boyfriend's face.
"So you're coming?" Mikey asked, shooting my a questioning look, I nodded. "Your brother said I shouldn't, you know- incase I throw up at the word of an upcoming test." I chuckled.
"As much as I do want to spend my day with you- you probably shouldn't come then. Also, knowing you, you're probably four weeks ahead already! I don't worry about school, Aeida. You know that." Mikey smiled sweetly at me.
"Everything alright?" Mr. Way asked, one hand supporting himself on the door frame as he peered in from the hallway.
"I'm taking the day off with Aeida. You can leave." Mikey said, not looking at Gerard as if he wasn't even there.
"No you're not. You have to collect Aeida's work for her- and your own as well. You're already behind and it's the second day." Mr. Way snapped, completely walking into the room and crossing his arms.
"So you just want her to go home and be sick all alone with nothing to do?" Mikey asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother and turning his head only slightly to where Mr. Way was standing with an all-knowing expression. I tensed up at the thought of 'home' and nearly started panicking again.
"She can stay here, so you can see her when you come home." Mr. Way replied. Relief.
"What the fuck is she going to have to do here, Gerard?" Mikey snapped with a disbelieving expression on his face.
"Be sick. Sleep. Play guitar. Throw up, all the things I live for Mikey." I interjected with a false grin.
Mikey thought it through for 12 seconds before leaning over and kissing me gently on the forehead. "Okay." he said. He leaned into my ear and whispered "I'll try and skip after recess and be home early.".
I smiled at him and my glance shifted to Mr. Way, who was standing observing us. His face was vexed and he was poking his cheek with his tongue. Mikey pressed his lips to my cheek before getting up and leaving, glaring at his brother on the way out muttering something along the lines of 'come on.'

Mr. Way stood there for a moment longer looking at me with that strange expression. "I'll come check on you." he spoke before turning on his heel and leaving.
I felt oddly satisfied knowing Mr. Way cared enough to come check on me later on. I pulled the covers over myself and fell into a quiet nap with a smile on my face.


I was awoken by a faint knocking at the door. I stared at the source of the noise, slightly confused and disorientated. "Aeida?" a voice called from behind the door I recognised as Mr. Way. I completely processed my surroundings and recalled why I was in Mikey's bed with Mr. Way waiting outside. "Door's open." I called, sitting myself up against the wall. Mr. Way walked in wearing his white button up, black waistcoat and black striped tie. "Have you even moved since I last left you here?" he smirked at me with an amused glint in his eye. "I just woke up." I explained, as that was the only thing I could bring myself to say in my tired state. "Alright," he said sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Mikey is going to be home in a few hours." he added, his gaze dropping to the floor. I nodded in response.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, voice breathy like he was letting something of his chest.
"I'm… yes. I'm good." I assured him, sounding unsure of myself. I exhaled and gulped.
"You can tell me if you're not. We don't have a problem with you staying here for as long as you need." he replied, rolling his thumbs with his fingers locked together. I watched his hands as I replied. "I think I'm alright honestly, I just don't really know. I've never had time to think about whether or not I'm okay or not." I chuckled to myself- hoping to ease the honesty of what I'd said.
"I'm really concerned for you. Mikey is too, obviously." Gerard said, still staring at the floor with a slight smile laced on his lips.
"I know, and it's not that I don't appreciate it- it's just I don't really want to take advantage of your generosity. I feel bad staying here, and I feel bad for lying to Mikey." I sighed, my tense stature relaxing.
"You wouldn't be taking advantage- Aeida. In all honesty, you would probably have to get a job to help out, but this house is paid for, we've got more than we need. Plus, I need a hand handling Mikey." Gerard laughed.
"I really couldn't, I don't even have anything. All my work, everything I have… I don't even know if I can get any of that back." I bit my lip, staring at the beautiful mess that was my boyfriend's brother.
"You will get it back, and when you do you can live here." Mr. Way stated, not taking any exceptions.
"I know this is a little… uncomfortable to hear but wouldn't you get in trouble with the school board for living with a student?" I asked, my voice getting smaller with every word.
"I already live with Mikey." Mr. Way said, sitting up and looking at me properly. His face was quizzical, like it was extremely ordinary to find a student and a teacher living together.
"He's your brother, I'm…" I trailed off, thinking of whether to use 'student' or 'brother's girlfriend'.
Mr. Way cleared his throat and tilted his head to the side so subtly- you wouldn't notice if you weren't paying complete attention to him and only him. "I understand that it would be deemed inappropriate, for reasons of the student's protection and federal laws- yada yada, but the situation is in your best interest. I'm sure Mikey would offer you our house if he knew the situation." he reasoned, sounding convincing. "Also," a smirk appeared on his face. "when I want something- I can be extremely convincing."

I didn't know what to make of that comment, so I just stared at him wanting him to say more. His voice and his words were like drugs to me. It felt wrong saying that about my teacher even so with him being related to my current boyfriend, but it was true and I wasn't going to lie to myself.
Mr. Way then shook his head and I saw a faint blush paint his cheeks. "Sorry, that was- I didn't mean, I meant… that was inappropriate, I apologise." he stuttered, followed by an apologetic laugh/smile.

"It's okay, sir. I didn't think of it like that." I smiled comfortingly. "But I meant it like that." he snapped back. He then slammed his hand over his mouth like he'd just insulted The Queen. "Sorry." he mumbled through his hand. I felt my cheeks heat up and my throat become dry, so I just waved my hand in dismissal. "Please don't mention this to Mikey, Aeida." he glowered. I raised my eyebrow at him. "It's really not a big deal, sir."
"It is though. You're my student and it's one hundred times worse because he likes you and-" he began.
"Sir, you said nine words which really didn't mean much." I interrupted.
"You can say a lot more in a lot less." he muttered, inching closer to me on the bed so I could hear him when he talked at that volume. My breath hitched at the closeness and his words. "Can you?" I challenged. When I realised my words my faint blush turned into a fire on my face. We were close enough now that if I leaned in we would be head-to-head. Awfully convenient and torturous.
"Would you like me to teach you?" he whispered, I felt his breath brush passed me and I found it difficult to breath. I nodded subtly and in that moment he leaned forward and used one hand to grab my waist and the other pushing me down against the wall so I was now lying on my back. I closed my eyes, our lips brushed and I saw recognition flash in his eyes. He pressed his lips to mine and used his tongue to lick my lower lip. I felt the heat of his breath against my face and I grabbed onto his torso and kissed back. He pushed himself up against me making my hand fall from his back. I put both my hands on his face and felt the euphoria surrounding us.

Something snapped at the same time in the both of us and we pulled away from each other. We were both out of breath and our eyes looked panicked. Mr. Way stood up from the bed and walked out of the room, leaving me confused and stunned. "What the f-u-c-k." I gasped, standing up out of uncertainty. I found myself walking into the kitchen as I heard a door slam. It wasn't the front door or the bathroom so I figured it was Gerard's bedroom. I put my hands on the kitchen counter and took a deep breath. Should I go up and ask Mr. Way what just happened? Why am I feeling so happy about this? I just cheated on my boyfriend with not only a teacher, but his brother. I stayed in the kitchen for 6 minutes thinking, breathing and pacing before I found myself outside Mr. Way's bedroom door. I asked myself if I should knock first, then presumed that he'd just ignore me or tell me to go away, so I held my breath, turned the door knob and pushed.

"Fu-shit!" Mr. Way gasped, pulling his sweatpants up from his ankles. "Could you fucking knock?" he cursed. I looked away to his wall, where 5 or so band posters hung. "Sorry." I squeaked. "I could have been doing anything- fucking Christ." he hissed. I glanced over to him to find him decent, so I relaxed a tiny bit. I noticed he'd changed into black sweatpants and a red oversized shirt and behind him there were four glass bottles with clear liquid- vodka from what I'd gathered, on his bed. "What were you doing?" I asked, my voice still scared. "Well I had my pants around my ankles so you can either use your sweet innocent brain and think I have a stance way of getting dressed or figure out what was really going on." he muttered, sitting on the bed, interjecting my gaze from the bottles. "I don't know what you mean." I stated, confused. He settled down and stared at me with an amused grin then shook his head. Normally I would have made him tell me but I had other things on my mind.

"What was that?" I asked, crossing my arms. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Don't they teach Sex Ed anymore? You know boys have different parts-" he began patronising. "No, I didn't mean that- oh my gosh." I hissed. "Oh." he replied, disappointment forced his grin to fall into a frown. "Seven minutes ago you kissed me. What was that?" I repeated, trying to get my mind in the right place before my face grew red. "That was a mistake." he frowned, looking at the floor. I could hear the blood pumping through my body and my pulse violently beat- I felt my stomach churning and my eyes water. Mr. Way pulled a bottle from behind him. "Don't tell Mikey. About any of this, including-" he paused to tap the bottle in his hands. "this." he finished. He twisted off the lid and drank from it. He gulped nearly all of it in one go, and I was still searching for words. "I'm not going to." I said, feeling rage swell up inside me, mixed with dread and sadness. It clicked that those bottles- of one of them was what he was hiding from Mikey the previous night. "Because you'd be arrested, and he'd be living alone and I don't want that for him. You deserve to rot in a cell." I spat, turning and running out the door. I bolted into Mikey's room and locked the door. I curled myself up into his blankets- which smelt just like him.
Of course I didn't mean what I said, I cared about Mr. Way too. I felt crushed however, and just like in the animal kingdom- if you feel threatened, you fight.



A/N: RAD I WROTE AGAIN. D'you like this chapter? Let me know in a comment down below or I'll steal your soul. ^-^

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