Chapter One: Truth Exposed

Lux heaved The Great Gatsby across the room. She thought she might spontaneously combust if she had to endure one more chapter of green lights and "old sport." She didn't understand why Gatsby couldn't just call people by their names.

She wanted Eric to hurry up and come over, so he could explain it all to her.

Lux leaned back in her chair and peeked out of the corner of her eye into the living room.

"I have yet to see your homework walk into the living room. I'm pretty sure it's still on your desk like it has been for the past hour," Baze said as he walked past her bedroom door.

She laughed to herself and sat up in her seat again. The grin left her face in an instant. She slipped her hand between the Algebra and History books on her shelf and pulled out a picture. It was of her and Eric, his arm around her shoulders and the warmest smile on his face. She'd never had a guy smile at her like that before. Never.

I have to tell Baze. I have to. She'd told Cate she would if she promised not tell him first.

It made her sick to think she could lose everything she had with Eric if she did. He could lose everything also, not just her, but his job, his reputation... What had she gotten herself into?

She heard a loud crash, the sound of glass shattering into millions of pieces.

Lux leapt from her chair and rushed into the living room. Her heart nearly stopped at the scene unfolding itself before her.

Baze's raised his steel bat in front of him, a vase broken beneath his sneakers. Lux had never seen such rage in his eyes. It scared her how the anger had contorted his face. He was almost unrecognizable.

Eric stood before him, his hands raised in surrender.

"Baze! What are you doing?" she blurted out.

He looked back at her, a silent fury burning in his brown eyes.

He knew.

Eric looked between the two of them. "What's going on here, Baze?" Lux looked so frightened. He couldn't suppress the urge to hold her, and he moved for her without even realizing it.

The blunt end of Baze's bat missed his face by a centimeter.

"Stay the hell away from my daughter!" Baze growled.

"Leave him alone, Baze!" Lux cried. "Dammit, did Cate call you?"

"I'm glad she did," her father said, "because it sure as hell doesn't look like you were going to tell me any time soon."

"God, this is why I didn't want her telling you. He didn't do anything wrong."

"No, he did, Lux, and don't let this creep make you believe otherwise."

"No, Baze-"

"He's right, Lux." Baze turned to Eric suddenly, a flicker of shock in his eyes, but it was only for a moment for they quickly assumed their vengeful hatred once more. "I did do something wrong. We both know I did."

Baze lowered his bat only just. "Did you sleep with her?"

Eric was surprised by the question. He was almost appalled he would even suggest something like that. He loved Lux, but he would never do that with her - to her. Not when she was so much younger than him, still so innocent. That was a line he swore he'd never cross with her. "No, absolutely not."

Baze pointed at him with the bat and looked back at Lux. "Did he sleep with you?"

Lux shook her head. "No," she whispered hoarsely. She laughed but her teary eyes told of her fear, of the sorrow they both knew would come. "Even when I practically begged him to." Baze looked at him appraisingly, and then Lux spoke again. She was so trying hard, but he could tell it was getting them nowhere. "He isn't a bad guy. You have to believe that. He's helped me in so many ways. I'm finally starting to make sense of everything in my life, and how would I know about my learning disability if not for him? No other teacher would have discovered that, Baze. He did because he truly cares for me. So please," she said, "don't take him away from me."

Her father kept staring at Eric, no doubt listening to the war inside his head between his daughter's testimony and the ruthless voice that would do absolutely anything to protect her.

"Please, Baze, whatever you do," she said, "don't call the cops."

He lowered his bat with a heavy breath. "I'm not calling the cops on him, Lux."

A huge sigh of relief escaped her lungs. Eric only allowed for himself to relax a little. He could tell this wasn't over quite yet.

"But," Baze interjected, "I want you to leave town tomorrow, you hear me? I don't ever want to see you here again, and I definitely don't want you anywhere near my daughter as long as I'm still breathing."

"What? No!" Lux shouted.

Eric nodded. "I understand."

Her eyes, wide and disbelieving, darted to meet his. He stared at the ground - anything to avoid having to gaze into her eyes in that moment. The amount of pain he'd caused her was too much to bear.

"Eric, no, you can't!" She moved for him, but her father seized her by the arm. "You can't send him away!" she wept. "You just can't!"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her square in the eye. "Listen to me, kiddo," he said evenly, "unless you want him to end up behind bars, you'll let him leave now."

"I may have a learning disability, but I'm not stupid," she retorted. "I know he won't be sent to jail unless charges are pressed against him."

"Who said Cate and I won't be pressing charges if he stays?" he asked.

Lux took a step back, her eyes narrowing on Baze. Her father's betrayal seemed to be like salt in her gaping wounds. "I can't believe you, Baze," she said quietly. "I can't believe you, of all people, would play that card."

"It's for your own good, Lux. It's my job as your dad to protect you. I can't let you make out with your teacher just because I believe he's a good guy or because I can trust you to keep things PG. That's now how things work," he said. "Because if you get hurt, and Mr. Daniels over here turns out to be a not-so-nice child molester, who's the blame going to fall on?" He stroked her pale locks back from her face. "How could I live with myself, Lux, if I knowingly allowed that to happen to you? What kind of father would I be?"

She clenched her fists at her sides. "So you can date your boss, but I can't date my teacher? You can defy your dad, but I can't defy you?"

"Yes, because I'm an adult, Lux, and it's about time you realize that you're not on your own anymore. You don't make the rules. You don't get to decide which you're going to follow. You have a family, and you have parents - parents that you're expected to answer to," he snapped.

Lux quieted down and gazed, with such remorse in her eyes, across the room at Eric. He mouthed the words, "It's okay."

Baze turned to Eric. "If she didn't care so much for you, you'd be in jail right now."
Eric nodded. "I know."

"I won't tell Math, so you at least have some chance of finding a job somewhere else," he assured him. "I'll just say you had to move back home because your mom is ill, and she needs someone to take care of her."
Eric swallowed with great difficulty. This was actually happening. And he could do nothing to stop it. "Thank you, Baze," was all he was able to muster.

"Sure. Just pack your bags and get out of here."

He took his time preparing his luggage, even though it wasn't much. He wanted to give Lux more time to change her dad's mind, even though at this, point, their relationship was a beyond hopeless cause.

Eric entered the living room, his bag in tow. He looked one last time over at Lux with her father's hands firmly gripping her tiny shoulders. Her eyes glimmered with tears, red and swollen but still so beautiful. He wanted to kiss her goodbye - just one last time - but he knew that was asking too much.

"Eric," she whispered, her voice breaking, "I'm so sorry..."

He shook his head. "No, Lux, if anyone's sorry, it's me. I really screwed this up. You weren't supposed to get hurt like this," he murmured, glancing at the floor. "I was supposed to protect you." He met her eyes again, those heartbreaking eyes of hers. "And I didn't deserve you if I could do even that."

"But where will you go?" she spoke softly.

Eric shrugged and looked out the window. "Maybe it's time I did head back home. The distance will be good for you." He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "For us."

In that moment, Lux burst from Baze's grip and threw her arms around Eric's neck. She pressed her face against his, her soft nose and her warm lips nuzzling his ear. "I won't forget you, Minnesota," she whispered. He could feel her tears on his neck as they fell from her eyes and her chest heaving as she smothered a sob.

He smiled sadly into her golden curls. "I really wish you would, Eeyore."

And with that, stepped out the door and out of her life forever.