Every single time he did what he thought was for the best he seemed to put his foot in it and make her mad at him, he just . . . he almost felt guilty for being a man sometimes. The last thing he wanted to do was for them to start fighting all over again.
I'm sorry; I just don't want you thinking the worst of me. We have only just got things back on track so I don't want us to fall out over it. Just tell me what you want from me.
After sending the text all he could do was wait for her reply and wait he did, all night long. When she hadn't replied by the time he went to bed he sent her another text.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or make you mad, I was desperate not to push my luck too far but apparently did anyway. Please talk to me before a week passes.
All he could do after sending the text was go to bed and hope that when he woke up in the morning she had replied.
She had turned her phone off and Stephanie had absolutely no interest in turning it back on tonight, if he was going to be funny with her then he could be funny by himself as she was only interested in sexual banter that didn't involve him apologising or treating her like a child.
Finishing off her homework she went to bed and immediately smelt him on her pillows, tossing and turning in bed she finally found a comfortable spot that didn't involve his smell suffocating her. When she closed her eyes to go to sleep she could feel his hands on her body, why had she put herself through this by talking to him? Why hadn't she just kicked him out and been done with it? Oh right, because she loved him and she stupidly thought that he loved her so that would mean that he would treat her like an adult.
Eventually she managed to fall asleep, it wasn't the most restful of nights sleep but it was sleep and that was all that she wanted because it stopped her thinking about her boyfriend but it certainly didn't stop her dreaming about him.
When she woke up in the morning she turned her phone on and immediately had a notification of a text, when she went in to her messages and saw that he had actually sent her two messages she was nervous, what if one of them was a break up message? Taking a deep breath she just opened the thread to read them and get it over with.
He felt bad for how he made her feel and she had to respect that he admitted that and his reasons for acting like he did, she didn't want a repeat of it but she respected him. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard to reply but she didn't know what to say to him, it was like her mind had gone blank for the words she needed to say to him however she could always go and see him at lunchtime; he was bound to appreciate that visit, hopefully.
As she rolled out of bed her phone began to ring which is natural for seven in the morning, not. Turning around to see if it was Paul she was relieved but disappointed to see that it was Kayleigh so decided to answer it, "Why are you bothering me so early?"
"Why aren't you telling me what is going on? Girl all I ask for is updates and you haven't told me anything in ages."
If she rolled her eyes any harder they would be staring at the back of her head, maybe she should have called her last night but she was distracted by everything that happened. "It hasn't been that long since we spoke drama queen."
"Who cares, I need details about what happened and where the two of you are. I swear if you tell me nothing has changed I will strangle you."
"Things did change . . . and then they kind of got worse again."
"Oh for fucks sake Steph, what happened?"
Making her way to her chest of drawers she opened it to get herself some clean underwear for the day. "He came over yesterday after school, I mean literally turned up on the doorstep came over, I don't know how he got my address but he wanted to talk and wouldn't take no for an answer. It turned out that he knew that he had told me that he loved me."
"And what did you say?" Kayleigh was far too excited to let her finish, she just had to jump in.
"If I am allowed to even finish my story I will tell you. I told him that I love him, I just . . . I had to tell him and it worked out, he tortured me by teasing my leg when I asked him a question and then he made me feel amazing before he carried me up to my room and we had sex. We were just about to go for round two when my parents came home so I had to sneak him out of the house which was kind of funny to be honest." She trailed off her story because she didn't really want to go in to what had happened later in the evening.
If the two of them fixed things and had sex why did she not sound happy? "So are you two like back together now? You don't sound as happy as I expected if you are."
It was complicated, her life was complicated. "He is treating me like a child, we were having sexual banter and he ruined it by saying he didn't mean what he was saying. No shit, it was talk, it was a bit of fun and it made me feel like he viewed me as an equal and then he ruined it by treating me like a baby."
"Did he explain why he did it?"
"After I wrote a small essay telling him that I hated how he treated me like a child. He said that he said it as he didn't want to push me and we had only just gotten back on track and he didn't want to ruin it. I can't stay mad at him over that I don't suppose, I just want him to realise how much him doing that hurts me you know?"
Kayleigh knew exactly what her friend meant, as much as she tried to pretend like she had no feelings she was one of the softest people she knew but in the best way possible. "Talk to him, tell him that it hurt that he didn't trust you to recognise that it was just a bit of fun and he wasn't asking for any of what was said. Once you have explained that and he is in the mood to make it up to you ask for anything you want."
A giggle spilled from her lips as her best friend suggested asking for anything she wanted, "Wouldn't that be taking advantage of the situation?"
"It is what he deserves, he won't be mad as I am sure you will make whatever it is as enjoyable as possible. So when are you going to talk to him?"
Absently flicking through her wardrobe she was looking for the perfect outfit. "That is a good question and I don't have the answer to it. I have either lunchtime or after school free where I could talk to him."
"If things are going to be kept PG between you then you could certainly talk to him at lunch. I would assume that you have ignored him so he may appreciate you letting him know he isn't in the dog house soon." She knew her best friend and she knew when she was mad she shut down.
Eventually picking a skirt and sweater she tossed them on to the bed, "You make a good point, I will go and see him at lunch, if I ever get to school. I need to go and shower and have breakfast, I will talk to you later or something."
"Bye Steph."
As soon as she ended the call with her best friend she tossed the phone on to the bed and went to jump in to the shower.
As she entered the school and Hugh wolf whistled at her she flipped him off, "Get the hint, I'm not interested."
"Well don't dress like a whore if you don't want attention."
She opened her mouth to rip him a new one but was stopped in her tracks by the voice that beat her to it.
"Mr Jenkins I do think you will find that comment to be sexist. A woman can wear whatever she likes and whatever makes her happy and comfortable as long as in this setting it follows the rules of the school. It does not make her a whore if you aren't mature enough to understand that a woman dresses for herself and not for a man's pleasure. That goes for anybody else who wants to treat a woman like an object for their viewing pleasure and not a person, they will forever be smarter than you are so if you ever want to find a woman who wants to settle down with you then join the year 2017 and don't remain stuck in the 1950's. Now get to your classes please."
Slowly turning around as the chatter began again she knew whose the voice was but secretly she was hoping that she was just imagining it but when she came face to face with her boyfriend she couldn't help but sigh softly, why did he have to be there the one day she had trouble with Hugh? "Thank you. You didn't have to though, I could have handled him."
"Oh I know, believe me I know. I didn't say anything for you specifically, I said it for every single girl in this school because that is not the first time I have heard comments like those made."
Stephanie wanted to say something else to Paul but with people buzzing around she briefly hesitated however she was glad that she didn't say anything as suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, "Thank you Mr Levesque."
"You're welcome Belle, I am not entirely sure what you are thanking me for but you're always welcome." Chuckling lowly he was trying so hard not to just stare at Stephanie and to be polite and keep his gaze on the person talking to him.
"For what you said to Hugh. He has been the worst this year and especially to Stephanie so thank you for what you said, hopefully it will encourage him to learn to be a gentleman." Looping her arm through Stephanie's she tugged on it gently, "Come on, we'd better go before we are late."
Not having a chance to say anything privately to her boyfriend she had stood there subtly watching him as Belle spoke to him. When it was mentioned how much trouble she had had with Hugh she was started worrying her lip with her teeth not sure how he would react, staring at his face she hoped that he wasn't mad and he didn't seem to be, she wasn't sure what the look that flashed across his eyes was but it wasn't anger. "Bye Mr Levesque and thank you." At least she had managed to get a slightly forced smile out of him before she was steered away from him.
Paul was trying to act like he didn't care what Belle was saying to him but when she mentioned that his girlfriend had been having trouble with Hugh all year he was man enough to admit that it made him jealous, and a little insecure. It would be so easy for her to be with somebody like Hugh, somebody who was her age and who wasn't her teacher so that she could be in an open relationship with him, but she was with him and he didn't like hearing about her being harassed by another man. With no time to waste before lessons started he made his way back towards the gym having successfully dropped off the paperwork for the Principal to prove that his outing had been a success.
Her morning classes had been long and irritating, all she had been able to think about was what Paul had said and the way that he had reacted to what Belle had said. Was he jealous? Was he angry? Exactly what was it that he was feeling was bothering her; she just wanted to do her thing to get the two of them back on track after last night.
As she walked across the campus towards the gym she couldn't help but wonder if she was about to walk in to her break up. She knew that she had done nothing wrong, well apart from the previous evening completely ignoring him, but it didn't stop her being afraid.
Slowly pulling open the gym door she looked around nervously to make sure that there was nobody there watching her but there was nobody, even though it was lunchtime it was silent which she was very much grateful for. Allowing the door to softly close behind her she walked the short distance to his office and knocked on the door incase he wasn't alone.
Lunchtime was the only time he was guaranteed an hour alone to himself in the school day so when his last class of the morning left he was very much looking forward to that time as he needed to reflect on exactly what had gone down earlier and why he was so jealous of some guy hitting on his girlfriend.
He was just relaxing getting ready to pull his lunch from his bag when there was a knock at the door, he wasn't sure what game the universe was playing but he wasn't in the mood for it. "Come in."
When he invited her in he didn't sound overly enthusiastic but she pushed the door open and stepped inside anyway, "We need to talk."
The sight of his girlfriend in front of him was both welcomed and a pleasant surprise. Pushing himself up from his seat he slowly walked around the desk taking her in from head to toe, from her shoes to her mid thigh length skirt to the top which was then covered by a cropped sweater showing off her toned stomach and legs perfectly. When he reached her his hands immediately took hold of her hips and began to walk her backwards until her back hit the wall, "Mine."
There was something in the way that he was looking at her as he walked around the desk that made her drop her bag to the floor beside her, when his hands grabbed her hips firmly she couldn't help but gasp in surprise because it felt like they were burning right through her clothes.
Blindly walking backwards as he led her she whimpered when her back hit the wall, that was not a comfortable experience at all but she was quickly drawn from the weird pains in her back where she had hit things sticking out of the wall when he said the word 'mine', what was he on about? "Did I miss something? What is yours?"
"You are." He hadn't meant to say the word out loud but having her there and so close to him the word had spilled out. "Nobody is allowed to hit on you but me." Nuzzling his face in her hair he pressed a kiss right by her ear before he whispered right in to it, "This body is all mine."
Moaning she couldn't help but squirm as his hands teased her body, unintentional or not. "I am my own person, you don't own me."
"I don't but nobody else is allowed to see or touch you. I don't care if it makes me possessive, you are my girlfriend and I don't like the idea of anybody else seeing what is mine." Paul hadn't thought through the implications of what he had said before he said them and now he was desperately trying to dig himself out of a hole because she was fiercely independent.
"That can't be true if you won't touch me either." Stephanie wasn't sure what had come over him, or herself at this point.
Was that a dare? He sure as hell was fired up by her comments and was struggling to maintain his composure. "I do touch you; I touched you last night didn't I?"
Maybe this weird scenario they found themselves in was bringing out her inner issues that she had never before voiced to him but she found herself in a situation where she was practically prodding a bear with a stick to provoke them and she wasn't sure within herself if it was intentional or not. "It feels like I have to beg you to touch me just to get you to."
She did not just say that, she did not just say that he basically wasn't touching her enough did she? "How much is enough? How much is too much then?"
"It doesn't always need to be sexual touching but I like it when you touch me, when you hold my hand or drape your arm around my shoulder or pull me close with your arm around my waist. Just because I am barely eighteen it doesn't mean that I can't handle everything you have to offer, including sexual banter."
And now he knew where the root of the problem was, the texts last night. There had to be a way for him to get himself out of the hole he had currently dug himself in to with her. It had started out of nowhere and now it had gotten serious and he could not get out of this without first pleasing her but he didn't even know where to begin to start making her happy.
