Page 39 of Teaching Cayden

“Seems like you gave up a lot for her,” he mused as he sipped his coffee.

“I only had one more year at the fraternity. I can have her for the rest of my life.” I shrugged as I moved the peas to my brow. I was going to have quite the face tomorrow with all these bruises. “I’m not sure I even have her now though since she decided to leave.”

“You have her.” Dad chuckled. “I saw her face when her brother was beating the crap outta you. She’s just as nuts as you are.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s not to say that you don’t have your work cut out for you.” He laughed again. “How long has that been going on?”

“Truth?” I sighed.

“Of course.” Dad shook his head like he didn’t even know who I was.

“A while,” I murmured.

“Real helpful, Cayden,” he grumbled.

I knew that me telling him the details of this relationship was going to put me in some hot water, but I also knew my dad had quite the fight to win my mom over. “Remember when I was taking summer classes at UNCW back in high school?” I started and Dad nodded. “Well I met Addison in the library, only I didn’t know her name or anything. I looked everywhere for her when I started school. All I knew was that she was older, and great at math.” I paused as I got ready to drop the next bomb on him. “I finally found her this spring, only she wasn’t a student… she’s the TA in my differential equations class.”

“Cayden” my father warned.

“I know, trust me, I know.” I blew out a breath. “I resisted her as long as I could, Dad. It took months of avoidance. I skipped out on tutoring sessions. Found someone at the house to help. I even started skipping class. It didn’t matter though. No matter how much time or distance I put between us, it only delayed the inevitable. The first time I kissed her, I thought I was burning alive. She set me on fire, Dad.”

“Sounds like a nice problem to have,” he mused.

“I guess.” I shifted in my chair. “I just wish things weren’t so fucked up between us. The school thing is one thing, but the fraternity is a whole other sinkhole that I’m not sure I can fix.”

“I’d be more worried about the school thing if I was you,” Dad warned.

“Trust me, I am. Dr. Haywood won’t beat my ass for being with his TA though.” I chuckled and then groaned in pain.

“Good morning.” My mom’s voice was chipper as she breezed into the kitchen. “Oh my god!” She rushed over. “What happened to my baby?”

“I’m fine, Mom.” I let her pull the peas away from my face and survey the damage.

“Cayden here decided to sleep with his teacher.” Dad wagged his finger at me with an amused expression as Mom almost tripped over herself.

“What?” she screeched.

“It’s not a big deal, Mom. She’s a TA, not a professor, and she’s only my teacher for five more days.”

“Tell her the rest.” Dad chuckled. I don’t know why he was enjoying this so much.

“She’s Will Porter’s sister,” I grumbled and Dad started to laugh. “I don’t think this is funny,” I snapped at him.

“Oh it’s hilarious.” He hit the table with his fist. “I swear I thought you were smart, Son.”

“I’m out.” I stood and started to walk away.

“Oh don’t leave honey.” Mom reached out and placed her palm on my arm. “Your dad is just mad that he’s finding out about this late.”

“Yeah, well,” I paused, “I was hoping to get some help from you guys.”

“Give her time. Fix your face, and then go grovel.” Dad shrugged. When I didn’t say anything he laughed before adding, “It worked on your mom.”

“It did not.” She slapped at his shoulder. “Give her time, Cayden, he’s right about that. Go talk to Will. You need to make things right with him too.”

“I don’t even know if that’s possible now.” I sighed.

“You’ll never know if you don’t try.” Mom smiled. She was right about that. I did need to talk to Will. I knew what he said, but I was kinda hoping that after he calmed down, he’d see that he was being irrational and Addison and I weren’t really doing anything wrong.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “I need to get back to campus. I have a lot to straighten out.” Not only did I need to talk to Will, but I needed to find Serena and get an explanation on what last night was about with her. Something was going on, and for some reason I felt like I should have known what it was. “I’ll see you guys in a week when I have to move out of the dorms. No way am I going to be able to stay at the house this summer.”

“Love you, sweetie.” Mom kissed me on the cheek as I handed over the melting bag of peas.

“Love you too, Mom.” I hugged her before shuffling to the door and making my way outside. I walked along the path back to Uncle Nick’s house before climbing into my car to make the drive back to campus. The first thing I was going to do was sleep, then maybe shower. Tomorrow I would go see Will. Today all I wanted to do was rest. Sleeping on a lounge chair with another person was not comfortable. Romantic? Maybe, but comfortable? No.

Twenty four hours… that was all I had before I needed to make this right.

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