Chapter 37

Tessa’s POV

I froze when I saw Brian approaching. He was alone without Amanda, which was odd because she was always trailing behind him. Even when we dated.

Brian had promised that he would leave me alone if Joseph retracted his statement, so I was surprised he wanted to talk to me.

It’s been over a week since I’ve spoken to Brian and our last interaction wasn’t great. I rubbed my wrist at the memory of him grabbing me and dragging me along with him.

Obviously, he wasn’t drunk now during school hours, but I really didn’t want to have any kind of conversation with him. There was nothing he could say that would change my opinion of him.

“I’m going to be late for class,” I said to him.

“I’ll be fast. I just want to talk,” Brian said, standing in front of me and blocking me from being able to step around him.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“I never got to explain myself with a clear mind. You left so quickly and that Professor just —”

“You don’t need to explain anything, Brian,” I said, staring up at him. “I saw everything with my own eyes. You were kissing her.”

“She was kissing me, Tessa,” he said, gesturing his hands vaguely. “I would never do that to you. I love you. Why would I cheat on you knowing that you were right there?”

He had a point, but it didn’t matter anymore.

“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind about you. When I saw the two of you kissing, it broke me. I loved you so much and I would have done anything for you. But I was still not good enough. Then, you showed up here drunk!”

“Because I was upset and hurting…” he explained. I could hear the desperation in his tone, and I wondered why he was trying so hard to make me understand.

Brian was incredibly handsome, not to mention rich, and good at almost everything. He had a very bright future ahead of him and his future was already basically secured.

He could get any woman in this entire school.

Hell, he could get any woman in this city. But he was standing in front of me and practically begging me to forgive him.

“I don’t want to speak to you,” I told him, shaking my head. “You hurt me…”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last week. I know I said I’d leave you alone, but I can’t seem to do that…” he said softly, reaching his hands out to me.

I pulled my hands away instantly. I no longer liked his touch.

“Please come home, Tessa. We can talk more about this over dinner tonight. I miss your cooking…”

“Is that what it is? You want me to come home and cook for you? I’m not your mother, Brian. I’m certainly not your personal maid. You can cook your own meals,” I told him, shaking my head.

When I looked at him, I no longer see the man I loved. I saw a complete stranger who would do everything in his power to hurt me. That disgusted me more than anything and I didn’t want to entertain this conversation any longer.

“That came out wrong,” he said, wincing at my words. “I didn’t mean it like that. I can cook if you want me to. I just want to spend another night without, and we can talk about all of this.”

“What part of ‘no’ are you not understanding? I don’t want to talk to you about this. I saw you kissing another woman behind my back during a birthday party I slaved tiredly over, and I did that for you. You broke my heart, and you can’t mend that.”

“She kissed me, Tessa. I told her I didn’t want any part of it afterward. I was drinking a little too much and maybe I got lost in the moment and I was also upset with you for—”

“You were upset with me for pursuing my dreams that didn’t correspond with your goals,” I shot back, shocking him. “That doesn’t give you a right to cheat on me. Regardless of how upset you are… you don’t cheat on someone.”

“That’s not fair, Tessa.”

“No, what’s not fair is all the time I wasted on you and all the effort I made to prove that I can be the best girlfriend. I took classes in business instead of writing and hung out with the people you wanted me to hang out with. But I realized that they would never like me because I’m not Amanda,” I said coldly.

I bent over backward for him for so long and I wasn’t going to do it anymore. Having the freedom to do what I want and hanging out with people I like made me realize how confined I was when I was with Brian.

Ruby was right about him from the very beginning, and it took him kissing Amanda for me to see that.

“You are never going to amount to anything if you continue on this path, Tessa. All I wanted from the very beginning was to help you with your future, but you never listened to me.”

“Writing is my future, Brian.”

I was tired of this same argument.

“You used to think a lot more logically and now you’re just being stupid,” Brian muttered, shaking his head at me. “You’ll find out someday that I was right this entire time, and that writing is not a career; it’s a hobby. Nobody will give a shit about what you write, you’ll always be a nobody.”

His words stung and I felt tears burn the back of my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let him see me cry.

“Go to hell, Brian,” I said through my teeth.

I turned away from him, about to walk away, but his next words made me freeze.

“You know you’ve changed since you started that writing course. I bet it has to do with that new professor.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, turning back toward him.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “That new professor that you so obviously have feelings for him. I always knew you were a teacher’s pet, but I never knew you were a teaches whore.”

I had nothing to say to him; I wasn’t going to let him ridicule me any further.

“It’s over, Brian. Just accept it and move on.

Third person POV

“It’s over, Brian. Just accept it and move on.”

Those words gave Amanda pure joy as she watched, from around the corner, Tessa walking away from Brian. However, Amanda also knew that Brian wasn’t going to give up that easily because he was desperately in love with Tess and had been for a long time.

It’s always been “Tessa this” and “Tessa that.”

Amanda was sick of hearing about his gorgeous Tessa.

She had been best friends with Brian for as long as she could remember, and she also loved him for most of that time. But Brian never reciprocated those feelings for her, and it drove her crazy. However, they were drunk enough to have a little passion between the two of them during his birthday party. But it didn’t last long before they were caught by Tessa and her friend.

Amanda never wanted that kiss to end. She was hoping that Brian would see that she was the one for him all along. But since Tessa left the party, she’s all he’s been thinking and talking about. He’s been watching her like a lost puppy.

It was quite pathetic in Amanda’s opinion.

It hurt her to hear Brian telling Tessa that their kiss meant nothing and that it was Amanda that kissed him. That wasn’t entirely true. Amanda might have made the first move, but it took two sets of lips to do what they did. It was Brian’s tongue that was shoved down Amanda’s throat. Brian wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close only to push her away when Tessa found them out.

The blame shouldn’t be on Amanda alone. But because Amanda loved Brian so much and would do anything for him, she took the blame and forced herself to apologize to Tessa.

Tessa continued to walk away, leaving Brian standing alone and sad in the hallway. Amanda had gone unnoticed by both.

It filled her with such rage seeing Brian acting so desperately to get Tessa to forgive him. It was clear to her that it was always going to be around Tessa, regardless of what Amanda did.

He was never going to truly want Amanda unless Tessa was no longer a factor.