It’s been a week since I’ve seen Kelsey. A full, fucking week. We’ve talked, but it’s not enough. I miss her. I want to cuddle with her. Kiss her and just immerse myself in everything that is Kelsey. I also want to know what the hell is wrong. I know something is up. Her conversations are too guarded, and she’s evasive. She might say it’s nothing, but I don’t believe her. And, I won’t until I look in her eyes.

It can’t all be worrying about finals. Those are done. Over. But, she sounded just as strained when I talked to her earlier. Something is up, and I want to know what the hell it is.

Mary lets me into the apartment, and I go straight into Kelsey’s room, closing the door behind me, with no lingering in the common area.

She’s coming out of her closet and pulling on a sweater and stops when she sees me. I had thought to kiss her, thoroughly, holding her close to my body, but what I see in her face and eyes, cools all desire. “What is wrong?”

Kelsey shakes her head and looks away. “Tough week.”

It’s not exactly a lie. Her face is drawn, eyes dead and there are circles beneath from lack of sleep. Her body is tense.

“Why has it been so tough?”

She still hasn’t looked at me, but grabs some boots and sits on the bed, pulling them on. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

I run through everything in my mind from the moment she walked into my room to get her tat until our last conversation.

She’s shutting me out. I thought we were beyond that.

Is it more. Is she done?

What the hell had happened this week?

“I’d prefer we do.”

She looks up at me. “Can’t we just have an enjoyable day?”

“As if you could enjoy anything,” I grind out.

“Alex, please…”

“Please what? Not care about you? Not want to know what is wrong?”

“I’ll handle it.” She grabs her jacket. “Now let’s go.”

I block the door. “We aren’t going anywhere.” At least not until I have some answers.

“Why are you doing this?”

“You’re the one hiding something, or holding back.”

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“And I am not about to ignore the fact that something has you upset.” I moved closer and grasp her hands. They are as cold as ice. Is she sick?

“Let’s just celebrate your success.” She gives me a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Fame looks good on you.”

I don’t return her smile. “Don’t change the subject.”

“Can’t we make tonight about you?”

“It’s never going to be about me. It’s never going to be about you. It’s always going to be about us. And the me wants to know what is going on with the you, so that we can fix it.”

Her eyes water. “Nobody can fix this. Not you, me, we or us.”

My heart sinks. What else can’t be fixed? “Tell me.”

Kelsey takes a deep breath and looks down. “I don’t have a student teaching position anymore. The school saw the segment, and they don’t believe someone like me should be influencing impressionable teens.”

Anger flashes in an instant. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouldn’t yell but I am pissed.

“I wish I were,” she answers in a tired and weak voice. She sits on the bed, dejected. Her shoulders slump. “My academic advisor is trying to find me another high school, but if nobody takes me on, I’m screwed. I’ll never be able to teach without being a student teacher first. I won’t be able to graduate, and every fucking thing I’ve worked for since graduating Baxter will be washed down the drain because I stepped into a room to get a fucking tattoo and let it be filmed.”

“You needed that tattoo.”

“I didn’t need to get it for all the world to see.”

“Are you blaming me or both of us?”

“You?” she glances up. “You were there. I decided to stay. This is all on me. I am supposed to be a teacher. I should have known what would happen. No high schooler is going to respect a teacher after they’ve seen her boobs on a video.”

“It’s not like it was a porn, Kelsey.” I sit down next to her and put my arm around her waist, pulling her close. “And, I know the difference.”

“Doesn’t matter. The powers that be at the school don’t see it that way.”

“They aren’t the only school out there,” I remind her.

“Do you know how many hits that video has?” A tear slips out of the corner of her eye. “I checked, hoping it was a few, but everytime I go back, more and more people have seen it. At this rate, there won’t be a lot of people who haven’t.” Kelsey swipes her cheek with the back of her hand. “Which is awesome for you. You’re soaring in popularity.”

My success has come at a huge price to Kelsey, and I would trade it in a heartbeat. I didn’t need this. I had enough work, as much as I wanted. I didn’t want to be famous. And certainly not at the cost of Kelsey’s dreams being destroyed. If I had had a crystal ball that day, I would have let her walk out, and then none of this would have happened.

But, if I had, she wouldn’t be here with me now. I would have never gotten to know the Kelsey Fry I should have gotten to know when I was a seventeen-year-old dick.

I can about guess what day she found out too. It was either Tuesday or Wednesday. “When were you told?”

“Wednesday.” She sighs.

“And you didn’t think this was important enough to tell me?” I am trying so fucking hard not to yell at her. She just kept something huge from me. Not that I could have done anything about it, but I could have been here, for her.

“You have enough to worry about. You added to your hours, lots of new customers. I didn’t want you worrying about me when there isn’t a damn thing you could do about it.”

“I thought we had something, Kelsey? Or, at least building on something.”

“We do! We are!” she insists as tears come to her eyes.

“Then you and I have a different idea of what something is because if this would have happened to me, I would have wanted you around.”

“That’s not it.”

Tears are streaming down her face, and I shouldn’t make her cry, but I am pissed. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to distract you from your work.”

“Bullshit!”

“I’m telling you the truth. It’s my problem, Alex. Not yours. I’m not going to ruin your day because mine is fucked up.”

Her brown eyes, filled with tears are almost pleading. She really means it, and she doesn’t get it.

“Kelsey, I’m here for you, and I assume you are here for me if I need you.”

“Of course!”

“It can’t be one sided.”

She swipes away her tears. “That’s the problem. I don’t know how to need anyone. To allow myself…I don’t know how not to be alone.”

“Shh.” I pull her into my arms. Kelsey has been doing it on her own, probably from the moment Brandon died. Her words are slowly sinking in, and my anger all but disappears. She doesn’t know what it’s like to have someone. And, I’m not the only someone who will be there in a pinch. I’m just afraid it’s going to take her awhile to get used to it. “Don’t keep anything from me again. Okay?”

She sniffs. “Okay.”

I grab a tissue off her desk and hand it to her. “Now, blow your nose, and then we’ll figure out what we are going to do today.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be much fun to be around.” She grimaces.

“Look at me.”

She lifts her eyes and looks at me through damp lashes.

“If I was only out for fun, I wouldn’t be here, Kelsey. I’m here for you. The good and the bad. I am here for the promise of something.”

Before she can respond, if she planned to, her phone rings and she grabs it, frowning when she looks at the number and then answers.

Her eyes widen, and she sinks into the chair at her desk. “Did they say what they want?”

She’s biting the corner of her bottom lip as she grabs a notebook and jots down a telephone number.

“Okay, I’ll call them. Thanks, Friday.”

Friday? As in Friday Reed? How many Friday’s could there be out there. “What?”

Kelsey just looks at me. Her eyes are confused, stunned. “Brandy’s adoptive parents are trying to get ahold of me. They called the Reeds for my number when they saw the segment. Friday wouldn’t give out the information but promised to pass their number on to me.”