It Started With a Whisper

I was frozen. I wanted to run in the opposite direction, but this was my apartment, and running would only make me have to give Ryan an explanation, which I would have to do anyway. I could tell from his demeanor that Dave wasn't completely sober. I felt like I was about to get myself in a lot of trouble.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you." He stumbled toward me, throwing his arms around my shoulders and attempting to kiss me. I quickly turned my head and pushed him back, sending him into the nearest wall. This was single-handedly the most embarrassing situation I had ever been in, and there has been plenty of those.

"How did you get here?"

"I drove," he smiled, holding up his keys. My eyes widened, and I snatched them from him.

"You drove?!" I yelled, but quickly lowered my voice when I remembered that it was well after midnight, and all of my neighbors were more than likely sleeping.

"Yes." I sighed loudly and unlocked my door, pushing Dave inside, "Go sit down. I'll deal with you in a minute."

"Oooh, feisty. I like it." He grinned like a mad man and smacked my butt before walking inside. I put my hand over my eyes, trying to find a way to explain this to Ryan. I was surprised he had been silent through this whole ordeal, but when I met his eyes, he didn't look happy.

"Who was that?" His voice was calm, but I could tell he wanted to punch Dave in the face. Hell, I wanted to punch Dave in the face, but how do you explain to someone that you went on a date with your teacher, broke things off with him, and now he won't leave you alone? You don't explain. You lie.

"My ex-boyfriend. We broke up a couple weeks ago, and he just won't leave me alone."

"Do you want me to go in there and talk to him?" That wasn't going to end well for any of us, and I quickly shook my head.

"No. I can handle it. I'm really sorry though." I had every intention of getting Ryan in my bed with the hopes that I would forget everything for a little while, but that just came back to bite me in the ass.

"It's alright. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." He kissed my cheek and disappeared down the stairs. I was almost sure that I wasn't going to see him again, but I kept my mouth shut and walked inside my apartment, locking the door behind me. Dave was stripped down to his underwear, laying on the couch.

"At least put your shirt back on," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the door.

"You're back!" He stood, walking over to me. I put my fist to his chest before he could get his arms around me.

"Put your shirt back on," I said again, glaring up at him.

"But it's hot," He whined and pouted like a child. Drunk Dave was not a person I ever wanted to see again.

"I'm going to get you some water. Stay here." I walked into the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle out of the refrigerator. When I closed the door, Dave was standing right there. I knew it was going to be a long night.

"Drink this," I demanded, watching as he opened the bottle and took a sip, "More." He did as told, and I leaned against the counter. My stomach growled loudly, and I realized that I hadn't eaten since before Amelia and I left for the club.

"Are you hungry?" I didn't know why I even bothered to ask. I was going to feed him either way. He was going to be sick if I didn't.

"Yes." He was staring at me, looking more sober than he had five minutes before, but I knew better. I didn't know how much he had to drink, but I knew he was nowhere near sober. I made us both sandwiches, making two for him. I grabbed an unopened bag of Lays out of the pantry and set it between us, pointing for him to sit down at the island.

"You can't just show up at my apartment, Dave." I was going to have to lecture him at some point. Half of me wanted to do it in the morning because I was too tired to do anything, but I didn't want to hold my tongue.

"I'm sorry. I thought you would be home. Where were you?"

"Out with Amelia." I didn't owe him an explanation, but I knew I had to tell him something.

"I didn't know Amelia was a man." I rolled my eyes. I knew that one was coming.

"She went home with someone else, but it's none of your business who I bring back here." My words came out a little harsher than I intended, but I was frustrated in more ways than one.

"What does he have that I don't?"

"He's not my teacher."

"Is that really why you won't date me?"

"It was, but you gave me three more reasons tonight." I finished my food and stood to throw my trash away, wiping down the counters while I waited for him to finish. Once he was done, I cleaned up his mess and walked to the linen closet to grab a blanket and a pillow for him.

"I'm sorry." I didn't say anything as I threw the couch pillows onto the floor.

"I'm not letting you drive home. You can sleep on the couch." I set the blanket and the pillow down, heading for my room. I stripped out of the dress that I planned on giving back to Amelia and settled for one of my dad's old t-shirts. I slipped it over my head and walked into the bathroom to wipe the makeup off my face.

"Aria?" I heard Dave's voice from outside the door, which I locked on purpose.

"What?"

"I have to pee." I was about to tell him that there was another bathroom that he could go to, but I realized he didn't know his way around, and when a drunk person has to pee, you let them pee. I opened the door to let him in and stepped out, walking over to my bed. I pulled the covers back, sliding inside and leaning back against my pillows. I was starting to get comfortable when I heard the bathroom door shut.

"Can I stay with you?" I didn't know why he asked. The answer should have been obvious.

"No."

"Please?" I turned to him, planning to give a long speech about why it wasn't a good idea and how he was lucky I was letting him stay in the apartment at all, but the look he was giving me made me swallow my words. He looked confused and upset, two emotions I didn't understand why he was feeling at the moment.

"Fine," I sighed, knowing that I was going to regret it in the morning, "Stay on your side of the bed," I mumbled, burying myself in the blankets. I turned the lamp off, making myself comfortable again. I could feel him shifting, and it was making me nervous.

"Aria?"

"Go to sleep, Dave."

"Thank you," He whispered. I could feel his hand on my back, but just as quickly as I felt it, it was gone. I had a million emotions and thoughts running through my head. My psychology professor was in my bed after showing up at my apartment drunk in the middle of the night. There were so many things wrong with what was going on, and I just didn't know how to feel. It took me forever to actually fall asleep, and when I finally did, it felt like I only had fifteen minutes of sleep when the front door slammed shut.

"Aria! Wake the fuck up! I had amazing sex last night, and I'm going to tell you every single detail! I really hope that guy you were with went home by now!" I looked at the clock, seeing that it was 1 in the afternoon. I had gotten a little under 9 hours of sleep, but that wasn't how I felt. I pushed myself up, feeling something draped across my waist. My eyes widened. Dave was still sleeping, and Amelia was two seconds from bursting in my room.

"Well, isn't this interesting. Here I am thinking I'm going to find you in bed with that hot guy from the club, but it's Mr. Franco instead." She was smirking, and I wanted to launch something at her.

"Don't start," I warned, pushing the covers off of my body. I slid myself out from underneath Dave's arm and pulled on the first pair of shorts I could find, pushing Amelia out of the room.

"So, did you guys finally fuck?" She was more excited than I ever would have been about it, and I shook my head.

"No. I had every intention of bringing Ryan back here for a nice long session, but when I got home, Dave was here, drunk outside the door. He drove here. I couldn't let him drive home so I made him stay. Do you want some tea?"

"No. I just had coffee. Why didn't you fuck him?" I rolled my eyes, putting a kettle of hot water on the stove.

"Because I'm trying to end things with him, Amelia. Not take them to the next level."

"Fucking him wouldn't take things to the next level. You were fucking Brandon with no strings attached." She had a point.

"I wasn't into Brandon like that." She grinned like she just won the lottery, and I had the urge to throw something at her again.

"So you admit it. You like him?" It was like she didn't know that already.

"We've been over this."

"But I want to go over it again, because I'm trying to understand why you guys aren't together. He likes you. You like him. He doesn't give a rat's ass that you're his student, so why are you being stubborn?" I didn't want to explain myself because I knew she was going to nitpick at everything I said until she convinced me that Dave and I should get married. She was notorious for switching my words around and making me believe something that I wasn't even thinking about in the first place.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. You're always complaining about how guys our age aren't mature. You have someone that's ten years your senior, a college professor, and you won't take that the opportunity," she practically yelled, throwing her hands in the air.

"So showing up drunk on someone's doorstep is mature?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's human, Aria, and he really likes you. Cut him some fucking slack."

"Are you guys done yelling at each other?" Dave was leaning against the wall next to the kitchen, staring directly at me.

"Well, good afternoon to you, too, Mr. Franco." Amelia was grinning again. This wasn't going to go well.

"Hello, Amelia." He didn't take his eyes off of me, and I heard her snickering.

"I'll get lost. It seems like you two need to talk." She left before I could say anything, and I winced as the door slammed behind her. I really wasn't ready for this conversation, but I knew we were going to have it at some point.

"Do you want some tea?" I asked as the kettle started to whistle.

"Yes please." I grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet along with the tea bags and the sugar and set them on the counter.

"How bad was I?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Not that bad. You smacked my butt once and refused to put clothes on, but that was as bad as it got." I set his mug in front of him and gave him a spoon for the sugar.

"I want to say that I'm sorry for coming, but I'm not." I raised an eyebrow at him, confused about what he meant.

"I'm not sure I'm following."

"Drunk or not, I had plans to come here. I just stopped at the bar with my brother before I did."

"Your brother let you drive here?"

"He left before I did. He doesn't know. He wants to meet you." I wanted to laugh, but I felt like that was rude.

"Not happening."

"I figured you'd say that. I told him you'd say that. Either way, I'm not sorry for coming here. I think we can have something good, Aria, and you're shutting it down before we can even really give it a try." This wasn't the conversation I was expecting, but I should have seen it coming.

"Dave, we already talked about this."

"No. You talked. You didn't even give me a chance to say anything."

"There's nothing to say!" I ran my fingers through my hair, wanting to pull it out.

"Don't you think that's for me to decide? Honestly, Aria, I don't know what's up or down with you. I know you feel something between us. Even Nelson saw it, and that was before I asked you out." My eyes widened at the thought of my boss knowing about a possible relationship between me and Dave.

"You see? That's exactly why we can't be together. I'm surprised we haven't been reported yet."

"He doesn't care. He basically told me to go for it. I understand that you're scared, but I promise you, we can make it work." Part of me wanted to believe him, but the logical part of my brain was screaming that this was a terrible idea and that I should kick him out.

"And what happens if we get caught?"

"We won't."

"You don't know that. I'm not worth losing your job over." I didn't know how many times I was going to have to stress that to him. He didn't seem to get it.

"Yes, you are."

"Stop arguing with me! This isn't a good idea, and you know it."

"I don't care if it's a good idea or not. I want to be with you, and you want to be with me. Stop being stubborn and just let it happen!" Before I could say anything else, he was kissing me, and it felt like my whole body had been lit on fire. His fingers were gripping my hips so tightly that I felt like I would have bruises later. He pressed me into counter, pulling back and resting his forehead on mine. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"I'm so going to regret this."