Craving for Mr. Lein

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thankyou for the support shown to Craving for Mr.Klein. As you know, these types of stories are highly unlikely to happen in real life (lucky you, if this doesn't apply to you.) The stories we share here are works of our imagination, and what is life without messing around with our creativity? This is a purely fictitious story and any resemblance to real persons, dead or alive, or real-life entities, past or present, is purely coincidental, and yada yada yada. Stop thinking about the real life implications here and try to relax, y'all. Peace.

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*****

Hardly do we ever question our fate when good things fall into our lap. We know life is short and happiness is fleeting, but it is only when bad things happen to us that we put our heads down and ask ourselves "why me?" no matter the rate at which it happens to us. But the good things? We grab at them the moment we get them, refusing to let go and momentarily, and very foolishly, we forget that good things always come to an end.

I loved what I had with Caius. I loved every second of it.

He couldn't have been more of a gentleman, always patient, always respectful. You'd think that someone with his looks and persona would have become quite unabashedly vain and arrogant about it but I can't begin to tell you how wrong that train of thought is. He couldn't stop blushing (and I couldn't stop laughing at that reaction) when I told him just how big of a female fanbase he has at the school. He did not have a single clue about how

big

of a crush I had on him until I had made the move on him that fateful day that changed my life.

Caius had been my first. And that day had been the

only

time we had had sex. But I imagine I was Caius's 167th because I can't imagine him ever

not

having had some ridiculously attractive girl gaga over him in the past.

I did not want to ask him that, however, because I didn't want to sound insecure and petty. He probably already thought of me as a child, given the

nine

year age difference.

All other days we had spent together were casual dates after school which were perhaps PG-13 at the most but not R rated in the least.

We had spent hours talking about our past, our future goals, and simply shared little things about our likes and dislikes. We discussed our favourite books, and I had guffawed and teased him a lot when he told me that

Fitzwilliam Darcy

from Pride and Prejudice was his role model for long, right after he had read it for the first time at age 10. He couldn't stop pulling at my cheeks making mock baby noises when he asked me what my biggest fear was and I had responded by saying that it was sleeping in the dark.

Things were going very smoothly up until the day I had received a text message from an unknown number. With a photo of me and Caius,

kissing

in the backseat of his BMW, in the parking lot of what we had thought was a secluded park.

I still distinctly remember the feeling of my entire body going numb, knowing in my heart what was about to come when I had seen the 'typing...' text pop up underneath the mysterious phone number.

The message had instructed me to meet the sender at the same spot, alone, on the following weekend. If I told anyone or asked Caius for help, it would be leaked and Caius would be fired from the school, possibly banned from teaching ever again.

I could not do this to him.

I had tried my best not to freak out and retain some semblance of poise when I had reached the designated place for the meeting. What could this person have wanted, I had wondered.

Money?

Was this some jealous girl from school who couldn't wrap her head around her favourite Mr.Klein dating someone

else

?

I had known that it had to be someone from school. How could they have gotten my number otherwise?

After waiting at the parking lot for about ten minutes, my phone had buzzed to reveal a message from the same mysterious person. "Turn around and walk to the red sedan you see here. Anything else, and you know what will happen," the message had read.

Crossing my fingers, I had taken slow but steady steps in the direction of the car. I had hardly been able to make out who was behind the wheel, but given the tallness of the person, I guessed it was a man. And it was true.

I opened the door to the passenger seat and sat in, only to be suddenly engulfed in cigarette smoke. The man sitting next to me didn't waste any time to get to business.

"You look even more beautiful up close."

I couldn't have been more surprised at the comment, considering whom it had come from.

Jay Fuller

. Blonde, hot,

divinely built

Jay. The same Jay I had pined after since middle school until junior year in high school.

A year older, he had always been popular and had obviously never given a rat's ass about my existence. To hear him call me beautiful would have been heaven to my ears, if only we had met under different circumstances.

He had graduated last year with a full sports scholarship to Rodenham Tech, one of the best colleges in the north. His family no longer lived here. So what was he even doing back

here

?

"It's like you've changed and not changed at the same time...hmm." He tilted his head and reached to gently hold my chin to tip my head up. He licked his lips.

"You've been naughty though." He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners in way which can only be described as strange.

"Jay. What the fuck is this about?" I spat at him.

"And a potty mouth..."

I tried to jerk my head away from his hold but he quickly adjusted his vice-like grip to wrap over my jaw and neck, holding me in place. His thumb grazed over my bottom lip in a deceptively gentle manner.

"Watch that mouth, bitch, or I'll give you something better to whine about."

I didn't think twice before I quickly snapped at his thumb on my lip, catching the meaty part between my teeth as I dug hard and deep into the flesh.

"Aargh!" He exclaimed, pushing my head back in a sudden and harsh move. My head hit the door's window hard while he inspected his now bleeding thumb.

"You filthy bitch-" I felt a sharp hit against the right side of my face, followed by a momentary loss of hearing on that side.

"You listen up, and you better get this straight. You try that shit one more time and I will not even give you the chance to be alive to see your

pedophile

of a lover, you get that?"

I was frozen with terror. I nodded meekly, holding my head down as I tried to get a good look at him. I had to find a way to get out of this.

Just as soon as I had finally managed to raise my head up without support, I saw him leaning towards me with his head tilting to one side...he kissed me before I could do anything about it. He held on to my waist and I tried my best to get out of his hold but he simply wouldn't let go.

I could feel one of his hands sneaking up my shirt towards my breasts when I decided to shove my fingers into his eyes. The effect was instant but

brutal

on the both of us - he had bitten down on my lip in pain before shoving me away and yelling in protest. I quickly took that moment to grab his phone from the dock and get the hell out of the car.

I took one moment to look behind. He was still clutching and rubbing at his eyes before I decided that he wouldn't start the car anytime soon and it was safe for me to run away.

***

The content on Jay's phone had been shocking to the extreme.

I

was his phone's wallpaper.

It had looked like a photo taken from right behind me, with my back towards the camera and my face partially turned in the direction of the lens. It had looked like it was shot earlier this year when my hair was still short and Jay was in school.

His phone's photo gallery revealed more than I wanted to know. Photos of me taken from different angles, different days. None of them with me looking in the direction of the lens. No wonder I didn't know Jay had been stalking me this

whole

time.

Never in my life had I ever felt so thoroughly spooked. I wanted to hit myself for ever having felt what I had about Jay for the longest time. Swallowing the fear, I scrolled further to see a picture of me and Caius in the car, kissing. The

same

one he had sent to blackmail me.

Without even thinking twice, I deleted the photo. Only to find more pictures of us. I could not even believe just how fucked up Jay was in the head but given the way he had hit me and tried to make a move on me, I was willing to bet that it could've gotten a lot worse if I hadn't done what I did.

I deleted all of them. All the pictures, other than the ones of me in school.

I copied them to my laptop before I cleaned myself up, and took the phone to the police to report them as proof for Jay stalking and sexually harassing me.

***

The days which immediately followed the incident with Jay had been odd. I don't remember much of what passed in that time, save for the fact that I could not see Caius. I avoided going to his classes. Anytime I spotted him in the hallway, I would turn the other way and wait till he left before resuming on my path. I did not pick up his calls, even ending them to stop the pricking at my conscience. I knew it wasn't my fault but I could not help but feel sorry for how I was making him feel.

It was heartbreaking when he showed up at my doorstep, luckily enough on a day when no one was at home except for me. He had rung the doorbell a billion times before he gave up and left. I could not stop crying that night.

I

knew

I had to end it with Caius.

While Jay had been booked for multiple charges of assault, battery and sexual harassment, I knew that it wasn't enough that I was safe. This thing with Caius would never allow that to happen. Atleast for now. If not Jay, someone

else

would soon discover our secret relationship and I could never live with the fact that he would lose his job because of this.

Explaining this to him would never work out, because I don't think I have it in me to say this to his face and break things off. Call it the coward's way out, but I

had

to do this.

***

It has been a month since Caius showed up at home. I had resumed going to my English class last week. He had only given me a surprised look when I entered the room but when he saw no response from my side, he went back to his detached, old self.

Haley, my best friend, nudges me with her elbow when the class ends. "Earth to Van. Did you hear that he's dating Ms. Sapphire?"

Who

the hell is Ms. Sapphire?

"Oh

c'mon

. Don't act like you don't give a shit about him. Atleast

act

like you care about school gossip sometimes." Haley smiles at me wryly while we gather our things.

"Sapphire sounds like a stripper name. Is she really a teacher here?"

Haley breaks into a loud guffaw. "She could earn well if she really was. That's one sexy woman. And scoring someone as hot as

Klein

? Mad props to her."

She says some more but I am no longer listening. I am good at tuning out things that I know will affect my sanity badly.

Four hours later, I find myself checking the venue for all the preparations. It is my older brother Terry's college graduation party (from Harvard, no less) for family and friends in town and given my father's reputation as a famous architect, nearly

everyone

in Rosewood is invited. This party cannot be anything but a grand success, like all my father's projects.

The venue seems perfect. While this is not an upscale, black tie event, it could pass for one, considering how

posh

the banquet hall is for a casual party with beer and barbeque grills, with middle aged dudes wearing khaki shorts and polo shirts just lying around like

whales

on a beach.

My mother is the

mother

of double meaning talk. When she says something, she means something else and she does it on purpose. So when the invitation says 'casual' for the dress code, it really means 'black tie.' Anything less, and she'd be disappointed. She is disappointed quite a

lot

.

The guests start to show up in groups of three or four, all praising Terry for his achievements. I walk around from one group to another, politely greeting everyone distractedly while looking for Haley.

I feel my arm getting grabbed and I stumble behind a potted fern, nearly tripping over my five inch heels that my mother forced me to wear.

"Haley, what the

fu-

"

"Look! They're here!" She mock whispers as she points in the direction of the main entrance.

It's

Caius

. And he has brought a date.

"Is that the one-" I start to ask but Haley interrupts with her non-stop babbling.

"Yes, Sapphire. Doesn't she look gorgeous!?"

She does, indeed. As if she knows my mother as well as I do, she has chosen to wear a close fitting bodycon dress that screams sophistication and sex at the same time.

And Caius...dear

lord

.

I can't take my eyes off of him. This is the first time I am allowing myself to look at him freely since the last time we met. He looks incredibly hot, more so than his usual formals, if you ask me. And he is not even dressed in a suit.

He is wearing a simple white V-necked shirt (not the douche bag cleavage revealing type) with a checkered grey button-up shirt over it, open at the front, sleeves rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms. His jeans hang low on his hips but not too low to look immature and wannabe-ish. This is the most casual that I have ever seen him dressed and I don't think I'm breathing right.

Half an hour later, I find myself finding ways to check him out without being discovered. But I might have dug holes into his torso with my staring because suddenly, his eyes catch mine over the crowd.

Sapphire is right next to him, chatting away with an older woman with her arm looped through his. The older woman says something to him but he isn't paying attention.

"

Sweet baby Jesus

, Klein looks like a

God

- oww!" Haley says loudly over the music; I elbow her in the stomach to shut her up and remind her that the music isn't

as

loud to cover up her obnoxiously loud chatter.

Turning my attention back to Caius, I find myself fighting the need to walk over to him and kiss him with all I have. If I explain what happened earlier, he would understand, right?

Sapphire laughs in response to something the older woman just said and mouths something that looks like "I sure do" before doing the unbelievable. She grabs Caius's head, pulls it down and kisses him,

hard

.

I stop breathing, and then I feel a sharp intake of breath as I watch him put his hands on her waist. It goes on for about ten seconds before a couple of guests around them cheer, hoot and yell "get a room" at them. Laughing ensues.

They detach themselves from each other and Sapphire chuckles in a coquettish way.

I quickly swivel around to find the bathroom but just as I'm turning, I catch Caius's eyes looking at me. He begins to mouth something but I am already on my way.

"Hey, where are you going?" Haley catches my hand. I give it a squeeze and leave without a word.

Upon reaching the bathroom, I let go of my mental dam, releasing the waterworks from the reservoir I had built up over the last month.

Did I make a mistake? Was it

wrong

to feel like I was responsible for Caius making the right choice by not risking his

career

for me? Surely, Sapphire was a better choice. They're

both

teachers. They're in the same town, same school. They're not breaking any laws by dating each other. Even if it's not her, then anyone else would be a better option. Anyone else but me.

Five minutes later, I decide that I cannot bear to stay at the party in this mood with him and Sapphire around in the same vicinity. I text Haley, Terry and my dad, telling them that I was feeling feverish and am already on my way home.

I step into the parking lot to find Caius standing across the lot, leaning on a car. He has thankfully not spotted me yet and I simply have to get to my car without grabbing his attention.

But I should've known that it was

too

much to ask for.

Not even twenty metres in, I see him walking in my direction from my peripheral vision. I start to walk faster but to no avail - I'm no match for his speed, teetering in my heels with him striding smoothly on his tall legs.

"Vanessa." He calls out my name when he is ten metres away. I break out into a jog.

"Vanessa.

Stop

." He is now standing right next to me, an arm stretched out infront of me to block my way.

"What.

What

do you want, Klein?" I say in a harsh tone, using his last name without a thought from hearing Haley using it for the whole last month.

He notices it too.

"Why are you ignoring me like this?" He looks around to see if anyone's here, running his hands through his hair in the process. I try my best not to sound like I care.

"You seem to have no problem with getting attention." I say in a tone which sounds more bitter than nonchalant. So much for not sounding petty and insecure.

"I cannot believe you sometimes. You're hot and cold all the time! Can you please tell me what mistake I've made to make you behave like I don't exist? If I remember correctly, all we did last time was eat ice cream in my car and I thought it ended well. Care to explain what the

fuck

went wrong in your version?"

He is swearing. He's

angry.

I start to feel tears pricking at my eyelids, unable to think how I should proceed further.

Catching onto the sudden shift in the mood, he puts his hands on my arms and pulls me into a tight hug. I try to resist it, keeping my arms at the sides like an awkward penguin.

"Quit it, Van."

That does it for me. I feel the tears leak out of the corners of my eyes as I put my arms around him and bury my face in his chest, tears soaking into his shirt.

"Babe. Shh."

He rubs his thumb in circles on my back in a comforting gesture before he starts to lead me towards my car. I sniffle before asking," What are you doing?"

"Taking you home."

"What about your car?" I pull away from him to try to look in the direction it was parked in.

"That's Sapphire's. I'll text her to tell her that I left early." He sighs, sounding tired. I feel my hands clenching into tight fists at the response.

He notices it but all he says is "We really need to talk. We'll talk when we get there," before driving us back to my house.

***

The drive back to my house was completely silent. The chemistry between us was unwavering and shockingly strong, despite the tension in the air for what was about to come. Neither of us dared to look in the other's direction.

Taking my heels off, I carry them upstairs to my room, wondering if I should let him stay downstairs or call him up to talk.

I undo my bun and wash my face to clean off the raccoon eyed mess I looked like. I had been so distressed that I hadn't cared about how shitty I looked like infront of him. Deciding that I had no time to waste, I go down to meet him.

I walk into the living room to find Caius standing next to our liquor cabinet. He is looking at the framed photographs kept inside - photos of me from my childhood, ones of me and Terry on the beach, and a recent one of me and my dad on one of our hiking trips. I look tired, sweaty and ridiculously happy in it. I wonder what Caius is thinking.

He turns around at that precise moment to look at me. After a pregnant silence, he says, "I'm not into Sapphire."

I simply look at him, waiting for more.

"She is an old friend, has always been into me and since we were coming to your party together, I figured it'd be nice to not hurt her feelings like I always do. She asked me to come."