36 Days

Chapter 5

**AN: Some language in the beginning of this chapter!**

DAVE POV

I was pissed, actually I was way beyond pissed, I was fucking furious. Who does this guy think he is? Harassing Tara, my girlfriend, a human being, and think that it's okay. I stormed onto campus even though I had no clue where Joe would be. 

To my luck, Joe's friend Yenz was sitting in the quad. I marched over to him, "Hey where's your buddy Joe?" I asked with force. "Library. Why?" He asked, though I had long ran off. 

I headed to the library and went where I thought he'd be. And to my correction, I found him in the newspaper aisle. "I'm glad that I've found you." I sneered, and he looked up. "The meeting ended almost two hours ago, if you're looking for Tara." He said with mock innocence. 

"You know why I'm here." I snapped at him. His lips curled into the most obnoxious and condescending smirk I had ever seen. "Oh, well we're men here, and Tara, well she's fucking hot. With you gone, you can't pro-' He was cut off mid-sentence by fist connecting with the corner of his jaw. 

Joe sailed to the floor with a crash, and I took this opportunity to throw continuous punches to his face. "Don't you ever talk to her or touch her ever fucking again!" I screamed at him as I continued to punch him. 

"You think you can sexually harass women because you have a power as editor over her? You're a fucking asshole." I yelled. Suddenly I was pulled off of him, and both of us were held by the arms. "What's going on here?" A gruff security guard asked. 

"He just attacked me randomly!" Joe lied. "That's an absolute lie," I replied. The security guards lead us out of the building and there I saw Tara, Lindsey, and Roger. My heart broke a bit when I saw tears in Tara's eyes, I knew I disappointed her. 

They lead us into the main office where we would face the head administrators. 

---BREAK---

TARA POV

We had been waiting for over an hour for Dave to come out of the office. I was freaking out to say the least, I was petrified that Dave could lose his internship or even get expelled. I paced up and down the front concrete steps, until finally I got a glimpse of his brunette hair. 

His face was expressionless and moments later Joe also came out through the door. Red puffy lips and a blackish blue ring around his left eye. He shot a glare Dave's direction and then stalked off the other way. 

Roger, Lindsey, and I all ran to him, questions shooting out all at once. 

"Did you get in trouble?"

"Did you get kicked out of the internship?" 

"Did Joe confess what he did to Tara?" 

"Is Joe in trouble?"

All these questions shot out at once until finally he held up his hands, motioning for us to stop talking. "Guys!" He exclaimed. I scooted closer to him and he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Let's get some coffee and I'll tell you guys what happened." He said. 

DAVE POV

We sat down in the corner booth at the coffee shop where I explained what happened. "Okay, so when we got pulled into the office, the dean was not pleased with what had happened, but was no where nearly as angry as I thought she'd be." I started, taking a sip of my hot coffee. 

"Well first of all she wanted to know exactly what had went on, and both of us gave our versions, separately. Joe denied that he harassed Tara, but when I went in to talk to the dean, I was informed that this was not the first time Joe had been accused of the very same things. So in short, I am on a first warning probation status, so I'm clear. Joe is awaiting further punishment from the council on past harassment charges and is facing removal from the newspaper team." I finished and everyone was looking down at their drinks, absorbing everything. 

"What about your internship?" Tara asked softly. "It's fine. No worries, I am not at risk for losing it." I assured her, and matching relief swept the table. 

"Well I'm gonna get going, I have a track meeting." Lindsey said, sliding out of her seat. 

"I'm gonna head out as well. See you two later." Roger also excused himself, leaving the two of us alone. 

I gently moved the hair that was on Tara's closest shoulder and slowly ran my finger up her neck. "Are you okay?" I asked her softly, my eyes gently scanning her face. She nodded, biting her lip nervously. "What is it, what's wrong?" I asked. She turned to me with glassy eyes, "I was just worried about you. I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt, and then when you got in trouble, I feared you would be expelled or lose the internship. That would devastate me, you work so hard, and if you lost it for something that was my problem, I-" 

I interrupted her, "First of all, my internship is safe, and second of all, and most importantly, this was not your fault whatsoever. So don't say it's your problem because Joe is an asshole. Also I'm gonna protect you whenever I can, because I love you and that's what you do for someone you love." I told her sincerely. She smiled up at me, and I kissed her forehead in return.