Crushed (Student/Teacher Love Story)

Chapter Ten

Hey everyone, I'm so sorry for the incredibly infrequent and unreliable uploads for this story. I've been going through quite a bit for some time now and pretty much neglected everything I love and enjoy - which is no excuse for letting you down, but I figured I owed you all an explanation. It's incredible to see the amount of people who have been reading Crushed, all the comments and likes, and all of your support. Personally, I didn't expect anyone to read this story, so thankyou so, so much!

Anyway, I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter of Crushed - I do plan to finish the story, but I can't promise regular uploads beyond the point that they will at least be more regular than they have been in the past. So, enjoy the story, and thankyou for reading!

xx ChontelleLouise

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After dinner, Mr and Mrs Benson went to their room whilst Gabe and I cleared the table and washed up. I was nervous to be alone with Gabe. I couldn't explain it, but since moving in with the Benson's I've been thinking more and more about Gabe, his annoying personality, the aura of 'douche' that radiates around him, his cute but evil smirk, the way his hair falls so perfectly onto his face, framing his features....

God, I had it bad. I didn't even like the guy and yet he managed to consume my thoughts, and to manifest these crazy feelings inside of me that were totally wrong, given the circumstances. I had to get a hold of myself.

I grabbed the last of the plates from the table and made my way back to the kitchen, where Gabe was scrubbing some pots and pans. I put the plates next to him with the rest of the dirty dishes, and returned to his other side to dry and put away the dishes. We did so mostly in silence for a few minutes, the only sound that of the water sloshing and plates and cutlery clashing.

"So," I began, breaking the fairly awkward silence, "Your mum makes amazing brownies."

Lame. So lame.

Gabe laughed, "So do I, It's a top secret family recipe".

"Top secret, hey? Surely you could share it with me, after all now that I'm living with you, I'm practically family," I teased in reply.

Gabe raised an eyebrow along with that famous smirk of his.

"Sister? Is that you?"

My eyes widened, and Gabe burst into laughter.

"So not funny!" I exclaimed, however he continued to laugh.

Okay then, Gabe.

I reached over to the sink, raised my hand and slapped the water, splashing it up into Gabe's face.

I giggled as Gabe wiped the water out of his face and turned to me,

"You did not just do that," he stated.

"Oh, but I did!"

"You're gonna regret that one," he said, and before I knew it I too was covered in water.

We splashed and flicked and threw water at each other, similar to how you would have a food fight with someone. Honestly, this was probably the most fun I had had in a while.

When we'd calmed down a bit, we resumed our places at the sink, still laughing. I looked up at Gabe, and he laughed even more.

"What?" I asked, wandering if my makeup was running or smudged or something.

"You've got a massive patch of soap bubbles on your nose," he replied, still laughing, "You look like some kinda soap clown."

I dropped my mouth into an 'O', and slapped his arm,

"Hey!"

As I reached up to wipe the bubbles off of my nose, Gabe also reached over. I stopped, and he softly wiped away the bubbles before reaching past my nose and tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. His hand lingered there for a minute, as we looked at eachother. I studied his face, his pale blue-grey eyes, his perfectly sculpted features, the way his deep golden hair flopped over one of his eyes.

I'm not sure how long we stood there, simply staring at eachother. What was going on, what were we doing? What was I doing? Sharing an intimate moment with my freakin' teacher? Was that even what this was ? Maybe there was nothing intimate about this, maybe I was reading too much into this. Nevertheless, I looked down and quickly turned my head away, ruining the moment and creating an awkward situation as a result.

Gabe coughed and took his hand away, instead using it to swipe his own hair out of his face.

"Um," he began, avoiding looking in my direction, "So it looks like we're finished with the dishes. Uh I'll just empty the water and put those plates away and uh, yeah I'll finish off for us if.."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, catching on to the getaway option he was providing me with, "Thanks. I'll just, go to my room."

Gabe nodded his head in acknowledgement, and I quickly put down the cloth and made my way out of the kitchen and upstairs to my room.

Once I got to my room, I plonked myself stomach-down on my bed. This was just crazy, in my short time here at Noosa, I had experienced heaps more than I had in Sydney. You wouldn't think it, but in comparison, my life in Sydney was incredibly dull and boring. Then again, the experiences I'd had since arriving in Noosa weren't necessarily the opposite, instead being a mixture of scary, romantic, annoying, and illegal. What a great combination.

I sighed, grabbing my phone from the bedside table and rolling over onto my back as I checked my messages. Tori had sent me a text asking if I'd like to meet her and Brianna for coffee before school tomorrow, which I quickly responded to,

'Yeah, I'll meet you at 7am'

I then checked my facebook, only to find that my so-called best friend Beth had officially listed herself as in a relationship - with my ex-boyfriend! That was a kick in the guts. Sure, I didn't like him anymore or even for a long time now. And I'd moved on - well, mentally anyway. But still, I would never do that to a friend.

I turned off my phone and put it back next to my bed. I figured that with school tomorrow I had better go and work on my assignments, so I lifted myself off the bed and got started on the most urgent assignment: English.

It was going to be a long night.