The Minister Ch. 04

It had felt like he and Ivy had finally gotten past the tension and anger. But one punch. One kid. That was all it had taken for it all to unravel.

Ivy stared after him as he walked away. He didn't look back and he didn't say sorry. She practically gaped. She hadn't really expected him to just leave like that. He was meant to fight, to say sorry and that he wanted to stay with her. Or something like that.

Ivy sat down in the door way and waited for Heath to wake up. She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through unread text messages. Lindsay and Kurt, she hadn't seen those two in days. Come to think of it, what day was it? Thursday? The week had been full on. To say the least.

Ivy checked. It was Friday. Her Grandma had been calling her. She dialled the number quickly, she needed to get everyone off her back. She hadn't seen, called or texted anyone in days.

Her Grandma answered on the first ring. "Hello?"

Ivy paused. "Hey Gran, it's me."

"Ivy! Why haven't you been returning my calls? I've been worried sick about you." She gushed.

"Gran, I'm fine, just been busy with... school and stuff." She lied.

"Ivy, you need to call me. No matter what, at least once a day. Even if it is only a minute or two long call ok? The city is a big, dangerous place for pretty young girls like you. I need to know you are ok."

Ivy sighed. "I'm fine. Great actually. My grades in school are up, I've been doing lots of jogging and working out in the gym. I've been cooking a lot rather than eating out, you know, taking care of myself. Homework and study are just keeping me under you know? Exam period and all that."

Most of that was one big fat lie.

"Well I am glad to hear. You are still going to come out this weekend right? You have been spending a lot of time in the city considering most of the time you still live with us." Her gran asked.

Ivy cursed in her mind. She had forgotten all about that. "Um, about that Gran. I can't come out this weekend and I might have to stay in the city for two more weeks. Things are kind of crazy and it's been fun being closer to Kurt and Lindsay. I just want to spend some more time with them, seeing that it is almost the end of senior year and well... things just won't be the same after that."

Ivy heard her Grandma sigh on the other end of the line. "Alright. You are an adult I suppose. Just make sure you are looking after yourself and even if you can't stay, I want to see you by next weekend ok?"

"Alright. I will make sure I visit you next weekend. Love you Gran, send my best to Pops."

"I will. Take care sweetheart, I love you."

Ivy smiled a little and hung up. She did miss her Grandparents. This crazy week had felt like a month and well, nothing sounded better than home cooked cherry pie and her Gran's cosy house. But she couldn't have them see her like this. She was still a mess.

Beside her, Heath gasped. Suddenly sitting upright. His eyes were wide. After a moment he relaxed.

He clutched his jaw. "Bastard. My jaw." He groaned. Well that was what Ivy thought he was saying. It wasn't exactly easy to understand someone with a broken jaw. Ivy sighed and got up. She went to the freezer while Heath sat there and whined about his jaw and 'that bastard'.

Ivy came back. She stood above him holding a bag of frozen peas in one hand and his wallet in the other. She dropped them in his lap.

"You could have just handed them to me. You shouldn't be mad at me, I'm the victim here!" Heath complained.

"Heath. I did like you. But I don't anymore. You took advantage of me. I'll give you your wallet and some frozen peas, but that's as far as my generosity goes. You're on your own now." Ivy said, and with that, she slammed the door in his somewhat stunned face and marched off down the hall.

Ivy walked over to the fridge, grabbed a beer and sat down on the couch. Just one tonight. She chuckled bitterly, not repeating that mistake any time soon. She knew she was going to be in shit at school on Monday. She had barely been all week. Her friends would be annoyed, her teachers would be more annoyed and she was going to have a ton of work to catch up on. Ivy sighed and flicked the T.V. on. It had certainly been one hell of a week. God knows she needed that beer.

She tried to focus on the television but her mind kept wondering back to Derek. She was angry at him for punching Heath, though she wasn't entirely sure she should be - Heath definitely deserved it. She couldn't help but feel a little bit proud that he would do that for her though. It wasn't like they knew each other that well.

She thought back to his body. His tanned, muscular chest. The swirling ink of his tattoo. The scars. He wasn't very open about any of that. How the hell do you get scars like that? They had a certain beauty about them though. A sign of a true man. A warrior. A fighter. Someone who was strong. She couldn't help but be a little turned on by them. His body was beyond perfect. The 'imperfections' only added it.

Slowly, as the afternoon wore on, Ivy fell into a deep, dreamy sleep.

Derek had been surprised when she had told him to leave. He had been even more surprised when he just walked out, no fight, no questions, no looking back. He had marched all the way home, still angry from what had happened before he really realised what had happened.

He was such an idiot. Girls always say the opposite of what they mean. Yes, means no, no means yes, I'm ok with it means, don't you even dare and leave means stay. Or something like that. It was all very confusing.

Derek unlocked the door to his apartment, fumbling with shaking hands for the keys. He pushed inside and went straight to the couch. He sunk into its plush leather cushions and wished that it would just swallow him up.

Suddenly an image of naked Ivy popped into his head from when he barged into the bathroom on her. He tried to push it out of his head. Too late. He could feel the blood rushing beneath his belt. He tried to calm himself. His mind flickered to the intimate moment they had shared when she was admiring his body. They had almost kissed. Bloody Heath.

But then on the other hand. Derek was acting with complete disregard to his profession. He was letting this girl distract him. He was skipping out on working and left half way through his night shift yesterday. He needed to forget about her and get back on track with his work. Or he would go down as the first minister in history to get fired.

Not the way he'd hoped to go down in history. Being a minister was all about preaching the words of God, resisting temptation. Not ignoring God and giving in to the first thing that tempts you. Maybe it would be better if he had never met her. Being a minister meant sacrifice. He would have to sacrifice this mounting love and potential relationship. He needed to focus on work.

With that in mind he set off to the church, to put in some late but much needed work time.