Chapter Ten: Teacher: The Subject of
Young Girl Fantasy
I called Joe when I got into the
apartment. He listened quietly to my accounts of my time with Ed in
Seattle but said little. I invited him over for dinner but he said
he was busy for the weekend. He gave me the weekend off to rest, but
said he'd be in touch early next week.
Early Monday afternoon, I made my way
over to the college for my modeling gig. I stopped by the theatre
department but Joe's class was already in session. So, I headed over
to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee before my class started.
Sitting down at a table with my coffee steaming before me, I opened a
book, one that Ed had recommended last week. I am a confessed book
nerd and usually have a stack of books I'm reading at one time. As I
had opened the first page, I began reading quietly while sipping my
drink. Someone walked up to me, I could feel their nearness, and
cleared their throat to get my attention. I looked up and saw Riley,
in all his charming geekiness, grinning down at me. I smiled,
feeling the butterflies bouncing in my stomach.
“Hi,” he began. “How was your
trip?”
“Good,” I replied.
“Successful?”
“Yes, of course,” I replied,
smiling mysteriously.
“Good,” he began. “So you still
want to watch Inuyasha later?”
I smiled up at him, his boldness, and
felt an appreciation for his attention. But, my mind flashed to my
phone conversation a few days back with Joe, remembering that he
promised to get a hold of me.
“I think I might be busy,” I
stated. He looked crestfallen so I added, “But I'll let you
know.” He perked up a bit at that and said,
“Great, I'll see you in class.” He
waved off and headed towards the art building. I put my book away,
picked up my coffee, and made my way in that direction, slowly
trailing behind him.
Upon entering the classroom, Ken
secured me privately into the corner, on the ruse that he needed to
discuss poses for that day when in fact he informed me of an upcoming
arrangement he had made with Joe on our behalf. We were to meet
tomorrow night at the Motel 6 for the full treatment, as he referred
to it. I looked him over and winced inwardly, he must have saved up
for this, but outwardly I smiled discreetly and invitingly.
“I'll see you then,” I gave, in my
best attempt at an “I can hardly wait, come hither” look. He
smiled, then turned off to address the class and begin the day's
lesson.
After class, I quickly dressed and made
my way over to the theatre department. The day's acting class was
letting out and I asked a student if Joe was still in the classroom.
The student nodded and I made my way towards the back of the
auditorium, opening the door a crack to check if he was alone.
He wasn't.
Joe was talking to a student, a young
pretty female student. They were laughing in that knowing way that
shows interest. I could see the familiar swagger and flirtatious
grin across his face. I stared motionless, not saying anything and
not trying to reveal myself. I didn't want to watch yet I couldn't
move. Through the muddle of the conversation, I heard the words from
Joe's mouth “We'll hook up later” swim upwards towards me. I
gulped back my tears. That was it, I clamored out the back, letting
the door slam loudly behind me.
Biting back tears, I walked quickly
towards my car. What was I thinking? Why was this such a big deal?
Its not like I had a hold on Joe's affections and attentions, its not
like this hadn't happened before. The first time we were together he
was married, for God's sake. It wasn't like we were exclusive, so
why did this sting? Why was my stomach tying itself up in knots?
Tears welled up in my eyes and I blinked to hold them back.
Blurry eyed, I hurried to my car. Behind
me, I heard: “Anna?”
I turned, hoping against hope to
see...and there stood Riley, coming forward.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I lied. “Just tired.”
“Oh,” was all he could say.
“How are you?” I gave.
“All right,” he began. “You
left class so quickly.”
“Yeah, I...” I began but then
trailed off not wanting to remember and swallowed my words, my tears.
“Do you need a ride to work?”
“No, I got the day off,” he began.
“Gladly so, got a lot of homework to catch up on.”
“Okay,” I said. Then before I
could think it through, I said, “Do you want to watch that movie
later?”
He smiled brightly and said, “I would
love that.”
Without thinking, I gave him my cell
number, the private line I gave to family and close friends, as he
punched it into his phone under “Anna Reisling”. (I knew that
because I had to spell out my last name three times before he really
got it.)
I hurried off to my car and reached
home a few minutes before Max headed off for work. I collapsed onto
the couch in tears and he came and sat next to me.
“What's up?” he asked.
Sobbing, I managed, “I saw...Joe...”
“Yeah, and?”
“He was flirting
with...another...student,” I coughed out sobbing.
“So?” was all Max could say,
wonderingly.
“So?”
“Well, its not like you have a
“normal” relationship,” Max began slowly. “I mean, he's like
your, um, pimp, for what's it worth.”
I swallowed and dried my tears on the
couch blanket. He had a point there, I knew, but I couldn't help
feeling the pain. I nodded at him, knowingly, but the tears
continued to roll down my face.
“When did this all become so
complicated?” I asked.
Max looked at me and sighed.
“Maybe its time you take a look at
your life and where its going,” he said, pushing my hair back out
of my eyes. He was right, of course, he always was. I leaned
against him.
“Careful,” he began. “I don't
want your mascara running on my work clothes.”
I laughed and looked up at him. He
grinned down at me.
“Max, you are more than a room-mate,”
I started. “You are my bestest friend.”
“Ah, well I've finally achieved
something,” he looked down at me. Then said, “You working
tonight?”
“No, tomorrow,” I gulped
remembering. “I've got a date with Ken Payne.”
Max looked at me and then rolled his
head back against the chair laughing. I had told him all about my
meetings with the art teacher.
“Is this a $200 deal?” he asked,
still laughing.
“No,” I said. “I think he
managed to scrape up a few more bucks.”
“Well, try and have fun,” he said,
still laughing. “Enjoy your night off.”
“Yeah, I will,” then I remembered.
“I invited Riley over.”
Max looked at me, disapprovingly.
“Oh no, don't start that,” he said
at last. “Are you ready for a “normal” one?”
“What do you mean?” I asked,
feigning innocently. “It's just a movie.”
“Sure, sure it is,” he stated.
“Just be careful with that one.”
He headed off to work and two hours
later Riley showed up at my door, movie and pizza in hand,
gluten-free just like I asked. I offered to pay half but he shrugged
it off. We sat on the couch, eating the pizza and sipping boxed red
wine. The movie was quite entertaining. As the credits rolled, I
looked over at Riley and noticed for the first time how quite
handsome he was. His firm chin line jutted out, then his face sloped
up to piercing blue eyes, and soft wavy brown hair. It flashed in my
mind, could I actually do this without receiving any money for it?
He smiled down at me and our eyes met.
I melted inside. For what seemed like a long time, we stayed like
that. I was wondering if he was going to make the first move or if I
should. I was used to men more forward or at least who knew what
they want, as they had paid for it after all. Finally, he smiled at
me, pushed back my hair from my face, stroked my cheek, then leaned
down and kissed my lips. I leaned into him and drank in his scent.
The next moment we were kissing passionately.
Laying in my bed later that night, I
experienced an odd feeling of contentment. Next to me, Riley slept
soundlessly, every now and then releasing a small snore. Having a
man in my bed, who hadn't paid for sex was an unknown factor to me.
Laying there motionless, I heard Max enter the apartment and thought
I heard two more footsteps following him. I thought I heard a girl's
giggle stifled as he headed into his bedroom. This shouldn't have
surprised me at all. Max was a young, hot-blooded guy, he was
allowed his sexual relations as I was. So what if he had never had a
girl over as yet in our living together!
I closed my eyes and feigned sleep,
counting the minutes until morning.
Around ten am, Riley stirred next to
me. He pressed himself against me, wrapping his arms around me. I
turned to look at him and he smiled at me.
“Good morning,” he said. Warmly, I
kissed his cheek.
“You want some coffee?”
“That'd be great,” came his reply.
I got up and grabbed my bathrobe and padded into the kitchen. As I
busied myself with coffee, Max came out of his room. He beamed at
me.
“Morning,” he said and I looked him
over.
“Good night last night?” I asked.
“Yeah, actually,” he started.
“About that--”
He was interrupted as simultaneously a
girl came out of his room and Riley came out of mine. They stood
awkwardly staring around at us. I moved towards Riley with a cup of
coffee and handed to him.
“Max?” I began. “This is Riley.”
“Hello, Riley,” Max said. “I'm
Max, Anna's room-mate, that's all.”
He then turned to the girl and put his
arm around her.
“Anna, Riley, this is Janet,” he
said slowly, then finished with, “My ex, well, not anymore.”
She smiled up at him and he kissed her.
So, this was the ex that had brought him down here and taken off,
breaking his heart? Well, who was I to judge with all my relationship
woes and sexual exploits?
“Nice to meet you,” was all I said.
I knew Max and I would have our living room pow-wow later on, after
they had left, and both of us would have our warnings to give each
other.
After Riley had dressed and I bid him
off, saying I'd call later. I padded into my bedroom to check my
phone and email messages. There was a missed phone call from Joe. I
clicked over to voice-mail and listened.
“Busy last night, sorry I didn't get
in touch. Call me when you can.”
I put the phone down and pulled my
knees up to my chest. So, that was it. The reality of it hit hard.
I didn't know who I should feel more
sorry for, the new student fling or myself. Here I was, reliving it
all again.
No comments:
Post a Comment