Chapter Nine
Edith
The next few weeks pass quickly, bringing us into November. Most students are heading home for the Thanksgiving weekend, including Shelby and Aiden. They invite me along, but I decide to stay behind. Jack is planning on cooking a turkey, and wants me to stay at his house for the weekend. Considering we’ve been careful and only had a few stolen moments between our schedules at school, work, and other things, we haven’t been intimate very often. But when we have, it is hot and carries my fantasies for days. We text daily. Jack has given me a new phone to make calls, take pictures, and connect to the internet. I tell him it is a sweet gift and he says he knew he could convince me to keep this one because it is so practical. He is right.
***
“Before class ends for the break, I just want to remind everyone that you should check ‘e-college’ for your mid-term grades that were posted a few weeks ago, and begin to study for the final exam. We have two classes left and I’ll try to review terms with you each session,” Jack says and many students groan. I’m not as worried as I had been before because I continue to meet with Daniel for tutoring, although he is kind of weird and intense. I also have my special meetings with Jack. I try really hard to study but, more often than not, we end up making out and Jack just yells out ridiculous things about T and Z scores and intervals. Surprisingly, I am able to retain the information during his unorthodox teaching methods under pressure. At the end of class, my new phone pings.
JH: I see you trying to peek behind my podium, Miss Willows.
You’re imagining things, sir.
JH: So formal. What’s the probability you’ll call me “sir” later?
Not a chance in hell.
Jack laughs as students file out of the classroom. To any observer, it would look like many students were texting someone outside of class, with the exception of he and I. I am beginning to think our grins might give us away at some point. We continue to keep our meetings off campus at either his place or mine, and have curtailed any PDA to inside our apartments. Jack kept the house he bought, but we never go there. To me, it seems like a painful reminder of what we can’t have for a long time. After getting a bag of my things together, I drive my little car over to Jack’s place and park in his garage. I use my key to open the door.
“Hey, Edith. I figured we’d order in tonight since we’re cooking tomorrow,” Jack calls from the kitchen.
“Correction. You’re cooking tomorrow, but it sounds good to me.” I hang up my jacket, take off my hat, and go into the kitchen to find Jack bent over, looking under the sink. “Um, as fine as your ass is, what are you doing under the sink?”
Jack bumps his head, causing whatever was in his hands to drop. “Oww, shit. I think the sink has a clog. Can you grab my phone from my bag?” Jack stands up, leaving his meager plumbing tools on the floor, and I rub his head, kissing it gently. He smiles and I grab his leather messenger bag. Everyone has one of these darn bags I love.
“Hey, babe. Are you sure it’s in here? I don’t see it.”
“Yeah, I’m sure… Ah, shit…” Jack covers his face with his hands.
“What?”
“I think I left it at my office, or maybe campus.”
“Eh, is that bad?” I ask, a little worried.
“Nah. I’ll just pull up the ‘Find my phone’ app. Can you call for pizza?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be right back to discipline you, brat.”
“You better.” Jack spanks my ass lightly, leaving the room and heading for his converted office. I call for pizza and order half of my favorite and half of his. “You find the phone?”
“Yeah. I left it in my office on campus. I’ll drive over sometime this weekend and pick it up. I was sure I hadn’t left it anywhere. Oh well. I’m not going to worry about it tonight. I’ve got something else with which I’d rather occupy my time.” Jack puts his arm around me, fake biting me, making me giggle.
“Arrg! Stop. Pizza is coming!”
“And so will you!” He is a total cheeseball.
Jack picks me up, making me scream a few obscenities, then dumps me on top of the bed. I’m panting and coming before the pizza guy delivers our dinner. I make Jack go pay the man while I hide in the bedroom. With sexed-up hair and in my teacher’s house, I am not going to greet a possible classmate working as a deliveryman. Jack is crazy, if not deluded, thinking we won’t get caught that way.
We stay in for the long weekend, Jack cooking us an intimate Thanksgiving feast for two. It is one of the best holidays I have had since leaving home behind and deciding to go it alone. Jack makes me feel like I want to finally be a part of something, and like I have something worth giving that isn’t monetary or materialistic. Maybe the world would frown upon how we met and how we conducted our relationship in secret, but at least we are adults and we aren’t hurting anyone. My final exam will be proctored and graded by a TA so I know Jack isn’t breaking any rules there, except for his unorthodox study sessions of which I took full advantage.
It is hard going back to class on Monday. Leaving Jack’s cozy house for my sparse studio apartment is hard and lonely, but it is the right thing to do and I keep telling myself that it is only going to be temporary.
Jack
Watching Edith leave my bed this morning to go back to her apartment kills me. I kiss her every step she takes away from me, hoping she’ll linger long enough to be late for work or just decide to stay. I want to tie her to my bed and never let her go. In the past few weeks, she had become so precious to me. Meeting her as a high school student had really screwed with my head. Lusting after her for years made me crazy with guilt. Our first kiss had been a thing of combustion I had tried to brush off and forget, only to be sucker punched by it later. Even now, there is a clear line we are crossing and I want to protect her as best as I can.