Discipline

I laughed. “Dream big.”

“Yeah,” she sighed as she fished through the pillows to find the remote. She turned the TV on, quiet for a bit before heaving a sigh, her lower lip protruding. “I really thought Cole would be at the game. Half the kids on the team are his wrestlers. My brother. Your brother. He should’ve been there.” I eyed her with a sly smile. “And yes, you jerk, I dressed up for him,” she exhaled. “Your mom was like, ‘Why are you wearing lipstick?’”

I laughed, my toes actually curling with the need to tell her about Mr. Cole. But I suppressed the urge. It helped that my phone was suddenly blowing up with text messages. Kelsey craned her neck to look at the screen.

“Who is it? Em? Adriana?”

Both of them. I bit my nervous smile back, already anticipating trouble.

“Why are you smiling like that? You definitely didn’t tell me stories. Which is unfair because I told you stories.”

“Kels, hold on,” I murmured, leaning away from her as I opened up Em’s message and read it.

You’re gonna hate us.

“Oh God,” I breathed, my heart pounding as I opened Adriana’s.

You’re gonna love us. I burst out laughing.

“What? Tell me,” Kelsey whined. I couldn’t help ignoring her as I typed a response, asking both of them to clarify. Em’s reply came first.

Linh got a certain someone’s number on Friday night. Did you really expect for her to flirt with a cute guy and NOT get his number??

Shoot. Of course not. I really should’ve paid more attention to Linh that night. I’d seen her exchanging eyes with Mr. Cole’s friend from the get-go. As I slowly clasped a hand to my mouth, my phone vibrated again with Adriana’s reply.

Remember Mike? He’s meeting us all for drinks tonight, and he promises to bring a certain friend ;) Be ready by 8, pretty girl! And wear my heels.

~

The bar that Adriana picked was in Nolita, just blocks from the restaurant where we ate last week. There were big drapes over the warehouse windows and it was dark, the room lit through filters to give off an undeniably sultry vibe.

Having spent forever picking an outfit, I was the last to arrive – and about twenty minutes late, which meant some hefty vodka punishment.

you’re up to four shots missy, Linh had texted me.

I was okay with that. The place was nice enough that they couldn’t pick anything too nasty. Plus, I’d needed the time to peruse through the East Village and buy the perfect outfit. My paltry wardrobe was in desperate need a boost since I’d left most of my Ben-purchased clothing at his apartment. Plus, the only wardrobe I’d owned prior to our relationship consisted of work T-shirts or leftover things from high school, all of which were Mom’s picks — boat neck blouses, sleeveless polos and more linen cardigans than necessary for a single person’s closet.

I wanted to wear something new that Mom and Ben would both irrationally disapprove of. If the night played out logically, Mr. Cole wouldn’t show – it was a school night, and he had to be in Woodhill at 7AM the next morning – but I wanted to look good just in case. And so I dared to wear a cream crop top short enough to bare a few inches of skin above the waist of my saffron maxi skirt. I had my calorie-blasting double shifts to thank for pulling off that kind of outfit. It made me feel sexy and vibrant in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.

As I weaved through the crowd, my phone vibrated with another text, this time from Em.

We’re at the bar. Hurry up, woman. We want to sit down.

I frowned. No mention of whether Mr. Cole was with them. My heart sank slightly, then completely as I spotted the girls across the room with Mike and a few other guys, but not Mr. Cole. Damn it. All dressed up and no hot guy to impress. Trying to mask the utter disappointment on my face, I turned the corner toward the girls – and walked straight into someone’s hard chest.

“Oop!” I nearly toppled over in Adriana’s heels.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

I immediately recognized the voice, as well as the muscled forearms steadying me by my waist — my bare waist. They quickly retracted and I looked up to see a somewhat jolted Mr. Cole shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I’m fine,” I answered, feeling the edges of my lips curling up. I did a decent job of disguising my excitement. “Hi, Mr. Cole.”

He smiled, slightly awkward. “Hello, Nina,” he said – in his teacher voice. What was he doing? We were already at a bar. There was no need for pretense. I dared to flash a sassy look to ridicule him for it. My eyes got the point across because he immediately broke into a laugh – one that acknowledged our strange little situation. God, that laugh. My cheeks flushed at the mere sound and I was thankful for how dark it was in our particular area. Though as it quickly got crowded, I backed into another spot along the wall, watching with pleasure as Mr. Cole wordlessly followed me. When I stepped into the light, his eyes went wide and instinctively scanned my body, trying to be quick but getting caught on my exposed midriff. He swallowed, blinking a few times before forcing his gaze elsewhere. But it was too late — he’d given me the confidence to be brazen with my next words.

“I’m surprised you came considering you have class to teach in nine hours.” Damn, Nina, you didn’t even drink yet. Mr. Cole raised his eyebrows with amusement at me.

“That makes two of us then.”