Her eyes were red, and she sniffled. “No,” she said. “I mean, of course, I do, but I’m afraid she might come back, and if you’re here and she does that’s going to make things even worse.”
I nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry, Tessa. The last thing I wanted was to get you in trouble with your parents; I hope you know that.”
“I know,” she said. “And you don’t need to apologize. It’s not just your fault. Or it’s as much as my fault as it is yours. Oh, I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
I held onto her for a few more moments, and then I let go. She had stopped crying and was wiping at her eyes.
“I’ll call you later, okay?” I said. “Or if you want to talk or anything, go ahead and give me a call.”
“All right,” she said, trying to smile, her chin trembling slightly. I got dressed and then I gave her one last hug and a kiss on the forehead. My dick was still hard, and my balls were aching, but I ignored it the best I could and gingerly walked out of the apartment. It was uncomfortable, but it was Tessa I really felt bad about. Rather, her mother walking in on us like that. Under other circumstances, it would have been fucking hilarious, but in this case . . . not so much. I didn’t really know Tessa’s mom, and I’d never met her dad before, but from what she had told me about them, they certainly seemed like the sort of people who wanted things done a certain way, and if it wasn’t, then there would be hell to pay.
19.
Tessa
I kept waiting to wake up, like I’d open my eyes and realize I was still in bed and that the day hadn’t started yet and the whole thing with Mom walking in on Leo and me was just a nightmare that hadn’t just taken place. But there didn’t seem to be any waking up from this, because it wasn’t a dream.
There was also a part of me that really didn’t want Leo to leave, that wanted him to stay, and maybe we could just pretend like that whole thing with my mother had never happened. But it had, and her expression was basically seared onto the inside of my eyelids, so every time I shut my eyes, that’s all I saw.
She hadn’t given me a direct answer when I had asked if she was going to tell my father, but she didn’t need to—of course she was going to tell him. All she’d need to say was she had walked in on me with one of my professors in a compromising position and he’d hold his hand up, tell her he’d heard all he needed to hear, and say that I obviously wasn’t taking him seriously at all, and to cut me off.
I got dressed and then started to pace. I didn’t know what to do. I called Lindsey.
“My mother just walked in on me giving Leo a blowjob,” I said when she answered. She started laughing, thinking that it was a joke. “No, I’m serious,” I said. “I’m not joking.”
She stopped laughing. “Oh, shit. Are you serious? She just walked in on you guys together?”
“Yea
h, it wasn’t good. Not just walked in on us together, but I was literally sucking on his cock when she came in. I don’t even know how long she was standing there watching. And she wouldn’t give me a straight answer about whether or not she was going to tell my dad, but obviously, she is. Do you think I should try to call him first? And tell him myself?”
“Um, no!” Lindsey exclaimed. “Definitely not! Because what if she doesn’t tell him? What if she decides to just keep it to herself, and then you call him up and confess to something that you really didn’t need to in the first place? I absolutely do not think you should call him first!”
“You’re right,” I said, even though I knew there was no way in hell that my mother wasn’t going to tell my dad. But on the total off chance that she didn’t, I certainly didn’t want to be the one to confess that sort of thing to him if I didn’t have to.
“What did Leo say?”
“I don’t know, not much. He offered to stay, but I told him it’d be better if he didn’t right now. I don’t know if—” My phone beeped. Incoming call. I pulled it away from my ear and looked at the screen. “Shit,” I said, bringing the phone back to my ear. “It’s my dad calling.” My stomach twisted. “I better answer it.”
“You’re going to be fine,” Lindsey said, with much more optimism than I felt. “Call me when you’re done on the phone.”
“Okay.” I switched over and said hello, trying to make my voice not shake.
“Tessa. It’s your father.”
“Yes, I know, hi, Dad.”
“I just got off the phone with your mother,” he said. “I could barely understand a word she was saying, she was so upset. So you probably know what this call was about. This is really something that should be talked about in person, but you’ve made the situation so uncomfortable, Tessa, that the phone will have to do.”
“Dad,” I said, “I know you’re disappointed, and you have every right to be—”
“You’re damn right I do,” he said. “This is not what your mother and I meant when we said we wanted you to get your grades back up. What you’re doing is morally wrong, Tessa. Didn’t we teach you better than that? Don’t you just know better than that?”
“Of course I do, and this isn’t any reflection on you guys at all. I wasn’t trying to disrespect you guys or anything like that. And I’m sorry. I’ll . . . I’ll call Mom when we’re done on the phone, and I’ll apologize to her. I know she’s probably really upset.”
“I think it might be best if you gave her some space right now.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll call her tomorrow or something. Whenever it is I end up talking to her, I’ll tell her that I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she was coming over right then.”