“Your father didn’t need to know the specific details. And I also did not mention that this whole thing started because of a grade.”
“You know,” I said, “it might’ve started out like that. And that sounds sleazy or scandalous. It’s not the sort of story you want to be telling your grandchildren when they ask how you and grandpa met, I get it. But the thing is, Mom—I love Leo.”
Her eyes widened. “You do?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, smiling. It was the first time I had admitted it out loud, but it felt good to say, because it was true. “And we haven’t said this to each other yet, and maybe he doesn’t feel the same way about me, but you know what? That doesn’t matter. Well, it does in that I’d be sad if he didn’t love me, too, but even if he doesn’t, it’s not going to change the way I feel about him. And so maybe the way we got together wasn’t the best, it wasn’t some storybook meeting, but maybe it had to happen that way because it was the only way it was going to happen. And if that’s the case, then I’m fine with it.”
My mother nodded slowly. “He loves you too,” she said. “I can tell. I could tell by the way he was looking at you.”
I felt a tingling happiness spread throughout my chest and my heart fluttered just hearing her say it.
“We want to be happy for you,” my mom said. “I don’t want you to think that Dad and I don’t want to be happy for you, or that we don’t want you to be happy. Because we do—more than anything. I don’t want this fight to keep going on. Life is too short to hold grudges like this, and it’s ridiculous to think that we would just stop speaking to you for the rest of your life because we didn’t like how you got involved with the man that you love. This is not going to turn into some Shakespearean tragedy!”
“I hope not,” I said. “And I would like nothing more than to not be fighting with you guys, either.”
My mother reached over and patted my arm. “Let me talk to your father,” she said. “We’ll get this sorted out.”
24.
Leo
The end of the semester was always a happy time—it either meant the start of winter break, or a nice, long, summer break. In this case, it also meant that Tessa was no longer my student and we didn’t have to worry about who happened to see us when we went out. Which didn’t mean that we were skipping down the street holding hands or making out right in the middle of the green, but it did mean we’d go out occasionally to places right around the school, and it didn’t really matter who saw us.
Tessa had managed to pull off what she had thought was the impossible, and she got her grades back up, finishing the semester and her junior year with a 4.0. I could tell by the expression on her face how relieved she was.
And the first issue of the Benton Daily Journal would have to wait to be published until next semester, as there was simply a lack of quality articles submitted for consideration. It had pained Shannon to make that announcement, though the truth of it had become painfully clear not long after Carla and I had our talk. She had been the one to talk with Shannon about postponing the project, and when Shannon sent out the email announcing that we were going to hold off, I think that everyone was relieved. Out of all the articles, though, Tessa’s really was the best of the bunch.
I could hear the water running in the shower. Tessa and I had slept in and she’d just gotten up. I was still lounging in bed, though after a few more minutes, I got up and went into the bathroom. She was in the shower, soaping herself up. I pushed the curtain back slightly and was hit with a waft of steam and the sudsy smell of the botanical soap.
“Mind if I join you?” I asked.
“Of course not,” she said, taking a step back.
I got in and felt the water running in rivulets down my torso. My dick was already half hard and getting harder just at the sight of her, the suds of soap clinging to her wet skin, her hair slicked back. She turned to face me, and I pulled
her close. I started kissing her neck, running my hands down her sides, over her breasts, feeling her nipples get hard underneath my fingertips. She groaned and raked her fingernails down my back.
I pushed her back into the corner and spread her legs apart, the warm water cascading down on me as I knelt in front of her. I buried my face between her legs, kissing and licking her, feeling her run her fingers through my hair. I put one hand on her inner thigh and then brought the other up and slid a finger inside of her. Her whole body trembled, and she was whimpering, grinding her hips against my hand while my tongue worked on her clit.
I stopped when I could tell she was close to coming, and her eyes flew open and she gave me a look of such longing that I almost came myself. I lifted her up a little higher and pushed my dick into her, the water actually making things less lubricated. The head of my dick was right there, sort of in but not quite, but then I pulled her hips down a little, and I slid all the way in, all the way where she was nice and wet and warm and her muscles clenched around me, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me close.
I could’ve been done in about two minutes, if I just went for it, but I wanted this to last because it felt so fucking good. How long could I make it last for? How long could I stand it? I kept my eyes open and I tried to watch her and gauge how close she was—I wanted to prolong it for her, too. Every time one of got close to coming, I’d slow way down, sometimes stop completely. Even when I stopped though, she’d contract those muscles of hers around me, and a couple times it almost sent me over the edge. I gritted my teeth and growled into her hair, and I tried to take deep breaths. And then I’d start again, and with the water cascading down on us and the steam all around, it was like being in some sort of cocoon, where the only thing you were aware of was how fucking good you felt.
I could only prolong it for so long. We got into a rhythm, and I knew that we weren’t going to stop this time, and as the feeling started to peak I tried to just keep going, but then the most amazing thing happened. Instead of the feeling reaching its apex and then falling, it kept coming. It was like being on a rollercoaster and thinking that you’d reached the highest point, but then it just keeps going and going. It was like a wave that had no end. I just kept thrusting myself into her, and she was scratching my back and biting into my neck, and her legs were now wrapped around my waist, and she was squeezing me, and time seemed to have stopped. I had no clue how long we’d been in there, how long this feeling had been going for, if it had been seconds or minutes, or maybe even hours. It just kept going.
And then finally, there was the crest, and slowly, the intensity began to ebb. It was sped up when the water suddenly went cold. I let out a yelp, and she shrieked as we both scrambled to shut the water off, the cold drops feeling like needles against our hypersensitive skin.
“How long were we in here for?” Tessa asked. “I can barely even stand. Oh my God.”
We gingerly got out of the shower, and I wrapped her in a towel, and then I did the same for myself.
“Probably quite a long time,” I said. “Seeing as we used up all the hot water.”
She grinned. “I hope no one else in this building was planning on taking a shower anytime soon. Shit, I actually feel kind of bad.”
“Don’t feel bad.” I kissed her. My whole body was still buzzing. “Do you know what I feel like doing right now?”
“What?”