“Wow,” Lindsey said.
“I know; it seems kind of crazy. This whole semester has been a shitshow,” I said.
“But you’ve been handling it,” she said. “I actually really admire how well you’ve been handling everything. I know it might sound kind of cheesy, but if I were in your position, Tessa, I’d be freaking out and completely failing on every level. You should be proud of yourself.” She picked up her mug and toasted mine with it.
I didn’t know if I felt proud, exactly, but it was nice to think I was at least an inspiration to someone.
20.
Leo
I had never cohabited with a woman before. Not like this. I wasn’t sure how long this thing with Tessa would last, but I was going to enjoy it while it was happening.
Our first weekend together, I woke up early and made coffee, pancakes, and scrambled eggs. I brought the whole thing to her on a tray while she was still in bed, and though I felt like it was a bit of a cliche, I was also reveling in the fact of how nice it was. I’d never brought someone breakfast in bed before, and when I slid the tray across her lap, Tessa grinned sleepily and said that she’d never had someone bring her breakfast in bed.
“Well, then I am happy to get that honor,” I said, sliding back under the covers. There were two mugs of coffee on the tray, and I took one and had a sip. I couldn’t ever remember actually having coffee in bed, either with someone or by myself, and it was quite nice.
I would’ve been more than happy to spend the entire day in bed, alternating between sex, dozing, more sex, and maybe getting up to bring another tray of food in. But Tessa had to get up, eventually, and get started on her schoolwork, and I actually did have some papers I needed to grade. Since it wasn’t too windy, and the sun was out and the air was warm, we sat outside on the patio, Tessa with her laptop and books, me with a stack of papers and a red pen, and we got to work.
I finished grading the papers in about an hour and a half, and then I looked shit up on my phone, flipped through a magazine, and tried not to bother Tessa, who was still clearly deep in the midst of her schoolwork. I decided to give Aaron a call and see what he was up to.
“How’s it going, man?” I asked when he picked up.
“Hey, not much,” he said. “Funny that you called; I was just thinking about you. How’ve you been? How’s it going with that student of yours?”
I had come inside to call him so I wouldn’t bother Tessa; I was sitting on the couch, which gave me a clear view of her sitting out on the patio, her back to me.
“She’s great,” I said. “You’re not going to believe it, but she’s actually staying here with me.”
“The two of you are living together?”
“Yeah. For the time being.”
“Shit, man, that sounds serious. I’ve got some news, too.”
“Oh yeah? What?”
“I’ve decided to stay in Paris.”
“Really? For good?”
“For the foreseeable future, anyway. Just signed a lease on a really great place. I’ll still travel around and everything, but I want to call this my home base. You guys should come out and visit! Would really love to have you guys out here.”
“We’ll see,” I said. Out on the patio, Tessa sat up straight and stretched, rolling her head from side to side, her hair cascading down her back.
“I think it’d be dope if you did, man. And seeing as I’ve never met any of your ladies before, you should do it. Free place to stay and everything.”
“Trust me, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than traveling all over the place again,” I said. “Do you think staying in one spot like this has been easy?”
“I don’t know—you’ve been doing it for a while now, so I assumed there must be some part of you that was enjoying it.”
“There’s a few parts of it I’m enjoying,” I said, watching Tessa as she resumed tapping away at her laptop. “But it’s good to know we’ve got a place to stay if we decide to head out that way. And we will; I’m just not sure when.”
“Sweet. Looking forward to it when it finally does happen.”
We talked for a few more minutes and then Aaron had to go. I tossed the phone down on the cushion next to me right as Tessa came in, stifling a yawn.
“I was just talking with my brother,” I said.