Me: I need you to come get me.
Luca:Why? Where are you? Do I need to help you hide a body because I need to make sure I wear the right shoes.
Me:No, I woke up in a stranger's bed and I need you to come get me.
Luca:No shit. Did someone just experience his first one-night stand with a stranger?
Me: How about you come get me and I tell you in the car?
Luca:Waiting on the address.
I search around me, looking for street names, and instead of trying to make Luca figure it out, I pull up maps on my phone to locate where I am. After forwarding him the coordinates, I plop myself down on a nearby bench, closing my eyes and taking in the morning air. Sometimes it's nice to sit and enjoy my surroundings. I don't get to spend much time outside lately. When I'm not working, I'm at school or at home trying to sleep. I'm not out escaping stranger's houses every morning. Then I remember I actually slept last night, something I haven't done properly in weeks even after taking melatonin.
Shouldn't the walk of shame feel more shameful?
7
Jamie
The steamfrom my coffee heats my face and the warmth is welcome after walking in from the cold. I hate when the temperatures drop, and it doesn’t matter how long I’ve lived here, I’ve never gotten used to the winters. Rhys wanted to live here even though he hated the snow because he wanted to be close to his family. So, I was willing to make exceptions in order to be wherever he was.
I set my mug on my desk, pulling off my scarf and jacket which are dusted in snow. It was coming down light today, but I knew it would probably clear up by the end of the workday. I have two classes to teach this morning, and it’s my first day working at this campus. My new office is bigger than my old one, and I had come in yesterday to set all my stuff up so I wasn't rushing before class to do it.
A knock sounds at my door, causing my gaze to shift from my laptop to someone standing in the doorway. The shorter young man with black medium length hair smiles at me nervously. “Morning professor, I'm Charlie. I'm in your eight a.m. class. I was just stopping in to let you know I won't be here next Tuesday; I'm going away on vacation to the Bahamas.”
I stand up from my chair, giving my best professional smile, not letting my jealousy show. At least someone is able to enjoy the vacation they planned. “That's fine, just make sure to keep up with the chapters posted on Blackboard. There shouldn't be much homework the first week anyway, so you won't miss out on too much.”
He nods, shuffling his books in his hand. “Thank you, Professor Castro. I look forward to taking your class. See you in there.”
“Sure thing, I look forward to getting to know all my students, and enjoy your vacation.” I won't be enjoying mine for a while and I'm still not looking forward to going to a romantic location alone. I called to cancel my plane ticket to Hawaii for mine and Rhys's honeymoon trip, but they were only able to either offer me partial credit or let me change it for a later date. I picked the second option.
Rhys still has his ticket, and I didn't want us ending up in Hawaii at the same time. Surely the universe doesn't hate me that much. I still haven't spoken with him and I'm not even sure what I would say if he had actually answered my last five phone calls or ten text messages. I don't want to miss him, but it's all I could do while sleeping alone in the king-size bed we picked out together. It doesn’t help that it’s in a room surrounded by pictures of us during happier times, which makes me feel completely guilty for sleeping with someone else on our wedding night two weeks ago.
I thought going home with a stranger would help ease my pain a bit, and it did for a short while, until I woke up and Taylor was gone. That's what I wanted, right? A one-night fling with a stranger I would never see again—unless I decided to go back to that club. I did think about it. I thought about it every time I sat in my living room alone on the weekends watching old reruns. I thought about it every time the house got too quiet and the memories of me and Rhys grew too loud to ignore. I didn't go though, and it was better I didn't.
Eventually, I won't even remember Taylor, and his bright blue eyes will fade from my mind the same way his scent faded from my sheets. Hopefully over time I'll be able to look at pictures of Rhys and not want to smash them all, and my heart won't twist in pain every time I hear his name. I'm not sure how many picture frames I've broken within the last two weeks or how many photos of me and Rhys I've crumpled in my hands before drinking myself to sleep.
Today I'm already regretting the amount of alcohol I consumed over the weekend. I can just imagine Rhys judging me for it. “You don't want to end up like your father, do you?” He would be right. I didn't want to end up with cirrhosis. At thirty-eight, he lost his life to liver failure after suffering alcohol poisoning for the third time. I never had any fond memories of him to hold on to either. He was a mean and angry drunk who was hardly ever home. My mother left shortly after he passed, blaming Johnathan and me for the stress we put on them both. That's when my brother stepped in, taking on two jobs and assuring I went to college. I'm where I am now because of him.
I close my laptop and grab my materials for my upcoming class. The halls are packed with students rushing off in different directions, trying not to be late on their first day. There are already a few students in their seats as I enter the classroom. I'm about to step behind the podium to get ready for class to start, and that's when I become at a loss for words. I no longer remember my own name when my gaze lands on the tall, muscular blond dressed in a vibrant pink sweater lined with lace and a pair of tight-fitting black jeans.
His pink, closed toe stilettos hit hard against the floor as he rushes to one of the seats in the back. When he looks my way, his gorgeous blue eyes grow wide with recognition. Just when I thought I'd never see Taylor again, here he is sitting in my classroom stealing every bit of breath I have, the same way he did the first night I saw him.
Living a little wasn't supposed to land me in bed with one of my students. If I thought getting him out of my head was difficult before, I was very wrong. Keeping him out of my head is going to be damn near impossible now. Seeing Taylor two times a week wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so damn distracting with his loose blond curls falling around his face and his pink glossy lips I badly want to taste again. I'm suddenly in teacher hell, and knowing I can't touch him only drags me deeper into the pitfalls of my own doom. His playful smirk tells me he will not be making this any easier either.
8
Taylor
I tryto look anywhere else, but my gaze gets stuck on Jamie's conflicted blue eyes. They grow wider the longer they’re on me and I worry they may get stuck that way for the rest of the class. He's wearing glasses with thick black frames, and man, do they do things to me; all my sexy professor fantasies have now come true. I shuffle in my seat and pull out my textbook, shifting my focus to my backpack. I don't need to be having a boner in class, and the longer Jamie's eyes trail over my body, the more my cock takes notice.
More people fill the seats around me, and the room grows louder with whispers and chairs scraping against the floor. When I look up again, Jamie has his back turned to me and is erasing the white board. It's easier to breathe with his gaze no longer on me, and my body becomes more relaxed in my chair.
We weren't supposed to see each other after that night, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be in the same room with him again. I just wish it wasn't in class and he wasn't the man teaching it. Out of all the professions I came up with in my head for him, a professor wasn't one of them.
“I don't know how we’re supposed to focus on science when our teacher looks like that. I sure would like to find out what kind of reactions I could get out of him.” A girl with long blond hair and bright blue eyes smiles my way while bending down to pull a pen from her bookbag.
I laugh, not able to argue with her. She has no idea. It's much harder for someone who knows what it's like to kiss those lips or run their hands down his naked body. It's been challenging enough trying to forget the guy these last two weeks and now I have to see him twice a week for the next three months. Maybe I don't need to take this class this semester.
