by Raquel Belle
“Wait, you never told me about your classes and stuff. How’s that hot professor?” V asked. I rolled my eyes and shut the freezer door. “Oh, that doesn’t seem good,” she said.
“He’s hot, fine, it’s objectively obvious. But I’m not checking for him, I don’t want to ‘get on his good side,’ I’m just there to learn. After lecture today practically the entire class, mostly women, lined up to ask him stupid questions. He stayed twenty minutes after class to answer every single one, yet when it came to my legitimate question, he brushes me off as if I have leprosy that he doesn’t want to catch,” I said.
V’s phone rang and she answered it, the pizza guy was downstairs. She left to go grab the food and I set the table and put Jerry’s dinner out.
V came back with two large pies in hand, New York Style. She set them on the table and sat down. I grabbed the red wine out of the freezer since it didn’t have to chill that much. “Okay, so I think you should go to his office hours,” she said.
“He guards them like a troll. He sent everyone an e-mail the first day of classes to basically say he won’t hold office hours unless he has a gun to his head,” I said. I opened the bottle of wine then took a slice of pizza when V opened the box.
“You should still e-mail him. You can frame it as like discriminatory that he didn’t take your question over everyone else’s,” V said.
“Yeah, like that would work,” I said.
She shrugged. “You’re not interested in him at all?” V asked. She pulled out her phone and started looking for something on it.
“No, why would I want to set myself up for that kind of stress? I just want to be treated with respect and not like his other students who are obsessed with him,” I said. V poured wine for me and herself then picked up her phone again. Her eyes popped.
“This is your professor?” she asked. V showed me her phone, sure enough she’d found a picture of Dr. J. Actually, she found his Facebook page.
“Yeah, that’s him,” I sighed.
“Naomi. My god, he’s hot-hot,” she said. I laughed. “Please, please let me live vicariously through you and have a sexy fling with your teacher. Please,” she said.
I laughed, “V, you don’t want to live vicariously through me, my life is boring and my family sucks,” I said. “You should come to campus one day and just run into him, date him yourself,” I said.
V sighed deeply, “Well try to get to his office hours so that he has no choice but to take you seriously. Maybe say in the e-mail that you can’t wait another twenty minutes after class again on Friday,” V said.
“Good point.” I got up to grab my laptop, as I wrote Dr. J the e-mail, V continued to stalk his Facebook. “Okay, how does this sound; Dear Doctor J, I had some questions about Wednesday’s lecture concerning cognitive and psychosocial development. I was surprised that you refused to hear my questions after taking everyone else’s. Unfortunately, I won’t have time next class to stay after and try to speak with you again due to prior engagements. It would be easiest for me to visit your office hours if that’s okay. Thanks.” I glanced over at V who had pursed her lips and seemed to be weighing the email.
“Prior engagements? What, are you fifty?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes, “Well, I’m older than everyone else in the class, so it shouldn’t be that surprising for him to read that from me,” I said. I sent the e-mail and shut my computer. “Anyways, that whole encounter ruined the rest of my day,” I mumbled.
“You like him,” V said in a childish voice.
I rolled my eyes, “Oh, please, V. He’s my teacher, that’s the beginning and end of it.” I said.
Chapter Four
Joshua
I was just about to finish with my e-mail for the night when one came in at the last second. It was from Naomi. Embarrassment spread through my chest as our last encounter replayed in my head. Admittedly, I’d just run out on her. We were alone and there was going to be way too much time until the next class needed that room. I went into survival mode, minimizing the time I’d have to spend alone with her.
I opened the email, there definitely wasn’t a happy tone to it. But she wanted to meet for office hours? I sighed and sat back in my seat. She actually wanted to talk about the theories I lectured on, which was a surprise and massive step up from the light questions I got from other people who stayed after class, asking about the paper, or the midterm. I didn’t want to be a dick and brush her off again, so I emailed back to confirm a time slot. I hit send but kept my email open. A few minutes later, she responded with a simple, “Thanks, see you Friday morning.”
I pushed away from my desk in my home office and stood up to stretch. I’d been working on lectures as well as answering e-mails. I also had a little bit of grading from syllabus quizzes. I glanced around the room. My place had been hastily bought but it was nice, had character. I wasn’t too far from Amy, my place was a little bigger, a three bedroom, two bath. I used one of the bedrooms as my office. The house was modern, there wasn’t much charm to it like Amy’s house had, but the neighborhood was cool, not too far from a private beach that was quiet and not well known.
I walked out to the living room. The house had an almost entirely open floor plan. The bedrooms and the guest bathroom surrounded the living room which connected to the kitchen and dining area behind it. The front room was obscured from the great room by an archway. There was definitely nowhere to hide in my house. I thought about calling Amy to see what she was up to but changed my mind at the last minute. Instead, I walked outside to my garage and pulled my bike out. There was nothing to do other than wash it and give it a wax. The street was quiet and breezy. It reminded me of the times I used to spend on the Harley late at night, just driving. Running from my issues.
#
I almost forgot about the meeting I had with Naomi come Friday morning. I hung back in my office and kept the door open for her. Usually it was locked, usually I wasn’t inside. Naomi was on time. She strode in wearing shorts again and a cropped sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Each time I saw her, I remembered how beautiful she was.
“Hi, Dr. J,” she said.
“Morning, Naomi. How are you?” I asked and stood up to shake her hand. She hesitated but shook my hand. Her palm was smooth as silk. She took her hand away faster than I did and sat down across from the desk. I sat too.
“I’m okay…um, Wednesday was a little bizarre, don’t you think?”
I was surprised, I didn’t think she would want to discuss that head on. Her eyes were unwavering as she looked at me too, I wondered if she always had that confidence about her. “Yeah, again, I’m sorry for running out like that. I hope I didn’t offend you too badly. It’s just that…you know, it’s a balancing act for me when I give office hours or stay after class,” I said. I implied a couple of things, I wondered what she’d pick up on.
“No offense, Dr. J…but you seem a bit full of yourself,” she said. My eyes popped and my jaw fell slack. Naomi laughed at me and then took a notebook out of her bag and a pen. “I wanted to talk about Erikson’s theory as it ties in with cognitive development. You didn’t talk about them in tandem but it seems like they would go hand in hand?” Even though I was still stunned by her, I recovered quickly, I had to.
“They do go hand in hand. All developmental processes do and I’m glad you’re already thinking along those lines, it’ll give you a head start for the first paper,” I started. “For psychosocial and cognitive development specifically, it’s simple. Cognitive development is the hinge on which almost all behavioral traits develop,” I went in depth as to how the two processes seesawed together in a developing mind. Naomi continued to surprise me when she commented on Freud and some of the philosophy of psychology. We ended up in a deep talk that lasted the full hour I’d set aside to meet with her.
When our conversation lulled, I felt like I’d come out of a deeply enriching experience. I’d never felt like that before after speaking with someone. Es
pecially a student. Naomi was different. She was just different.
“See, this was a great talk. Thanks for meeting with me,” she said while putting her notebook away.
“It was. You shut me up,” I said, that made her chuckle. “I’ll see you in class,” I said. Naomi waved and left my office without any other preamble. I watched her go and couldn’t help that my eyes lowered to her ass as she walked away. Long legs and curves and she seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever. I shook my head and then put my notepad into my briefcase as well as my laptop. Class was starting in fifteen minutes and I needed to get my second cup of coffee before then. I ended up running around campus to make it to class on time. Even so, I was two minutes late jogging through the door.
“Hey guys,” I said as I breezed into the room. The class was filled and Naomi was in her back of the room seat, talking to that guy next to her. I swore his desk got closer and closer to hers each class. “I thought we’d switch it up today and work in discussion groups,” I said. I put my bag down on the podium and then gestured to the girl sitting in the first desk farthest to the right. “Starting with you, count to four,” I said. She started off by saying her number and everyone went around until they all had a number, one through four. “So get in groups with your numbers and then I’ll assign topics from the assigned reading. Then everyone can discuss and bring up points to talk about for the larger class discussion,” I said. The class shuffled around. I pulled my notepad out of the briefcase and tore off the different topics to pass out.
When I looked up, my eyes went to the back of the room, I couldn’t help it at that point. I knew for a fact that the blonde guy had a different number than Naomi, yet somehow, he was in her group. I had to give it to him, the guy was trying hard. I walked around the room and handed out topics. After catching myself staring at Naomi a few times, I had to consciously keep my eyes on everything and everyone else but her. Part of me thought that it wasn’t fair that I couldn’t be friendlier with my students. But the more rational side of me knew that it was an impossibility in this lifetime.
When half an hour had passed, I called the classes attention and we discussed the chapter and I lectured a bit. After class was the usual line of questions until there was no one left straggling.
Chapter Five
Naomi
“First week in the bag, only eleven more to go,” V said, “then three more semesters after that.”
“I wish I was in my last semester already. But this week went by pretty quickly,” I said. V and I were in her condo getting ready to go out. I had the rare Saturday night off and V wanted to get drunk, as did I.
“It’ll be a few papers and then a few exams and that’s it,” she said and finished applying her mascara. V wore a silver romper and tall wedges to match. Her hair was pulled into a sleek high ponytail and she’d done her makeup in a smoky eyed look. Me, I’d tousled my hair, did my makeup similarly and wore a little black dress and silver heels.
“Okay, done,” V said. “Vámonos, let’s go!” I grabbed my clutch off of the vanity counter in her bathroom and she hurried into her bedroom to get her own clutch. I slipped my lipstick and travel sized perfume into my purse and then strode out after her. V’s condo was in Sunny Isles, right on the beach. Her gallery job, the photos she sells and the commission she earned is what got her such a swanky place. We were headed to South Beach though, to a nice club near Ocean Drive.
We took an Uber to the club, it was attached to a fancy hotel, covered in green vines and white flowers. There was a line to get in, as always, but the rooftop could be heard on the street as the DJ spun reggaetón and méringue. That was why V wanted to go to Garden. She loved her Hispanic music.
“My ass is already moving, I want to dance,” V said.
“The line is moving though,” I said and glanced ahead of us. A large group of people just streamed out so the bouncers were letting people in again. When we got to the door, both bouncers glanced at us and simply waved us inside.
The club was built like a lounge on the first floor, there were two bars and the music wasn’t as lively as what was playing on the roof. “Let’s drink first,” V said. I couldn’t agree more with her. We hit the bar and took shots of tequila before getting cocktails. Then we walked upstairs to the second level. The roof was packed with people dancing. V took my hand and we melded right into the crowd with our drinks and danced together until our drinks were gone and my vision was getting swimmy.
That was our pattern throughout the night, we weren’t looking for guys, we just wanted a chill girl’s night out. We got drinks, danced, and went back to the bar. By the time we got back to V’s condo, we were both drunk.
“V,” I whined, “we’ve been standing in the hallway for hours, why can’t we go in?” I complained.
“I still can’t find my keys,” V said, slurring her words in the process. I focused on her hand and her clutch even though it was hard to keep my eyes on one thing. Her keys were in her hand.
“They’re right there,” I said and pointed. My hand hit hers and the keys fell to the floor. V looked up at me with wide eyes and her mouth open.
“You’re a magician!” she yelled. We both cracked up and then came the daunting task of bending down to get the keys. Everything moved in slow motion as we both fell to the floor. V stretched up to try and put the key in the lock. Then her neighbor across the hall came out and took one glance at us. He laughed.
“You ladies need help?” he chuckled.
“We got this Hector,” V said. She spoke in rapid fire Spanish and made Hector laugh even harder.
“No you don’t!” He took the keys from V and unlocked the door for us. “Kay, you guys are on your own now,” he said. Hector gave V her keys back and continued down the hall.
“It’s three in the morning, where is he going?” I asked.
“Fuck if I know. Hector has always been the weird neighbor,” V said.
“The weird neighbor that you have sex with when you get lonely!” I said.
“Shhhh,” V hit my arm and we finally pulled ourselves up and made it into the apartment. We pretty much fell asleep where we landed, me on the couch, she on the loveseat.
#
I woke up to the loud ringing of my cell phone and cursed myself for not drinking water the night before. My head felt like a spike was being driven through the center of it. I slapped around the couch for my phone. V groaned from the other couch and covered her ears.
“Hello?” I answered without checking who was calling me, my voice sounded like a frog’s.
“Hey, Nao? Where are you? It’s mom’s birthday brunch, you’re an hour late. Were you not going to show up?” Jess said, sounding pissed. I sat upright so fast that my vision spun.
“Oh, crap. I forgot,” I said and rubbed my temple.
“You knew about this for a month, Naomi, what do you mean, you forgot?” she asked.
“Relax Jess, I’m on the way…where is it again?”
“Jesus, are you hungover?” she said, obviously trying to keep herself from yelling.
“No,” I lied. She sighed harshly and told me the name of the restaurant. Jess hung up on me and I got up as fast as I could and hurried to V’s bedroom for my overnight bag. I took a minute-long shower, changed into the skinny jeans and blouse I’d packed, and quickly pulled my hair into a ponytail.
“Wait, are we not going to breakfast anymore?” V asked, shuffling into the room.
“I forgot that it was my mom’s birthday and we’re having brunch. I’m an hour late,” I said.
“Oh, shit, can you drive?” V asked.
“Yeah, I’m not drunk anymore,” I said, lying. Even though it wasn’t a good idea, I was sober enough to drive.
“Okay…” V said. “I’ll be here, recovering,” she muttered. I gave her a kiss on the cheek, goodbye, and hurried downstairs to the garage. I sped to the restaurant, thankfully it wasn’t too far from V’s apartment building.
The restaurant was
painted white outside and was definitely a brunch place. I stepped in and walked to the host’s podium to give my sister’s name. She told me to check out on the patio. The décor of the dining room was a tasteful Boho chic; it had a huge patio out back with a view of the ocean. As soon as I stepped outside, I heard a whistle to the right. Casey waved at me, he sat next to my mom, flanked by my dad of course. Jess sat beside Dad. I noticed that they had already ordered without me.
Their plates were almost empty and everyone gave me their version of a fake polite smile. Something like intense annoyance warmed my stomach as I sat in the only empty seat beside Jess. Her purse, along with my mom’s were on the other side of Casey—so I couldn’t sit there even if I wanted to.
“Hi, sorry I’m late. Happy Birthday, Mom,” I said while fitting into the booth beside Jess.
“Thank you honey. I’m glad you remembered,” she said in a saccharine tone but her words were patronizing. I realized that it was her birthday but she didn’t have to be so snide. My patience was thinning by the second and I couldn’t help it.
“Yeah, I forgot your card at home, I’ll have to bring it to you at family dinner,” I said.
Casey scoffed, “Right, if an excuse doesn’t come up before then.”
“So, Mom how do you feel? Another year older,” I said, needing to ignore Casey or explode on him.
“I feel oddly lighter,” she said vaguely. I nodded and glanced at Jess, she was busy trying to call the waiter. Then it occurred to me, if Jess saw that I was going to be late, why didn’t she call me earlier?
“So, what did you do last night, Nao? You look hungover,” Casey said.
“I went out with V,” I said.
