by M. C. Cerny
Nope.
If I was going for advice, I would have to suck it up and ask one of the other guys I knew less well, maybe Hunter, or my trainer at the rehab facility. Chase was already warning me off so he was out. All I wanted was an opportunity to show her I wasn’t like guys she dated in the past. If anything I could be a new adventure seeing as how I was making all kinds of mistakes with her from the get go.
The alternative was just cornering her in the hallway at school or following her to the track during practice. Kiara wouldn’t make a scene, neither would I, but it might force us to at least talk about our differences or whatever was having her hold back from giving me the chance I badly wanted.
I had to wait three days before I got my chance to see her again. I was walking toward the tech lab where I held my junior and senior advanced computer classes when I smelled her scent in the air. Like a dog following his nose I curiously meandered into my classroom expecting to find a student or someone else who wore her perfume sitting at one of the monitors.
Lucky dog that I was, Kiara was there sitting at my desk sipping a cup of coffee from Dingleberries. A white paper bag was placed in the center of the desk. I stumbled back unsure of my good fortune and rubbed my eyes once, twice, three times for good measure to make sure I was actually seeing her.
“Good morning, David.” Kiara moved to get up from me ergonomic chair, but I put my hand out to stop her accent.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your vanilla and honeysuckle presence?”
Kiara chuckled and put her coffee down to nudge the white bag closer to the edge of the desk. I took a step forward and reached for it. The bottom of the bag felt warm in my hand and I said a little prayer she hadn’t filled it with something rotten instead.
“Go ahead. Consider it a peace offering.” Her head bobbed up and down like she was giving me permission to peek inside.
I opened the bag and sure enough, a warm apple tart was inside. I lifted the bag hirer to my nose and inhaled the warm fragrant scent of baked goodness.
“You know the way to a man’s heart” I picked out the tart and gave it a large bite licking a too big crumb from my mouth. Flavor bursts of apple, sugar, spice, and something deeper, maybe coffee or hazelnut filled my mouth.
“Mmm. What’s in them? This is amazing.”
Kiara stood up from my desk pushing the chair back and crowded my space, our chests almost touch and I want to inch a bit forward, enough to feel her soft breasts rub against me, but I hold back for some unknown reason. Maybe, because I can hear my mother’s voice in the back of my head scolding me as my dick shrivels up. Maybe, it’s because I don’t know what I did to deserve a treat like this. Maybe still, it’s because she’s thrown me for such a tailspin that if I continue down this road it’s going to end badly for me and for the first time I desperately don’t want that to happen.
“I went to the bakery, Cake and Battery. Carmen had a fresh batch of apple and hazelnut tarts and they seemed like something you might enjoy. Also, I can’t eat alone and seeing as how I had two before I made it to school, you’re actually saving my butt right now.” Her monologue was adorable.
“I thought they tasted of coffee or hazelnut. I think I’m in love.” I take a second bite of the tart watching her face the entire time. No. I didn’t say I was in love with Kiara, but I think I could get there if we could get over this hump of misunderstanding and constant need to challenge the other.
“I’ll pass that on to Carmen.” Kiara moved to slip past me, but I wasn’t having any of that. I put the bag down, wiped my hand over my face and with my free hand I reached for her arm to stop her from going.
“Hey.” Kiara turned in my grasp and I tugged her close. Finally, chest to chest, both of us breathing unevenly. My eyes darted to her mouth. Hers darted to mine. There was so much left unsaid in the moment, but I knew the interruption would cut through our sexual tension like a knife melting everything away before it can even get started. I didn’t want that.
What I did want was to explore Kiara’s mouth fully. We’re not strangers to kissing, her and I, but this time it would be different. No random one night stands, no one leaving the general vicinity anytime soon and I knew exactly where to find her down the hall.
“David.” My name on her lips was a plea to not take this further despite the ache in my balls and the fizzle in my brain egging me on. The bell was sure to ring at any moment sending students into my classroom and Kiara darting off toward hers.
“I won’t.” I promised as my lips descended closer to hers. I caught her tongue licking her lips and I pondered if her mouth tasted like hazelnut as much as mine. I breathed her in, all sugar and spice.
Her throat bobbed and swallowed. “David.” My name on her lips a second time felt less like a plea not to and more like benediction. I rubbed my lips against hers and her arms come up over my shoulders and into the short shaved fuzz on my head, a holdover I haven’t yet abandoned from my military days.
“I promised.” She leaned into me and I pulled back. I’m not intentionally teasing her, but I’m not going to lie and say that perhaps it felt good knowing she wants me, but would feel the itch of denial in about three, two, and one as the bell sounded off.
We pulled back putting distance between us. She’s still in my arms attempting to catch her breath with the sound of students echoed in the hallway.
“Yes, you did promise didn’t you.” Her tone was clipped, angry I’m guessing, but I can’t help her sexual frustration at the moment. She’d been denying me from the beginning and honestly a little tit for tat isn’t so bad.
“Don’t be like, Kiara. You came into my classroom bearing gifts.” I release her and step back keeping my hands in my pockets to give them a safe place to berth.
“I didn’t…” She huffed leaving her thought incomplete.
“You never said what you intended to make peace with.” Things would be so much easier if she came clean and told me this was either never going somewhere or had a spitting chance of doing something besides idle too hot with no relief in sight.
“It doesn’t matter.” She mumbled brushing past me again.
“It always matters.” It does and I’m crossing my fingers inside my pockets silently urging her to tell me what the heck is going on inside her head.
“My brother is on the fire department in town. They’re having a cook out and fund raiser with the police department.”
“And?”
Kiara rolled her eyes and tugged on a free curl that’s escaped her complicated hair style.
I can’t keep the stupid smile off my face. Who knew I wouldn’t be the one asking to go on a date. She certainly turned the tables on me and while I won’t label this as anything, I’ll certainly treat it like a date.
“So you wanna go or what?”
“Do I wanna go or what, she says to me.” I teased her watching her adorable lack of patience. “Of course I wanna go. I wanna go with you.”
“Fine.” She fluffed her hair and made to stalk out sashaying her narrow hips.
I reached for her arm stalling her escape. I needed details and she was coy in giving me so little. “When is this gathering of people and cooking of food happening?”
She clucked. “Tomorrow.”
“Alright then. I’ll pick you up at five.”
“Seven.”
“Five. All the good food is gone by six.” I pushed the boundary. At five, everyone would be there and they’d see us walk in together which was the whole reason I was going to treat this like a date. I want people to know we’re together. I want to hold her hand and kiss her forehead in public. I want to feed her potato salad off my plate. I want her brother to see me as someone worthy of his strong, amazing sister.
Her lips pursed together and I watched her come to terms with my demand. Her eyes said this wasn’t a date, but I didn’t believe her for a hot minute and instead returned the favor of perusing her tight body. Her cheeks darkened and she turned her fac
e away toward the hall bustling with students.
“Five and don’t be late.” She doesn’t wait for me to respond, but I do anyway.
“Was planning on being early, babe.” I muttered shuffling back to my deck realizing she left her coffee on the desk. I take a sip of it proprietarily. Not too light, and not too sweet. It’s good and makes eating the rest of the tart delightful.
“Hey, Mr. Easton.” My most promising students, Caleb and Sophia walk into together.
“Doesn’t the sign say no eating?” Sophia ever the wise one points to the sign in my computer lab scrunching her nose.
“Indeed it does, good thing I’m finished.” I crumple the bakery bag tossing it out.
“Coffee too?” Caleb quipped.
“Nah, we’ll keep this our little secret.” The only secret I planned on keeping despite Kiara wanting to brush us under the rug. Sorry babe, just like this coffee I was up for making this real.
22
Kiara
I don’t know what possessed me to buy the coffee and then double back to the bakery for fresh apple tarts. It was out of my hands now forgotten in David’s classroom along with the tarts from the bakery like a casualty of war. Tea had always been my thing, but those tarts. Damn. They were delicious. I wanted to eat every last crumb and maybe lick his mouth if I’d spent another moment longer in his presence. Furthermore, the idea of asking him to my brother’s firehouse cookout blew my mine. Clearly, I was sleep deprived the way it flowed out of my mouth like an open invitation.
What had I been thinking?
But, he said yes.
Not that I expected David to say no, he’d been bugging me from the start and I’d been the one with hesitations, excuses, avoiding him whenever possible, and yet…
My chest sighed on auto-pilot thinking about his muscles straining his dress shirt and the way he commanded the space of his classroom. My tummy fluttered with something akin to carnivorous butterflies if there was such a violent beautiful thing. My thighs quivered with each step closer to my office and I worried I might have to raid the gym bag under my desk for fresh underwear. Oh the woes of hot teacher syndrome. Now I had a fair idea of what my female students experienced with David Easton.
Oh, Mr. Easton, indeed.
“Hey Kia.”
I jumped at the sound of my colleague’s voice and stumbled into the wall. My legs turned into gangly uncoordinated limbs forcing me to check and make sure no nosey students were watching us. The gossip mill inside a high school was rampant and there was no telling who was worse, the kids or us adults.
“Jesus, Amber. You scared the life out of me.” Clutching my chest, I heaved. All lustful thoughts of David vanished as I struggled to remain upright.
Amber reached for my arm and pulled me up. I was taller than her by quite a bit. I’d heard the senior boys refer to her as fun sized for which I reprimanded them for with extra laps around the track during their PE period.
“Girl, you okay?” she giggled watching my spaz.
“I will be, but lesson learned to not sneak up on someone. You’re quieter than a church mouse.”
Amber grimaced. “So I’ve been told.” Her face flushed and she dismissed my comment getting right back to the point. “David Easton, huh?” She smiled coyly and I hemmed and hawed before relenting what she wanted to hear.
“Kind of. I mean, he’s hot and all, but kind of a jarhead.”
“Oh Kiara, don’t try and fool me. He’s hot and smart, and you’ve already had a piece of the action. This is you avoiding how you really feel. I respect that. This job can’t be easy with everyone talking about everyone else. Sometimes I think our co-workers are worse than the hormonal kids.”
Amber was right about that. We walked to the end of the hall where the quads split.
“I invited him to the cook-out the fire department is having. Lots of people will be there mingling. You should come with.”
“How about I meet you there?”
“Alright, five o’clock.”
“You do realize that’s when everyone is there.” She snorted.
“Hey, I need moral support. David is picking me up and wants to be there at that time.”
“Pretty calculating for a jarhead.”
“Hey, he’s into computers, and craft beer.”
“Oh, now we’re defending him with intimate knowledge.”
“Ugh. Stop. I’ll see you there. Promise?” I asked hoping I’d have an ally with me.
“Of course.”
We parted ways and I replayed each conversation I had with both David and Amber. I was definitely caught in a web of my own making.
My musing didn’t last long when my phone beeped with a message from my doctor’s office. I’d gone in over the summer for a regular exam and extensive routine blood work. I hadn’t given much thought to it since. As much as I knew I had to be on top of my health, I also wanted to take a few moment to breath and live a little, hence the whole reason for my first night with David. So much had been stolen from me in the form of my childhood and time. I wanted to ignore this too for just a little while longer.
My phone beeped again and I knew it was the nurse from the office asking me to call. I would, just not today and maybe not until after the weekend.
I shouldered the door open and went inside the girls locker room getting my class together to walk-jog laps on the track. Groaning followed and I led them outside into the bright sunshine feeling the smile on my face grow. I was letting David in. Slowly like a flower budding before the bloom. I hoped he wouldn’t crush me under his boots, I was delicate underneath my thorns.
23
David
Kiara’s surprise visit to my class room had me smiling the rest of the day. My face hurt from the unusual shape my mouth took and I kept running my hand over my shorn head unable to believe she’d asked me out. It was enough of a change that even my students commented on it and in an attempt to get them off my back I told them they had the weekend to complete and turn in their current assignment. It worked temporarily, and I likely did a few of them a solid favor cementing me as their favorite teacher of the year.
When the end of day came I rushed out of my classroom and outside toward the staff parking lot. I saw Kiara’s car was still here, but I knew she had girls cross country practice. The football team was sequestered in the weight room under Coach Calloway’s strict supervision, and I was free to enjoy my night.
I jogged over to the field and stood beside the bleachers watching her coach the girls focused on shorter distances. She wore track pants with a teasing stripe that curved around her fine ass like a glove. I wanted to hop the fence and slip my hands in her pockets to see how much room I had to grip her hips. It was a perverse thought but I figured it had to be five o’clock somewhere in the world where adults enjoyed carnal pleasures without the worry of teenage kids milling about. The discomfort in my dress pants was all Kiara’s fault courtesy of my dirty mind.
“Hey, Mr. Easton.”
“Hi, Harvey.” I responded to one of my junior students who was dragging a water cooler toward the field. The poor kid had arms that resembled sticks and strained under the task. Apparently, he tried out every year for sports but never made the team. You had to be pretty bad to not even make the bench, so he worked closely with the physical trainer and ended up lugging the water down to the field. “You taking that by yourself?”
He glanced at the place where the girls stood in a group avidly listening to Kiara. A few of them were crouched down practicing how to push out of the starting blocks. A smile hinted on his face and I knew the feeling. I truly wondered if he really wanted to play sports or ogle the girls, and as long as he was harmless and behaved he was living the teenage fantasy. I’d keep an eye on him just in case.
“The trainer was going to come out in the golf cart with their water, but I figured I’d bring it over.” Harvey must have had a crush on one of the girls over there. I picked up the other side of the cooler and lifted i
t with him.
“It’ll take us half the time if we work together.”
His face blushed beat red and I was right. Teenage crush.
“Thanks, Coach.”
“No problem.” We walked over the rubber track dodging the joggers and onto the grass where a set of benches were set up. A few students were running laps in the far lane and some were busy setting up the 110 high hurdles. Fall track wasn’t a thing but Kiara took a few students under her wing who excelled. We propped the cooler on the bench and the girls stopped talking for a second.
“Thanks, Harvey.” One of the girls wearing a junior varsity tank shyly waved. Oh this kid was in for it. Her soft brown eyes drank him up as if we hadn’t brought any water at all and Harvey barely made his escape leaving me surrounded by ten young women and one I had the hots for myself.
Next time, I’d let him carry the water cooler by himself. The rules of war were simple, never leave a man behind in enemy lines. Harvey was young and I should have known better. Kiara crossed her arms over her chest pushing up her small breasts that strained against her sports bra and tank top making me sweat. Since when had November gotten this warm? Never I swore. I had to get out of there, we had a date set and I wasn’t about to screw this up. I did the only manly thing I could when surrounded by a pack of predatory she-wolves. I tucked tail and got out of there attempting to preserve my dignity.
“Ladies.” I saluted them and turned around walking away feeling their eyes on me the whole way. It took a lot to not break into a jog, but the smirk of Kiara’s face was worth it.
