by Autumn Avery
It was the common sense part that was fucking with me. Even my dumb ass knew why she was kinda paranoid.
"Well, well," I heard the all too familiar voice of Dustin call out as he burst through the door, "Look who's famous!"
"You suddenly get famous? Cause I'm already famous. What part of being the Train don't you get, Dust?"
Dustin closed the door behind him. He was carrying a newspaper in his hand, which was especially odd because no one our age reads a newspaper.
He threw it down on the table in front of me.
"Yes, that's a newspaper," I muttered. "Are you getting a bird and need to line its cage?"
"Shut up and read it, idiot."
I shrugged, and picked up the paper. It was the AU Herald, the school's local paper. I didn't even know we even had a school paper at this point, but I figured the journalism nerds needed to do something or other.
The headline was in all capital letters. It read:
* * *
FOOTBALL STAR'S SECRET FACULTY LOVE
* * *
A chill hit me. There was a photograph. Of a situation that I had remembered all too well, just like anything I had done with Stephanie.
Her. Me. Our lips locked. Vividly. An angle that made it pretty clear it was me, and pretty clear it was her.
It was from the day before. When I responded to learning she was going to be tutoring to me by laying down my game.
"Tabloid trash? That's what the school paper has resorted to?" I wanted to crumple it up. Throw it in the garbage, yet I kept reading.
"Well, they need to sell some papers and raise some money somehow." Dustin had sat on a chair adjacent to me, watching me panic as if it was his fetish or something
* * *
'Our sources state that AU Football Hero TREVOR RICHARDS, affectionately known by fans as THE TRAIN, has been allured by someone besides the scores of sorority girls lining up and begging for a ride.'
* * *
"Is this guy just trying to get hired by TMZ or some bullshit?"
"Modern journalism, Trev. Modern Journalism."
* * *
'It is believed that the woman in this photo is none other than recent new Assistant Professor Stephanie Casey, a twenty-two-year-old recently hired to fill in for former Assistant Professor Nicolas Wagner, who abruptly departed the university last month.'
* * *
"Stephanie Casey? Who the hell is Stephanie Casey?" I asked, falsely grinning in front of Dustin.
"Well, since you're kissing her in that there photo, I'm assuming you know quite well."
* * *
For those who are behind on AU rules and regulations, relationships of the romantic nature are strictly forbidden under threat of termination and expulsion in each of the respective cases. Richards is already under academic probation, so this could spell the end of the fan favorite football hero.
* * *
Shit. Shit. Fucking shit on a cuntdick bitch. I needed more profanity to spew out to truly cope with that.
"That could be anyone, Dustin. That can't be me."
"Dude, you're pretty fucking distinct. So's that new assistant professor. Not a lot of people look like you two. People don't forget a pretty face, be it male or female."
I ran my hand through my hair. "Can you even really call this a kiss? Look, she's not even fully into it."
"Well, that would make it sexual assault, which isn't really a better position. Actually, it makes it a whole lot worse."
"I didn't mean it like that, man."
"Trev, I can't figure out if you're denying this or trying to play it off as not being that bad."
"Jesus fucking Christ," I vented. "I didn't know she was a teacher man. I met her at the Steely Boys a few nights ago. We had something. Like, really something."
"I'm not following? You seduced someone you didn't know was a teacher? Why are you kissing her then? In school of all places?"
Would he remotely understand? This is the guy who rated his sexual prowess on quantity. "Dude, you didn't report this, did you?"
"I ain't no snitch."
I let out a long breath. "Don't say anything if you're asked."
"So I won't say you openly fucked a professor in front of me, got it."
"Dude, this is serious."
He just laughed.
"Don't make me knock your jaw off, man."
"Hey, it's not my fault you're hot for teacher."
I knocked his jaw off.
Okay, not literally, but I socked him really good.
"Fuck, what was that for?"
"Dude, she's more than a teacher."
He looked at me for a time. Even his idiot self was coming to understand what I really meant.
"Right. I won't say anything. I'll act like it's business as usual, you have a long string of random chicks coming in and all that."
"Probably make me sound like some sort of sex addict, but that's doable, I guess."
I slammed the paper down, stood, and started to pace. What the fuck was I going to do?
What the fuck were we?
Shit, two consenting adults shouldn't have to put up with all of this nonsense.
21
Stephanie
Stephanie
* * *
"To the left, they're coming from the left," Emma called out over the headset.
I bolted behind some cover. This game was putting me on edge. Why did I let her talk me into this?
"They're going to get you if you stay there."
"Where am I supposed to go then?"
"Somewhere where they can't find you. Go get the shotgun, you'll probably have to fight."
Zombies. It was always zombies when it came to video games. Hordes of them, and we were supposed to be teaming up against them, but Emma's idea of teamwork was just telling me whenever I did something wrong.
Still, I appreciated this. A long day at the university, I went through all the paperwork, and I needed to unwind in some fashion that occupied my mind and got me thinking of something that wasn't work.
Or Trevor.
I needed to get my mind off of Trevor.
"Behind you!" Emma screeched.
Oh, right. There was a zombie behind me. Way too close to me. Like she predicted, I had to fight, even though all I had was a baseball bat. I mashed the swing key, but it wasn't enough. My poor digital character was now digital zombie food.
"Damn, you really shoulda got the shotgun."
"Woulda, shoulda, coulda," I sighed. "I'll do better next time, I guess. Baseball bats aren't really that good. Lesson learned."
My phone began to ring. I glanced over to it. Dean Dawson. As in, title dean, not his name was Dean.
Which meant I didn't really have the luxury of ignoring it. "Sorry, Emma, I gotta take this call. I'll catch you later."
"Sure thing, zombie food."
I swapped away my headset for my cell phone and scooted away from the keyboard. "Mr. Dawson, what's going on?"
"Casey. What did I warn you about when I hired you?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Not to order the potato salad from the cafeteria?"
"It's not the time for jokes. You're potentially in some serious, deep shit trouble, Casey."
Trouble? Fuck, how the hell could he have possibly found out? "What are you talking about?"
"Haven't you seen the new AU Herald?"
The AU Herald? What the hell was the AU Herald? Oh, wait, that was the school paper. "I haven't been keeping up on it, sorry, I've been busy."
"Well, you should be. You really, really should be."
"I'm not following. I'll try to encourage the journalism majors more, but you didn't call me about that, did you?"
"You should know why I'm calling you. I should have never hired someone so young, Casey. The fraternization policy is something we take very seriously."
"I... I..." I was trembling in place. How... how did they know? "I don't know what you're talking about?"
"There is an art
icle about your tryst with one Trevor Richards, the football player? It has you two locked in an embrace. That's strictly forbidden, Casey."
"Trevor? He's one of my students, but um, that's it?" I knew I was lying. I also knew that I had to choose my lies incredibly carefully. This also meant I couldn't act like I didn't know who he is, since that wouldn't stand up under any scrutiny.
"There's a photo right here, Casey. Are you saying it's fake?"
"I'm saying I'm not doing anything inappropriate with Trevor. I'm just tutoring him, like Professor Hatch told me to do."
"Tutoring him on kissing?"
"What? No!" Honestly, Trevor was probably a far better expert on that subject than I could ever hope to be. "Medieval literature. That sort of thing. You know, what I'm a professor of."
"Assistant professor. One without tenure, and yet..." I could hear him grumble over the phone. "I can't fire you outright. Teacher’s Union rules. Damnable unions. There will be an investigation into this, Casey. You should have known better."
Woulda, shoulda, coulda.
"I've done nothing wrong, I assure you."
"We'll determine that. Until then, you're on razor thin ice. I suggest you be a model employee if you have any hope of making it somewhere in academia."
"I will, sir." Even though I wanted to scream at him, I knew I had to play nice. Even then, I knew that I was only buying time before the inevitable.
"Don't sir me. This is your warning, Casey." The sound of the call disconnecting on his end quickly followed.
I damn near dropped my phone on the floor. Everything felt like it was crumbling around me. How did they know? Who told them? It couldn't have been Trevor. Trevor wasn't that sort of person.
My doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anything, but damn if dealing with any sort of people was the absolute last thing I wanted at the moment.
I moved toward the door, and cracked it open again. It was Trevor.
"You probably should just let me in this time. We don't want to be yelling through the door, if you know what I mean."
I unhooked the chain, and let him in properly, before slamming it shut. He was carrying a paper, which he quickly laid flat on the first table he could find.
The AU Herald. Front page article?
* * *
FOOTBALL STAR'S SECRET FACULTY LOVE
* * *
The photo? Me kissing Trevor.
"How?" I said, barely able to make the sounds. "How did they get that photo, how did they find out?"
Trevor plunked down in one of my dining room chairs. "This is because of me. They were looking for some juicy tabloid story. I'm the closest thing the school has to a local celebrity. So some asshole tailed me looking for something worth selling. Apparently the thing worth selling was you."
I sulked down across from him, running my hand through my hair, ready to rip it out. "They're going to fire me, Trevor. They're going to blackball me from academia. 'Has fucked a student' is not something you get hired with in your history. I've spent half of my life wanting to be an educator, and now it's about to all be gone."
I didn't see him get up, but in a flash, Trevor was there, holding me close to him. Caressing me. Holding me tight. "I'm not going to let a damn thing happen to you. This isn't your fault, Stephanie. You've done nothing wrong."
"I fucked you in the middle of a lecture hall when I should have been teaching you about Dante. I'm as guilty as you."
"I'll figure something out. We'll figure something out. We have to fight this. I'm not letting you take the fall for this. Fuck, I'll go in and take the fall myself."
"How on earth will you do that? It takes two to tango, Trevor."
"Well, clearly I am an irredeemable horndog and forced myself on you."
My eyes went wide. "The hell you don't. You did nothing of the sort. That would ruin your prospects."
"Better me than you."
"No, the hell you're not."
"What, you're going to take the fall for me? Like anyone's going to believe you forced a kiss on me."
Urk. He had a point. Sure, it was a stupid point, but society is kind of backwards sometimes. "Well, I'm not letting you claim something like that."
"You have any better idea?"
"Just... not that." I shook my head. "We need to stay away from one another. We do the class, then we go. We act like we're perfect angels. No more flirting with me. None of that."
"All right," he said. "That'll be really fucking tough for me, but damn, I'll try."
"You have to. I don't know, I'll go read up and see if I can claim some sort of defense." Photo evidence was pretty hard to disprove. How could it be worse? What, a photo of me riding him like I was earlier, breasts flopping around, and me holding up a photo ID in one hand, while he had his as well?
"So... we got nothing right now."
"Essentially? Yeah."
He paced away from me. "So you're saying we should avoid doing all the things we enjoy to one another. No more giving in, huh?"
"It was always a bad idea, Trevor."
It felt so odd, sitting here, talking about our relationship like it was actually, well, a relationship. I still didn't know what we were.
What I did know? I was doomed.
Yet, if I had a time machine and the ability to stop making that terrible mistake from a few days ago, I wasn't sure I would have done so.
I looked his way, and saw that he was still deep in thought, unsure about everything. There really was more to him than a jock who was ruled by his cock. Why did there have to be? Why couldn't he be dumb as a brick? Why couldn't he have cared as little as Ryan did about my pleasure? As little as he did about my feelings?
Sure, it would be painful, but it would be so much simpler.
He pulled me closer to him, just enjoying my presence, as I enjoyed his.
Trevor's eyes soon locked with mine, both of us staring one another down. I said we shouldn't do this. We needed to quit one another cold turkey.
Our lips soon locked into that oh so delightful and familiar passionate embrace between us.
Yet we couldn't. I guess it just wasn't possible for us.
Just his lips were enough to get me roaring hot for him. It was almost Pavlovian, that and me feeling his incredible torso under my fingers.
"Once more," he said, breathlessly breaking the kiss. "One more, then we need to ride out this storm, Stephanie."
Yes. Just one more time. Then we would be done. Simple. I nodded.
It was all he needed to take an embrace into him wrapping his arms around me and carrying me through my apartment.
He threw me on my bed, and swiftly pulled off his jersey, flinging it off. It didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered, not even our clothes. Just our bodies, our souls, and the absolute bliss that we could inflict on one another.
As he pulled off his belt, I got with the program. Pulling off my socks, throwing off my t-shirt, my shorts. I was so thankful that I was braless right now, just anything not to delay bliss for a few fractions of a second longer.
Right before I was about to kick off my panties, I had to stop, as I looked at Trevor looking at me with a goofy look on his face. "What's the matter?'"
"Nothing. Just... what's a good word for this? Flabbergasted. I'm flabbergasted by how sexy your body is. I can't help but stare, Steph."
I chuckled. He really was finally getting through to me, showing me that I was sexy, at least in the eyes of the only judge who truly mattered: him.
Looking back at him though, I already saw he was quicker at undressing than me, and that the monster was unleashed and very much wide awake. I guess he just had to further prove his point, because I hadn't even made the slightest move to touch him and yet he was already that unbelievably hard for me.
Trevor wasted little time putting his own body on top of mine, his hand going down between my legs, touching my clit, and damn near making it explode from that alone. He pulled my panties down my legs soon after, sparing me the minor
chore of doing it myself.
The mouth to mouth continued, but he kept massaging my sex with his fingers. "Fuck, you're gushing for me, Stephanie. I love it. My teacher, the slut."
"Your slut," I murmured.
"Well, yeah. I guess in a way you can just look at me as some ridiculous type of teacher's pet and all. I mean, instead of apples, I just bring you fucking."
"I don't even like apples, so I really do approve."
"I'll keep that in mind, teach." He showed me his thoughtfulness with another playful tinge on my clit, a bolt of lightning shooting through my body.
Crying out for him, my arms wrapped around his body, and for the third time, I was utterly amazed that I actually had this obscenely sexy hunk of man actively wanting to fuck me. His muscles had muscles, he was handsome enough to have his pick of any woman in the world, and yet he wanted me. Me, of all people. Shy, nerdy Stephanie.
"Fuck, just seeing you like this. I need to bury myself inside you, Steph. Every time I see your damn body, I feel like I get the worst case of blue balls instantly."
"Do it. Please, fucking do it."
"Oh, you're desperate for it too, huh?"
I nodded furiously.
"Maybe I can tolerate it. Torture you a bit."
"Don't. Please."
"Ask me nicely."
"Please. Please fuck me, Trevor."
"Such good manners for my personal slut." He still didn't give me right what I wanted though. His cock tickled my stomach, sort of stroking around down there, not enough to go inside me, but enough to drive me crazy and fill me with greater and greater need for him, building my addiction to him.
"Come on, please, give it to me."
"I wonder what the administration would think having such a slutty teacher on staff?"
"Now's not the time, Trevor. Please, come on." I was nearly whimpering at this point.
