Thirst

by Mia Ford

  "I should probably get going," he told. I merely nodded. I simply didn't have the energy. While I watched, him get dressed, I listened for Sharon. I heard the bathroom door open and close, then the door to Gemma's room opened and closed. I got out of bed and threw on an oversized t-shirt to walk Professor Moore out in. As I led him to the front door, he smacked my ass, making it jiggle and me giggle. I turned and kissed him goodbye. I just wanted him gone at this point!

  "I love you," he told me.

  "I love you too."

  We hugged and he left. Nothing made me feel better than being able to close the door behind him! I turned around and leaned back against it closing my eyes. I needed another nap. As I stepped away from the door, I heard Gemma's door open and the sound of her and Sharon talking as they walked out. As they were entering the living room, there was a knock at the door. I froze as all the blood drained from my face. No. This wasn't happening. It wasn't him, it had to be someone else. Gemma and Sharon were now in the living room, fully dressed, ready to go.

  "Hey Dahlia!" Sharon greeted me. I forced a smile.

  "Hey, how are you?" I asked. There was a knock at the door a second time.

  "Is there someone at the door?" Gemma asked me.

  "Uh.." I turned to the door and looked through the peephole. Sure, enough, it was Professor Moore standing on the other side. I cracked the door open just enough for me to slide through. "You have to go!" I muttered to him.

  "I know, but I think that I left my wallet in your room," he told me. My mind was racing.

  "I'll go find it and bring it out to you," I told him.

  "Ok," he agreed. I exhaled. My heart couldn't take much more of this. Professor Moore was turning to leave when the front door opened, and there stood Sharon. My body turned to ice. They both looked at each other with disbelief and confusion.

  "Marquise?"

  "Sharon?"

  "You guys know each other?" Gemma was now standing in the doorway.

  "Yea, this is my husband," Sharon said, looking from Professor Moore to me, her expression changing.

  "And you're the girl from the pictures," Professor Moore said looking at Gemma.

  "What pictures?" Gemma asked.

  "Marquise what are you doing here?" Sharon demanded still looking back and forth between Professor Moore and I.

  "What the fuck are you doing here?!" He shot back. Sharon wasn't listening, she was staring at me. She looked down at my ring. She looked as though she wanted to sucker punch me.

  "Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here?!" Gemma shouted.

  "You're fucking my wife!" Professor Moore shouted back. The situation was escalating out of control and I was finding it hard to believe. Everything was going dark. I put my hand on the wall to try and keep my balance. I was slipping. Everyone turned their attention to me.

  "Dahlia!" Gemma and Professor Moore exclaimed simultaneously. The last thing I saw was Gemma and Professor Moore reaching for me and Sharon glaring at me.

  When I came to, I was in my bed, but I wasn't alone. Gemma was sitting on the edge of my bed glaring at me. As soon as she saw that my eyes were open, she demanded, "what the fuck was that about?"

  "What was what?" I asked weakly.

  "Don't play stupid with me Dahlia!" Gemma snapped. The way that she was looking at me was kind of scary.

  "Well, what do you want to know?" I asked dryly. Gemma looked up at the ceiling and put her fingertips on her temples.

  "I don't even know where to begin. So, let's start there. At the beginning. How do you know Sharon's husband?"

  "He's my Figure Drawing professor," I answered.

  "Are you sleeping with him?" She asked.

  "No," I answered with a straight face. Gemma stared at me long and hard with a look of disbelief and subtle hostility.

  "Then what was he doing here?"

  "Looking for his wife." With every answer, Gemma was getting more and more angry.

  "How did he know that she was here?"

  "I have no idea." Gemma looked as though she wanted to slap me.

  "So who was the guy that was here earlier?" She asked.

  "What guy?" Gemma's hands balled into fists.

  "The one who was using the bathroom! The one who you were fucking when I came home with Sharon!" She screamed at me.

  "Oh, that was Richard," I said nonchalantly. The way that the lies were just rolling off my tongue was unbelievable even to me. I almost wanted to laugh but I knew that Gemma might kill me.

  "Richard gave you that ring?" She asked me. I nodded. Gemma narrowed her eyes into slits and brought her face close to mine. "I know that you're lying. I know that you are more involved than you are leading me to believe and I'm going to find out what's really going on," she said. Then she got up and left my room, slamming the door behind her. Gemma was scary, but I didn't think that she would find out anything and if she continued seeing Sharon, she would only make it easier for me to be with Professor Moore. Professor Moore! I grabbed my phone. He had texted, called, and left voicemails. I decided to read the text messages first. They read:

  ‘Are you ok?? What happened?’

  ‘I'm so sorry! Please forgive me?’

  ‘I hope that you are alright.’

  ‘Please, call me when you get these messages.’

  His voicemails said about the same things. He didn't know what was going on! Now, I laughed. Hysterically. Until tears fell from my eyes. Until Gemma yelled at me to shut the hell up. I think that I was actually going insane. I called Professor Moore. He answered on the first ring.

  "Hey, are you ok?" He asked me as soon as he answered the phone.

  "Yea, I'm fine. How are you?" I asked him.

  "I'm alright. I'm sorry about all that. This is a mess," he said.

  "It's not your fault," I told him. I started thinking, and wondered how he didn't suspect me. "How are things with your wife?" There was a pause.

  "She's staying at her mother’s house," he told me. There was another pause. "So you knew that she was seeing your roommate all along?" I bit my lip.

  "Yea," I admitted.

  "So, that's how you got the pictures? You took them?" He asked me. Tears sprung up in my eyes.

  "Yes," I answered.

  "How'd you know she was my wife?" He asked me. I weighed the question over in my mind.

  "She told us," I answered.

  "So your roommate knew that she was married and she slept with her anyway?! While you took pictures?!" He yelled. Then he hung up on me. I fell back onto the pillows. Everything was unraveling and I didn't know how to fix it. My stomach growled. On top of everything, I was hungry. I checked the time on my phone. Dinner time. I got up and out of bed and got dressed. The rest of the apartment was quiet when I left my room. The door to Gemma's room was shut. I didn't know if she was here or not and I didn't really want to find out. I left the apartment and walked to the dining hall alone. When I got there, it was crowded. I scanned the place for Gemma, but I didn't see her. I got in line and grabbed two slices of pepperoni pizza, then went to get some soda. With my tray in hand, I tried to find an empty table, but there were none. Then I saw Richard smiling and waving me over. I grinned, happy that he was happy to see me. I made my way over to join him.

  "Hey," I said once I was seated.

  "Hey," he said. "How's it going?" I wished that I could tell him. Anybody! Keeping everything to myself was destroying me! I really wished that I could tell Gemma. We were supposed to be friends and I hadn't been a friend to her lately. All of a sudden, I was crying. Richard looked alarmed. "Are you alright?" I couldn't speak so I just shook my head. My body shook with silent sobs. Richard grabbed a bunch of napkins and handed them to me. I wiped my face and took a sip of my soda.

  "I'm fine," I told him but he was not convinced.

  "You look anything but fine," he said. He looked so concerned that it made me start crying all over again. I didn't deserve it! I didn't deserve to have everyone worrying about me!r />
  "I'm sorry," I said through sobs. He just handed me more napkins.

  "You don't have to apologize. It's ok," he assured me, but I knew that it wasn't ok. I was a bad person and I had fucked over and lied to all of these people. Used all of these people. I deserved to cry. I deserved worse! My phone started ringing in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen. Professor Moore was calling me.

  "I've got to take this," I said, sniffling and wiping my face. Richard nodded understandingly. I stood up and pressed 'Answer' as I walked away from the table.

  "Hello?" I answered. There was no answer. "Hello?" I repeated.

  "I want to know everything and if you can't be honest with me then you will never hear from me again, understood?" Professor Moore said in a grave voice. I was out in the hall where no one could hear. I stood off to the side by a plant and a window. I nodded.

  "Yes, I understand," I answered. When he didn't say anything else, I took a deep breath. "When I found out that you were married, I was devastated. I would have never slept with you or even pursued you or tempted you in any kind of way if I had known. I'm not like that. When I left your office that day, I ran into your wife and accidentally took her phone. I gave it to my roommate to give to her while I went to class, only I had no intentions of going to class. My roommate invited your wife in for tea. I stole ecstasy pills from my roommate’s room and slipped it in their tea. When they started hooking up, I took the pictures," I said. I could hear him breathing heavily so I paused.

  "You drugged my wife?!" He roared.

  "Yes," I said quietly.

  "You're fuckin crazy! Are you out of your mind?!" He shouted. I cringed and looked out the window. Maybe. "Why?" He asked. I was quiet. "Why did you do it?!" He demanded.

  "Because I thought that if given the opportunity, your wife would cheat too and you'd definitely get a divorce!" I spit the words out as quickly as I could. A sob erupted from my chest, tears refilled my eyes.

  "I can't believe this. You've destroyed my marriage," he accused me. I crumpled to the floor, sobbing. Professor Moore hung up on me. I had fucked everything up and now everyone hated me. I heard footsteps and a shadow was cast over me. When I looked up, Richard was standing over me holding a plate wrapped in napkins. He held out his hand to me.

  "Let me walk you home," he said. I took his hand and he helped me stand up.

  "What's in the plate?" I asked him as we walked out the building.

  "Your pizza," he told me. I smiled.

  "Why are you so nice?" I asked him. He smiled and shrugged.

  "I don't know," he answered. As we walked, I thought about how easy things could be if I loved Richard instead of Professor Moore. But I didn't love Richard and things were damn near impossible.

  When we got to my apartment building, Richard handed me the plate.

  "Thank you, for all of this," I said with a smile.

  "You're welcome. I hope you feel better," he told me. We hugged and he started walking back to campus. I was just about to go inside when I noticed someone watching me from a car parked in front of my building. It was Professor Moore.

  Chapter 6.

  I stood on the outside of the building and waited for Marquise to get out of his car and approach me. When he got close enough, I could see that he too had been crying.

  The first thing that came out of his mouth was, "hanging out with your little boyfriend?" I rolled my eyes.

  "He's not my boyfriend. He's just a nice person. He might be the only friend that I have left," I said.

  "Well, who's fault is that?" He asked me. I shifted uncomfortably. I hoped that he hadn't come here just to make me feel worse. "Why'd you, do it?"

  "Do what?"

  "All of it? The panties. Breaking into my office. Drugging my wife? Everything!" He said, throwing his hands up. I shrugged.

  "I don't know! I've never done anything like this! I've never felt this way before," I told him.

  "I guess, I just want to know that it wasn't all for nothing. That all the destruction and pain aren't in vain. I want to be more than just a casualty," he said. The way he was looking at me was breaking my heart. I had hurt him and I felt terrible for it! I felt like crying, but to cry now, in front of him, felt selfish. I had hurt him and now I was the one crying. I didn't want to make him feel bad for me. I didn't want anyone else trying to comfort me when I didn't deserve it. "I met with my lawyer today. My wife was served divorce papers," he continued.

  "I'm sorry," I blurted out. "I'm sorry for the pain that you are feeling and for the way I did things. But I'm glad you're getting a divorce. I want to be with you. You belong with me," I told him.

  "You're the craziest person I've ever met. But I've got to admit, no one’s ever gone to these lengths for me. A part of me thinks that you're trouble. And you are. You're dangerous. You could ruin me if you wanted to. But I made you a promise and I meant it. I love you Dahlia," he said,

  "I love you too Marquise!" He opened his arms to me and I almost jumped into them. It felt so good to be back in his embrace. We stood like that for a while, just holding each other. It was getting dark out and the temperature was dropping but his arms kept me warm. We pulled back and he tried to kiss me but I stopped him.

  "What if someone sees us?" I asked him.

  "Then they'll have been lucky enough to witness true love," he said. I grinned and we kissed. His kisses warmed me inside and I didn't want him to leave.

  "Do you want to come inside?" I asked.

  "Do you think that's a good idea?" He asked back. I shrugged and frowned, then smiled once more.

  "Probably not, but I want you to come inside anyway," I told him. We let each other go, only to hold hands as we went inside. We didn't let go as we went upstairs or when we entered the apartment. It was dark inside with no lights on, and quiet. I closed the door, turned on the living room light, and set down the plate of pizza on the coffee table. I didn't think that Gemma was home. Before we could do anything else, there was a pounding on the door. Alarmed, I checked the peephole but whoever was on the other side had it covered. I called through the door, "who is it?" There was no answer. Whoever it was, just pounded again. Professor Moore stood beside me as I opened it. I gasped when I saw who was on the other side. It was Sharon and she was a mess! Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and she smelled as though she had been drinking. As soon as the door opened wide enough, she lunged at me. We both went tumbling to the ground.

  "You fucking bitch! I knew you were fucking him!" She growled through gritted teeth as she attempted to wrap her hands around my neck. Professor Moore pulled her off of me before things could escalate any further. "This bitch set me up!" She yelled and spit on me. It landed on my shirt. I was so disgusted that before I could even think about it, I cocked back and slapped her as hard as I could. She struggled against Professor Moore's arm trying to get to me. He had to restrain her with one arm and keep me back with the other.

  "This bitch set me up!" She shouted.

  "Calm down!" Professor Moore yelled.

  "No! She set me up and ruined our marriage!" She screamed. We glared at each other. She was panting and bucking like a wild animal. Sharon wanted to get to me in the worst way.

  "I would have never done that if she hadn't drugged me! Yea, Gemma told me what you did!" She said. My eyebrows shot up my forehead. I couldn't believe that Gemma had told her. "I should press charges!"

  "Calm down!" Professor Moore repeated. She took deep breaths but spit at me again. This time it landed on the floor at my feet. Sharon started sobbing.

  "Don't do this Marquise! Don't let her destroy us! You know that she set me up!" She cried.

  In a calm, quiet voice, Professor Moore asked, "did she set you up when you continued to see and sleep with her roommate? Were you on drugs this whole time?" Sharon didn't say anything.

  "Do you love her?" She asked. Professor Moore didn't answer right away. "Do you love her?!" She shouted.

  "Yes!" Professor Moore's deep
loud voice boomed, filling the whole apartment. "I am in love with her. And I want a divorce." Sharon's body went limp. Defeated, she grabbed a bunch of papers out of her purse and tossed them on the floor where her spit had landed.

  "There! There's your fucking divorce!" She snapped. "I just wanted to hear you say it. Let me go!" She demanded. Professor Moore released her and stood between her and I, blocking her from being able to reach me. Sharon stood up, straightened her clothes, and patted down her hair. "A match made in hell," she said before turning to go. Professor Moore shut and locked the door behind her. Then he bent down and picked up the signed divorce papers, wiping the spit off on his leg. Professor Moore sighed and plopped down on the couch. He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap then moved my hair to check my neck before kissing it.

  "Are you alright?" He asked me. I nodded and leaned back onto his chest.

  "Yea, I'm just tired," I answered. Tired was an understatement. I was exhausted! "I'm going to take a shower," I told him and stood up. He stood up with me.

  "Can I join you?" He asked me, putting his hands around my waist. "Let's remove this first," he said lifting up my shirt. I raised my arms and helped him pull it off me. We started making our way to the bathroom. Professor Moore threw the shirt in the trash on our way. When we were in the hallway, Professor Moore pushed me up against the wall and put his lips on mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. As we kissed, we helped each other undress until we were both naked. Professor Moore tried to have sex with me right there in the hallway but I slipped past him giggling as he chased me the rest of the way into the bathroom. I turned on the warm water, letting it run into the tub before turning on the shower head. I climbed into the tub first and Professor Moore climbed in after. I only had one sponge so we'd have to share.