The Summer of Consent

by Jayne Marlowe

  She had set it to mute after calling Michael earlier. The little notification light was blinking. She picked up the phone for a closer look. Five missed messages.

  All of them were from Michael.

  When Nate dropped off Gloria at home on Sunday morning, she refused his offer to come in and talk to her brother.

  “You don’t have to answer to him. Neither do I. We’re both adults.”

  “But, Glo—”

  “Nate.” She placed her hand on his leg and held his gaze.

  “I’m not afraid of your brother, Gloria. But I’d feel like a coward if I just drop you off and haul ass like some kid. Let me at least walk you to the door.”

  There was no stopping him. She recognized his tone as the one he used in the classroom when the kids got too rowdy and needed to pay attention. The next thing she knew, he had gotten out and circled the car to open her door. He got her backpack from the back seat and carried it for her, all smiles.

  She smiled back, albeit nervously, and tried not to act surprised when he reached for her hand. It was clear that he was determined to put up a united front. With every step they took toward the front door, Gloria was torn between relishing the ache between her legs after their morning sex session and the dread at a possible blow up with her brother.

  They barely set foot on the front porch when the door opened and there stood Michael, dressed for his weekly basketball game with his friends and wearing a deadpan poker face.

  “Hey, Michael,” Gloria said casually.

  “Hey,” he replied and looked at Gloria and Nate holding hands and then at each of them in turn. “Glad to see that you made it back safe.”

  “Yes,” Nate said. “The rain didn’t let up until late morning, and the roads didn’t open until shortly after. We just had to wait it out.”

  Michael gave a stiff nod and then did something that shocked Gloria.

  He reached out to shake Nate’s hand.

  “Thanks for looking out for her, man.”

  It was a hearty handshake followed by a quick bro hug. From the way he raised his eyebrows, the gesture caught Nate by surprise too, but his answer was smooth.

  “Not a problem. To be honest, Michael, Gloria is quite capable of handling herself.”

  Gloria froze. Her brother could be quite prickly and prone to fits of machismo when threatened or slighted, and when Michael crossed his arms over his chest again and cast a steady, appraising gaze on her, she figured the newfound truce between the men in her life had evaporated like last night’s rainstorm. But he nodded.

  “I’m sure she can, Nate. It’s just that she’s my bratty baby sister and I worry about her sometimes.” He smirked. “Too much, obviously.”

  “Bratty.” Gloria rolled her eyes. “Whatever, man.” She reached for the doorknob. “Come in, Nate and have something to eat.”

  “No, I better get home. Need to get ready for Monday.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Michael said and quickly excused himself from the front porch, leaving Gloria amazed at his conscientiousness.

  “I’ll be damned,” she said.

  Nate chuckled. “You don’t give each other enough credit.” He set her backpack on the ground so he could put his arms around her and nuzzled her forehead. “Did you enjoy your first hiking trip, Miss Goodman?”

  “Yes, Mr. Larsen.” She looked up at him. “Can we do it again?”

  “Hiking or the hotel?”

  “Both.”

  They kissed.

  “If you finish transcribing part two of the textbook this week, we’ll knock off early, and I’ll take you to one of my favorite parks.”

  She ran her hands up his chest. “Or just to your favorite hotel?”

  Another kiss, and this time it was deeper and veered close to one of their “hungry” kisses.

  “Be sure to bring enough clothes for the entire weekend,” he said and left her standing before she could say anything.

  Not like she could speak for the huge grin splitting her face.

  Three times. That’s how many times they had sex at that hotel two weeks ago. Nate couldn’t remember the last time he had sex three times within twenty-four hours. Definitely not since his college years.

  Gloria had revived his libido. It hadn’t really waned, but after his divorce, he had been so focused on teaching and putting together the textbook, he hadn’t given too much thought about filling his sexual needs apart from the occasional wank in the shower—in spite of hints from Jill.

  He knew getting caught up with Jill at the holiday party was a mistake even before he did it, but he did it anyway. It’s not much different from his current situation with Gloria. While on paper things may be okay, legally speaking, ethically speaking was another matter.

  But he couldn’t resist, and from the way she acted, neither could she. Inside his head memories of the way her body felt against his, soft and yielding, or the way she held his head in place as they shared one of their deeper kisses overtook his thoughts about lesson plans, biogeochemical cycles, Mendelian genetics, and scientific reasoning.

  In a way, his scientific reasoning had been taken over by animal instinct. Now all he had to do was walk into his office, see Gloria, and instantly get hard.

  Ever since the hiking trip, whenever he would come into the office between classes, he would steal a kiss—or she would. But when he came in yesterday and saw her bent over one of the fish tanks, trying to lift a bag of sawdust, he came up behind her, put his hands on her waist and said, “Lift with your knees, not with your back.”

  Gloria straightened up and gave her hips a shake, rubbing against his growing hardness. Teasing him.

  “I’ll remember that,” she had said.

  They had kissed and he took several deep breaths to calm his urge before leaving the office to face the class entering the classroom.

  It was now 10:30 and he had just dismissed the morning session. Coming into the office, he saw her bent over again...and there was no doubt she was doing it on purpose.

  The sight of her round, fleshy, firm, naked ass flanked by stockings and suspenders made Nate’s jaw drop. And when she turned to look at him over her shoulder with a wicked smile, he closed the office door and was behind her in a flash.

  She took him by the hand and led him deeper into the shelves until they were pressed into a corner. She reached out, unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and soon encountered his rock hard cock that sprang out of its confines.

  She turned her back to him and bent forward slightly. She took him in her hand, but her next move left him speechless. Instead of aiming him toward her pussy, she aligned him with her ass.

  “Hurry,” she said breathlessly. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  He needed no more coaxing and was pleasantly surprised to find that she had already prepped her ass with lube, allowing him to surge forward. He was deep inside her in an instant. A muffled squeal passed her lips as she did her best to keep the noise to a minimum. Nate closed his eyes and rode her ass with no regret.

  That was a lie. He did have a regret. He regretted not being able to admit that he was falling in love—had fallen in love—with a young woman whose future would soon take her away from him. He regretted that her passion matched his in so many ways. It was exasperating, and it made him thrust harder. So he took out his frustration on her ass.

  Gloria found it hard to keep the blissful smile from her lips. Nate thrust so hard, it lifted her off her feet. She loved it. She wanted it. She wanted him to fuck her with abandon until they both collapsed.

  After her introduction to anal sex, she had bought a butt plug and started wearing it for an hour each night, in bed, before going to sleep, enjoying the way it filled her and the way her body enveloped around it—and dreaming it was Nate.

  Now, in the shadows deep within the office, she closed her eyes, imagining that she could see Nate’s cock moving inside her, and it was working, her visualization taking her to the edge. She was go
ing to come.

  “Hello! Anybody home?”

  Jill’s voice shattered their erotic world, and they froze; Nate mid-thrust and Gloria on the cusp of a moan.

  Gloria tried to breathe normally, but it was difficult while being pressed against the cinderblock wall with a hand clasped tightly over her mouth and a rock-hard cock shoved balls-deep up her ass. From her peripheral vision, she could see Jill Oliver scan the office while standing in the middle of the space. She tapped her foot, perhaps debating whether she should wait or not.

  Will you please fuck off and die, you nosy bitch! Gloria wanted to scream—and she nearly did scream when Jill took a step in their direction.

  Nate’s grip on her tightened. He’d anticipated her reaction, and Gloria tried not to pass out from holding her breath while her mouth was covered. She could swear that she could feel his heart beating through his chest and reverberate through her back. She was surprised that she couldn’t hear his heart too.

  When Jill stopped in front of Gloria’s desk and used a notepad to write a message that she left on Nate’s desk before leaving the office, Gloria sent up a prayer of thanks.

  The close call affected Nate too. He was still rock hard and lodged deep up her ass, and as soon as they were alone again, he commenced to hammer into her several more times until he unleashed inside her.

  “Fuck!” he growled, just loud enough for her to hear. His grip on her loosened and she slumped against him. She reached behind her and grabbed him by the waist, clutching at his pockets for purchase and pulling him closer, making his cock advance deeper, still pulsing, still pumping come into her ass. He buried his face in the curve of her neck and groaned.

  There they stayed, up against the wall, catching their breath. Then Nate squeezed her ass cheeks together and slowly pulled out, both of them moaning at the sensation. Still holding her skirt up, he turned Gloria around, making her naked ass press against the cold, rough cinder block wall. They kissed.

  “You’re a fucking bitch teasing me.” His smile spread against her lips.

  Gloria smiled too, relieved that he wasn’t mad, and then he started to laugh.

  “I must admit though—that’s the first time Jill’s voice ever made me hard.”

  That got Gloria giggling, which made him laugh harder, and soon they were both having fits until Nate reined it in.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Remember I need you to watch over the next class as they take their test while I cover Sheri Houska’s class.”

  They adjusted their clothing before leaving the shelving stacks. Gloria took out two washcloths from her desk drawer and gave him one. Having the cloths there was something she’d been doing lately...for just such an eventuality.

  Gloria sat in the classroom at Nate’s desk making sure all the written essay questions were matched with the Scantron test card for each student. It was midterm time for the summer session so everyone was in test mode and had been for the last week or so. Gloria suspected Nate was really feeling the pressure of dealing with prepping for the test as well as working on the textbook, so she had hoped that her little distraction earlier had helped relieve some of his tension.

  It had.

  By the time he left the office to oversee Mrs. Houska’s class, he and Gloria were tidied up and grinning from ear-to-ear, Jill’s interruption notwithstanding.

  Gloria was still grinning, even though their last encounter made it difficult for her to sit.

  “Hey, Gloria.”

  She looked up to see a student standing inside the doorway as the last ones trailed out. It was Rory Stewart.

  “I didn’t expect to see you out here. You’re usually tucked away in the office.”

  On the surface, Rory looked like a stereotypical dumb jock and he acted like a dumb jock—but he wasn’t dumb. He was taking Nate’s advance placement biology summer course. Rory would be a senior when classes started in the autumn but he’d been the star running back on the varsity football team ever since his sophomore year, which is how she recognized him.

  Gloria was surprised he even knew her name. He was one of Darning High’s darlings—as Brittany Taylor had been. In fact, they ran in the same circles in another social galaxy, way out of Gloria’s orbit. If any guy could be suspected of calling her Nate’s “T and A,” it would be him. Fortunately, Gloria knew the truth about the source behind that rumor.

  Gloria always thought Rory was cute, with his wavy, brown hair and blue-green eyes. His strong, angular jaw line was sharper than Nate’s, and he was several inches shorter and stood about 5’10” with a stocky build compared to Nate’s slimmer one. Rory’s lips were also fuller than Nate’s, but she wasn’t complaining.

  She couldn’t help but compare Rory—or any guy—to Nate. She had been doing that a lot lately. Nate had become her measure of manhood and he more than measured up.

  “Hi, Rory.” She smiled. “What can I help you with?”

  “Isn’t Mr. Larsen here today?”

  “He’s gone over to Ms. Houska’s classroom to monitor a test. Her son is sick and can’t attend day care today. He should be back shortly. Is there anything I can do?”

  Rory walked down an aisle, smiling, and leaned against one of the lab tables in front of her. He wore khaki cargo shorts that showed off his muscular legs with just enough hair to be noticeable and a nice, but discrete, bulge at the crotch. His heather gray T-shirt with DARNING HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT emblazoned on the front completed the outfit that screamed “high school heart throb” and Gloria felt hers do just that.

  “You sound just like one of the secretaries in the office, all professional.”

  Gloria didn’t quite know whether he was mocking her or complimenting her, but from the twinkle in his eyes and tone of his voice, she suspected it was the latter. There was one way to find out.

  “I do try,” she said. “Are you teasing me? Do I sound phony?”

  “Oh, no. I’m not teasing. You sound very elegant and grown up. I’m jealous.”

  He laughed, which made her laugh, and any potential ice wall she held in reserve, melted.

  “Why are you jealous? You make me sound decades older than you.” She commenced to stack the test papers and organize them.

  “Well, you are a high school graduate, out of school, and working a job.”

  “Yeah, and less than two months ago, I was an unemployed high-school senior. Have I really changed that much?”

  “You know how it is. Graduating high school is a rite of passage. You have crossed another threshold. You’re no longer a kid, you’re an adult...or at least you’re supposed to be.”

  Gloria stood, thankful to be off her sore ass. Losing her virginity was another rite of passage into adulthood. She walked around the desk and leaned against it, in front of Rory. She inhaled. He had just come in from outside and smelled of sunshine and freshly mowed grass. She only hoped that she didn’t carry any remaining scent to reveal what she and Nate had been doing two hours ago.

  She also tried not to feel self-conscious about the way Rory looked at her from the ground up, starting with her black, patent leather pumps, up her legs and to her black pencil skirt, over her hips to her chest where her bra both strained and sculpted her D-cups underneath her cashmere turquoise twin set.

  By the time his eyes met hers, she was holding her breath, and not because of his lack of subtlety, but because she swore she just witnessed that moment when a person suddenly sees another person for what—or who—they are, a dawning realization.

  “To be honest, Rory, I’m surprised you even know who I am.”

  His wide-eyed expression told her that if anyone was surprised, it was him.

  “Why would you say that?”

  Gloria shrugged. “We didn’t hang out in similar circles. Besides, everyone knows who you are. You have a fan club.”

  She was referring, in part, to all the cheerleaders in the Court of Popularity as well as the other star-struck females of the comm
on class.

  “Now who’s teasing who?” He said it with a laugh, but he couldn’t hide the blush coming to his cheeks.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  A moment’s silence passed between them, and Gloria hugged the test papers to her, thankful to use them as a shield from his gaze, but it was probably a mistake since they just served to boost her bust.

  She didn’t miss the way Rory’s eyes opened wide for a second before looking away. He cleared his throat and scratched at his chin.

  “Um, well, that’s OK. Uhh...I’ll stop by later. When would be a good time to catch Mr. Larsen?”

  “After lunch. Before the last class starts, so I’d say just before two o’clock.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll be back.” Rory started to leave, but just before he exited the door, he turned around and said, “Spring assembly.”

  Gloria frowned. “What?”

  “The spring assembly. That’s how I know you—that and Brittany Taylor, of course. I’ll see you later.”

  He flashed her a stunning smile, one she knew got him more cheerleader pussy than he knew what to do with, and was gone.

  “See...you...,” Gloria mumbled to an empty room.

  She now remembered how, as part of the debate team, they had been paraded across the stage at the annual spring assembly for winning a mock trial competition. Gloria had been singled out for her role leading up to the win and being one of the graduating seniors on the team.

  That admission didn’t bother her. It was the bit about Brittany Taylor. What had she been telling her friends? She knew a little about Gloria’s home life, enough to know that it wasn’t pretty. She also knew the reason behind Gloria’s “setback” in her junior year.

  Now Gloria wondered how many others knew about it too.

  Gloria and Nate had lunch at her place. She didn’t live too far from the school, and they could eat alone and in comfort since Michael and Robyn would be at work. It was also private in case they wanted to mess around, which they often did. The first time they had sex in Gloria’s room, she didn’t wash her bed sheets for a week—which was something she never allowed before.