Chapter 7
“Miss Miller, did my daddy call yet?” little Audrey asked. “He said he was going to call when it was time to pick me up.”
Katy hid her frustration, knowing doing such was pivotal to her being a teacher. “No, Audrey. He didn’t call just yet. Just go ahead and get in line so you can get to lunch. I’ll let you know when I come get you all if he’s called yet.”
Katy watched the little girl smile as she got in line. After tending to some of the other children – the kids who were a little more resistant to following directions – she guided her class down to the cafeteria and left them in the care of the lunch room attendants. Down in her classroom, she pulled her yogurt and ham sandwich out of her bag, having decided to bring her lunch today instead of going to grab something.
As Katy sat at her desk, enjoying her lunch and looking out at the freshly manicured grounds between the school building and the street, she couldn’t help but to think about Saturday night. I lost my virginity, she thought.
Her world seemed to have changed so much even though everything was the same.
She thought about the dinner – the elegant Greek restaurant she had passed up the opportunity to dine at in the past. The way Brennon was the perfect gentlemen – held her hand every step of the way from the car to the restaurant entrance and back. She could carry a conversation with him for hours, if not days. How much they had in common was simply amazing.
“I can’t believe he did that,” Katy commented, chuckling under her breath as she recounted Brennon driving down the street, blocks and blocks into the dangerous-looking neighborhood. She shrugged the experience off, telling her that it might not have been that bad of an area. And she felt so safe with Brennon being with her. He was bold and courageous and adventurous in her way.
No matter what parts of the date Katy reminisced – parts that would forever be cemented into her mind as beautiful memories – her mind would inevitably come back around to making love to Brennon. She smiled at the thought while savoring the cherry flavor in her yogurt. There had definitely been slight pain from losing her virginity, but it was certainly worth it. As she vividly reflected on sharing a glass of wine with Brennon then suddenly finding herself locked in passionate embrace, it all seemed to go by so fast.
When she thought about the morning, being dropped off at her car then having to go home, she couldn’t help but to feel a little excited. The secretiveness of having a love affair with Brennon – her father’s cousin’s older half-brother – was thrilling. Katy chuckled yet again and shook her head. “Oh my God, if Mom knew…. Dad.”
Katy finished her lunch, content with Eve’s suggestion about keeping her new-found romance a secret. For much of Sunday, she had been texting Brennon back and forth. They texted about any and everything. Katy made sure to fill him in on whether or not her parents had noticed that she came back home in an elegant dress early Sunday morning. Thankfully, her mother had father were still been in bed when she walked through the front door. As to be expected, like a teenager who sneaked out in the middle of the nights, she raced up the steps and into her bedroom. For the rest of the day, she made sure to move in such a way to where she avoided interacting with her parents as much as possible. She could only imagine how awkward such a conversation would be.
The rest of the afternoon went as planned. Katy taught her lessons, went over the homework and passed back graded papers, then gave a short quiz. Shortly after walking the children out to the school buses, Katy had been headed back into the building when her phone rang. It was Eve calling. She sighed, totally shocked that Eve hadn’t called her yesterday. “You already know what she’s calling about, Katy,” she mumbled to herself.
“Hello?” Katy answered.
“Well, hello,” Eve said.
“Uh oh.” Katy rolled her eyes. The tone in Eve’s voice said she was every bit of a little too excited. “What is it, Eve?”
“I see you’re in one of your moods,” Eve said. “Are you going to be up at the school for a little while? I’m off work early and thought about coming up there and sitting with you for a bit so we can...you know...chat.”
Katy did nothing to hide her groan. “Okay, okay, Eve. Whatever. How soon you think you’re going to be here? I’ll hang out a bit. I mean, I do have homework and other papers to grade.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Eve said. “Geez, I can tell you have something good to tell.”
Katy ended the call with Eve, saying goodbye then pressing END CALL and setting the phone down on the table. As she went on with gather papers from the students’ cubbies, her night with Brennon weighed heavy on her mind. It was like magic – as if time had completely stopped then when it resumed, she was back in her classroom with the children. Brennon was so gentle, yet knew how to take charge. His scent – his natural musk blended with expensive cologne – was almost intoxicating. When Katy got home that morning and took her dress off, she picked up on Brennon’s scent having rubbed off on her. And that was perfectly alright.
Katy wrongfully assumed Eve would probably lollygag with getting over to the school. To say the least, she was startled when someone tapped on her window. This was one of the things she hated about the school having moved her classroom last year down to the first floor, in a room facing the street. This hadn’t been the first time someone tapped on her window. When Katy looked out and saw it was Eve, she motioned toward the school entrance then rushed out into the hallway.
“Eve, you act like the office doesn't know who you are,” Katy griped as she let her friend into the building. She quickly had Eve sign the guest sine-in sheet at the office then led her down the hall. She noticed Eve’s silence, and could feel her eyes burning holes into the sides of her face. She turned and looked at her friend. “What? What are you looking at me like that for?”
Eve looked around – behind her then around a corner of the hallway that led down to the cafeteria. “You’re lucky we’re in a school, or else I would say what’ really going through my mind.”
Katy blushed then stormed ahead playfully then into her classroom. Eve followed closely, begging for details. “You don’t think I forgot, do you?”
Katy sighed and rolled her eyes as she sat back down behind her desk. “No, Eve. I know you didn’t forget.” She looked away, purposely avoiding eye contact.
Eve snatched one of the students’ seats and sat down at the front of Katy’s desk. All within the blink of an eye, she had scooted closer to Katy, dropped her purse, and crossed her legs. She was clearly ready for the juicy scoop. “So, how as the date? I won’t even get too personal, because, well, you know how your type is.”
“My type?” Katy asked. She then held her hands up in a surrendering gesture. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. So, you want to know about my date, huh?”
Eve listened intently as Katy spilled the details on her date with Brennon. She was so shocked when the story came to the part about her going back to his place that she couldn’t wipe the smile away from her face. “Oh my God,” Eve said, leaning back in the mini-chair and smiling. “You actually went back to a guy’s place on the first date?”
“Eve, calm down,” Katy said, blushing again. She had one hell of a night and did not feel the least-bit guilty about it, but there was something about saying it out loud that really made her think about it and how it might be perceived. “You act like it was some guy I met at a bar, had a drink with, then went home with or something. It’s not that. I’m not you.”
“Hey!” Eve said, offended. “That was a low blow.”
Katy smiled and gently shook her head side to side. “Yep, sure was. I learned from the bast.”
Eve unfolded her legs then crossed them the other way. “Hmm, hmm. So, you supposedly went back to his place for some wine? Okay, then what happened.” She coughed. “I take that back. First, you’re welcome for convincing you to give the guy a chance even though he’s your cousin’s older brother. I told you all that didn’t matter.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Katy said sarcastically. “I don’t know what I would’ve done with you. So, anyway, yeah, that was my date night. I feel like I know him so well. I woke up this morning thinking about him and the ride we took and how he knew so much about the city. I work down here, but outside of downtown, I just kind of don’t know much. And he’s certainly adventurous. I was going to text him this morning when I made it into work, but I got busy with the kids.” She reached for her phone. “Maybe he sent me a text and I missed it.”
“When you got in this morning?” Eve asked. She stood up and paced around in front of the chalkboard, in circles. She pressed her index finger into her lower lip. “You were going to text him when you made it into work? Hmm, so you spent the night.”
“I didn’t say that,” Katy said, trying her hardest to keep from laughing. Eve turned toward her and looked as if she didn’t believe a single word. “Eve, you don’t know that.”
“Look, I might not be an English teacher,” Eve said, sitting back down in the mini-chair, “but I can tell by your word choice that you spent the night. Katy, you didn’t...did you? Did you? The first night? The first date? You went over there for wine then what?”
Katy stood up, pretending to be frustrated. “Eve…. I...” She couldn’t help but to allow her lips to curl into a smile. She was truly at a loss for words. At that moment, Eve jumped up and started going on and on about how surprised she was that Katy would go home on the first date...and spend the night. When Katy picked up on Eve’s excitement getting to be too excited, she quickly dashed over to the classroom door and pulled it shut. “Eve, calm down, calm down.”
Katy knew she should’ve told Eve that she was going to run errands after school today. Eve begged for details. Was he romantic? Did he recite poetry? Did he get up and cook breakfast in the morning? Katy simply rolled her eyes and stood firm that she wasn’t going to tell Eve too many personal details. Nonetheless, regardless of what she told Eve, she rested assured that the date night, and what subsequently followed after, was simply charming. While talking to Eve, she sent a text to Brennon. She wondered – and hoped – he felt the same about last night. His quickness to respond would tell her for sure.
***
Katy wound up chatting with Brennon the latter half of her trip home that afternoon. There was a bit of a traffic holdup on the interstate. When she was sitting still for a while, she decided rather than glancing down at Brennon’s texts and trying to read them then respond she would call. And he was glad she did, as was she. Brennon had just gotten finished teaching a glass and was sitting out in the courtyard on campus. Katy talked with him about their days for the next twenty minutes or so. Just as she’d been pulling into the driveway, last night came up.
“I really did enjoy last night, Katy,” Brennon said. “I was tempted to ask you to call off work this morning and we drive back to my place and spend the day in bed, but I was like no, that would be a bad idea.”
Katy chuckled as she parked. “I wouldn’t say it was a bad idea,” she said, “but it’s not the best idea.”
Katy chatted with Brennon a few minutes more before announcing she had better hang up and get her things inside. Brennon obliged. They said their goodbyes then Katy gathered her things and headed up onto the porch. As she passed by the garage doors, she got a glimpse of her father’s car through the small windows at the fronts. Her forehead wrinkled up. He’s not usually home at this time, she thought.
The jingling of her keys echoed in the foyer when she let herself inside. She then slammed the door shut. No sooner than she headed toward the steps had her father’s voice rang out through the house. “Katy, is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me Dad!” Katy yelled out. She then headed up the steps. When she’d gotten to the top, just about to turn the corner and head down the hallway to her own bedroom, she heard her the soles of her father’s shoes clanking against the hardwood floor.
“Katy, I didn’t even hear you come in last night,” Richard said from the foyer. Dressed in business attire, he must’ve been about to head out to some kind of function.
A wave of guilt came over Katy. And it wasn’t because she felt she’d done anything wrong. Rather, she felt guilty because of who she had spent the night with. For the first time ever, she felt like Eve had actually given her good advice. She was going to keep her relationship, or whatever it could've been called, to herself – a secret. In light of this, she turned toward the banister. “Oh, you didn’t?”
Richard chuckled nervously, looking up at his daughter. Something seemed different about her, but he didn’t know what. “No, I didn’t. Did you spend the night somewhere last night?”
Katy knew her father meant the best in anything he said, but this was one of the downsides to living with her parents: questions like this. She simply smiled. “Yeah, I did, Dad.” Before her father could ask anything else, Katy turned and continued heading down the hallway. She stepped in her bedroom, pushing the door closed behind her. Today felt different; she suddenly felt freer than she’d ever felt.