Chapter Twelve
Leo
There was a part of me that wanted to go over to the white board and scrawl I am sleeping with Tessa on it, just to see what the reaction would be. I could imagine the surprised, disbelieving faces. With the exception of her friend Lindsey, no one in this classroom had any clue what was going on, and I found that to be both unbelievable and a bit arousing. To everyone else, me looking over at Tessa was simply a teacher making eye contact with a student, nothing more. I liked the idea that we were sneaking around, that we were doing something that no one else had any idea about. Yet at the same time, it seemed almost implausible that no one was able to sense the energy between us, no one was able to realize that the looks we were sharing were so much more than just looks.
Today, Kristin had a stack of assignments she’d graded and was going to hand back. I had gone through the papers after she did, mostly skimming what the students had written, and glancing over some of the comments she’d added, too.
“I’ll hand the papers back,” I said to Kristin. She had started to reach for the stack, but I pulled them back. I had paper-clipped, not stapled, the note to Tessa’s assignment, and I didn’t want to take the chance that it would get detached before reaching her.
The note said: Wear a skirt and no underwear to the next class. I handed Tessa her paper back, and though I continued handing the rest of the papers to the other students, I kept her in my peripheral vision. I saw her flip the first page back and come across my handwritten note. Her brow furrowed slightly as she read it; then that friend of hers, Lindsey, leaned over, said something I couldn’t quite make out, and Tessa had to hurriedly flip the front page of her paper back down. Her cheeks were flushed a little, but there was a tiny smile at the corners of her mouth.
I took my place back at the front of the classroom. “I’d like you to begin brainstorming possible articles for submission to the first issue of the Benton Daily Journal,” I said. “Ideally, it would be a feature article, but something shorter would also be acceptable since this is the first time that most of you have submitted something for publication.”
“Are they allowed to submit previously written articles?” Kristin asked. “I think there were a few that would make good candidates.”
I hadn’t thought about this, but sure, why not. “I don’t see why that would be a problem,” I said.
“And who’s in charge of deciding what gets published?” someone asked.
“I think eventually the students will be in charge of that. They haven’t named an editor-in-chief yet since this is really just getting back off the ground again, but right now, Carla Douglass is going to be overseeing that role. I’m helping her, so together we’ll get to decide which articles we put in the first issue. And we’ve definitely covered enough material in the course that I have full confidence in every single member of this class being able to write something that could be published. You all have that ability; you just need to put it to good use.”
Most of the students seemed genuinely excited at the prospect of possibly getting something published, which, even I had to admit, was a bit refreshing. I still remembered how I felt the first time something of mine had been published, and there really was something to be said for seeing your name, in print, and knowing that people who didn’t even know you were going to read it.
I was hoping Tessa would hang around after class got out, but she and Lindsey were deep in conversation; rather, it appeared that Lindsey was telling her something and Tessa was listening intently. They walked out of the classroom together, though not before Tessa shot a burning look my way, with such an intensity it made my groin ache.
I could feel Kristin’s eyes on me as she packed up her stuff. “What do you think those two are scheming?” she asked.
“Who?”
“Tessa and Lindsey. It seems like they’ve got something up their sleeves.”
I shrugged. “Maybe they’re talking about what sort of article they’re going to write for the paper.”
She snorted. “I doubt it. Though I must say, Lindsey did a far better job than I was expecting on that most recent assignment.”
“Well, don’t judge a book by its cover,” I said.
Kristin frowned at my use of a cliché. “I’d like to help you with picking out the articles. I mentioned it to Carla, and she thinks it’s a good idea.”
“Sure,” I said. That meant fewer articles that I would have to read, and that was fine with me. I packed up my shit, said bye to Kristin, and headed down to my office.
Someday, this would not be my office anymore, a prospect that didn’t exactly make me sad. Though I didn’t hate it right now. I didn’t hate Benton right now, either, and I wasn’t eagerly daydreaming about when I would no longer work here; rather, I was eagerly daydreaming about getting to be with Tessa again.
There was a knock on the door, and I looked up, hoping it was her.
It wasn’t, though; it was just Carla, returning that book she’d borrowed.
“Thanks so much,” she said. “I really do need to get my own copy.”
“No problem.” I took the book from her and slid it back onto the shelf. She was still standing there. “Was there something else you wanted to talk about?”
“Well, I thought it might be a good idea to set up a time to get together to talk about this newspaper. I think it’s a great idea, but to be completely honest, I’ve got so much going on right now that I’m not really sure how I’m going to be able to fit this in, too. Which is why I’d like us to be prepared, in terms of how this is going to proceed, and not leave it until the last minute.”
“Sure,” I said, though I wasn’t really looking forward to having some sort of meeting with Carla. “I did mention it to my feature writing class, and they all seemed pretty excited about the idea. So I don’t think we’re going to have any shortage of submissions; all we have to do is pick a couple out. If it’s the first issue, people probably aren’t going to have high expectations.”
I was kind of joking when I said this, but Carla shot me a look of mild disgust. “Is that how you see it?” she said. “Keep expectations low? I don’t think so.”
Though Carla and I had never had a conversation that delved into any topic other than school or journalism (or maybe the weather) I knew exactly the sort of overachiever she had been in high school. She didn’t need to tell me that she was probably valedictorian, on the student council, played every sport, and didn’t need an alarm clock to get up in the morning. She was the sort of person who was always doing something, always had to give it her all, whether it was writing a dissertation or scrubbing the toilet bowl. I knew her son, Seth, had these same qualities, although only when applied to basketball. Jack had dragged me to a couple of the games, and I was amazed at how dedicated an athlete Seth was when he’d been so lazy in my class. That sort of intellectual apathy probably pissed Carla off.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I said. “All I’m saying is, I don’t think there’s any need to stress out about this first issue. There’s bound to be some bumps in the road, and it’s not necessarily going to be perfect. But the students are excited about it, and they’re eager to see their names in print. The newspaper is new to them, so if anything, things should go better this first issue than any subsequent issues. So really all I’m saying is that you don’t have to stress out about it too much.”
“Well, I still think we need to set up a time to sit down and talk about this. We don’t have to do it right now, but in the next couple of days, I’d like to at least have had a discussion with you.”
“This doesn’t count?”
She smiled thinly. “No, it doesn’t. And I think it would behoove you to take this seriously, Leo. This isn’t just a one-off sort of thing; we’re laying the foundation for the success of this project in the years to come. I know that Shannon wants this to continue for as long as possible, and I happen to agree. A school should have a newspaper of its own, and it should be something that the students take an active role in. We’ve been tasked with a pretty big responsibility, and though I don’t have all the time in the world right now, it’s still something that I plan to take seriously, and I expect you will, too. So setting up a meeting to make sure that we’re prepared and have an idea of where we’re going to go with this is crucial.”
“Fine,” I said. “We can set up some time to meet if you want.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ll take a look at my calendar and let you know what dates work for me. Why don’t you do the same? We can have the meeting down in my office if you want, and maybe take some notes before we get together so we won’t forget to talk about anything important.”
“This is starting to sound more and more like a homework assignment,” I said.
“Let’s just try to work together, okay? It’ll make this all the more pleasant.”
“Can’t wait,” I said, as she walked out of the room.
That night, I met up with Jack at the Corkscrew because I didn’t feel like going home. Not that I particularly felt like going to that bar, either, but it was better than nothing. All I really wanted was for the next feature writing class to roll around and see if Tessa would abide by what I had written.
But instead, I sat next to Jack at the bar and listened to him lament the fact that half of his students didn’t really seem to be that interested in the material he was teaching, that there were several students, in fact, who actually seemed to despise it.
“It’s been a real challenge,” he said. “Sometimes I find myself not even wanting to go to class. But I have to, of course, for the other kids that are there to actually learn something.”
I nodded and tried to give him a sympathetic look as I took a sip of my beer. I refrained from telling him to get involved with one of his students if he was looking for a way to make going to class more appealing.
“And the worst of them are the basketball players,” Jack continued. “Not that I’m trying to single any one group out or anything like that—”
“Which is exactly what you’re doing,” I interrupted. “Which is fine, since it’s true.”
“Well, I certainly don’t mean all of them, but you can tell the ones that are really just in school to play the sport and couldn’t really care less about the academics part. I mean, it helps that they have to maintain a certain GPA in order to be eligible to play, but most of them still act like they couldn’t care less about what I’m teaching.”
“I’m sorry, man,” I said. And I was sorry; it must be horrible to be so fucking affected by it. Jack took his job seriously, it was his passion, and his students really should be considering themselves very lucky to have a teacher who was so committed, so invested in their futures. In fact, I—
“Is this seat taken?” a familiar voice asked.
I turned my head slightly. Tessa was right there, next to me; she’d somehow come in without me seeing her. “Hey!” I said. “Of course not—it’s all yours.”
“I can’t stay long,” she said as she slid her backpack off her shoulder. “I’m heading over to the Haymarket to meet up with Lindsey. But I was walking by and happened to glance in and see you, so I thought I’d come in and say hello.”
“Glad you did,” I said, feeling my dick start to get hard just at the sight of her. She was wearing a pair of tight yoga pants and a gray, long-sleeved shirt with a wide neck. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she looked like she could have been on her way to a dance class.
“This is Jack,” I said. “I don’t know if you’ve met before. Jack, this is Tessa.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jack said. “I think I’ve seen you around campus before.”
Tessa smiled. “Probably. I tried to get into your social theories class last semester, but it was full. I did sit in on the first class, though.”
I couldn’t remember if I’d told Jack the student’s name—did he know that it was Tessa? I glanced at him and saw that he was putting two and two together, the look of discomfort on his face growing.
“Maybe next time,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, hopefully I’ll register in time!” she said, laughing, oblivious to his discomfort.
I patted his shoulder. “Jack’s a great teacher.”
“I’ve got to use the bathroom,” Tessa said. “And then I really should get going. Can I leave my backpack here?”
She slid off the bar stool, and I felt her hand on my knee. She squeezed it once, gave me a look, and then sauntered off in the direction of the restrooms. I could still see her as she opened the door to the unisex bathroom—it was a single, there weren’t stalls. She gave me another look before she opened the door and went in.
“Don’t,” Jack said when he saw me looking that way. “For the love of God, Leo, don’t.”
“That beer just ran right through me,” I said, getting up from the stool. “I’ll be right back.”
There wasn’t anything he could have said to me right then to make me not follow her into the bathroom. I didn’t even care if there were other people from the school there watching, though I hadn’t seen anyone when we first arrived. I tried the door knob, and it twisted open. I let myself in and then locked the door behind me.
“You forgot to lock the door,” I said. “Anyone could’ve followed you in here.”
She came over to me and my arms encircled her waist. Her mouth was hot against mine, her teeth grazing my lower lip.
“I was hoping you’d come,” she said breathlessly against my mouth as we kissed. I ran my hands down to her ass; the thin material stretched tightly. I squeezed her, then slapped her lightly, then a little harder because I could tell she liked it. She groaned and let her head fall back, and I pushed her shirt and her bra up, licking her nipples until they were hard little points. My dick felt like it was about to explode, and I fumbled with the button, then the fly, before I was able to yank them down. She pushed her own pants and underwear down around her ankles, and she turned and leaned against the sink. I held onto her hips and slid my dick into her from behind, ignoring the knock on the door.
“Be out in a minute!” she said breathlessly, and I reached up and grabbed her ponytail, pulling her head back a bit so her back arched, my dick sliding in even further. I could see her face in the mirror as I fucked her, the way she was biting on her lower lip, her brow furrowed, and then her face scrunching up as her muscles contracted around me and she got closer to coming. I didn’t ease off at all like I normally would have when I felt myself get this close; instead, I rode that wave from start to finish and let it crest, uninterrupted. I wanted to watch our reflections, but it was like a reflex, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I came, rainbow fireworks exploding behind my eyelids. We were both gasping, and my whole body was tingling. She turned and put her arms around my neck, and I held her while we got our breath back.
“That was quite unexpected,” I said.
She smiled. “I know.”
Luckily, there was no one out there waiting when we emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later. Jack was still sitting there at the bar, drinking what appeared to be his third beer.
“I better get going,” Tessa said. “I’m already late to meet up with Lindsey. It was cool running into you. Nice to meet you, too,” she added to Jack. “Thanks for watching my backpack.”
“Um, sure, don’t mention it,” Jack said. He was barely able to wait until she was gone. “Are you out of your mind, Leo?” he hissed. “You’re lucky there’s no one here right now from the school! What the hell was that?”
God, I felt good, and none of Jack’s frantic, paranoid energy could bring that down. “That,” I said, looking to the door where Tessa had just left, “is the reason why I love my job.”
He stared at me. “Did you just . . .? Did the two of you . . .?”
“Do what you think we just did? Well, I’m not sure what’s going on in that mind of yours, Jack. But it’s safe to say that yes, we probably did do whatever it is you’re thinking.”
“Leo, you are insane. You are being completely reckless right now! Anyone could’ve just walked right in and seen you!”
“That’s why we locked the door. Though someone did knock.”
He covered his face with his hands. “I can’t believe you,” he said. “And I can’t believe her! Did she plan on doing that? What is wrong with students these days? My God!”
“Settle down. You’re the one who’s going to be causing a scene. Listen, Jack,” I said, dropping my voice, “she didn’t do anything she didn’t want to, and I didn’t either. We’re both adults, and we’re both enjoying the hell out of what we’ve got going on right now. You’re sitting here crying over the fact that your students aren’t interested in what you’ve got to say, while I’ve got one who can’t keep her hot little hands off of me. If I had to choose to be one of us right now, you want to guess who I’d pick?”
He kept his hands over his face as he shook his head. “No,” he said. “No, I don’t, and I don’t think we should talk about this anymore.”
Two days later, feature writing class. Part of me felt like a kid on Christmas morning, I was so impatient for class to start.
Tessa was wearing a long-sleeved lilac T-shirt and a flowing gray skirt that stopped just below the knee. It was sheer, and the material looked butter soft, and I just wanted to go over there and run my fingers up the skirt and find out firsthand whether or not she’d decided to do what I’d said in that note.
But there was a roomful of students, so I couldn’t. I remained in my chair, keeping her in plain view, letting my imagination run wild.
We started a discussion about how to craft compelling openings, which was a skill many of the students were lacking. Kristin was more than happy to take over leading the discussion, so I let her, and leaned back in my chair and looked over at Tessa.
She was looking right at me, and I had a feeling she had been trying to get my attention that way for a few minutes. When I caught her eye, she lowered hers, toward her lap. She did this twice, and then she slowly spread her feet apart.
The desk cast a shadow, so only her knees were visible, but if I leaned back in my chair, I could get a better view of underneath the desk. I saw her fingers on her thighs, moving slowly, pulling the fabric of the skirt up, up, up. Those lovely, slender thighs of hers. My cock pressed against my jeans, throbbing. The hem of her skirt continued to rise, and more and more bare thigh was exposed.
And then, there she was, fully exposed, and if Kristin looked over, she’d be getting an eyeful of Tessa, all of Tessa, but Kristin was too involved in whatever discussion it was she was having with one of the students.
Tessa slouched down a little further, and my eyes raced around the room before landing back on her, trying to hold back my laughter. The other students had no idea any of this was happening, and that only served to heighten my enjoyment. It was excruciating, though, not being able to do anything except look. Because, oh, I wanted to do so much more than that.
Tessa must’ve been watching Kristin, because she sat straight up, pushing her skirt down, right as Kristin’s gaze went over in her direction. The abruptness of it caught me off guard, and I blinked, as though all I had to do was wait a second and she’d have her legs spread, her pussy on full display.
But no, she was pushing her skirt down and crossing her legs, leaving me to sit there with a rock hard dick, thinking about how wonderful it would feel to be in between those legs of hers.
Kristin had a meeting to get to right after class, so she packed up right away and was one of the first ones out. I sat there, watching Tessa slowly put her own books away. To the casual observer, it would not seem like she was doing anything out of the ordinary, yet I knew she was deliberately taking her time.
“I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes,” I heard her say to Lindsey. Lindsey grinned, shot a look in my direction, and then joined the flow of students streaming out of the classroom. Then it was just the two of us.
“You’re making it almost impossible for me to teach class,” I said. “How am I supposed to teach a class when I’ve got a hard-on the whole time?”
She came over to me, slinging her backpack across one of her shoulders.
“That’s a nice skirt,” I said. I was still sitting in my chair, and she came right over to the side of it. She took my hand and put it underneath her skirt. Her skin was smooth, and I ran my hand up her inner thigh, feeling the warm, wet heat between her legs. She inhaled sharply as I pressed a finger against her, but then she pulled away, her skirt falling back down to cover her knees. Early students for the next class were tromping into the classroom.
“Thanks for clearing that up for me,” she said. “That makes much more sense now. Bye.”
“Wait,” I said. She stopped. “What are you doing later? Come over to my place.”
She licked her lips, nodding. “Okay.” And then she turned and walked out, the students that had arrived completely oblivious.
I rubbed my fingers together, massaging the moisture into my skin. I didn’t know what class she had now, or if she was going to go home, or maybe into the women’s room to rub one out. That was sure as hell what I needed to do though, if I wanted to be able to get through the day without a huge boner.
I finished packing up my stuff and went into my office, making sure the door was locked. I sat down in my chair and thought about Tessa.
“I’m glad to see you didn’t go home and change,” I said to her later when I opened my door to find her standing there.
Tessa smiled as she stepped in. “I thought about it,” she said. She grabbed my hand and put it under her skirt, spreading her legs. I let out a happy exhale. “I’ve been so wet all day I thought for sure there would’ve been a big wet mark on the back of my skirt, but there wasn’t. Surprisingly.”
I rubbed her clit and her eyes got cloudy. “Quite surprising,” I said. “It must’ve felt rather nice going around commando all day though.”
“I’ll tell you what feels good,” she said, her voice little more than a gasp. “This.” I kept rubbing her until I felt her inner thigh muscles quiver.
I pulled my hand back before she could come. Her eyes flew open.
“I bet you’ve really enjoyed not wearing underwear all day,” I said.
“I did. I’ve never done that before. I felt so . . . exposed. Even though no one else knew I wasn’t wearing underwear.”
“And did you like that too? Feeling exposed like that? Feeling like at any moment, anyone could just come along and push your skirt up and take you right then and there?”
“You know, I did, actually. It was like all that needed to happen was the breeze to blow just the right way and my skirt would go flying up and my ass would’ve been on full view for anyone who was around.”
“That’s a delicious thought. Come with me.”
We went in the bedroom, and I pulled my shirt off, tossing it on the floor. I took hers off and marveled at those perfect tits of hers, both with my eyes and my hands, then my mouth.
“Have you ever been tied up before?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No . . . but it’s actually something I’ve wanted to try.”
“I don’t have padded handcuffs or anything like that,” I said, “but I think we could make do with a few of my old sports ties that I never wear.”
“What if we record it? I’ve never done that before either.”
I tried to hide my surprised expression. She wanted to make a sex tape? “Sure,” I said. “If you want to, I’m all for it.”
She got up and started going through her purse while I went into my closet and found, at the very back, a handful of ties in a variety of bright colors. She’d set her phone up on my dresser. I eyed it.
“You really want to tape this?”
“I think it’ll be hot to rewatch it. Don’t worry; I’m not going to post it on YouTube or anything.”
“I really don’t think YouTube would let you put something like that up to begin with.”
I had a platform bed that didn’t really have anything you could tie someone to, so instead, I tied her wrists together above her head, and held the excess material in my left hand, pulling tight so she couldn’t move her arms. Her skirt was still on, so I pushed it up so it was around her waist and I started teasing her, rubbing her clit, then moving my hand down and starting to slide a finger into her but pulling it back before it was able to really enter her. She started to writhe, little mewling sounds escaping from her throat. I kissed her throat, her nipples. I kept doing this until she was practically convulsing with desire and begging me to stop, and the only thing she wanted was to feel me inside of her.
Happy to oblige.
I kicked my pants off, and, still holding her hands above her head, I nudged her thighs apart with my knee, then used the head of my dick to probe at her. When I felt her entrance, I paused, not quite in her yet, feeling her whole body quiver. And then I thrust my hips forward, pushing all the way into her, so our pelvises were touching.
She let out an anguished-sounding shriek and her arms thrashed against the tie, but I held on tight. She was so wet it was like a slip and slide, except she was also so wonderfully tight that I felt like I barely had to even move. I took deep breaths and tried to take the edge off a little, because if I didn’t, I was going to come right then and there, and I wanted this to last as long as it possibly could.
So we both moved slowly, and I alternated between short, shallow thrusts and longer, harder ones, taking my time before pulling my dick almost all the way back out of her. She wrapped her legs around my waist and arched her back, pulled valiantly against the tie, but there was no way I was letting this go. I started to fuck her harder, faster, falling into a rhythm and she moved with me, and it felt like we had merged and become one. I tightened my grasp on the tie, pulling her arms further above her head, and I leaned my forehead against hers as we both came together.