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  “Maybe you will. Uh, what’s this about?” Edith says, cutting to the point. I want to draw this out, but a few of the other students are lingering and want my attention. Probably to see how they can improve their grades, but not Edith. I sense she can’t wait to dart out of here like a deer.

  “It’s come to my attention your grade is close to being under the threshold for scholarship students. This class is primary to your major. You’ll have to improve your grade to above…,” I glance back down at the paper with her name on it, “well, above a seventy-five percent average.”

  “I know. I’ll study harder for the quizzes. I’m on the waitlist for a tutor. Thanks for letting me know.” Edith backs up before I can say more and leaves the classroom as I anticipated. Other students then crowd my podium and ask me several questions as I watch her slip out the door, her shoulders a bit more hunched, her ratty-looking patchwork bag slung over her shoulder.

  Chapter Three

  Edith

  “Damn it.” I slam my books down on the table of the booth in the diner I’m meeting Aiden and Shelby at before I go to work.

  “Wow. Who pissed in your Cheerios, sunshine?” Aiden looks up from the menu, trying not to crack a smile, his arm around Shelby.

  “Jack Hamilton,” I say, leaning back and looking out the window into the blinding sun. I’m hoping the rays will scorch my eyeballs and I will never have to take another Statistics quiz again.

  “Ooh… I know who that is!” Shelby leans over and pokes me in the boob, getting my attention.

  “Hey!” I hiss. Only Shelby can get away with that. We never did the whole freshmen “experimentation” because I’m not into girls and definitely not as liberal as her. It is just Shelby being Shelby.

  Aiden just looks mortified and grabs her hand in his so she can’t assault me again. “Is this, like, girl stuff? I can leave and come back later if you want,” Aiden says, looking desperate.

  “Don’t be stuffy, Aiden. Mr. H. is the stuff of Edie’s wet dreams!” Shelby declares, loud enough for another table of students to look over at us.

  Cue mortification. “Shhhh!” I glare at Shelby, who just smiles and shrugs before giving Aiden a peck on his cheek to let him know he can stay. “I don’t get you two, at all,” I say, taking a long drink from my glass of water.

  “So…who is Mr. H.?” Aiden probes, taking a sip of his coffee, holding his pinkie out. Earlier last year, Shelby tried to instruct him on the proper way to drink coffee, but damn if he doesn’t do it just to annoy her. Some might think Aiden is batting for the other team, but Shelby and I know it was his super strict, rule-making parents that drilled these things into him. I fake the etiquette garbage because I don’t know a dessert spoon from a tea spoon.

  “Mr. H. is Edith’s wet dream,” Shelby says out loud…again. My god, I want to kill this girl, best friend or not.

  “Yeah, Shelby, you said that already. To everyone in here.” Aiden looks up and I can see his face has changed expression. My body tenses and I swear my hair is standing up on the back of my neck.

  “Hello again, Miss Willows,” that familiar deep voice says to me. Jack Hamilton couldn’t possibly be eating at the Grease Lounge, but I should have known better. The fates had wanted to screw me over since the day I was conceived by my useless parents.

  I groan, putting my head on the linoleum tabletop, hands over my face. I peek from behind my hands, seeing him standing there, a curious smile on his face. He is with Dean Andrews, the one who asked him to teach Dr. Roth’s class. He nods to my friends and continues to follow a perky waitress to a table on the far side of the dining room.

  “I guess that’s Edie’s Mr. H., huh?” Aiden tactfully whispers.

  “Classic. This explains why you’re the brilliant pre-med major,” I say sarcastically, motioning my hands dramatically in the air.

  “Uh huh,” Shelby replies, grinning like the witch she is.

  “I hate you, Shelby,” I mumble as I pick up my menu again, slinking down in my seat to see if I can peer around it and see Mr. Hamilton across the room. He’s facing me and talking animatedly with Dean Andrews. I see him smile at me and I quickly move the menu in front of me again. “I really hate you, Shells. I mean, like, end of the world kind of hate.” My face is heated and I feel a twisting flush spread from my middle to my face.

  “I know. That’s why Aiden and I are buying you dinner,” she tells me, practically bouncing in her seat. She is the worst…friend…ever.

  Jack

  When Dean Andrews asked me to meet him for a late lunch after class, I didn’t think he would have chosen the Grease Lounge. It is a hole-in-the-wall, filled with and practically run by college students. I recalled my days as an undergrad eating here and the indigestion that would surely follow. We walk from the campus a short distance away, then wait for someone to seat us when we walk in. I notice mostly kids sitting at tables, enjoying shakes and burgers. The place hasn’t changed one bit.

  “So how was class today?” Dean Andrews asks, addressing me while we waited to be seated.

  “It was good. Usually I teach Calculus or Fundamentals of Math, so Statistics is a nice change. I always enjoyed that class as a student.” I lean back slightly, stretching out the kink in my neck, and look around again.

  “Excellent.” He checks his phone for messages. We slowly make our way to a table, following a young waitress who is rocking out the nineteen fifties-style uniform, the top button on her dress undone, likely to earn extra tips.

  As we pass by a table of three, I hear someone say, “Who is Mr. H.?”

  Another voice replies, “Mr. H. is Edith’s wet dream.”

  Incredible odds were being batted today, I thought and smiled because I only know of one Edith. I stand next to her table, willing her to look up. Red-faced, her eyes meet mine and, as much as I want to soothe her, if I really am her wet dream then, damn, I’m in trouble. Instead, I say, “Hello again, Miss Willows,” and move onto the table with Dean Andrews before she can respond. Poor Edith. It looks like she wants to crawl under the table, or kick her girlfriend hard. I’d probably be embarrassed, too, but I need to keep my shit together and not get embroiled in any scandals here. Teaching is a job I love doing, even if my schedule only allows it to happen part-time.

  “So, Jack, tell me about the business you’re running.” Dean Andrews picks up a menu, looking it over. “Ah, they have an excellent Rueben special you should try.”

  “Well, business is good, but that’s because I make it so. I get lots of referrals, too many, for risk analysis and marketing management.” He chuckles at my response as our waitress comes over.

  “Hello, I’m Claire, and I’ll be serving you today.” Claire filled out the bubblegum pink outfit nicely. Frankly, it is hard not to notice the way she angles her body closer to mine and practically purrs when she talks. I look around her and see Edith peeking out from behind her menu. I smile and she moves the menu back in place. Cute, but she is definitely not for me, just like this waitress.

  “I’ll be having the Reuben. Jack?” Dean Andrews interrupts my thoughts.

  “Turkey burger with avocado and chipotle mayo, please.” Perky Claire leaves and I look back over at Edith.

  “You know, Jack, the university frowns upon such relationships, tempting though they may be.” Dean Andrews winks at me, and I nod non-committedly. I know he had his own fair share of romances back in the day that stayed rumors. I wonder if his wife ever knew, but don’t want to ask such personal questions that will ruin the image I have of the man I’d looked up to for so many years.

  “While I appreciate the advice, I have no intensions of inviting, nor encouraging any behavior among my students.” I take a sip of my water from the typical brown diner glass, wiping the condensation off and rubbing my fingers together to dry them off. I wonder how smooth and slippery Edith’s skin would be when wet. It is a thought I shouldn’t be having, but everything brings her to mind now that I am seeing her again.

 
; “I know, but given the attention you drew as a student, and later as a first-year professor, I shudder to think about the females ready to launch themselves in your direction.” Dean Andrews smiles politely, but I know his words are also a warning.

  “No worries there. I’ve been dating someone off and on, and it’s becoming a more serious arrangement.” Who was I kidding? I hadn’t seen Amanda in weeks because of our schedules and, at this point, it is far from convenient. Who would have thought I’d be scheduling sex three to six weeks in advance? Not me.

  “Excellent. I hope I’ll get to meet the lucky woman. You know, I’ve thought of you like a son since your freshman days here. I always wondered what became of your teaching career, though you’ve made a fine choice in opening up your own business.”

  I look past Dean Andrews, slightly narrowing my eyes at the woman who ruined me for public teaching all because I was afraid I might have actually considered crossing the line just once. It is a good thing you can’t be prosecuted for one’s thoughts.

  “Next time Amanda is in town, I’ll be sure to bring her by.”

  “Yes, please do. Oh, before I forget, make sure you stop by the clinic on campus and get a flu shot. Seems there’s a bug going around, and with Dr. Roth getting surgery and limited people to fill-in, I’d hate to see you come down with anything these kids pass around.” Claire saunters back with our lunch, and Dean Andrews digs in.

  “I’ll definitely do that as soon as possible.” I try eating my lunch, doing my damnedest to ignore the table of students that included one dark-haired girl.

  Edith

  “Shit. Is he still looking?” I mutter, slinking down in my seat, face hot with embarrassment as I crawl back up, trying to look as normal and as adult as possible.

  “Are you still looking?” Aiden returns, laughing at me.

  “Aiden, don’t turn around. You’re the most obvious,” I point out.

  “Really? So sitting behind your menu isn’t obvious?”

  “Shut up,” I say, annoyed.

  “Wow. I’ve never seen you this flustered before.” Aiden seems like he wants to elaborate on this conversation further, but I’m just getting angrier.

  “I. AM. NOT. FLUSTERED,” I hiss in my loudest whisper.

  “Well, you could have fooled me. Are you going to eat those disco fries or not?” he asks, already reaching for one.

  “I thought this dinner was about fattening me up for my vampire donation.” Sometimes I wonder if there are alternative motives with these two.

  “Please. You putting on weight is a lost cause. I just want you to eat the meat protein…and the fries have no protein,” he tells me.

  “Is that some medical fact?”

  “Uh huh.” Aiden shoves the fries in his mouth, talking while chewing, causing Shelby to elbow him.

  “What’s up with you two anyway, besides him being your hottie student teacher back in the day?” Shelby asks me, shoving more of my fries in her mouth. I don’t answer her, picking at my burger. My appetite is long gone as I start thinking about those shitty days in high school from which I couldn’t wait to escape.

  Yeah, what was up with us? The last time I had an actual physical run-in with Jack Hamilton was in my junior math class before the end of the school year. My teacher, Miss Reynolds, went and got herself knocked up, married, and quit teaching a month before school started. So, Mr. Hamilton was some super math whiz kid who was student teaching and came to our high school to get hands-on experience. Hands on, indeed! I swear, every damn female in my school had it bad for Mr. Hamilton. They wanted to spend extra study halls, after school, and during lunch getting “extra” help from him. Granted, he seemed earnest in wanting students to succeed, and he seemed to have a soft spot for the girls who were struggling the most.

  One day after school, near the end of the year, I stayed late to get some books from the library. Some stupid English project on Beowulf, and I didn’t want to work with other students making videos. It would have been hard for me to explain my absences at home as it was, so I asked my teacher if I could write a paper instead and she agreed. As I came out of the library, my arms full of books and not paying attention, I slammed right into Mr. Hamilton. Books and papers flying up into the air like a cyclone, I landed on the floor, banging my head pretty hard. I saw stars, but not only that. In my addled mind, as Mr. Hamilton was picking me up off the floor and asking me if I was okay, I kissed him. I freaking kissed him or, rather, our lips met. I kept hoping it wasn’t totally initiated on my part, but I knew that wasn’t true. I remembered them tasting cool, wet, and soft, his bottom lip sticking out slightly. As we kissed, I felt his hands roam my body and push me against the brick hallway, gripping my thigh so acutely, I remembered having a set of fingerprint bruises for days afterwards. I traced those bruises for the remaining days, matching my fingers to his prints watching them fade, and secretly loving them. My core tingled every time I looked at them. I’m not sure how much of the memory is totally accurate and how much I’m horrifically romanticizing. The kiss was so tender and fleeting, the only other memory that overpowers it was when he pushed me back, horrified, and proceeded to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, looking me over, disgusted. What the hell had possessed me to do such a thing? Had I even done it? I mean, I’d like to think I hit my head pretty hard on those linoleum tiles. All I know is that the taste of cool, icy, winter mint gum became my best, my worst, and my last memory of high school. I still get flashes of heat every time I see that gum flavor in the drugstore.

  “Edie. Earth to Edie?” Aiden sounds like an annoying broken record, scratching the skipped beats.

  “Hmm?” I drift out of my reverie slowly, wondering when I might have enough spare money for some mint ice cream so I can relive that kiss alone in my apartment.

  Thunk.

  “What the…?” Aiden had thrown a mostly clean french fry at my face, splashing a glob of gravy and cheese in my eye and, likely, my hair. Giggling, Shelby hands me a napkin as I give my two best friends a death stare. “Real classy, Aiden.” I wipe the gravy from my face, tossing the napkin at Aiden, who ducks. In my heated anger, I don’t notice Mr. Hamilton and Dean Andrews walking by us. Dean Andrews walks up to the diner register. Mr. Hamilton picks up the napkin I threw at Aiden, which had landed on the floor, and places it on the table next to my hand.

  “Don’t forget right here, Miss Willows. You, uh…missed a spot.” Mr. Hamilton gently brushes my cheek with his thumb. Oh, holy hell! I want to die right there. He actually takes his thumb and puts it in his mouth, sucking the gravy off. I think my stomach rippled, like a stone skipping over a pond, before my brain reengaged in semi-conduciveness.

  “T-thanks.” I grab the napkin and furiously brush my cheek.

  “See you on Tuesday,” he says before turning to walk away.

  “Is there a quiz?” Shelby calls out, making Mr. Hamilton turn back around, and Dean Andrews is watching us.

  Eyes wide, I look at her and mouth, WHAT THE HELL?

  “Actually, there is. Make sure Miss Willows studies extra hard.” Mr. Hamilton walks out with Dean Andrews and I sink into my seat. Did he have to say it like that? I swear he enunciated the words extra hard on purpose.

  “Thanks!” Shelby, with her usual bubbly attitude, calls back and waves. Mr. Hamilton keeps walking, but sticks his arm in the air and waves back.

  “Seriously, I’m going to kill you, Shelby.” It isn’t possible to sink lower in my seat as we watch them walk back towards campus.

  “Well, now that he’s touched you, you’ll have something to master…,” Shelby says as Aiden bumps his water into her lap, making her jump up, squealing.

  “OKAY!” I yell at her, drawing more unwanted attention to myself.

  “I didn’t need to know that. I’ll make sure I text before we come over,” Aiden mumbles, clearly as embarrassed as I am. I put my arms over my head, trying to forget my two best friends sitting in front of me and smiling like idiots.

&n
bsp; Chapter Four

  Jack

  The week has been a busy one between managing my company and clients, as well as teaching the Statistics course on Tuesday. Edith Willows has tormented me the entire time just sitting there quietly and pretending we didn’t have a past together, as brief as it was. Now that it is finally Thursday, I go to get my flu shot, recalling Edith had skipped my class. The overly helpful nurse at the student clinic wants to take my shirt off for just a damn flu shot when I can just simply roll up my sleeve. Amanda, my on again/off again girlfriend, flew back and stopped over the other night, before heading back out again. The sex all-nighter was probably what I needed to purge Edith from my mind. My dick was sated, for the time being, and Amanda walked out on unsteady legs, which pleased me immensely. I was about to leave the clinic with my flu shot paperwork for HR when I hear my familiar pain in the ass student who cut class earlier today.

  “Miss, I really think you should continue to lie down until you feel better. At least drink more juice.” I spin around and see a very pale Edith pushing a nurse away, wobbling to a plastic chair in the waiting room.

  “I’m fine. I just need the bus to get to work.” Edith grabs the chair and slumps forward, her head rolling like a rag doll.

  “Edith, take it easy. Are you alright? Is it the flu?” I grab her by her upper arms to hold her up. I notice how frail she seems to be under my touch. “Edith, stay with me. Come on.” I lean her back, propping her up against the wall. “Edith, keep your eyes open.” This position is all too hauntingly familiar for me, and I try to hold myself back and keep her standing upright.

  “Sh’um fine, Mr. H.” She tries pushing my hand away, but can’t even get her arm up with any force.

  “No offence, but you look like shit, Edie.” I decide holding her close will have to suffice; otherwise, she might wiggle in my arms, causing more problems than I care to deal with right now.