We sat there in silence with Sophia grinning at us the whole time.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Ms. Wilde finally huffed. “What are you guys doing here? I told you I wanted to stay in tonight.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophia replied. “We thought we could watch a movie with you or something. We didn’t know you had company.”
Megan came out of the bathroom and didn’t waste a second before asking Ms. Wilde what I was doing there.
“We’re hanging out,” she answered simply.
“Huh,” Megan said, appraising me. “He doesn’t really seem like your type. Cute, for sure, but not what I expected.”
Hello, I’m sitting right here!
“Sorry for crashing,” she added.
“That’s OK,” Ms. Wilde said, tilting her head to the side to stretch out her neck muscles.
Is she stressed?
Before I could stop myself, I moved my hand up and ran it down the length of her hair. Sophia noticed and smiled. I looked away and lowered my hand, but I could still feel her gaze on me.
Why did I have to do that?
“Look, guys, this can’t get out, OK?” Ms. Wilde said in a firm tone. “It would really fucking suck for the both of us if people find out we’re seeing each other outside class.”
Both girls nodded.
“How long has this been going on?” Megan asked.
“Just this week,” I heard myself reply.
“So…what’s the deal?” Sophia asked. “Are you guys dating?”
“No, we’re just fucking,” Ms. Wilde said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, OK,” Megan said, as if that were a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Sophia was giving me a look I couldn’t decipher.
What is she looking at? Do I have something on my face?
I ran my hand across my mouth and she looked away.
“I guess we should let you two get back to your night,” Sophia said. “I’m really sorry, Jules. I just didn’t think we had secrets between us.”
“That’s OK,” she said. “And I’m sorry too. It’s not that I didn’t trust you.”
“I asked her not to tell anyone,” I interjected. “You shouldn’t blame Julia.”
They both looked at me curiously before nodding.
“I guess we’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Megan said to Ms.—to Julia. It didn’t seem right to keep calling her Ms. Wilde in my head, when I couldn’t regard her as a student at this moment. If anything, she was the one teaching me.
“See you tomorrow, girls. Can you just forget that this happened?” she asked, opening the door for them.
They both laughed.
“Yeah, right,” Sophia said, turning to grin at me. “I wanna hear all about the hot professor sex first thing tomorrow!”
Oh, dear God.
“Get out of here before I go Rambo on you,” Julia growled, practically pushing them out the door.
“Rambo?” Megan cackled. “There’s a blast from the past!”
God, I’m so old.
“Have fun, Stephen!” Sophia called, giving me a quick wave before Julia slammed the door.
I could still hear them laughing outside as they walked down the stairs. Julia ran her hands through her hair and tilted her head back.
“Fuck,” she whispered to the ceiling.
I watched as she opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out a rumpled pack of cigarettes. She walked over to the window, leaned out, and lit one up. Exhaling the smoke into the night air, she slumped forward, resting her elbows on the windowsill.
“Are you…all right?” I asked.
She nodded her head, taking another drag.
“Sorry, I don’t usually smoke at home,” she said. “I just really didn’t want them to find out about you.”
Right. I’m hardly something to brag about.
As if she’d heard my thoughts, she spun around, keeping her cigarette outside the window, for which I was very grateful.
“That didn’t come out right,” she said. “I’m not embarrassed, or anything like that. It’s just…they’re not going to shut up about this now.”
“And you don’t like talking about it?” I asked, surprised. I was under the impression that Julia enjoyed talking about sex.
“No, that’s not it,” she said quickly. “They’ll hound me for private stuff about you—what you look like naked, and if you know how to go down on me properly.”
Dear God, no! I don’t want them to know what I look like naked and my abilities in the “going down” department have never been tested. I’m probably horrible at it.
“I’m usually not afraid to divulge, but it’s different with you. They might be in one of your classes next semester and I don’t want them sitting there, thinking about your hot body,” she said, turning to take a drag.