“Predictable,” he said with a bored expression. “We met, we ate, we fucked.”
“Oh, that sounds…err…” I trailed off, not exactly sure how one responded to something like that.
“But she totally blew me in the car!”
He sounds like Julia.
I let out a laugh because of the similarity, and Matt gave me a strange look.
“You find it amusing that I got road head?”
“I guess so.” I shrugged and started undressing.
“Really? No lectures on traffic safety? Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?”
I decided that it was probably best to simply ignore his question and hope he would drop it. But after a few moments, he was still looking at me with narrowed eyes as if he were trying to solve a math problem.
“What?” I asked, keeping my tone light.
“Something’s going on with you,” he stated.
“No.”
“I don’t know what it is, but I will find out, Stephen,” he said, grinning.
No, you won’t. No one else can know!
I felt bad about keeping this enormous secret from my brother, but I wasn’t prepared to face the million questions that he would undoubtedly ask. I knew that Matt wouldn’t tell a soul, but I still preferred to keep it a secret. I liked having it to myself—something that was just hers and mine.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Her friends know, but I trust her judgment. She isn’t interested in this getting out any more than I am.
“Oh, and on a completely unrelated subject, I sent a message to Ms. Wilde’s friend,” Matt said as we walked inside the gym.
Unrelated? I think not.
“Really?” I asked as we got to the changing room. “On the Facebook?”
He threw his head back and laughed.
Now what?
“The Facebook?” he asked. “Dude, it’s just Facebook. You sound like a senior citizen when you say shit like that!”
I shrugged and continued dressing. “Did you get a reply?”
“Not yet. How about you?”
I looked at him. “Me?”
“Yeah, did you set up a date with that teacher mom was talking about?”
“Not yet,” I said, echoing his words. “I’m not sure if I’ll go out with her.”
“Why not?”
Because seeing two women at the same time makes me very uncomfortable.
“I don’t know. I’m not good with dating. You know that.”
“You’re never going to find anyone if you don’t try,” Matt said. “You should ask her out. You’re ready for that.”
“Thanks, I guess you’re right,” I muttered.
“I’m just looking out for you because I love you and I want you to be happy.”
Wow, Matt isn’t usually so touchy-feely.
“I, uh, I love you too,” I said, feeling a little awkward. “And I know you only want me to be happy.”
“Exactly,” he said, grinning. “And it’s my experience that nothing makes a man happier than a good roll in the hay…or at least a hummer.”
A Hummer? Isn’t that a car?
I decided not to ask since I knew he’d most likely tease me for my lack of knowledge. Still, I was fairly certain that Matt wasn’t referring to the SUV.
As we walked toward the treadmills, he turned to me. “You’re sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”
I shook my head and stared straight ahead.
“Well, whatever it is that you’re doing, I’d keep it up. You smile more now,” he said and started walking again.
“Oh,” he called over his shoulder. “And the vein is still MIA, by the way.”
I touched my forehead and couldn’t stop myself from grinning.
* * *
Over the next two weeks, I saw Julia a total of three times outside of class. We’d exchanged phone numbers, and she’d texted me on all three occasions. We’d decided that this was better than talking before or after class, in order to avoid drawing attention to ourselves on campus. I felt certain that no one would suspect that we were more than student and professor if they observed us in my classroom. Julia was still as argumentative as ever and I did my best to treat her as I always had. But it was hard, since I didn’t find her interruptions nearly as annoying as I had at the beginning of the semester. Her contributions were always on point, I liked hearing her thoughts and theories, and I found myself wishing the rest of my students were as insightful as she was, which made it very difficult to scold her whenever she spoke out of turn. I was, however, thankful that she hadn’t suddenly adopted model behavior in class and was acting like nothing had changed.
Of course, that wasn’t true at all. At least, not as far as I was concerned.