She smiled, which turned into a laugh as my stomach growled loudly.
“You did have quite a workout last night,” she said, giving me a wink. “No wonder you’re hungry.”
“Is it dinnertime?”
“Are you hungry?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded.
“Then it’s dinnertime,” she said simply.
She was absolutely right. I shouldn’t care whether or not it was six-thirty. If I was hungry then I should eat.
“What would you like?” I asked her. Her eyebrows flew up in surprise and I remembered that she hadn’t actually told me how long she was staying.
“If you want to stay, that is,” I added, trying not to sound too eager.
“I’ll stay, but I’m buying us dinner,” she said firmly.
“OK,” I agreed, sensing that this was nonnegotiable.
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and frowned. “Shit, it died on me. I don’t suppose you have a charger that’ll work for this?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.” I grinned.
“Right,” she said, chuckling. “Can I borrow your computer?”
“Sure, it’s in my office. There’s no password or anything.”
She gave me a quick kiss and jumped off the bed with the grace of a ballerina. I sat up and put my shirt back on before stretching. The massage that she’d given me had worked wonders for my muscles and I hoped that she might want to do it again sometime.
I should learn how to give one to her. Maybe there’s a book I could read.
Walking into the living room, I started clearing away the cups and sandwich wrappers when suddenly I heard an angry yell.
“Stephen, what the fuck is this?” Julia shouted.
I didn’t have time to respond before she came storming out of my office and thrust some pieces of paper into my hands. Her eyes flared with rage and I actually took a step back. She looked like she was ready to hit me. Glancing at the items in my hands, I saw that it was Julia’s final paper for my class. And it was absolutely covered in red ink. It looked like it was bleeding. Had I done that?
“You failed me!” she screamed.
I scanned the papers quickly, seeing that she was right. On the last page I had written a big fat F, circling it several times.
“How could you do that to me? This paper is fifty percent of my grade!” she exclaimed, shaking her head.
“I-I…”
“How could you?” she yelled. “Why? I worked my ass off on that paper, hoping you’d… You know what, never mind!”
Turning on her heel, she ran for the hallway and started yanking her shoes on.
“Julia, I…please,” I said desperately. “Listen to me—”
“I should have known this would blow up in my face!” she said, grabbing the door handle.
“Don’t go, please!” I begged her. “Let me explain.”
“Explain what, exactly?” she asked, glaring angrily at me. “That you lowered my perfect GPA because I was stupid enough to sleep with you? What were you gonna do? Screw me a few more times and then flunk me? How could you? I can’t believe I fell for all your bullshit!”
I watched in horror as she wrenched the door open and took a step outside.
Oh, no! No, no, no!
“Please, don’t say that! Don’t be angry!”
She turned around to face me and hope sparked in my chest. Maybe she’d stay and let me explain.
“You don’t have to worry,” she said icily. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Julia, that’s not—” I started.
“I won’t say a word,” she interrupted. “Unlike you, I know how to keep shit separate. It’s over. That’s what you wanted, right? Well, you got it, Professor! I’m out of here!”
No! She can’t go!
I grabbed her wrist, trying to hold her back. Somehow, I ended up on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch me again, asshole!” she hissed at me.
I scrambled to my feet only to see her hurrying away down the street and jumping into an expensive-looking vintage car, which apparently belonged to her. She drove off, leaving me utterly terrified that the best thing that had ever happened to me in my life had just called me an asshole and left me forever.
Fuck!
Chapter 16
This was bad. This was very, very…just…fucking bad! I was so upset that I couldn’t think of a better word to describe what had just happened. For a moment, I considered jumping into my car and chasing Julia down the street. Various scenes from romantic movies flitted through my brain. A mistake always nearly ruins the budding relationship, but after a grand gesture, the couple always ends up in the rain somehow, kissing and making up while declaring their love for each other. But this was real life, and I doubted that a grand romantic gesture was the way to go, seeing as Julia didn’t want a relationship in the first place. And there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so I was all out of luck.