My jaw slackened when the three women started doing shots off each other, which made the crowd of men go wild.
“Err, are they allowed to do that?” I asked Matt.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked with his eyes fixed on the redhead. “Those men are going to come back here every night for a month, hoping for a repeat performance. I should put those girls on my payroll. I haven’t seen them in here before. I wonder who they are.”
“That’s Ms. Wilde,” I said, and instantly regretted it.
“The one in the red dress?” he asked incredulously. “Are you serious?”
I nodded.
“She’s the annoying one who isn’t your type? You are so full of shit, bro! You need to tap that, and then introduce me to her friend.”
I didn’t feel the need to “tap” anything and got up to leave.
“Where are you going? The game hasn’t even started yet,” he complained, pulling me back into my seat. “One beer, Stephen, you promised.”
“Fine,” I agreed, ducking my head. “I’ll finish the one I have and then I’m going home. I have things to attend to.”
“You can jack off later.” He laughed. “Your dear Ms. Wilde is providing you with a great image,” he added, motioning in her direction.
I looked over to where Ms. Wilde was busy licking salt off the redhead’s neck before she downed a shot and sucked on the lemon wedge that the other girl held between her lips. I felt a stirring in my nether regions and looked away, feeling disgusted with myself.
She’s ten years younger than you and, more important, your student. Plus, she annoys you like crazy, remember?
I turned my attention to the screen and, thankfully, the noise from the back died down when the game came on. After finishing my beer I told Matt that I was leaving, but made plans with him to have lunch the following day. I looked around for Ms. Wilde but it seemed that she and her friends must have left when the game started. As I walked outside, I drew a deep breath, thankful that the night was over.
“Son of a bitch!”
What the—
I looked in the direction of the voice, and who else could it be but Ms. Wilde, rifling through her purse, cursing loudly. She pulled out a cigarette, lit up, and inhaled deeply.
“Fucking hell,” she groaned, closing her eyes as she exhaled the smoke into the night air.
She has a foul mouth and she’s a smoker. Wonderful. The “things I don’t like about Ms. Wilde” list keeps getting longer and longer. Before the semester is through, it’ll look like Kerouac’s On the Road scroll.
For a second I thought I might be able to slip past her undetected, but she opened her eyes again and broke into a smile when she saw me.
“Stephen,” she said, flashing me her lopsided grin. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s Professor Worthington,” I said automatically.
“We’re not in school now,” she countered, taking a drag.
I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her insanely red lips as they wrapped around the cigarette. I decided not to say anything else about my name.
“It’s my brother’s bar. I mean, my stepbrother.”
“Well, what is he?” she asked, clearly amused. “Your brother or your stepbrother?”
“I don’t know.” Our parents had been married for almost twenty years and I could hardly remember a time before Matt. When was it appropriate to leave out the “step” part?
“Huh.”
This conversation was going nowhere.
“I never pegged you for the sports type,” she said, looking me up and down while taking another drag.
“I’m not, and I’m leaving. Good night, Ms. Wilde,” I said curtly, and started walking toward my car.
“Wait. I don’t have enough money for a cab and my friends already left in the other direction. Can I have a ride?”
I didn’t want her in my car. It wouldn’t be appropriate at all.
“Hey, never mind,” she said before I could answer. “I’ll just see you in class on Friday.”
When I turned around, she was already walking away.
Is she going to walk home? Alone? Wearing that dress?
“Ms. Wilde,” I called after her. She turned and looked curiously at me. “Come on,” I said, motioning her over to my car. She smiled brightly and walked back toward me. I couldn’t help but notice the way her hips moved and the smallness of her waist. Her ponytail swayed from side to side with each step she took, and I decided that I preferred this hairstyle to the others she had worn to class. She got in the car and I immediately noticed that she was still smoking.
“Would you mind not doing that in my car?” I asked, pointing to her cigarette.