While You Were Teaching

Chapter 22-Their Version of Love is NOT My Version

It went well-surprisingly well-talking to my mother. She nodded her head at all the right moments. Asked the borderline nosy questions that any mom asks when her daughter begins dating someone new. And smiled whenever I got to a part where I was blushing so hard I almost couldn't talk.

I told her that Dominic and I had met at a cafe and continued the story on from there with the absence of a few details. She, obviously, does not know he is my teacher, or is in any way affiliated with the school. She is also under the same impression that I was under the first time I laid eyes on Dominic Brown-that he is a businessman who lives a very busy life.

She does, however, know about the age difference. I debated whether telling her would make her not like Dominic, but I decided that I was already lying to her enough and I didn't want to add another one. I was also hoping that she wouldn't see it as such a big deal, and luckily she didn't. Her and my father are eleven years apart in age, and they met while she was in college too.

She even cracked a joke after I told her. She said, "We, Winters women, must like our men a few years older." I almost fell out of my chair in shock.

Everything was going great until she told me how excited she was to meet him in a few weeks when they come down to pick me up at the end of fall semester. Her eyes lit up and she started gesticulating wildly with her hands, something she only does when she's really excited, about how nice it would be for us to all go out and have dinner together.

I nodded my head along enthusiastically as every part of my body started to sag to the ground. She couldn't meet Dominic. I wasn't so in over my head that I didn't know that. I couldn't exactly expect us all to have dinner together, and assume the night wouldn't be a complete disaster. What if just as I was about to take a sip of water one of Dominic's students came by to say hey?

How would I pull that one off? Hey, mom and dad. Guess what? I'm not dating a businessman. I'm dating my teacher! Surprise!

I can see it now. My dad lunging over the table to right hook Dominic solidly in the face. My mom attempting and failing to grab my dad as plates of food flew all the over place, a noodle landing in the waitress's hair. They would be so incredibly disappointed in me. Ashamed of me.

No, dinner is definitely not an option. But she doesn't have to know that yet, which is why I nodded and listened attentively as she planned out the entire night. I felt bad, but I was also getting tired of always feeling like I was doing something bad.

I hated feeling like I was always doing something wrong.

We talked for a few more minutes and then ended our video call with the usual choruses of I love you's. As I closed my laptop, it felt like the weight I had been carrying on my shoulders for the past few weeks had finally been lifted. There was still a tiny pull, but this weight was manageable.

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"So I was thinking about what you said the other day," Dominic said, tapping his pen on the desk. It was a Wednesday afternoon and we were sitting in his office, passing time. I tried to work on my homework as much as possible during his office hours. It was the only place where I had a viable option to be near him, and Dominic was a breath of fresh air for me so I took advantage of it every chance I got.

"About what?"

"How you feel like we're always hiding out. And then I started thinking about our bet."

I tilted my head to the right, confused. Bet? Oh, the bet! The one I made during midterms when Dominic and I weren't supposed to be seeing each other. If he won he got to ask me a question and if I won he said he would find a way for us to 'have lunch together.' Whatever that meant. He won the bet, so that means he must be cashing in on his question.