Teachers Pet

twenty-two

The morning sunrise created a yellow glow against the contrast of white. The blinds only held back a certain amount of rays before I had to close my eyes. Groaning, I shuffled around, placing a hand on Chris's bare chest. 

"Goodmorning, baby." He took a deep breath, stretching his limbs in a starfish position, lying his arm across my unclothed back. "Morning," I mumbled back, pulling myself up so I was sitting on the edge of the mattress. 

"Nooo," Chris whined, pulling me back into his chest. I let out a giggle, playfully pushing myself up so I could wriggle out of his grasp. "Let me go!" Laughing, I failed to escape, relaxing back into his arms. 

"I want you to stay here forever." He muttered into my hair, making me groan as I finally jumped out of bed and onto my feet. "I have to go." I grinned, wrapping a sheet around my bare body. Chris groaned once again, pushing himself up and crawling to the end of the bed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Or you could stay here with me."

I shook my head, "You know I can't." 

"I know." He took a deep breath, "But if you miss one day.."

"Then my grade could drop and I've already missed enough." I interrupted, seeing the look of annoyance on his face. Stepping forward slightly, I placed a hand on his upper bicep, "I'll be back this afternoon." 

He rolled his eyes, falling back onto the bed as I made my way into the bathroom. Dropping the sheet, I turned on the shower from the touchscreen pad; water falling like a rain shower overhead. I'd never get used to how technological his apartment was. 

It had been two weeks since my fight with Flo. And in those two weeks, I had been staying with Chris. He took me in, bought and made me food. Even let me use his car on days he didn't have to work and I had school. Also in those two weeks, I hadn't talked to Tom. No matter how much he crossed my mind. Which was often. 

I knew I shouldn't think about him. What we had was..nothing. Meaningless. I was meaningless to him. Every moment, every minute we had together was fake. The more time has passed the more I realize I was nothing more than a conquest to him. Some fantasy of sleeping with a younger girl. 

Talking with Chris made me understand. 

Rinsing the coconut body wash from my skin, I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. I leaned against the sink, looking in the mirror before me. Dark circles grew under my eyes matching the color of my brown hair. My cheeks looked more sunken in from the diet Chris had shown me in a magazine. I just didn't look like myself. 

Letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding in, I forced my eyes to look away from the mirror. 

"Babe!!" Chris shouted from our bedroom, "Hurry up." 

I sucked in that breath once again, "I'm coming!!"

Slipping on a pair of black leggings and a white sweatshirt, I made my way out and grabbed my bag for school. 

This was going to be a long day. 

_

I was right, it had been a long day. Mr. Downey made it very clear in the middle of class that I kept dozing off. Mr. Stan was even worse before that, wanting to talk to me in his office yet I ran from the building before he could. 

And once again, like the past two weeks, I skipped Tom's class. I knew my grade had probably dropped. Most likely failing. But either Tom hadn't cared to report it or he'd been putting in fake grades so the guidance counselor wouldn't come knocking on my dorm. Well, Flo's dorm. 

The sound of honking knocked me back into reality as I walked down the campus sidewalk. "Hey, babe!!" Turning, I saw Chris pull up beside me, leaning over and opening the passenger door. "Get in!"

I let out a laugh at his lopsided smile, throwing my bag in the back and slamming the door behind me. "Where are we going?" I questioned, placing a hand over Chris's that was on my thigh. 

He smirked, moving in as his lips smashed into mine. I held the back of his head, both of us moving in sync. I could feel the way his hand tried to move up my thigh until I smacked his arm playfully. "Stop! We're in public." He groaned, pulling away and shifting the gear into drive. 

"We're going somewhere fun." I nodded, chuckling as he looked in the rearview mirror for any oncoming cars. Until suddenly something caught my eye. More like someone. 

There Tom stood, arms crossed on the sidewalk and staring right at me. His blue eyes were piercing even being fifty feet away. his dark hair was pulled behind his ears and despite the heated temperature outside, he wore a tight blue button-up and khaki slacks. 

"Babe?" My head snapped over to Chris, looking at him in question. "You okay?" I turned my head back to see Tom walking back toward the teacher's parking lot. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I bobbed my head up and down. "Yeah..." I watched Tom retreat, his figure becoming smaller and smaller, "Let's go."

_

"Mmhgh." Chris moaned, relaxing into my arms as I drug him down the hallway to his- our, apartment. Which of course made it harder with the two hundred pounds of dead weight. 

"Oh, come on!" I groaned, forcefully pushing the key into the lock and slamming the door open. I pulled Chris as far as I could, dropping his head onto the couch. He moaned, his head drooping to the side as he gripped my leg in his palm. "Don't leave."

I bent down, moving the hair out of his face, "I'm not leaving." He scoffed like I had been lying. I took a deep breath, helping to pull his whole body up and onto the leather sofa, "I'm not leaving. I'm going to get you water."

"Oh," Chris nodded, "I like that idea." I let out a laugh, walking to the kitchen and pouring a glass of water from the fridge. 

Making my way back, I kicked off my ankle boots and sat down on the edge of the couch. "Here," I tilted the cup against Chris's lips, allowing the cool liquid to soothe his throat. He pressed a hand on my wrist, making me move the glass away and place it on the center table. 

"Feel better?" I questioned, earning a groan from the very wasted man beside me. Sighing, I reached into my jacket pocket, pulling out my phone as the screen lit up. A couple of notifications from different social media sites. Someone I hadn't even talked to in years posted on their story for the first time in a while as if I cared. 

I let out a breath, slightly hoping there would be a message from Tom. Even just a hi. I know I was the one who ran out. I shook the thought from my head, throwing my phone onto the armchair beside me. I was about to turn back until loud snoring filled my ears. Looking down, I placed a hand on Chris's arm, rubbing soft circles into his coarse skin. Pulling a blanket over his body, I made my way into our room; stripping naked and pulling on a pair of thin sleep shorts and a black tank top. 

I lifted the covers over my body, feeling snug and comfy despite the minimalistic white contrast of the bedroom. I'm talking no color whatsoever. Letting out a deep breath I looked through the window and into the bright city below. 

There are eight million people living in New York City. Yet I only wanted one to be holding me as I fell asleep by myself, without him.