His Mistress

Sixteen: Her concerns

Athena

When I awoke, it was midnight. I looked to my side and Levy wasn't there. I was only up for a minute before my eyes grew heavy and I fell back asleep.
The second time I awoke was in the morning. I got up feeling sore. We went about four times last night and this man turned me out.
I hoped in the shower and washed last night off of me.
His scent, his kisses, gone.
The only thing I couldn't get off was the small hickie he left on my neck, right under my chin.
I didn't have a class until later in the evening so I decided to go outside for fresh air. I didn't feel like studying. I decided that reading a good book outside would suffice.
I walked through the campus trying to find a place to read, but I ended up finding someone who I recognized instead.
My mother.
What was she doing here?
As she approached my way, I quickly hid behind a building. I didn't want her to see my hickie. She would ask too many questions and I wouldn't be able to provide her with answers.
I called her on my cellphone and watched as she ignored my call.
My eyes followed her movement.
If she wasn't here to see me, why was she here?
I saw her enter into the dean's office.
I was confused. Was she checking up to see how I was doing in my classes?
Was she making sure that I was keeping my grades up so I could keep my scholarship?
Why not just ask me?
Was she spying on me?
Than the scariest thing crossed my mind.
Did the dean find out about Levy and I? Are they having a meeting about that?
"We've got to stop meeting each other like this, Ms Bailey." The voice creeped up behind me.
I jumped.
I turned around and Levy was standing behind me, eating an apple, watching me.
I quickly grabbed him out of the open and pulled him behind the wall with me.
"Shhh," I said.
I continued watching the Dean's door, waiting for my mom to exit.
"Who are you hiding from this time?" Levy asked me.
"My mother," I responded.
"Your mother? She's here?"
I nodded.
"Well, I would like to meet her. Tell her what a wonderful student you are," he joked. "Ambitious, smart." Then he whispered in my ears, "Very pleasant in bed."
I elbowed him in the arm and he laughed.
He didn't understand how serious this was.
My mother never came to my school when I was in high school, not even in when I was in middle school. She said I was a big girl and I could solve issues on my own. She was a lawyer and she taught me to advocate for myself.
The only time she made it was for my graduation.
She worked a lot.
"You are not going to tell her that because you are not going to meet her," I said to him.
I looked back at him and he was smiling, happily eating his Apple.
"What are you so happy about?" I asked.
Usually he was in serious bossy teacher mode.
Or horny mode. Even hero mode.
Why was he so cheerful today?
"Ah, nothing. I'm just standing here admiring that cute little hickie just under your chin."
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help laugh.
I continued to look at the door to the deans office. Why hasn't she come out yet?
"Are you planning on hiding here until she comes out?"
"Yes... No. I just want to know what she's doing here," I said. "What if she knows about us?"
"She doesn't," he said.
"Maybe she does," I said.
"She doesn't."
"How do you know that?"
"Because we've been discreet," he said.
"Not really. You're a good looking guy. A lot of the girls talk about you sexually. They all notice you. And if they constantly see me with you, they will notice."
"Good looking huh?" He winked.
"I like you better when you're bossy," I told him.
He smiled, and he was about to whisper something in my ear, when I dodged him.
"Are you trying to get us caught?"
He looked around to see if any one was looking at us.
"Relax Athena, no one is even looking in this direction."
"It doesn't matter, my mother is here."
He went silent and I continued to stare at the door.
I threw my hands up in the air. "You know what? Who cares? I don't care if she knows about us. What can she do, ground me? I'm not a little girl anymore."
Levy didn't say anything and deep down I didn't mean that.
I was more afraid of my mom than my dad.
She was strict. My dad is the one who convinced my mom to let me come here alone. She wanted me to go to Prowlston U, 10 miles from our home. There was no way I was going there.
"Well, I have a course to teach in an hour, maybe I'll see you tonight?"
I waved him off. "Yeah, sounds fine," I said.
With that he left.
Five minutes more passed and I decided that I should leave.
I headed to my dorm. That's when I got a call on my cellphone.
"Hello," I answered.
"Hi, honey. I saw that you called me. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to know what you were doing?"
"Oh nothing, I was just about to cook dinner."
"Where's dad?"
"Uh, your dad had to work late. It's been very busy at the police station. A rapist has decided to make Sunset Valley his home. You can imagine how happy I am now to know that you're safe at Crown U."
"So you're home?"
"Yes. What's with all the questions?"
"Nothing really. I was just wondering."
"Okay, well how are your studies going?"
"Good as always."
"Glad to hear. I'm thinking about visiting you maybe tomorrow. I believe you are off tomorrow, is that right?"
"Yes, I am off."
"Perfect, I'll come and maybe you can show me around the campus."
"Sounds good mom."
"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow."

I hung up the phone, surprised that she lied to me. So she was checking up on me. How else would she know my day off was tomorrow. But why? Normally, she's not really invested in anything school related, unless it's my report card.
This made me angry. Why spy on me? I've never done anything remotely bad my whole life.
The worst I've done was take my friend Carly's OCD pills to keep me awake so I could study for an exam. But of course, she never knew about that.
I called my dad and his phone went straight to voicemail. He was probably at work. At least she wasn't lying about that.

All evening, the thought of my mother being at school bothered me. I felt scared now, like I had no more privacy at school.
This was the one place I thought I could escape her watchful eye. The one place I thought I could get away from her regulation of my life.

After class, I studied all night. It was my mission to get her off my back. I was going to prove to my mother that I did not need her to spy on me. I could get good grades in university just like I had in high school.
I was determined.
I was so into my studying that I almost didn't hear the knock on my room door.
Levy was getting more sloppy. Why would he come to my room now? It wasn't even eleven o'clock yet.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Michelle outside.
"Why'd you knock? Where's your key?"
"I don't know," she said.
"You lost your key?"
"I guess so. One minute I was dancing? The next, I couldn't find my key or my cellphone."
She walked inside the room.
I could tell she was tipsy. She looked tired and sickly.
"Did you report it missing to our DA?"
"No," she said.
"So anybody with your key who knows where you live can walk in here at any moment and steal our stuff."
She didn't answer. She looked at me as if I was about to tell her that she was grounded.
"Michelle, where's your purse?"
She took it from out of her bra and handed into me. She walked to her bed and flopped down.
When I looked in her purse, it was empty. The only thing that was left was a small lipstick tube.
"Michelle, somebody robbed you," I told her as I threw her purse on her bed.
"I had five hundred dollars in there," she wailed.
"Why were your carrying so much money?"
She didn't answer me.
She looked up at me like she was about to cry.
The truth is, she was a mess.
Not one time has passed by where I've seen her sober.
She clearly had a problem and I didn't know how to help her.
And to be honest, I didn't have the time or patience to help her.

She went under her covers and closed her eyes. I guess that was her way of telling me that she didn't want to talk anymore.
I grabbed my keys and went to the only place at this university where I enjoyed going.
Levy's office.