A/N: updated as of 5/28/2020
At lunch, I meet up with Rachel at our usual table and explain what's going to happen after school. "Here are the keys. Please don't wreck my car," I plead as I hand her the keys.
She rolls her eyes. "Lexi, I've never been in an accident and it's like a six minute drive from here to your house. I'll be fine."
I stare at her. "Do you even know how to use the turn signal?"
Rachel laughs. "Yeah, it's the knob next to the other knob." I spend the rest of the lunch period confirming that she does, in fact, know how to use a turn signal, but I worry for the rest of the school day about the fate of my poor car.
Before I know it, the last bell has rung and I walk upstairs to James's classroom. When I arrive, he's tidying up his desk and looks up as I step into the room. "Hey, Lexi," he greets me, his deep voice making me want to squeal and/or pass out. "Have you gotten everything settled with Miss Tyler?"
"Yeah, I talked to her at lunch."
James shoulders his grey messenger bag and smiles. "Ready?" he asks.
I take a deep breath and smile back. "Ready." We walk down the stairs and out a side door that lets out to the teachers' parking lot. I'm conscious of the stares that we get the whole way, mostly from girls who begin to whisper to each other as they see us walking together.
"What's our cover story?" I ask quietly as we cross the lot, my heart pounding in my chest.
"Hmm?" James says, looking down at me. He's actually quite a lot taller than me.
"I mean, what's our excuse if someone questions why we're driving off together," I say, keeping my voice low.
He takes a moment to think while he leads me to a nondescript silver BMW. "Well...I'm driving you home because Rachel needed to take your car for some reason and you have an injured ankle." He unlocks the car and opens the passenger door for me like a true gentleman. I smile gratefully as I slide in.
The interior of James's car is incredibly clean, save for the backseat where piles of books are haphazardly stacked. I pick one up titled My Family and Other Animals and leaf through it as he slides into the driver's seat. "Quite a collection you've got back there," I comment.
James chuckles. "It's basically my mobile library. I always take books in the car but I can never remember to put them back once I'm home." He starts the car and we make the short drive to Carafe, a local café.
As James cruises the parking lot trying to find a spot, I spy several cars belonging to some of my peers. Seeing this, my fear comes back full force.
"James, there are people from school here," I say, my voice shaking slightly. "They could see us."
James parks and turns to me. "It'll be okay," he reassures me. "The worst-case scenario is that someone does see us having coffee together, and they'll probably assume that we're just discussing something related to school."
I understand what he's saying but I can't stop myself from imagining the worst as I look down at my lap, and my hands start to shake. James notices this and cups my chin gently with one hand, tilting my chin up and forcing me to meet his gaze.
"Trust me, Lexi," he says softly, his blue-grey eyes warm and sincere. "I would never deliberately put you in any kind of danger."
I take a short breath. "Okay," I say, biting my lip. James runs his thumb across my bottom lip, and some of my tenseness seems to melt away.
James releases my chin and gets out of the car before opening my door for me. We walk together towards the entrance. As we enter, James puts his large hand on the small of my back in a subtly possessive gesture that could pass as politeness to the other patrons in the café.
"What do you want, Lexi?" James asks me, his gently authoritative tone of voice making me melt inside.
"Can I get a vanilla latte, please?" I say softly, still recovering from what I could've sworn was a 'Daddy' voice. He nods and orders for us before directing me to pick a table. I'm reluctant to leave his side, but do as he says. After careful consideration, I choose a table near a divider that isolates us from the rest of the café in a way that allows us to see out but makes it difficult for any other table to get a good view of us.
I settle into one of the seats and wait for James to return with our drinks. Should I bring up DDLG? I wonder. What if he doesn't want to do this anymore and that's why he brought me for coffee?
Fortunately, my train of thought is interrupted as James drops into the seat across from me and sets a steaming cup in front of me. "One vanilla latte," he announces.
"Thanks, James," I murmur, and look down at it. I'm honestly really worried that he's going to say that he doesn't want to do anything with me, but I don't know how to say anything about it.
I look up to see James carefully scrutinizing my face. "You've got questions," he observes, and takes a sip of his coffee. "Feel free to ask anything you want."
I swallow and gather as much confidence as I can before asking, "James, you still want to do the, um, DDLG thing with me, right?"
He frowns. "I'm still interested if you are. Is there something I need to know? Would you like to stop?"
I shake my head and meet his inquisitive gaze. "No, no, definitely not. I just thought, well I don't know...I mean, yeah, I'd like to do it." Nice one, Lexi, my subconscious mocks me. Very articulate.
James smiles and licks his lips absentmindedly. "So, what've you learned from your research?"
"DDLG actually sounds pretty appealing," I admit, sipping my latte. "I guess it's the freedom of being in that mindset and kind of submitting and handing over free will that I like."
"And the part about being treated as a younger age? What about that?" James gently pries.
I nod. "Yeah, that too." I blush and finger a piece of my hair.
James's smile grows wider. "Good."
"So how long have you been into this?" I ask curiously.
James's gaze shifts to the wall. "Several years," he says slowly. "I was introduced to BDSM more generally before DDLG. I like the idea of being a Dominant or Daddy Dom and being in control."
"How many Littles or submissives have you had?" I say, incorporating some of the lingo I've picked up through my 'research'. I want to know who else was before me.
"I've had four," James answers and looks back at me. "Two submissives and two Littles. They were all interested in taking advantage of me. The submissives were more interested in how much I would spend on them than in anything else, and the Littles mostly appreciated my sex appeal. Needless to say, none of them were long-term." James's tone has become hard and he clenches his jaw, staring hard at his coffee.
"I'm so sorry," I say gently, both ashamed that I pried so far and surprised that he shared something so personal.
James nods and runs his hand through his thick, dark hair. "So, about next week," he says abruptly, changing the subject.
"Next week," I agree, folding my hands in my lap.
"Are you comfortable with staying at my house for the four weeks?" James asks me. "And what age do you envision yourself as in your littlespace? I know it might be a little bit difficult, seeing as it's your first time."
"Yes, I'm fine with staying at your place," I reply, sipping my latte. "Um, I'm not really sure what age."
James thinks for a second. "We can cross that bridge when we get to it."
"Okay," I agree, biting my lip. James reaches across the table and cups my face with his hand. His hand is mostly smooth with light callouses on his finger pads and I place my own hand on top of his, completing the cliché, romantic gesture.
Or I would have, if my phone hadn't gone off. "Shit," I groan, checking the message.
"First rule—no swearing," James says sternly, and drains his coffee.
"Okay," I agree. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go. Rachel's waiting out front to take me to the airport. My friend is coming into town and I totally forgot that I promised to pick him up."
James pouts adorably. "I see where your priorities lie. But all right. Say hi to Miss Tyler for me." As he says this, Rachel arrives at our table.
"Hey, lovebirds," she greets us, giving me a hug and James a light hit on the arm.
"Miss Tyler," James grumbles, "most people say hi or good afternoon instead of a smack as a greeting."
Rachel sticks out her tongue at him. "I'm not most people." Then she turns to me. "Lexi, we gotta run. Declan's flight landed ten minutes ago."
"Okay. Shit." It's only after these words leave my mouth that I remember the rule. My eyes widen and I look at James, whose mouth is pressed together in a frown. His disapproving expression lets me know that I'll pay for this slip-up later.
"Bye, James," I mumble as Rachel pulls me up from my seat.
He gives me a small smile. "See you tomorrow."
Rachel grabs my hand and tows me out of the café. "Later!" she calls over her shoulder to James as we leave.
A/N: ugh school is just the worst. in pe we're playing volleyball and i'm literally the worst and I keep getting mild anxiety attacks while we're playing because i'm so embarrassed and i'm sure that everyone is judging me so hard and i'm going to fail the unit. also, I have so much work for ap world it's not even funny. like I have next to no time to myself anymore. so that means that I have almost no time to write this im so sorry guys :(((( um yeah that's it have a good day and comment and vote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯