The slight slump in her stare changes the entirety of the question. With a shift of her hazel eyes, her interrogation goes from curious to needy. Flashes of yesterday’s wrestling match spring to the surface of my thoughts, and along with it, her loving gaze on Coach Sanders.
“Marie, why are you asking me this?… Does this have anything to do with how you were looking at Coach Sanders yesterday?”
Ding. Ding. Ding, we have a winner.
Marie’s caramel skin burns red at the mention of his name. It works its way down her throat, creeping into the dip of her low-cut top, disappearing somewhere in her floral red blouse.
I don’t miss the way her slender fingers tremble as they tuck a loose curl behind her diamond-studded ear or the whispered wheezing in her shallow breathing as the image of him plays behind her eyes.
I know that look. I see it in the mirror every morning.
“Marie?”
“He teaches first and second-year P.E. I’ve been his student-aid since junior year.” Rising from the bed, she folds her fingers around the nape of her neck, continuing. “In the beginning, there was nothing to it, but as the year went on, things started to change.”
“What kind of things?” I ask, unable to keep the tender smile from my lips. She’s hopelessly in love with a man she has no business loving.
Same as me.
“It started off with little things, a hidden glance here, a light, lingering touch there. And then, one day, I was helping him organize the mats in the gym, and I had hurt my foot jumping down from the bleachers. He raced to me and took me in his arms, cradling me all the way to the back room. Laying me out on the bench, he inspected my ankle, but his eyes were on me. They were so kind and caring, and it just… happened! He kissed me, and I felt the whole world stop.”
It's thebutthat follows, that has a heavy tear falling down her face. “Then he just… stopped. His proximity, the soft caresses… he won’t even look at me, and it-it kills me, Scarlett. Every day in class, I feel like I’m dying.”
Springing up from the bed, I rush to her side and collect her in my arms.
I’ve only had Theodore in my life for a couple of weeks. Marie has had Coach Sanders for almost two years, always just out of reach. Her tears are real, and they’re ripping holes in my heart. The agony pouring out of her isn’t something I wish to experience, but I don’t know how she wants me to save her from it.
So I offer her the only piece of advice I can think of. “Marie, I saw Mr. Ellis at the edge, and I pushed… sometimes, that’s all they need. To be knocked over that cliff without fear of the repercussions that may follow. I forced that guilt out of Theodore. If you sense something there… you just have to do the same.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” she asks, blinking back her tears.
Taking her by the sides of her face, I draw her in, pressing my forehead against hers. “Then he’s a fucking fool, and you’re too pretty to be with someone so foolish.”
After a moment of comfort, Marie wipes the moisture from her eyes and belts out a laugh. “We’re awful!”
“Kind of.” I join in, wrapping my arms around my abdomen to ward off the beginnings of cramps. Our cackling is too powerful, and it sends me to my knees. “But!” I start, wiping the tears out of my eyes. “It’s not like we’re putting a gun to their heads and demanding they love us back! No. We’re simply freeing them of their guilt.”
“Yeah! We aren’t kids, incapable of making our own decisions. They aren’t taking advantage of us by giving in to their desires because we’re right there with them, falling down that same cliff.”
“Exactly!”Finally!I found someone who I can talk to about this! It isn’t taboo or illicit. Our intimacy and adoration are something to be cherished. It’s beautiful, just as it would be if we weren’t their students.
“So, what are you going to do?” I ask, now lying on the floor. We’ve somehow positioned ourselves in an L-shape, with our feet propped above our bodies on the side of the bed.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be like you and corner him in his office.”
“Do it. It's worth it, having their strong, firm hands on the most delicate parts of your body.” I shiver, reliving the moment that started it all. “Practically died right there.”
“Ugh… I’d kill for Nickolas to touch me again, to put his lips on my neck while his hands slide between my thighs.”
“You’re making me horny,” I tease, falling into another fit of laughter when her skin burns a crimson red. I wish it was a joke, but it isn’t. Slickness begins to coat the middle of my panties as I think of Theodore’s rough pads gliding into my heat, rubbing me into a frenzy while his tongue plays with my sensitive tits.
“I need you to do me a favor,” I mutter, suddenly finding a solution to my problem.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you to Marie’s? It’s dark outside,” my mom asks for the hundredth time, watching me from the doorway as I pack an overnight bag.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I reassure, zipping my pink overnight bag shut. “Marie doesn’t live too far, and I want to ride my bike. It’s a beautiful night out!”
Had my dad been home, this argument wouldn’t be happening. He would have demanded I be taken by either him or her to my“sleepover”at Marie’s. Not only that, but because my father is the most distrusting man in the universe, he would have asked to meet her parents, and got all their contact information before leaving me on my own. I have to fight for my right to privacy with him, but not with my mom. She never questions me. It makes me feel bad for lying all the time.
