A hole appeared in her wall shortly after watching it, so you could imagine how that went.
I think Nikki had secretly dreamed of being the first recipient of Calum's tongue doing those freaky things and Maya had ruined that dream.
Zoey managed to distract our resident serial killer wannabe by leading her toward a booth with all kinds of books. Well, all kinds of sexual books. The three of us squeezed in together, asses pressed up against hips and stomachs while we browsed the collection on the table.
"Anything I can help you beautiful ladies out with?" a soft voice asked.
I looked up to see a pair of clear, gray eyes looking at us inquisitively. "No, we're just looking, thank you," I answered. The guy was young, maybe in his mid to late twenties and pretty cute with a mess of light brown hair and a sweet smile. He looked like someone I knew, but I couldn't figure out who.
Zoey picked up a small, pocket sized Kama Sutra book and held it in front of Nikki's face. "Hey, didn't you want this?"
I browsed the different titles splayed out, touching each spine carefully, but I felt a warm gaze on me. I looked up to see gray orbs still looking at me. The guy smiled, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to figure out if I know you from anywhere. You look really familiar."
Oh my God.
It hit me.
He was one of my student's brothers.
Well, technically, an old student.
Dylan's fourth grade class, the one I taught throughout the fall and spring semester, let out for summer a little more than a month before.
Growing up, I had wanted to be an astronaut. My plan was to study aeronautical engineering and go work at NASA. All it took to kill my childhood dream was an advanced Calculus class my senior year in high school, and that dream went down the drain like dishwater. According to some bullshit requirement for majoring in engineering, you had to be really good at math.Huh. Calculus, or just math in general, were a sworn enemy to the Berger family. Who could've known? My dad told me about his failure at everything besides basic arithmetic when he consoled me after my broken career dreams.
It was my dad, Frank, who brought up the idea of going into teaching; he egged me on by reminding me how much I liked kids and how much kids liked me. With that in mind, along with the added bonus of getting summers off, my fate was sealed. I loved my first class of kids even though they were a bunch of little dingleberries at times, but I reminded myself daily that some adults were full-blown shit-heads all the time. I figured I was doing the world a favor by shaping the young minds of potential little butt-heads and hopefully steering them toward a less asshole-ish existence in the future.
In that moment, when the gray eyes relaxed and his face flushed, I was in doubt that I had made the right choice. I could tell he remembered where he knew me from. He had come to pick up Dylan enough times to recognize me.
I steeled my back deciding to be the adult here, he was at the convention too, so who was he to say anything? "Dylan's brother, right?" I verified, trying to keep my voice even.
"Yeah, Ms. Berger?" he asked, scratching absently at the side of his face.
I laughed, but it sounded really awkward. It didn't help that Zoey made a stupid noise in response to the tension radiating off of us. "It's Katherine," I told him, ignoring the moron next to me.
We stared at each other for a moment, which felt like it lasted forever before Nicole started cackling at the tension. "Well, that was awkward," she said to Zoey, who nodded all too eagerly in response.
My face was so hot; it felt like my cheeks were going to melt off. "Yeah, well, uh, it was nice seeing you?" It came out of my mouth more like a question than a statement. "I'll see you later." I almost told him to say hi to Dylan for me, but that would be really fucking awkward. I could only imagine the explanation he'd have to come up with if Dylan asked where he'd seen me. Either way, I didn't even know why I said I'd see him later. The last thing I wanted to do was see him again.
Zoey gasped for air between laughs as she followed me away from the table, while Nikki was probably buying her travel-sized book. "Oh KAB, you crack me up."
I shot her the dirtiest look I could muster, which really wasn't that dirty at all. I probably looked more constipated than angry. "Thank you for enjoying my agony."
"It happens," she shrugged, smiling. "Remember when my brother called me after he found out what I was doing?"
Ryan, Zoey's older brother, found out about his sister's pornographic occupation the worst way possible. By experiencing it. I was there when Zoey was listening through her voicemails one morning and the sound of his ear-splitting screams filled the line. I didn't think a man could reach that octave, but Ryan proved the impossible. Every other phrase on the recording was punctuated by "What the fuck!" and then followed by a pained scream. It took months, several conversations with me, and then another dozen with Zoey herself, to calm him down. He may have even gone to therapy because no one should see his or her sibling in that way— ever.
I was well aware that she was trying to make me feel better about being a embarrassed by bringing up something that I knew was really hard and very personal for her to overcome. The situation with Ryan was harder than it was when she finally came out to her mom. Mrs. Quinn simply shrugged, and then asked Zoey what she wanted for dinner.
I caught Nikki making a beeline toward us as we casually strolled past some booths. Her hazel eyes were sparkling like the Saharan sand under the sun on a perfect day, while the grin on her face was borderline demented. "Guess who just texted me?" she gushed.
Nicole had never gushed in her life, so I knew it was a momentous occasion.
It hit me and I gasped. "No!"
"Uh— yes!"
Zoey gasped then, putting a small hand against her negative 32AAA boobies. "No!"
