“Uncle Dwight, is Quinn your girlfriend?” Lissy asks, covering her face with her hand as a blush creeps up into her cheeks.
“Yes she is.” I take her hand in mine.
“So how did you two meet? Did you guys meet at the University?” Tori asks.
You could say that.
I see Quinn fidget in her seat out of the corner of my eye and turning to face me, awaiting my answer. I squeeze her hand tighter, running my thumb over the back of her hand.
What do I say? Do I lie?No, they’ll see straight through it, and besides, I’ve never been the best liar. I’m no Oscar winning actor.
Hold up a minute.
Why should I lie? I’m not ashamed of Quinn or who she is? I don’t care about her age. She’s an adult who knows her own mind and is the most mature nineteen year-old I’ve ever met. Why should I hide that? I’m proud to call her my girlfriend.
“She’s… She’s one of my students,” I confess.
I hear Quinn inhale sharply, and I’m met with stunned silence from everyone else. I sneak a quick peak at my family. My mom’s eyes are wide, my dad’s eyebrows are raised, amusement toying at his lips and my sister’s jaw is on the floor.
“Oh,” my mom finally says, breaking the silence. “Well, that’s um...”
“Your student?” Tori asks, though it comes across more of an accusation.
I raise my chin. I don’t have to answer to anyone. I’m a thirty-one year-old man for crying out loud. “Yeah, do you have a problem with that?”
“Dwight, are you insane? You do realise if you get caught you could lose your job, right?”
“Tori, please,” my mom whispers.
“You love teaching, why would you jeopardise that all forsomegirl with a crush on her teacher?” my sister shouts.
“I think I should just go,” Quinn mumbles, starting to rise from the chair but I grip her hand tighter, keeping her close to me.
“She’snotjustsomegirl! She’s a nineteen year-old adult who has more maturity than all of my students put together. This is not justsomeaffair, it’s real. I’m risking everything for Quinn, and you know what? If it comes down to it, her or the job, I’d choose hereverytime.”
“Why her?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, Tori, but because she makes me happy,” I snap. “Because she’s the first person that makes me feel anything close to what I felt for Grace. Because when I’m with her, I see a future, something that I thought I lost when Grace died, okay? There was me thinking that you'd be happy for me, well I guess I was wrong. Just for the record, I don’t have to justify myself to you or anyone, so back off, alright?” I rise from the couch and Quinn follows, her hand clasped tightly in mine as I storm out of the room and into the kitchen, ignoring my mother’s voice that calls me back.
I blow out a long breath, bracing myself against the worktop, my hands gripping the edge of the marble top so hard my knuckles are turning white.
Who the hell gets the right to question my love life? No one. Especially not my sister. Tori is one to talk. I can’t count how many assholes she’s brought home, claiming she was in love‘for real this time’, only to have them fuck and chuck her after a couple of weeks.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my sister, but she needs to back off.
“I knew I shouldn’t have come,” Quinn says, fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater.
I tip her chin up and take her face in my hands. Her eyes are red and glassy. “This is not your fault, Quinn. I don’t regret bringing you here, and I am certainly not gonna let my fucking sister speak about you that way.”
“But I’m driving a wedge between you and your family-”
“No you’re not,” I cut her off. “This is just my sister, she’s headstrong and doesn’t know when to shut her mouth. Nothing that anybody says will ever make me change my mind about us. You make me happy, Quinn, and I think that I make you happy too, that’s the only thing that counts.”
I lean down and capture her mouth with mine. Her hands go to the back of my neck, her fingers lacing into my hair as I lift her up to sit on the marble worktop, wedging myself between her legs and wrapping her in my arms.
“Everything will work out, I promise.” I place a kiss to her temple as she buries her face into my neck, planting delicate kisses there.
She nod slowly. “Um... where’s the bathroom?”
