by Ivy Smoak
When James reached me, he wrapped his arms around me. I immediately hugged him back. We stood like that for a long time. I felt so calm when he held me like this. And I realized that he was hugging me because of what I said. This was him telling me that he noticed me. His sweet cologne mixed with the smell of the autumn leaves made me feel more at home than I had ever felt.
I took a deep breath. "Let me call my mom. I'll tell her we're here and that she should come home for lunch. You're right, the sooner the better."
He pulled back slightly and looked down at me. "Are you sure?"
I looked into his dark brown eyes. "I'm sure."
Chapter 23
Wednesday
"Hi, Mom," I said into my phone. My palms felt sweaty. What if she already knows?!
"Hi, Sweetie. Sally called me a few minutes ago. I was actually just about to call you. What are you doing home? Is everything alright? Are you feeling sick again?"
Geez, Mrs. Bennett! "Yeah, everything's great! Nothing weird or out of the ordinary going on at all." What am I saying?
My mom stayed silent.
"I just wanted to show James around. He was curious about where I grew up." I looked over at him. He was leaning against the railing of the small bridge, staring down at the water. We had walked hand in hand along the walking trails in the woods. If I didn't have to confess this huge secret to my parents, it would have been the most amazing fall afternoon.
"Did you two want to come over for dinner? I can make spinach quiche!"
Spinach quiche was my favorite home cooked meal. "Actually, Mom, I was hoping you and Dad could come home for lunch? James and I have to get back soon and I want to make sure I get to see both you." I needed to tell them before someone else did.
"Well..." there was a pause. "Yeah, I think I can. I'll have to give your father a call. I'm not sure if he has any meetings today. Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner, Penny? I'd love to get to know James better."
My stomach seemed to flip over. She was going to know all she cared to know in a few hours. "James actually needs to get back soon."
"Well, okay. How is your head feeling? Are you still getting dizzy?"
I touched my forehead. "I'm feeling a lot better. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." Health-wise that was true. But she'd have a whole mess of problems to worry about soon. Why did I just keep piling lies on top of lies?
"Are you sure everything is okay, sweetie? You don't sound quite like yourself."
"Really, Mom, I'm good. Text me about lunch, okay?"
"Okay, Pen. I'll call your father now."
"Great. See you later." I hung up before she could ask me any more questions. I forgot how easily she could read me.
"I need to get back soon, huh?"
"I didn't want to commit to dinner in case, well, everyone's freaking out."
He nodded. "Probably a good idea." He put his elbows back on the railing.
I leaned on the ledge beside him. "I used to run on these paths in high school."
"I didn't know that you liked to run."
"I don't," I laughed. "I made myself. I wanted to make sure I was in good shape for volleyball. I actually hate running."
"You played volleyball?"
"Why do you always seem surprised when I tell you about my athletic abilities? I'm an only child. I used to play stuff with my dad all the time. He never had a son." I shrugged my shoulders. "I was actually pretty awesome at volleyball."
"You're probably awesome at everything you do." He put his arm around my shoulders.
"I used to dream of having a boyfriend to walk with back here. I even used to dream about sneaking out of my house and coming over here for secret rendezvous."
"Hmm." He leaned down and kissed me. "You were always quite scandalous. The news of you dating your professor shouldn't shock your parents at all then."
I laughed uneasily. I almost said that dreams were different than reality. But that would have been a lie. Being with him was like the best dream come true.
"What were you like in high school?"
"What do you mean? Like I am now. Or, like I was before I met you, I guess. Shy and quiet. Completely invisible. I don't feel invisible anymore."
My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket. "They will both be home in an hour." I was almost disappointed. "What's the plan exactly? How do you think we should bring it up? We already told them that you were a student. And you look young, James. I feel like they're going to think I'm joking."
He pulled me against his chest. "I don't think there is any right way. Let's just try not to think about it."
"How can I possibly not think about it? I want them to love you as much as I do."
James ran his fingers through my hair. "I think it's more likely that your dad will punch me in the face than love me."
I laughed. "He's not going to do that," I said. But I didn't really know. I had no idea what to expect.
"I'd love a tour of your house. So I can plan my escape route and everything before they get there. Just in case."
"If you need to make an emergency escape, please don't leave me in the crossfire."
"I would never."
***
I felt a little nervous when I opened up the front door. I wasn't ashamed of who I was at all. But James was rich. He wasn't used to a normal colonial house in the suburbs. My house was classically homey. I stepped inside and turned on the light in the hallway.
My cat, Teddy, ran into the room meowing. I laughed and lifted him up in my arms. "This is Teddy," I said as I turned back toward James.
"I didn't realize you were a cat person."
"I wouldn't classify myself as a cat person." Melissa had always joked around with me, saying I'd be a future cat lady. I was glad that my fate seemed to have changed. I held out my cat to James.
"Oh, um, okay." He grabbed Teddy and held the cat out in front of him. He looked so uncomfortable. Teddy began to squirm in his hands. "Oh God." He tossed Teddy onto the floor, and the cat immediately darted out of the room.
I started laughing. "So, I'm guessing you aren't an animal person?"
"Was it that obvious? I just never had a pet growing up. Now cats and dogs just kind of freak me out."
I laughed and grabbed his hand. "Well, I just have the one cat. So you don't need to worry about running into any more. And I'm pretty sure Teddy is going to stay away from you the rest of the afternoon."
"I hope that's not a bad omen."
Me too. "Don't be ridiculous. Okay, well, this is the dining room." I walked through the archway into the dining room. It was simple, just a table and chairs and some pictures on the walls.
He walked over to the wall and looked at a picture of me hugging a tree with bright red leaves. I couldn't believe my mom still changed the pictures in here depending on what season it was. In a few months it would be me sitting by the Christmas tree in probably just a diaper or something super embarrassing. At least I was clothed in my tree hugging picture.
"You're so adorable."
I laughed. "I'm really glad there aren't any pictures of my awkward stage in here. I begged my mom to stop putting them all over the house. Maybe she finally listened." I looked over at the china cabinet and then snapped my head back toward him. I had spoken too soon. Please don't go over to the china cabinet.
As if sensing the aura of terrible images of me, James walked over to the china cabinet.
"Don't you want to see the kitchen?"
He leaned down and looked at a picture of me smiling with braces.
Kill me now.
He looked over at me and smiled. "Super adorable. I have no idea why you've never had a boyfriend before."
"Oh shut up." I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the dining room.
"Seriously, Penny." He pushed my back against the doorframe between the kitchen and dining room. "You're beautiful."
"Not in that picture."
He placed a soft kiss against my l
ips. "Well you should have seen me in junior high."
"You were probably always sexy."
He laughed. "I'm sure Rob will love showing you picture evidence of how that is so not true."
"I'm excited to meet him."
"It'll be fun having him around." James released me and walked into the kitchen. "I like your house. It's...warm." He smiled at me.
That was a good way of describing it. I felt safe here. "Warm. I like that." I lead him into the family room.
"Garage and back door. Noted."
"James, you're not going to have to make an escape. It's not like you're my super old professor. You're not even that much older than me. Plus you aren't even my professor anymore. It could be so much worse. And I think they just want me to be happy. You make me so happy."
"Hmm." He gave me a small smile.
"Come on, we haven't finished the tour." I showed him the living room, the office, and bathroom. "And that's the basement," I said, pointing to a door. "And the laundry room." I pointed to a different door. "And that's it."
James looked over at the stairs. "Well, what's up there?"
"My parents room, two guest rooms, and two more bathrooms. Oh, and my room."
"I think I'd like to see that."
"You want to see my room? I'm not allowed to bring boys upstairs." My parents had never really needed to state that as a rule. No boyfriend, no boys upstairs rule needed. I tried to give him an innocent smile.
"Is that so? Maybe I can convince you to bend the rules just this once?" He raised his left eyebrow.
"How much time do we have before they come home?"
James looked at his watch. "Half an hour."
"Okay. But really quick. I do not want our discussion to start out that way. Absolutely no funny business."
James lifted his hands up to either side, acknowledging that he'd behave.
I bit my lip and turned toward the stairs. I was hoping he'd abandon his resolve. I suddenly felt young and giddy. How many times had I imagined having a boy in my room? And I wasn't just bringing up any boy. I was bringing up my sexy, brooding, rich, successful professor. Maybe my parents would just be happy. James was a catch.
I made my hips sway more than usual as I walked up the stairs. I could feel his eyes on me. I tried to remember what kind of disarray I had left my room in. Hopefully it wasn't as bad as I was picturing.
"You're kind of a slob." He laughed as he stepped over some of the clothes on my floor and walked passed me.
"I'm a lot better when I have a roommate. A lot of it was from when I was packing. It's hard to know what to bring to school when you only have so much space." I picked up some of the clothes and put them into a hamper in the corner.
James walked over to my bookshelf and looked at the titles. "Jane Eyre? Are you a fan of all the classic romances?"
I laughed. "No, actually. I read it for my senior thesis. Jane and Mr. Rochester drove me crazy. Clearly they should have been together the whole time. It made me so mad." I tossed some more clothes into my hamper. I just realized the irony of what I had said. I had told James that I had wanted to wait. Was I really as annoying as Jane Eyre?
James was smiling at me. "I couldn't agree more."
"Honestly, I think I'm done reading classics as soon as I'm done school. I prefer reading books like Harry Potter." I hoped that didn't make me seem too young.
"I prefer books like Harry Potter too." He put his hands in his pockets.
"Really? You've read Harry Potter?"
"Why is that so surprising? I'm pretty sure that Harry Potter was actually my generation's thing, not yours. And who doesn't love the concept of magic? Besides, there was this cute little red headed girl in it that I loved reading about." He smiled at me.
"I was Ginny Weasley for Halloween last year."
"Quite the leap from Ginny to sexy Poison Ivy."
"Yeah, well I started dating this sophisticated, older gentleman. I was trying to impress him."
"You don't need to change for me. I love you just the way you are." He looked over at my bed. "Stuffed animals and all. Geez, that's a lot of stuffed animals."
I laughed. "Yeah, well, I didn't have my boyfriend's sweater to snuggle up to at night. Or the man himself."
James walked over to my bed and sat down on the edge of it. "The Beatles?" he asked, nodding his head toward a poster on my wall.
"I'm an old soul."
"You're full of surprises, Penny Taylor."
"I hope that's a good thing."
He smiled at me. He looked so out of place, sitting on my unmade bed full of teddy bears. But he looked surprisingly comfortable. He looked happy. "What is the wildest fantasy you had in this room?"
"Honestly, nothing that risqué. I just had tons of dreams about getting my first kiss."
"Was your actual first kiss everything you dreamed it would be?"
"No. The first kiss we had was much more like my dreams." I walked over to him, stopping when I was standing right in front of him.
He lightly brushed his fingertips against my thigh.
I swallowed hard.
"And why is that?"
"It was sexy and romantic." Just remembering the feel of the cold, wet steel of the car against my body made heat rise to my cheeks. "Until you told me I had to stop thinking about you, of course." I laughed as he grabbed my hand and pulled me on top of him. I quickly moved my legs so that I was straddling him on my bed.
He put his hands on my waist. "It's good that all you dreamed about was kissing. Because I want to make all your fantasies come true. And if it was something else, I'd be obliged to comply. Even though your parents are going to be home any minute."
I wouldn't have thought having Professor Hunter in my bedroom would have been sexy. But he made everything we did sexual somehow. I ran my hand along the scruff on his jaw line. "James, I'm so nervous."
"I know. I'm nervous too."
"What if they freak out?"
"We'll figure it out together."
I glanced at the window. "We should probably go downstairs."
"We probably should." But instead of getting up to go downstairs, he leaned forward and kissed me.
I let myself get lost in his kiss. I needed the distraction. I needed to think that everything was going to be okay. "You're good at distracting me."
He smiled and ran the tip of his nose down the length of mine.
I sighed and climbed off his lap. "Okay, let's go downstairs," I said and I smoothed my shirt down.
"Penny, it's going to be okay." He gave me a small smile as he stood up.
"How can you be so sure?"
"As long as I have you, everything will be okay."
That was sweet. But it was also naive. My parents were going to kill me. And him. I felt like I was going to throw up. I grabbed his hand and led him out of my room and down the stairs.
Chapter 24
Wednesday
"What's the game plan?" I asked. "Should I just tell them everything real quick? Just throw it all out there?"
James rubbed his thumb against my palm.
"So, slow then? Just let it all unravel?" I bit my lip.
"Take a deep breath, Penny."
I heard a car door slam outside. "Oh God." I squeezed James' hand. I felt like I was going to faint. "Try to look natural, okay?"
"Natural. Got it."
"You're dressed really professorly today by the way. I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing."
"Professorly?" James laughed. "Yeah, that's not a word."
"Now I'm making up words. How am I going to tell them that I'm dating my professor when I can't even talk?!"
"Luckily I'm not your professor anymore. Does that make it any better?" He was smiling at me.
"Not really."
"I think maybe it makes it a little better." He raised his eyebrow.
"Okay, maybe a little better." My heart beating seemed to be the only sound in the room.
"Thanks for doing
this. It means a lot to me." He squeezed my hand. "More than you know."
"Sometimes it still feels like I made you up. Maybe this will make it feel more real."
"It is real."
I looked up at him. Melissa's words came back to me about owning my relationship. "I love you, James."
"I love you."
When the front door opened I felt a little less nervous. I wanted to prove to James that I wasn't embarrassed that I was dating my professor. Because I wasn't. I was the lucky one. Maybe my parents would see that. I had won the lottery. They had to see that.
"Penny?" My mom called from the hallway.
"Hi, Mom!" I went over and hugged her as soon as she walked into the kitchen.
"It's so good to see you, sweetie." My mom pulled back. "And James!" My mom put down the paper bags she was holding on the kitchen table and went and hugged him.
James always seemed surprised when people showed him affection. He patted my mom's back awkwardly and smiled over at me. "It's great to see you again, Mrs. Taylor."
"I hope sandwiches are okay. I stopped by that little French bistro on the way home that you like so much. La Patisserie."
"That sounds fantastic." I wasn't sure why I had been so worried. I forgot how much my mom seemed to like James. Or maybe she was just happy that I finally had a boyfriend.
"If I wasn't so happy to see you both, I'd reprimand you for skipping classes today. Why the sudden urge to come home?" My mom opened up the fridge.
I need to tell you something. "We both didn't have anything important going on today. I thought it might be fun to show James where I grew up."
I heard the front door open again. I took a deep breath. It was my dad that I was really worried about.
"Hey, Pen." As soon as my dad entered the kitchen he opened his arms.
I quickly gave him a hug. He still saw me as his little girl. I wasn't sure how he'd see me after I confessed I was dating my professor. I think that was what I was most afraid of. I didn't want my parents' opinion of me to change. It was funny, but I still thought of myself as a good girl, even though it was definitely no longer true.
My mom set the table and poured us each a glass of her homemade lemonade. When we sat down, James put his hand on me knee. I wasn't sure if that was a sign to start telling them, but I took it as one.