by Emma Vikes
“Where do you stay and how are you getting home at this time of the night? Did you drive?” the dean asked, clearly concerned about me. I must have really scared her.
“I’ll be fine ma, I’d take a taxi home.”
“Nonsense! I’m going to drop you at home.”
I tried to protest but she had turned her back on me and was telling Howard goodnight.
“Thank you for the company tonight, Professor Jones. I really had a good time. I have to take her home now. I hope you feel better soon. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”
Howard responded, also thanking her for having him. He bent forward and pecked her cheek while staring at me, standing right behind her. His eyes said it all.
‘Call me as soon as you can.’
I nodded to him as Professor Betty turned back to face me and took my hand in hers. She hadn’t seen Howard’s gesture or my response to it.
“Alright angel, let’s get you home,” she said.
Chapter 17
Howard
I GOT INTO MY CAR AND sat quietly as I watched Betty and Susan pull out from the lot in Betty’s car.
It had been an exhilarating and daring experience in the bathroom with Susan, one that had ended up with me not only professing my love for her, but also ending up in a relationship with her.
The rush of it all had left my heart and blood pumping really fast. I’d felt like a child on his first day of kindergarten or a graduate at his first job interview. It had been a while and I had been so incautious and yet I’d loved the accompanying thrill that had come with it.
After she’d left me in the men’s room, I had spent about a minute looking into the mirror and smiling at my reflection. Suddenly I’d remembered my date and had jetted out of the toilet to go find her, not before I’d punched my fist in the air out of excitement.
I’d found Betty exiting the hall and I walked straight towards her. The movie was over and she had apparently waited for the crowd to exit the hall before she did so herself, judging by the fact that she was the only one walking out of the doors.
“What happened? The movie is over already. Where have you been? I was just about to call you.” Betty had bombarded me with all those inquiries and statements all at once.
“I’m sorry Betty. I’ve been bawling my guts out in the rest room. I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me,” I’d lied.
“Oh, you poor thing. Do you feel better?” she had asked, while touching the back of her hand to my forehead.
I’d responded that I was better and she had taken my hand as we made to exit the cinema. Then she had seen Susan.
“Susan Fowler? Isn’t that Susan Fowler?” she’d asked.
“Who?” I’d responded, feigning ignorance.
“Susan Fowler, a first year student in our department. She was the one who walked into my office the other day when you came by to talk about your class schedules.”
“Oh the freshman you said wanted to take on more course load?”
“Exactly.”
“How did that go?”
“I denied her request.”
Betty had proceeded to calling Susan’s name. After the second call came back without a response, Betty began heading towards Susan, still calling her name. Susan remained unresponsive, as if in a trance.
The first set of alarm bells had begun ringing in my head then. Susan looked completely lost.
We reached her and Betty stretched her hand out to touch Susan. I instinctively started looking around for David. Susan was supposed to have come out of the toilet and reunited with him. Something must have happened, which had left her standing there in the middle of the food court all alone.
‘If that weasel so much as laid his hands on her, god help me, I’d crush him.’ I found myself thinking.
The second set of alarm bells went off when Susan had said that she was going to be on her way home.
‘Alone? So David left her. They obviously met out here seeing as she’s holding her bag.’
I’d used my eyes to probe her, wondering what was going on. I knew she couldn’t tell me anything in the presence of the dean but that didn’t stop me from worrying. The dean had finally offered to drop her at home and I’d leaned in to signal to her to call me under the cover of giving Betty a peck on her cheeks.
They’d walked out and towards Betty’s car, while I’d headed for mine.
Now I sat in mine and watched them leave, still wondering what had happened to my girlfriend after she’d left me in the toilet.
I started my engine and decided to head home. Susan had definitely gotten my message and was going to call me as soon as she could. She had my number after all from when she’d called all the way from Chicago to negotiate her accommodation in my house. I was going to go home and wait for her call.
If she didn’t call, I was going to call Betty under the pretext of finding out whether she had dropped Susan and gotten back home safe. Then I’d call Susan myself.
I pulled the gear into drive and let the car crawl out of the parking lot and towards the exit. It was past midnight and there were only about two other cars left in the whole of the parking lot. I got to the exit, and the bar lifted upwards.
I drove under it and out towards the main street. Home was left. I turned right impulsively.
Now I was trailing Betty’s car.
Chapter 18
Susan
I SAT IN THE PASSENGER seat of Professor Betty’s car, giving her directions to my house and listening to the songs playing from the CD player.
I couldn’t deny the fact that I felt better and more at ease inside the Dean’s car than I probably would have felt in a taxi. Her music preference had also helped to calm me down.
Other than the sparse conversation happening at intervals, a comfortable silence had settled between us as she drove. I didn’t feel the need to sustain a conversation and neither did she; neither of us were uncomfortable as a result.
My phone beeped and I pulled it from my bag to view the incoming message. It was from my roommate who was asking me whether I was still coming back tonight or going home with our handsome course mate. She had giggled and teased me when David had come to pick me up.
‘And then he had left me.’
I quickly scrambled a response to her.
I’m already on my way back. Please wait up for me.
I waited as the message delivered and saw that she had read it and was in fact typing another message.
Sure thing. Are you ok?
I exhaled as I typed another response.
Yes I am. Long story though. Just wait up for me please.
With the last message sent, I returned my phone into my bag and relaxed into the chair. I was so tired and burned out that I barely had any energy left. All I wanted was to get into my room and sleep. Tonight had been a night of highs and lows. I was still thrilled about my relationship with Howard, and then David had gotten the effrontery to threaten me.
I still hadn’t figured what his words meant and I couldn’t have cared less at that point to be frank. I’d after all tried making peace with someone whom I thought would have become a good friend. We had all the makings of the start of a good friendship and he had gone and ruined it.
‘All because he couldn’t control his anger.’
‘Or was his anger because he was into me?’
I felt my phone vibrate in my bag again. Carol was probably itching for the gist of what had happened and couldn’t wait for me to get home. Some part of me wanted to ignore her, but I was almost home. No harm in starting the conversation before I’d walked into the room to a reception of her ‘uhs’ and ‘ahs’. I wasn’t going to tell her about Howard though. That was going to remain my little secret. When I got to the part of me going to the toilet, I’d most likely use the same excuse Howard had used with Professor Betty.
My mind flashed back to when Professor Betty had wished him a ‘get well soon’ as part of her goodnight greetin
g. In hindsight, how I hadn’t chuckled when she’d said that was beyond me. I had definitely been absorbed with the aftermath of David’s exit to be in a humorous mood but I smiled now that I’d remembered.
I reached for my bag and my phone and pulled it out. The screen lit up with its facial recognition function going active. I immediately saw the message notification on my lock screen before having to type in my password, seeing as there was little light in the cabin for the facial recognition to work properly.
Howard and not Carol had sent me a message.
He couldn’t wait for me to get home before trying to find out if I was ok. My heart melted at the gesture. The lows of some hours ago were all but erased at this point. I had to shield my phone from Professor Betty’s line of sight before responding, even though she wasn’t looking my way and his name wasn’t saved as Professor Jones but simply ‘Howard Florida’. One couldn’t be over cautious though in this scenario.
‘Howard Florida. I really need to change that crappy name,’ I thought, referring to what I’d saved his name as back in Chicago.
His message simply read:
Babe, are you ok?
He’d even called me babe, making me even mushier on the inside. My boyfriend had already gone into relationship mode, causing me to giggle lightly.
Yes darling, I am. Still in Professor Betty’s car. Almost home though. You?
His response as almost immediate:
I know.
‘Huh?’ I thought.
What do you mean by ‘I know’? You following me? (giggles)
I paused to direct Professor Betty once more. By the time my attention had returned to my phone, my breath caught in my chest from shock, albeit briefly.
As a matter of fact, I am.
I immediately began glancing in the side mirror trying to figure out whether he was joking or not. At that time of the night, there were few cars on the road. Still I noticed about three cars driving behind ours at varying distances. I didn’t know which one was Howard’s, but if he was serious about following us, I figured he’d either be the second or third car behind us.
Are you the one in the silver Toyota Prius, two cars behind?
Nope. The silver jaguar behind you guys.
His new message almost had me shrieking out loud. I didn’t just know about cars, I knew the vintage jaguar he was driving like the back of my hand. The car was distinct and Howard was driving directly behind us. All Professor Betty had to do was look in her rearview mirror to see his car. Hadn’t he watched Hollywood movies as a child? Didn’t he know how to trail a car without alerting the occupants to his presence? What was wrong with him? If Professor Betty noticed him in her rearview, I wondered what the outcome of that realization would be.
I began typing animatedly, trying to prevent such an occurrence.
What is wrong with you? You are too close. What if Professor Betty recognizes you are driving behind her?
Relax. She doesn’t know me with this particular vehicle. It belonged to my granddad and I rarely drive it.
I paused and began accessing the threat level, even though it had dropped considerably with his last message.
Fine. Please drop back though. She could still get suspicious of the silver Jaguar following her.
There was a brief delay before his response came back. Almost as if he was deliberating on it.
Ok.
Why are you following us though?
Because I was worried about you and wanted to make sure you were alright.
Awwww.
My eyes almost teared up at his confession. Howard had gone from pushing me away to caring insanely about me. I loved the man so much.
Plus I don’t know what happened between you & David that made you so upset, or even why he left you all by yourself at that time of the night.
Don’t worry love. I’d tell you what happened when I get home.
You sure?
I promise. Now please go home.
Why?
Come on, babe. Please! I promise I’d let you know once I get in.
Hmmm...ok.
Love you babe.
Love you too.
I exhaled as I watched him drive straight up the highway after I’d told Professor Betty to turn right. He had listened to me and was on his way home. I smiled to myself in the darkness of the cabin.
‘This man really does love me. How did I get so lucky?’ I found myself thinking over and over again with so much glee.
Professor Betty finally pulled up in front of my building.
“Thank you so much professor. I really appreciate it.”
“Oh it was nothing. And don’t let whatever was upsetting you weigh you down ok?” she advised.
“Ok ma’am.”
After a brief pause, she added, “You still interested in taking up the extra course load?”
I smiled as I responded, “No ma’am. I totally agree with your initial decision to deny my request. It would have been too much for me.”
‘Take me away from my Howard now? Not in a million years.’ A light chuckle escaped my lips at the thought.
“Alright then. Goodnight, Susan.”
“Goodnight, Professor Betty,” I responded as I stepped down from the vehicle.
I waved to her as she drove off. I turned and began walking towards my building, holding my phone in one hand and my bag in the other. I didn’t need to get my keys out of the bag seeing as I’d already told Carol to wait up for me.
My phone beeped again with an incoming message. I chuckled at the thought that Howard was sending me another message again.
I walked into my building and paused just in front of the door to my room, pulling up my phone to respond to Howard.
The message wasn’t from Howard.
I opened it and immediately a video started playing. At first I didn’t understand what I was watching, but seconds into the video it began making a whole lot of sense.
‘Oh my goodness!’ I gasped.
Chapter 19
Howard
I WALKED INTO THE DEPARTMENT building eager to get to my office, drop my bags and get to class so I could see Susan. It had been a week since the movies and everything had changed.
I didn’t even understand the whole change myself, but I was an emotional wreck at the moment. I quickened my pace as I walked past the reception in the direction of my office, barely answering any greeting for fear that it would slow me down.
Since Susan had completely morphed into a different person, I relished the chance to see her and find out what had gone wrong, even if I had to ask her from the podium, in front of the whole class.
It had been a whole week of torture after I’d made the decision to listen to her and drive on home.
I’d gotten home and not heard anything from her as to whether she had gotten in safely herself. I’d sent messages and called, to which there was no response. Finally I had to make the awkward call to Betty to find out if she’d gotten in safe and dropped the distressed student off at home.
‘So Susan has gotten home. Why didn’t she message me as promised?’
Eventually I had settled on the fact that she most likely had gone to bed. We had all gotten back pretty late though so it was a definite possibility. I’d settled for sending her a message before choosing to retire to bed myself.
Hey babe. Hope you got in safe? Didn’t hear from you again. Please call me when you see this. Sleep tight and sweet dreams. Love you.
I’d woken up in the morning and made a quick dash for my phone in anticipation of a response from her. I still remember the feeling of disappointment I’d felt. There had been no message.
‘Maybe she was still sleeping?’ I’d thought.
It was a late night after all for everyone.
On closer inspection, however, I found out that my message had been read.
‘And she didn’t respond?’
I’d gone back and forth on the matter before finally deciding that she probably had wok
en up in the middle of the night to read the message and was too sleepy to respond. I’d done it so many times myself, waking up in the middle of the night and going through my phone in a trance-like state. There was no need to crucify her as that was obviously what had happened.
I’d scrambled another message then just in case, and to serve as a reminder before hitting the shower.
Morning baby. Trust you slept well. Still waiting for your call. Call me when you get this. Have a great day.
I’d spent almost every minute of that day looking at my phone and waiting for a response. In between, I’d also placed calls to her number that had gone unanswered. I’d eventually started panicking when I noticed that my last message had been read as well and there was still no response from her.
‘What in heaven’s name is going on?’
‘Is she ok?’
‘Why is she reading my messages and not responding?’
‘Why isn’t she returning my calls?’
‘Something is definitely wrong.’
This had gone on for three whole days before there was finally a response.
Good morning Professor Howard Jones.
I’m sorry but my affair and relationship with you can no longer continue. It was never my intention to hurt you but I believe that I have to sever all forms of relationship with you other than the student-teacher relationship, for the greater good. Please do not try to contact me in a bid to change my mind. My decision is final. I wish you the best in all your endeavors.
Take good care of yourself.
Susan.
My heart sank.
I remember sitting and staring at the phone for over 10 minutes, analyzing every single word in her message. I’d proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes trying to draft a response, which was a series of typing and erasing. Finally I’d settled on typing, ‘Susan, please call me. I’m terribly confused.’
Another four days passed with further confusion adding to the torture I had already endured so far. If the three days preceding these four had been an abyss, the four days themselves had been actual hell.