by Sam Crescent
As their main course came out, she was about to tell him how she felt when someone stood next to their table, clearing their throat.
Glancing up, she saw an older couple. The woman was dressed in a floor-length black gown, and the man looked like an older version of Jack.
“Son, you’ve not been answering my calls,” he said.
She turned her attention to Jack and saw his jaw clench.
“Hello, Dad,” Jack said. “Lucia, I’d like you to meet my parents, Nancy and George Parker.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
“And you are?” Nancy Parker asked.
“Erm, I’m Lucia Deen.”
“How old are you, honey?” George asked.
She glanced over at Jack, and she didn’t know what was going on. Wasn’t it rude to ask someone their age?
“She’s eighteen, Dad.”
“Jack!” Nancy said.
Looking behind them, she saw they were gathering a couple of curious looks.
“Dad, I’m having a dinner with my date.”
“We need to talk about this. We’re staying here. I expect you to come to our room before you leave.”
Jack didn’t say anything. He watched them leave, and all the time, Lucia felt so nervous. This was the first meeting with his parents, and it didn’t go well.
As she twirled the fork in her pasta, the thought of food actually made her feel sick.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Jack, that was your parents.”
“Yes, they were. They always come here for their anniversary as it was where they first met.”
She bit her lip, her nerves getting the better of her.
“Please, Lucia, enjoy your food.”
“You’ve got to go and talk to them.”
“I can talk to them anytime. Please, let me just … I want to enjoy this meal. Can we do that?”
She nodded her head. “Of course.”
It was just another crash down to earth once again.
****
Jack didn’t go and see his parents straight away. After their strained meal, all thanks to his parents, he took her back to his place, where he made love to her all night. He knew why she was panicking as he felt it too.
The ticking of that invisible clock. Everyone around them that seemed to want to tear them apart was happily making it tick away.
He wasn’t ready.
Not yet.
There would come a point soon, so very soon, when he’d have to let her go, but right now, he couldn’t think about it. There was no way he’d be able to live without her. He didn’t want to have to live without her.
This wasn’t about him though.
He shouldn’t have fallen for her.
The line had been crossed, and it was up to him to be the one that fucking dealt with it.
The following day as Lucia was with Marie, he took the two-hour trek to the restaurant that also served as a hotel. He handed the valet his car keys once again and made his way toward the hotel reception, letting them know his name.
They gave him access to the elevator, and he stood inside it, staring at his reflection. He looked … troubled.
Releasing a breath, he waited for the elevator to stop before making his way toward his parents’ room, which they always booked in advance to be sure they got to stay in the same one.
Valentine’s Day was always a big deal for them as that was the day they first met. Going on a blind date all those years ago in college, he believed they said. The rest was history. No one else would do for either of them, apart from their precious careers.
He did have loving parents who were power-hungry as well.
His father opened the door first. “You kept us waiting long enough.”
“I have a life as well. It’s not about catering to your demands.” Stepping over the threshold, he saw his mother on her cell phone, doing whatever kind of business. Following his father to the sitting room, he sat down just as there was another knock at the door.
Rubbing at his head, he drowned out the noises they were making until his father held a coffee beneath his nose.
“Drink it,” he said.
George wasn’t asking but demanding.
Taking the coffee, Jack gave it a sip just as his mother came into the room. “Did I miss anything?”
“No, honey. We’re not starting without you.”
“Is this going to be the moment where you all gang up on me?” Jack asked. “Tell me that I’ve been bad.”
“We’re not blind, Jack. You never come this far away from that little school that you teach at. We may have been a lot of things growing up, but we know when you’re trying to hide something.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide Lucia.”
“No, but you were trying to hide from the people who’d have spotted you, weren’t you?” Nancy took a coffee for herself, taking a seat on the chair opposite.
They always had to have luxury on Valentine’s Day. It was the one day a year that they indulged. Rarely took any business calls.
“You never work on Valentine’s Day or the day after. Who were you talking to?”
“I was actually talking to the dean of a private school.”
“Why? I’m a little old to be forced into boarding school.”
“To teach, Jack. I swear, thirty years old you may be, but you certainly like to test me at every single turn,” Nancy said.
“This relationship with your student cannot go on. We will not have the Parker name dragged through the mud if this is ever found out,” George said.
“So, we found a solution for you. End your relationship and move jobs. That way you don’t have to be near temptation. You can start fresh, problem solved. We know you love teaching so much.”
“You hate that I teach,” he said.
His parents always had this way about them that made him feel so fucking small. He was a thirty-year-old man, not a child. There’s no way he was going to let them bulldoze into his life as if it didn’t matter.
“No, we hated you teaching if you were doing it to get back at us. We’re aware that is not the case and have in fact been made aware of exactly how good you are.”
“Wait? What?”
“Look, we’re not blind that we weren’t the best parents,” George said. “We wanted the best for you, and you wanted to do the complete opposite. Neither of us wanted you to throw your life away doing something you hated. When we saw and heard that not only were you damn good, but we saw your passion, we knew that it was what you wanted.”
“But it’s not what you guys wanted.”
“Wrong, we wanted you to be happy,” Nancy said.
“I need a drink,” Jack said.
“You have one.” George pointed at the coffee in his hand.
“I need a stiff one. This is too early in the morning to be having this conversation.” He ran a hand down his face, not exactly sure what the hell was going on. His parents had always disapproved of his life as a teacher, of his passion. Now they were saying they accepted it?
“Grow up, Jack, we’re being serious here. This is your future. This passing fancy of screwing one of your students must stop,” Nancy said.
“This is not a passing fancy.” Jack stared straight ahead, not looking at either of his parents. “I love her. I love Lucia more than anything else in the world. This is not some game where I’m trying to ruin your reputation. This has nothing to do with the two of you. This is actually about me.”
It felt good to finally speak his feelings. He’d been keeping them under lock and key, even when Marie had told him how Lucia felt. His woman hadn’t mentioned how she felt.
Neither of them had spoken about their feelings, but he’d noticed the way she looked at him. The softness, the love shining in her eyes. This wasn’t for a bit of fun and hadn’t ever been.
What future could you possibly have?
He didn’t want to think of all of the other difficulties right now.
<
br /> There had to be a way to make this work.
Turning the watch on his wrist, he glanced down and saw her smiling face in the memory they had shared of Christmas. He’d given her a necklace, which she didn’t take off, and she’d given him a watch to always remember her by as well as the time.
“Jack, honey, this is … it’s not going to work out.” Nancy placed a hand on his arm.
“You don’t know that.” He glanced between his parents, seeing that they were communicating something between each other. “What? Don’t give me that look or each other that look that I know you both love to share.”
“Jack, there is no good ending to this, son. You’ve got to cut her out of your life.”
Nancy leaned forward and scribbled something on a piece of paper. “This is the dean’s number.”
Jack took the number and laughed. “Wow, an all-boys school. You really are pushing me away.” He got to his feet and walked toward the door, aware of them looking at his back. “You know she has parents exactly like the two of you. They push her away. They didn’t want kids, but she was their mistake. They kept her though, raised a beautiful, intelligent daughter they rarely see. I bet if I asked them to describe their daughter or what she even liked, they wouldn’t be able to list five things.”
“What are you getting at, Jack?”
“I know she hates vegetarian food. In fact, she hates zucchini, and finds tahini too sticky. She loves peanut butter and spaghetti. She has a ticklish spot near the base of her back, and if you touch it just right, she giggles for hours. When there’s an old lady needing assistance at the supermarket, she’ll help her across the street, and even bag her groceries for her. She’s self-conscious about her weight, and that’s why she rarely wears anything but damn jeans. She doesn’t have the first clue how to put on makeup. It’s why she doesn’t like it. Cream cheese bagels are her favorite. She snores ever so lightly when she’s in deep sleep. Her best friend is like a sister to her.” He stopped, realizing he could go on and on. “You don’t like that I’m in a relationship with my student, I get that. You think I haven’t driven myself crazy with knowing I broke my own rules? This isn’t just about ethics. I love Lucia Deen. I care about her. There were times she’s been alone that I’ve been so worried I couldn’t even think straight. I get it. I’m a failure. A fuck-up. I’m a good teacher, but I love that woman more than anything.”
He couldn’t stay a moment longer.
Turning on his heel, he left his parents’ hotel room.
Once he climbed inside his car, he threw the folded piece of paper with the dean’s number into the glove compartment. The journey between his parents’ hotel room and the car was a bit of a blur. He didn’t recall making it.
Pulling out of the parking lot, he began the journey home.
Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he turned up the radio, but he couldn’t find any decent music. Either love songs, which he really didn’t want to listen to right now, or a bunch of people talking about their feelings.
He didn’t want to talk about his feelings.
He was pissed off.
Angry.
Even before he arrived at their hotel he’d known they were going to be their judgmental selves. They didn’t even ask him what the hell was going on. They simply assumed that he was being naughty, or doing something that he really shouldn’t, and he was so fucking pissed off.
He focused on the road, trying his best not to think about everything that had happened in his life in the past year.
Meeting Lucia, watching her walk into his class for the first time.
“Am I in the right place?” Lucia asked. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder, looking a little out of place.
She was biting her lip.
“What’s your name?” he asked, moving toward his student list.
“Lucia Deen.”
He ran his finger down the page, spotting her name. “Yep, you’re in the right place. Welcome to English Lit, one-oh-one.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
She had been the first student to arrive, and as he began to write on the board, the scent of strawberries had filled the classroom.
He loved strawberries so damn much.
Jack had ignored her.
That first class, he’d introduced himself to everyone. He taught more than senior classes, and he liked to have at least one day at the beginning of school where he learned everyone’s name, but also spotted the hard-working students from the assholes.
Connor had been the asshole.
“I’m Connor. You all fucking know who I am, so you can suck my large dick.”
“Colorful.” He looked around the room and landed on Lucia. “Well, introduce yourself.”
“We already know the pig in the class, sir,” Rachel said. “Don’t forget to hide your lunchbox.”
He was about to say something when she spoke up.
“Lucia Deen, sir. Not much else to tell.”
She’d been so quiet. Her gaze wasn’t even on him as she spoke but on her notes.
“You shouldn’t have given her a ride.” He could spend all day listing everything that he’d done wrong when it came to Lucia Deen, but what twisted his gut wasn’t that he’d done them. No, it was at the thought, for even a second, that he did something wrong.
She needed someone to care for her. When everyone else seemed to be pushing her aside, he’d been the one to give a shit. To care.
There was nothing wrong with caring. With being worried about her.
He knew he’d crossed the line. He’d been the one to break the rules, and now he had to deal with them.
She was going away.
Her parents were taking her somewhere, and knowing that was tearing him up inside.
There was no way for him to stop it. It’s not like he could ask her to marry him. Her father knew who he was and had seen him, and it wouldn’t be hard to figure out that they’d been together for some time.
Time was ticking away.
Arriving at his home, he sat in his car, staring up at his home. So much had changed in his life. The school had gotten a new principal. Beth, Derick, and a couple of other teachers had been suspended or fired during their investigation. Connor and Rachel, two students who concerned him with the way they treated Lucia, were gone due to a drug bust, which didn’t surprise him.
He’d stumbled onto their little problem, but he’d been so consumed with his own he’d not even given it a thought other than to demand that they didn’t do that shit on school property.
Running fingers through his hair, he climbed out of his car, smiled at one of his neighbors, and entered his home.
He went to his fridge, pulled out a beer, snapped the lid off, and took a long pull on the liquid inside.
Resting his hand against the counter, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tried to fucking focus on all the shit that seemed to be going wrong in his life right now.
She’s going to leave.
You’ll be here.
She’s going.
She’s younger than you.
She deserves a life of her own.
“I know. I know. I fucking know.” He finished his beer, tossed it into recycling, and grabbed another.
Right now, the only way for him to deal with anything was to get drunk. Really fucking, mind-numbingly drunk.
He grabbed a couple more beers and headed upstairs, intent on taking a shower, but he didn’t go straight to his shower. Instead, he went to the drawer where the engagement ring still lay.
Lucia hadn’t found it. She didn’t rummage through his stuff.
In fact, she tended to give him privacy. His stuff wasn’t hers.
His home wasn’t hers.
Nothing was hers, and yet whenever she was with him, in his home, he fucking relished every single second of her.
This was her home, and that was how he’d come to see it.
What was his belonged to her.
In his heart, he
already belonged to her just as she belonged to him.
There was nothing he could do, so he drank his beer and tried to numb the pain that was building.
****
“So, his parents caught you two?” Marie asked.
Lucia nodded, taking the soda that her friend offered. “It wasn’t bad or anything. I didn’t say I was his student, but you could see that they knew. They looked really disappointed in him.”
Marie winced. “Parents have that way about them. Don’t they? Without even trying they can look at you, and they have that, ‘you’ve been naughty, and we’re going to look all disappointed,’ and there’s nothing you can really do about it.”
Lucia burst out laughing as Marie kept trying to pull the same face that their parents were notorious for being able to do without any effort.
“Please, stop. You look more constipated right now.” She sipped from her drink, and Marie’s face relaxed.
“I imagine when we have kids it’s like a natural occurrence.”
“From all the sleepless nights.”
“Let’s not forget the cock-blocking,” Marie said in between sips of her own drink.
“Cock-blocking?”
“Yeah, think about it. You’ve been screwing away quite happily. Then this little being comes along. They have no bladder control. Need love, feeding, changing, nursing, all of that stuff. Cock-blocking any chance for you to have any real fun.”
“Wow, you sound so morbid.”
“What you’d call me is realistic. Speaking of kids and all that stuff, is that something you guys have spoken about?”
“We’ve not talked about the future. In fact, Jack has said moving to the U.K. sounds like an amazing opportunity.” She deepened her voice, adding in a splash of sarcasm as she did.
“Ouch. I take it that hurt.”
“Yeah, no, I don’t know. I feel like we’re moving forward, and that this separation is going to be … it’s going to hurt.”
“You love him,” Marie said.
It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t answer it.
“I don’t know if he loves me,” Lucia said. “It’s not something that comes up all that much.”