Thou Shalt Not

by Jj Rossum

  “Right away you thought this?”

  “Well, maybe a day or two.” She smiled.

  I rolled over and took her face into my hands, kissing her deeply. I could taste myself this time, but I didn’t care.

  “That first day...I was checking you out while I was still standing in the hallway,” I said. “But your back was to me. And when you turned around after I walked in, my heart stopped beating for a minute. It was like everything froze.”

  “I like to keep the room cold,” she said. “Keeps the kids awake.”

  God, she was a dork. Like me.

  I faked laughter.

  “Seriously. Then my heart started racing and I felt like I was a teenager again. Trying to talk to the prettiest girl in school. Only, you would have made the prettiest girl in my school look like a pile of used diapers.”

  She laughed. “How charming! That’s quite the compliment.”

  “Shut up,” I said. “I was worried I’d start blushing and get clammy hands and slur my words.”

  “Well,” she said, smiling. “From the looks of things, my first impressions of you were pretty good.”

  Then we kissed. Again and again. Until she fell asleep in my arms.

  A clicking sound woke me up. I was in an empty bed.

  My eyes immediately went to the alarm clock on my nightstand.

  6:15, it blinked, in blurry numbers.

  I panicked for a moment, realizing I hadn’t set my alarm. Obviously I was awake in time, but not waking up on time would have been very bad. I mentally scolded myself.

  Then I grabbed my glasses that were sitting next to the alarm clock.

  Where was April?

  The bathroom door was open and the lights were off. She couldn’t have left. She didn’t have a car.

  I got out of bed naked and grabbed the boxers that had been tossed aside the night before.

  There is a very large window in my living room, which faces east. In the morning, the light from the sun can be blinding. When relatives or friends would sleep over and crash on the couch, they would cuss me out when I woke up, pointing out that they had been awake for hours because of the “goddamn sun.”

  But if you woke up early enough, as the sun was waking up too, the view of the sunrise could be spectacular.

  April was standing in front of the window, looking out at the sunset. Her right hand was pulling the curtains apart, letting in the light from the rising sun. Her hair and body were illuminated, glowing like fire. I knew if I moved to the left or the right, the angle would change and the sun wouldn’t light up her body in quite the same way. So, I stood there and stared.

  April had put her panties on, but nothing else.

  There are snapshots your mind takes throughout life. Certain moments frozen in time that you will never be able to forget. Images that sear into your brain and can never be removed, by anything or anyone. I knew this would be one of those moments.

  My heart had stopped, raced, and been warmed all in a matter of seconds. I felt such a strong desire for this woman. I wanted her. Not just sexually. I wanted all of her. And I knew if I ever doubted that, remembering this moment would remind me.

  I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her bare waist, lowering my head onto her shoulder.

  I could feel her cheek tighten and lift in a smile, but she didn’t say anything. And so we stood there in silence, savoring the best Tuesday morning of my life, until it was time to get ready for work.

  I made a quick breakfast of eggs and toast. April came into the kitchen as I was spooning eggs onto the plates.

  “There is nothing sexier than a shirtless man cooking you breakfast,” she said, running her hands along my chest. “Especially when he looks like this, shirtless.”

  I kissed her nose and moved away to dump the frying pan in the sink.

  “Coffee?” I asked.

  She nodded. I filled her mug and grabbed the creamer out of the fridge. It was hazelnut. My mind flashed to Holly’s face. I shoved the creamer back and took out the milk instead. Not appropriate to be thinking of your hazelnut flavored FWB right after you fucked your married co-worker.

  I didn’t see April again until she walked into our staff meeting, five minutes late. All eyes turned toward her when the door opened. She was wearing the same dress she had been wearing the day we met. I was sure it was on purpose. I swooned a little.

  “There is the woman of the hour,” Mr. West said loudly.

  “Sorry for being late,” she said. “Car trouble.”

  “No worries, no worries,” he said. “Come on up to the front here.”

  April walked up to the front of the group, and Mr. West proceeded to tell us all that April Batista was now a full-time employee of Lakefront Christian School.

  There were claps and cheers from the other teachers. April just smiled demurely.

  I was proud of her. And I was glad we had gotten to celebrate the night before. I looked forward to celebrating again.

  After everyone prayed over April, and the announcements for the day were made, we dismissed. A few of the teachers flocked to April to congratulate her.

  I wasn’t going to linger and wait for them all to finish with her, so I made my way to the classroom.

  Landry, my personal tie-tying assistant, was standing two doors down from the classroom, in front of Mrs. Lerner’s door.

  “Good morning, Mr. H,” he said.

  “Good morning, Landry. What are you doing up here this early?”

  The students weren’t allowed to be in the hallways until the bell rang. Certainly Landry knew this.

  “Ms. L wanted me to come up after basketball practice, you know,” he said.

  “For?”

  “She’s gonna help me with my science stuff, you know. Gotta get those grades up, Mr. H.”

  “Doesn’t she tutor after school?”

  “Yeah, but we got a basketball game today. So she said come up early.”

  I wasn’t meaning to sound like I was interrogating him. I was just curious.

  “All right, well good luck with the science stuff.”

  “Thanks, Mr. H. You comin’ to the game today?”

  “Yeah, I think I might.”

  “Cool, man.”

  I left Landry in the hallway and got to my desk, sorting out papers that would need to be passed out during the first two periods.

  Five minutes later, April walked in.

  “Well, if it isn’t Mrs. Batista,” I said. “The newest Lakefront Charger!”

  She did a mock curtsy in front of my desk.

  “Thank you, thank you,” she said, pretending like she was waving to an audience. “First of all, I just want to thank Jesus and my ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Belvedere.”

  I laughed.

  “Did you really have a teacher named Mrs. Belvedere?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “She was kind of a bitch, but I loved her.”

  “Wasn’t there a teacher on one of those nineties shows named Belvedere?”

  “Yeah, I think there was,” she said as she sat down on the death couch. She sunk into the couch and her legs came up. I could see her panties. It turned me on.

  When she had situated herself, she leaned forward as far as she could.

  “I am so sore today!” she whispered.

  “Too much time at the gym last night?”

  “Something like that.” She smiled.

  “I’m going to take you to dinner tonight,” I said.

  “Oh really? What’s the occasion?”

  “Well,” I said, standing up from my desk. “I heard Lakefront hired this drop dead gorgeous teacher and I’m excited about having permanent eye candy every day at work. So I wanted to celebrate.”

  I extended my hand to help her up from the couch. I really wanted to kiss her.

  “Maybe,” she said, taking my hand, “they’ll eventually hire a stud teacher worth ogling and I will have a reason to celebrate too!”

  I let go of
her hand and let her drop back onto the couch. She laughed loudly as she sunk back in.

  “Help! It’s eating me alive!”

  “God, you’re so dumb,” I said.

  “Don’t steal my line!”

  I helped her up and walked her toward the door. There was a closet near the door, and if you stood in front of it (or in it for that matter), no one would be able to see you.

  So, of course, I pushed her in front of it and kissed her. It was a little more aggressive than I had intended it being. And I became hard.

  She felt it and grabbed me through my slacks.

  “You might want to put this thing away,” she said, biting her lip. “It’s kind of impossible to miss.”

  I slid my hand down the front of her dress, between her legs. I cupped her through her dress.

  “Well, I hope she misses it,” I said. “But, they’ll see each other soon.”

  I kissed her again then smacked her ass toward the door.

  “Check a mirror,” she said as she walked out. “You’ve got a little lipstick on your face.”

  I couldn’t wait for school to get out so I could spend more time with April, so naturally the day crawled along.

  During fourth period, she came to sit in on my class discussion. She didn’t say much out loud, but she sent me texts while I was trying to teach.

  The first one read: I’m so sore that I feel it every time I take a step. I love it. Every sore step reminds me of you. Because you did it to me. And I can’t wait for you to do it again.

  I’m sure my eyes got big when I read it. I was trying to make sure it was only my eyes that grew.

  The next one was a picture she had taken in the shower, after I had dropped her off at her house. Wet hair, wet body.

  She was trying to make me squirm. It was working.

  When I was sure I wasn’t showing any signs of arousal, I stood up from my desk and set the phone down. It was the only way I was going to be able to survive the hour.

  She made a frowning face and pouted. She was clearly enjoying torturing me.

  I had planned on yelling at her after class, but she slipped out before the bell rang. Once it did, I opened my phone up, stared at the picture a little longer, and then sent her a message back.

  I’m going to be hard the rest of the day. And you are going to have to take care of it.

  And if I don’t? :-)

  I’ll bend you over this desk and take care of it myself.

  Oh fuck.

  We continued back and forth throughout the day. After school, she told me she was going to go home and call the kids, so I decided to stick around for the basketball game. We were playing a school that was historically bad, so I knew the game wouldn’t be close.

  I saw Stephanie Lerner sitting by herself in the stands, so I sat next to her. Stephanie taught Chemistry and Physics.

  “Hey Steph,” I said, sitting down.

  “Oh, hi Luke,” she said, looking up from the papers in front of her. It wasn’t uncommon to see teachers sitting in the stands with stacks of papers in their laps, half watching the game, half grading absent-mindedly. If you could actually get them finished while “watching” the game, it saved you the hassle of dragging them home.

  I had known Stephanie for a while. She was in her thirties and modestly attractive. But, she kept to herself and her eyes were mostly sad. Rumor had it her husband was an asshole. Maybe she and April could bond over that.

  “Ran into Landry this morning. He said you were helping him with science stuff.”

  “Yeah. Physics might be the death of him.”

  I laughed. “He’s a good kid. Can’t believe he will be graduating next year.”

  “I’m going to start tutoring him in the mornings, after practice. I figure it’s easier if he’s already here than keeping him after school.”

  Stephanie was always at the school before just about everyone else, and usually left long after we were all gone. It was like she didn’t want to be at home.

  “Well, then I will make sure not to write him up for roaming the halls before hours.”

  We watched the game together. I cheered boisterously. She clapped daintily. Landry scored frequently. And Lakefront won handily.

  The air was cool as I left the gymnasium. I called April.

  “How are the kids doing?”

  “They seem to be doing well. Sounds like they’re having fun.”

  “What are you doing now?”

  “I was reading. Waiting for you to call.”

  “Okay then. Put something nice on. Be ready in thirty minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  I drove home, showered, and changed into a pair of black pants and a grayish-silver shirt. My tie was black, silver and purple. I would have checked myself out.

  Anyone who spends a decent amount of time in the Tampa Bay area, and is a fan of the culinary arts, knows that if you are going to impress someone, you take them to Bern’s Steakhouse. It’s legendary, and a place everyone in the area should go to at least once. Or twice. Or however many times you can afford it. And if you don’t feel like getting a second mortgage just so you can pay for your dinner, then you skip the meal and head upstairs to their famous dessert room. Most restaurants simply hand you a menu with a few sweet offerings on it. Bern’s devotes their whole upstairs to satisfying the sweet teeth of anyone who enters.

  I had been once, years before, with Carrie. It was an anniversary dinner, after she had gotten sick. Bittersweet was how I distinctly remember the night feeling.

  But, this wasn’t going to be a bittersweet night at all. I wanted to celebrate the fact that April now had a full-time job at the school. I wanted to celebrate the fact that I would now get to see her every single day just about, even when her husband got back and things weren’t as free. I wanted to celebrate the fact that I had gotten to be inside her, and it was fucking awesome.

  Plus, April had mentioned once during lunch around the faculty table how she had wanted to try Bern’s ever since she had moved to the area. Most of the teachers at Lakefront had never been, but they all knew April would get plenty of opportunities to go, what with her famous husband making good money. Little did they know, I was going to be the first one to take her.

  I used the valet service, and we walked into the lavishly decorated entryway. Her eyes were big and bright, and it was obvious she hadn’t been anywhere quite that unique. Reds and golds surrounded us, as well as photos of people that could have been displayed at Disney’s Haunted Mansion. I always felt like I was walking through a more ornate version of Gosford Park, right down to the staff that was hustling and bustling about. They always stayed out of the way though, in the shadows, letting the diner take in their surroundings.

  “This is wild,” she said as we were led to our table.

  April was wearing a sexy and simple red dress. The eyes of men all over the restaurant, and a few women, were following her as we reached the table.

  “You really do look lovely tonight,” I said as we sat down. I had told her this when I picked her up, but she needed to hear it at least five more times. “And judging from the looks of things, I am not the only one who thinks so.”

  “Oh stop,” she said, placing her napkin in her lap.

  “Well, it’s true. Everyone was looking, even the women.”

  “You are the one I want with their eyes on me,” she said, smiling. “And a few other things.”

  “We could skip all of this,” I said, bending down to speak into her ear. “I’d rather have you in my mouth than anything on this menu.”

  To my enjoyment, her face turned red and her top teeth clutched at her lower lip.

  “After,” she said. “We will play after dinner.”

  I could live with that.

  Martin was our server’s name, and I didn’t like him. For starters, I could see his nose hair, which is the most off-putting thing in the world. You should never be able to see a man’s nose hair, but if there is nose hair to be seen, od
ds are I would always see it. It’s like my eyes zero right in on it. You might as well wear a t-shirt that says I have no personal hygiene. I wanted to hand him tweezers and tiny scissors and tell him to come back in ten minutes. And his French-ish accent didn’t sound genuine. I could imagine him going out back for a smoke and talking like one of the Goodfellas.

  Maybe I was being too harsh.

  I was going to pay good money for this; I could be critical.

  Martin went off to bring our wine, and we placed an order for an appetizer. I had convinced April to try the steak tartare, although I had been worried she would turn her nose up at it.

  “My family used to eat menudo, Luke,” she had said. “If I can handle cow stomach, I can handle raw meat.”

  Martin’s wine suggestion for the tartare was a disappointment. Even April made a face when she took a drink from her glass. Maybe we weren’t sophisticated enough to appreciate it. The steak was delicious though.

  Then it came time for more steak, this time of the cooked variety. April surprised me by ordering the Delmonico, and I got the Strip. Martin suggested we order the Okinawan sweet potato as one of our sides, and when I took my first bite, I wanted to hug him and adopt him as a brother. He could even keep his nose hair. Good food can do that to a person.

  “Oh my god,” April said, putting her fork down. “I will never be able to make sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving after this. It’ll just be embarrassing to even bother.”

  “I think the potato was more of a revelation than the steak, which is obviously delicious.”

  “Listen to you, ‘more of a revelation’,” she said, laughing. “I swear you’re an eighty-four-year-old dork.”

  I grinned at her. She was right.

  As Martin removed our plates, we had to have the serious discussion about dessert.

  “God,” she said, “I don’t know if I can come here and not get dessert. But, I’m so full I don’t think I would enjoy it.”