Thou Shalt Not (21 page)

As soon as I woke up, I sent Holly a good morning text and an apology for not getting back to her the night before. She would be sleeping and wouldn’t read it until much later, but I wanted it to be there when she woke up.

I showered at the school, and spent the whole time planning what I was going to say to April. We hadn’t started anything, so there was nothing to end. But, sometimes your feelings can get in the way of what you know you should do and they mess you up. I couldn’t let them get to that point. And that damn phone call last night would turn out to be a blessing for both of us in the long run.

I got to my classroom and the lights in her room were out. I didn’t have a lot to prepare, other than make sure the TV was working properly. As I sat at my desk I began to wonder why I had bothered getting there so damn early in the first place. Of course, I had hoped she would arrive early too for some reason, and then I would have a chance to talk to her and let her know how I felt.

But, as the bell rang to let the students into the building, she still hadn’t arrived. My first period kids began filling the room, and finally I heard her door open next door. I hadn’t sent her a text in the morning. I didn’t want Marco to see it and blow up on her, not knowing who I was. And she hadn’t sent me a message either. So, I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I hoped everything was okay.

I started the video for my first period class when my phone vibrated on my desk.

“Mr. Harper, please hand me your cell phone,” Marissa Campbell said, causing the rest of the kids to laugh. Cell phones were obviously not allowed for the students, and for the most part, the teachers didn’t have theirs out either. When we did have them out, we hid them nicely to avoid comments like Marissa’s.

“But, I promise I’ll put it away!” I whined, and the laughter continued.

“Don’t make me send you to the principal,” someone else piped in from the back. I couldn’t tell who it was.

“Okay, watch the video. Take notes. I will quiz you on Monday to make sure you were paying attention.”

The class groaned and got paper out. I had absolutely no intention of quizzing them on the video, but they didn’t know that. Nor did they need to. If one of them brought it up on Monday, I would simply say that I had changed my mind and decided not to make them take it. There would be cheers and excitement, and I would be their favorite teacher, at least until the end of the day.

That’s when I noticed my pen. That damn lucky Bic. It was sitting on the far right corner of my desk, next to the stapler. I reached for it and noticed April’s red lipstick smear on it. My mind instantly took me back to her bent over my desk, and that thing she did with her tongue. I got hard immediately. By looking at a goddamn pen.

Good morning, Luke
, the text from April read, as if right on cue. I still hadn’t heard back from Holly, but it was Friday so I had a feeling she would sleep in.

I sat down and put my feet up on the desk, another no-no for the students and pulled a toothpick out of the box I kept in my drawer. It was fun doing things they couldn’t and then reminding them of it when they complained. Teachers could be jerks sometimes, yeah.

Good morning back. How are you?
I replied. I shifted the toothpick to the inside of my cheek and held it there.

I am tired.

Rough night?

Just couldn’t really sleep.

Why not?

Just a lot on my mind.
Then she added:
Marco came home drunk.

Please tell me he didn’t drive all the way home from the airport that way...

He did. The thought of drinking and driving doesn’t faze him, no matter how big a deal I make of it.

Professional athletes often got arrested for DWI’s and I always wondered why they would let themselves get to that point, but they obviously saw themselves as larger than life and didn’t think the rules really applied to them. This news certainly helped me like Marco even more than before.

Well, I’m glad everyone is safe
, I replied, thinking more of the people who were driving near Marco on the roads than of him. If he had careened off the road, I might not have to have the conversation with April that I was dreading. I was breaking up with someone I wasn’t even dating. God, I was way overthinking all of this.

This time
, she replied.

You going to join us downstairs for lunch, or are you guys meeting since he’s back in town?

He wants to have lunch. :-/

It really wasn’t a good sign when a woman put a face like that when saying she was having lunch with her husband.

Maybe I should avoid the breakup talk and just wait until the marriage fizzles out on its own. It seemed to be heading in that direction anyway.

Have fun!

Maybe so. Enjoy your movies, some of us actually have to teach today. ;-)

The morning dragged by slowly with no communication from April and movies that I had seen a million times. I started playing a scramble word game on my phone, but lost interest pretty quickly.

It wasn’t until the third period neared the end that I got a reply from Holly. I tossed my toothpick in the trash and sat up straighter.

Good morning. :-) How’s class?

Videos. Easy, boring day. How are things with your brother?

He is making excuses about the whole thing. I told him he needed to get his shit together because his excuses don’t work with me.

Tough love. You can probably make him see it more than anyone else.

I hope so.

What did you do yesterday, besides get him settled in?

I did some schoolwork, got my car washed. Oh, and I went to Victoria’s Secret. :-)

Oh really? Find anything worth spending too much on?

I remember Holly mentioning before how much she thought Victoria’s Secret was an overrated, overpriced chain that she had no desire to shop in.

They actually have some nice stuff! I was pleasantly surprised.

Hopefully you didn’t tell the employees how much you hated their product.

Look, I was wrong okay! They have some sexy things.

Oh yeah?

Here, hold on. I’ll show you.

I had no idea if she was just going to take a picture of what she bought, or if she was going to model it for me, but the bell rang to dismiss my third period class, so I had to put my phone down to switch the video for the next class.

When we had started dating, and even after we had broken up and transitioned completely to the FWB category, Holly had been a heavy proponent of sending me pictures that showed herself in various stages of undress. I had told her the first few times she did it that I wasn’t used to dating a girl that would send pictures like that. It was usually the girls who wanted to get you into a relationship, or wanted to get you out of the relationship you were currently in that sent pictures like those. Her response had been that now that it was possible to send someone a dirty picture in a matter of seconds, girls would take advantage of the power they have over men by sending pictures to turn them on. She said that there was no way I would cheat on her if she sporadically reminded me of what was waiting for me back home.

“Someone will send you pictures like that,” she said. “And I’m going to always send better ones. Some slut that wants to get you to cheat isn’t going to beat me at this game.”

To her prophetic credit, she had been correct. After a week or so of dating, an old college friend named Megan had come out of the woodwork once I posted that I was “in a relationship” on Facebook, and immediately started sending me messages about how much she missed me, etc., etc. I couldn’t really remember ever spending all that much time with her, but while in the middle of teaching one afternoon I got a picture of a foggy bathroom mirror and a silhouetted nude body reflected in it. The picture had come completely without warning and had taken me by surprise far more than it turned me on, despite her attractive body. Needless to say, I had never seen Megan in that light before. I showed Holly the picture that night when I went home, and later that evening we had a pretty rigorous fuck. And the next day, during chapel of all things, Holly sent a picture that made me forget who Megan even was.

As the fourth period students began taking their seats, one of them noticed my phone on the desk and made a mock attempt to grab it. I didn’t remember locking the screen, and if Holly had sent something, Samuel would have been in for a pleasant surprise.

“Touch that and you write a ten page paper on how the lighting in the movie affects the overall plot and success of the film,” I said, shooting Samuel a gaze that meant I wasn’t playing around.

Samuel sheepishly returned to his seat, and the rest of the class settled in. The lights went off and half of the students rested their heads on the desk, making no attempt to hide the fact that they intended to sleep through the video. I made no attempt to pretend like I cared. Sleeping through videos was one of the sacred rights of high-schoolers.

I leaned back into my chair, feeling a little tired myself. I hadn’t slept well. My mind had been full of thoughts about April. I was conflicted, but the most conflicting aspect to what I was feeling was that I wasn’t conflicted that she was married. It was mostly because anything that happened between us could cost us our jobs at the very least and get one or both of us hurt. I imagined it was frowned upon in most workplace settings to begin a relationship with a married coworker. Working in a Christian school turned the phrase from “it was frowned upon” to “it would likely get you beheaded.” Slight exaggeration, but only very slight. Which, in essence, meant I was more afraid of the consequences of being caught than I was about the actual lack of morality. What did that make me? Maybe I didn’t want to think about that right now. I was in the habit of overthinking everything. This time I could just choose to live. I liked that idea.

I picked up my phone and saw that I had three messages. Two were from Holly, and the other was from April. Most men would be damn happy to be able to call either one of these women their own, and I found myself fluctuating back and forth on how I felt about them, even though neither could I technically call my own.

I read April’s text first.

Did you start reading the book at all last night?

No, I passed out pretty quickly once I got home
, I replied.

Then I switched over to the texts from Holly, and for the first time in a long time, she was sending me pictures.

The first picture said “new Dream Angels bra” and showed her from the chin down to her belly button. The bra had white cups with black along the outer edge and underneath. The straps were black and there was a small white ribbon in the middle. The bra seemed maybe a size too small, or perhaps that was how it was supposed to look, making her breasts seem even larger than they were. I very much approved of this bra, if she was seeking my approval.

The second picture said “matching panties” and my eyes got very wide and I instantly began feeling the growth along my left thigh that I knew she was hoping for. The picture showed her from the chin down to her feet this time, and her caption didn’t lie because the panties were the only article sof clothing on her body. The bra was on the floor between her feet. I didn’t even look at the panties for a minute at least. Seeing her breasts always made me stop in my tracks, and stare for a while. Her pink nipples were hard, pointing toward me. For a second, I felt like telling the students to go to lunch very, very early and then finding Holly so I could eat her for lunch.

I looked around the classroom to make sure no students were watching me stare down my phone, and most were still sleeping at their desks. A few intrepid ones looked like they were working on other class homework and maybe four were actually watching the movie.

A third text came through from Holly as I returned my eyes to her breasts.

Well...what do you think?

I won’t be able to stand up for a few minutes at the very least...

Just as I had hoped :-)

I wholeheartedly approve of your Victoria’s Secret discoveries.

I bought a few other things you might like.

If you send them to me, I won’t be able to walk the rest of the day.

Don’t worry. You need to see the others in person. A little Show and Tell for Mr. Harper.

God, this woman could turn me on in a second and keep me turned on for a long damn time. I remembered now that when she sent these pictures, my brain would become distracted for the rest of the day. I had a feeling I would be returning to the pictures for a while.

When is this show and tell going to take place?

I work tonight until 2. Maybe I’ll stop by afterwards. ;-)

I might have to take a nap so I can be ready for you.

I got a text from April, so I switched over. I wasn’t sure if she was next door in an empty classroom, or if she was wandering the campus during her off period.

I should put a time limit on you. Make you submit a book report to me
, her text read.

God, I had one woman planning on coming over and having a show and tell session with me, and another woman talking about making me do a book report and turning it in. When did I suddenly become twelve again?

Holly had made sure my mind was in her panties, so I was tempted to reply “Would this be oral?” to April’s comment about the book report. I hated oral book reports though. If I sent a text like that I might get a flirtatious reply and then we would spiral downward once again when all I wanted to do was end things before they went any further. No, I didn’t. Yes, I did.

I was the king of book reports back in the day
, I texted, keeping things very surface level.

Not the king of humility, though.

Hey, if you got it...

And that was before the days of copy and pasting on the internet. I bet you wrote some impressive papers.