HARDNESS I am the first to recover. I quickly pull down the shirt and carry her inside, Beatrice is there trying to coordinate hyper children. She smiles in relief when she sees me, then her eyes fall on Prudy, her brows wrinkle and then realisation dawns on her. “Is she..”Her lover's daughter? “Yes. This is Prudy. Prudy meet Beatrice. She’s mommy’s friend.” Beatrice bends down and scoops her up. Hugging her tightly. Prudy winces but quickly regains composure. My heart shattered as I watched. A four year old was already this good at pretending, like her mother. I won’t let that happen. Without saying a word, I turn around and go back outside. The ground slips from underneath me and i hold the wall to keep steady. I dry heave.“Here, water.” I hear Jessica say.And I gratefully accept it. When I’m done rinsing my mouth, I feel rage press in my chest. I scream. “Its all my fault!”“Hey, Hey, how is that your fault?”“I left her with them. They
RIP The time I convinced myself that stalking him was not a crime, I had said to myself; the end justified the means. Because before I could stop myself I knew too much about him. That Roxanne would have been pissed that I threw all of her hard work away just to get back at him. But the Roxanne who had fled his room a number of times because she was embarrassed? She is very pleased with the expression on his face. Then I slicker away, all the while my body is humming for him and is begging me to turn back around, it takes all of my muscles that make up my petty side to forge ahead. When I re-join my group, they are having a snack break before we turn back around. Prudy is having the time of her life, her pigtails are a mess, but there is a huge grin splattered on her face. “You don't like you got fucked.” Leo whispers as he stands next to me. “How did you know?”“I kept my eyes peeled open for any suspicious activity. And I saw the girl boss move.” I
WATCHING“What?” We hold each other’s stare for a while, the air was cackling again. My skin came alive under his gaze. I will myself to grow a stronger resolve. “Hello? Anyone home?” Leo asks as he waves his hands in my face. I don't look away from my professor's ever changing eyes. But I see Leo from my peripheral vision, shake his head and walk into the deli. Every breath he drew seemed to be erotic. I was getting aroused from watching him breath. “You keep doing that.” He says after a while.“Doing what?” “I made it clear that you were mine.” “And I thought I made it clear that what you are saying is an absolute bull.” A muscle worked in his jaw. And I find that sexy, I want to know if he made that face when he was trying hard not to burst a nut. “Follow your hand book, professor. I will follow mine. And section forty three of mine says; drop your tits whenever or on whomever you want to, the world is your bra.” I wince inwardly. Thankful
SNATCHED “Where is Mr. Walker?” Beatrice ask when I show up half an hour later alone and looking like my professor just asked me to drop him off in the middle of the road and i obliged. Because he didn’t ask. He demanded. Darn me and my stupid submission thing. “He asked me to let him out of the car in the middle of the road.” I answer.I blink, my vision becomes steadier. I find four pairs of eyes staring at me. “What?”“Why?”“And you did?”They bombard me with the questions I asked myself on the ride here. And I still have no answer to them. So I shrug.“Did you guys fight?”“No. We were having an actual conversation, and he suddenly demanded I stop the car. Even when I asked the reason, he would not talk to me.” “That is strange.”“Worse than strange. And this place is foreign to him. What if he gets lost?” “He's thirty years old Beatrice. I’m certain he can find his way.”She shrugs but still looks disturbed, I feel disturbed as well. Maybe
SOOTHE I have no idea why I am excited to hear that he is back. So I tell myself that it’s because I was worried about him, at least that part was true, he wasn’t back when we got here, and by the time I slept off, he wasn’t back. I dress up hurriedly, Prudy and Jessica had gone to the lobby already. Joining them, my eyes keep scanning for the tall, muscled man with grey eyes. “He went to get something.” Cecilia tells me.She draws my attention to her, and she looks better than yesterday, the tired look had disappeared. “Is he Okay? Did he say when he got back and why he disappeared?” I fire the questions without pausing. “Yeah, he didn’t talk about yesterday night at all. He seems fine.” Just then, I spot him walk out of the elevator. A file in hand, his phone and jacket in the other. He is wearing a simple outfit today. His shirt pressed and his pants too. He looked like my professor this way. “What are we having for breakfast?” Jessica asks as we walk to
ALWAYSHis head tilts and starts to lean into mine. My heart starts to pound furiously inside of my chest. I have no idea why that happened. His eyes fluttered shut as he cups my face. Our mouths are a hairs breath away when I see the rented car pass by us. My eyes widen. And instinctively I push him away. His eyes looked confused for a second. I laugh. My laugh is strained, and my heart is still pounding in my chest. His eyes look hurt for a second before he drapes a helmet on his head. “Of course I won’t let myself be your rebound.” He says without missing a beat. I laugh, again it sounds like I have something in my throat. “I won’t do that to you. You are too precious for that.” He turns back to face the road. Seeing the rented car in front he lets out a string of cusses and starts the bike. I only have a second to latch unto his clothes before he sped off. I press myself into his back, he was going too fast. Soon we were ahead of the
LONG I don't know how long I sit there, crying, before the bus arrives. “Roxanne? Why are you curled up like that on the ground?” Beatrice asks when she climbs out of the bus. But she is distracted with bringing the kids out of the bus that she does not notice me quickly wiping my eyes. I give a lame excuse, using Leo's over speeding, because she is so busy she only nods and says; “I did think the speed was an overkill.” By the time the rented car was pulling in, my eyes were dried, puffy and hiding behind sunglasses as I help Beatrice with the kids. “Where is Leo? Rather, where did Leo go?” Jessica asked me. “I have no idea. He dropped me and sped off.” I say too quickly. “Why are the men in your life so dramatic? First professor asked you to drop him in the middle of the road, second Leo speeds into the distance.” She sighs. “I know right. I am the constant.” The children were organised in front of the new building but I see all they want to do
DELUSIONS The plane ride ended shortly. And soon I was driving us home. Jessica says she and Cecilia are only staying over because it was so late. They crowd my bed once again. “Is this your house?” Prudy asks me with wide eyes as she soaks up everything. I know it is smaller than the mansion she has lived in all of her life. “Yes sweetie. And now it is yours too.” I tell her. Her wide eyes get even wider as she blinks at me. “I can live here? With you?” “Of course baby.”She squeals and hugs me. I pick her up and hug her too. We make hot chocolate and sip whilst giggling, i had done this exact thing with her mother, my sister. When she finally goes back to bed, it is about four in the morning. But I lay awake, i can’t get Leo out of my mind. He had gotten so high once, he passed out somewhere for days, and i could not go looking for him because I was locked in the basement. It was a passer by who saw him and saved his life, that was when he f