Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Twenty-Six

    Tatiana returned to the elliptical machine.

    Aubrey walked over to the weight racks with his eyes glued to her.

    Feeling her cheeks heating up, she broke eye contact.

    The tall group of boys who'd entered the gym were so lost in their own conversation, they hadn't taken notice of either Aubrey or Tatiana.

    She breathed a sigh of relief as she punched in her workout routine selections into the keypad for the elliptical machine.

    "Is this where you've been hiding out?" one of the boys demanded once he realized that Aubrey was in the room with them. "We were wondering where you disappeared to."

    "These muscles aren't going to develop themselves," Aubrey joked, flexing a bicep.

    The boys laughed and immediately pulled him into whatever conversation they'd been holding upon entry of the gym.

    Kenya arrived several minutes later, looking sheepish.

    "I was starting to think you weren't ever coming back," Tatiana hissed under her breath.

    "Oh, I came back," Kenya said, clumsily climbing into the elliptical machine next to Tatiana's. "You and Drake were...occupied. So I left, came back again, left again, and came back again."

    Tatiana's cheeks grew hot. "I'm sorry."

    "Sorry? I want to give you a fucking medal," Kenya declared. "You've finally come to your senses."

    Tatiana smiled as she worked the levers of the machine.

    "I don't have to even ask if it was good," Kenya said, looking across the gym. "I saw how good it was. To say I'm jealous would be like saying water is wet."

    "We almost got caught," Tatiana said worriedly. "So...you call it coming to my senses, while I call it being reckless."

    "Not this shit again," Kenya muttered.

    "This isn't something he and I can keep up. Not right now." Tatiana stole a look at him.

    Aubrey was surrounded by student athletes, but still he was staring past all of them and looking right at her.

    Her insides melted.

    He flashed her a half-smile.

    It was a half-smile that she returned.

    His smile stretched wider.

    If she hadn't known before, she would definitely know now that she was in trouble.

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "When was the last time you called? Days ago?"

    "Do you really want me to call every single night?" Tatiana asked incredulously while wiping at the back of her neck with a plain white towel. "You don't think that's a little extreme?"

    "You're our baby girl," her father replied. "Of course we want to hear from you every night."

    "You and Mom are both also extremely busy," she reasoned, walking around the elliptical machine and moving to the far end of the gym. Her topknot had fallen apart nearly half an hour ago while she was working out. It was now just a very messy ponytail. She tried in vain to fix it, one-handed, and failed.

    On the other end of the line, her father made a dismissive sound. "I don't care how busy we are. We're never too busy for you."

    You mean, you're never too busy to intrude on my life, she thought while shooting a look across the gym.

    Aubrey stood with his tattooed back to her, raising a long dumbbell bar up to his chest.

    She tilted her head to the side while watching him.

    "So, tell me. How are your classes going?"

    Her father's voice fell on deaf ears. "God is good," she said distractedly, her eyes traveling down the length of Aubrey's back.

    "Excuse me?" her father said.

    With wide eyes, she whirled around. "What?"

    "I ask how your classes are going, and you say, 'God is good'?" her father asked. "Your classes are going that well?"

    "Umm...yeah," she replied awkwardly, glancing towards Kenya.

    Kenya was still struggling with the elliptical, cursing at it every two minutes but refusing to give up.

    Wearing an affectionate smile, Tatiana pulled the gym door open and stepped out into the hall. "Classes are great, dad."

    "That's good to hear," he said. "Northwestern isn't cheap. So I'm hoping that once your grades come in, your mother and I will share the sentiment that 'God is good.'"

    The smallest needle of dread pricked her. Grades. When they see my grades, they'll see that I'm taking a writing class.

    "God is good," her mother could be heard saying in the background. "All the time."

    Tatiana laughed nervously. "What Mom said," she told her father.

    "Yeah, yeah," her father mumbled. "Your mother and I want to visit you. We were thinking next weekend."

    Tatiana's back went ramrod straight. "Next weekend? That soon?"

    "It's not like we live in California," her father said. "We're half an hour, forty-five minutes away. Unless you're saying you have plans."

    "Plans?" she repeated. Other than coming to the gym and hoping to see Aubrey there again? And not wanting to see you in person because lying to you and Mom will be that much more difficult then? "Not...not exactly."

    "Good. I was starting to think that you didn't want to see your old dad."

    She grimaced. I just doubt my old dad wants to know what I've been up to since I've been away from home, she thought, peering in through the glass doors. From where she stood, she could only see the right side of Aubrey's body as he bent at the waist to lower the dumbbell to the floor. "Of course I want to see you. And Mom. Things are a little crazy here and I'm still kind of settling in, but... I'd love to see you both."

    "Well, if things are that crazy, maybe we can push it back a weekend or two," her father allowed. "Your mother and I will coordinate our schedules and see what we can do. Your mother wanted to get a few quick words in."

    She spoke to her mother, told her mother how much she missed her. Despite the fact that she'd lied to them about the classes she was taking, she did miss them. No matter how much she was enjoying the freedom she had from them, she still loved her parents. I just hate that I lied to them, and I know it'll be hard looking them in the eyes knowing that I've lied. Not only did I lie to them, but now I'm kind of sort of involved with a rapper who also happens to be my teacher and...they'd kill me twice over, if they knew all of that. She pocketed her cell phone and returned to the gym. It didn't take long for her to find Aubrey and it took even less time for his eyes to land on her. I say "if" as if there's a chance they'll never find out my indiscretions, but...them finding out is inevitable. At this point, I'm only delaying it.

    Aubrey draped a towel across the back of his neck and stretched his arms over his head. His muscles rippled as he did so.

    Since it's inevitable that my parents will kill me at this point, I might as well enjoy my days while I'm still living.

    Aubrey grinned at her. A mischievous look glimmered in his eyes, as if he knew what she was thinking.

    God is mostcertainly good, she thought, feeling a grin stretch across her own lips. Allthe time.