Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Thirty-One

    Tatiana rested on top of a perfectly-made bed. The floor lamp standing in the corner of the room cast a warm glow throughout the dorm room. She stared up at the ceiling and recounted the heated moments she'd shared with Professor Graham. Throughout the rest of the day, she'd had to ask herself if it had really happened. Had she really possessed the courage to lock herself in a room with him and initiate a makeout session? Not just a makeout session, she corrected herself. My first makeout session. My first makeout session ever happened with Drake in a classroom.

    The dorm room door was pushed open. Kenya entered the room, closed the door behind her, and pressed her back against it with a dreamy look on her face. She raised her fingertips to her lips and closed her eyes, wearing a cheesy grin on her face.

    Tatiana rose up on her elbows. "Looks like I wasn't the only one who had a good day."

    Kenya was slow to open her eyes. When she did, she released a deep sigh. "That boy is making me feel things," she said, walking over to her bed and collapsing on it. "I don't know whether or not I love it or hate it."

    "It looks like you love it," Tatiana remarked, smiling. She'd never seen her friend quite this giddy over a boy before.

    "I think I do," Kenya said, shoving bunched up covers away from her and grabbing onto one of her pillows. "He's perfect. Funny, adorable, sexy, confident but not cocky, he's...everything. God. I just keep asking myself, What if I'd never gone to that party? You know? Or what if we'd gone without stopping by that room. I never would have met him, never would have known just how amazing he is."

    Tatiana found herself wondering the same things in relation to Aubrey. What if she hadn't chosen Northwestern? What if she'd gone to Milwaukee's Marquette University instead? Or one of the other universities she'd considered? She would have missed out on the opportunity of meeting Aubrey, would have missed out on the opportunity of having him as her professor. "I guess that goes to show that everything happens for a reason," she said quietly, twirling strands of dark hair around an index finger.

    Kenya rolled onto her side, adjusting her dark corset top. The smile gradually disappeared from her face as she looked Tatiana over. "Something happened."

    Kissing. Touching. Heavy breathing. Panting. Rubbing. Tatiana clenched her legs at the memory of how Mr. Graham's lips had felt on hers. Aubrey. Professor. Mr. Graham. Drake. So many names for one man.

    Kenya's eyes narrowed. "Something major happened."

    Tatiana licked her lips and turned her head, returning her friend's inquiring gaze. "Something may have happened," she confirmed.

    Kenya sat up and folded her legs Indian-style. "You didn't."

    "I probably didn't go quite as far as you're thinking right now," Tatiana said, "but..." She hesitated, trying to think of how to explain exactly what had happened.

    "So you didn't...but you did..."

    Tatiana sat up and mirrored Kenya's positioning. "After class, I may have locked the door and kissed him. And...once we started kissing, I may have pushed him against his desk and had my way with him."

    Kenya's mouth dropped open. "Had your...had your what?"

    "I kissed him and touched him a little. He picked me up and sat me on the desk..." Her body temperature was rising as she visualized it.

    "He what?"

    "Things got...intense, but then he stopped everything and told me that it wasn't the right time."

    Kenya held both hands up in the air. "Wait a minute. You're skipping shit."

    "I'm not going to give a play-by-play," Tatiana said.

    "Actually, that's exactly what you're going to do," Kenya said, throwing her pillow across the room at Tatiana. "You don't make out with Drake and keep out the deets, Tati. That isn't how this friendship works."

    Tatiana laughed and fidgeted with the pillow. "I feel weird talking about this."

    "You're supposed to feel weird talking about it," Kenya assured her. "But then you talk about it anyway, because we're best friends. That's how this works."

    Tatiana ran a hand through her hair and glanced towards the door. Then, she explained in more thorough detail what had transpired in the classroom.

    Kenya clapped a hand across her mouth and squealed. "Oh my God. I cannot..." She shook her head. "All of that really happened? Are you sure you just didn't fall asleep in class and dream all of that up?"

    "I wouldn't have dreamed of him rejecting me at the end," Tatiana said, falling on her back and staring up at the ceiling again.

    "Rejecting you?" Kenya repeated. "Is that how he made you feel?"

    "He's been hitting on me pretty heavy," Tatiana pointed out. "I thought that if I initiated something, then..."

    "...Then he would take your virginity in a classroom, where you'd both be risking someone catching you in the act?" Kenya finished for her, raising an eyebrow. "You really thought he would do that?"

    Tatiana bit her lower lip.

    "Would you want to be with a man who would do that?" Kenya added.

    Tatiana shrugged and buried her face in the pillow Kenya had thrown at her. "I'm hopeless," she mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

    "What you are is the luckiest girl in the world," Kenya said. "Not only does he have a thing for you... and not only is he willing to act on it...but he's also willing to hold himself back just for the sake of making sure your first time is special. Like...God, Tati. That shouldn't make you feel rejected. It should make you feel treasured. He obviously cares about you a great deal. A guy who didn't would have just taken your virginity then and there without giving it a second thought, but he believes you deserve better." Kenya wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm getting the warm fuzzies just thinking about how amazing he is."

    "You're right," Tatiana said.

    "I can't believe I had to tell you that," Kenya said with a laugh. "Aren't you the one who was pushing him to behave? Now you want him to misbehave? Talk about pulling a one-eighty on him."

    "I was taking your advice," Tatiana protested. "Because you're right: there are a ton of girls around here who would give anything to be with him. I never wanted to lose him, I just wanted us to go about it the right way. But...the talk we had about the possibility of life not being guaranteed scared me. I didn't want there to be a chance of me dying without knowing what being with him felt like."

    Kenya's brows furrowed. "When I said that, I just meant that maybe you shouldn't necessarily wait as long as you were planning to," she said. "I didn't expect you to go into class the next day and rip his clothes off." She paused and thought about it. "Not that doing that was a bad idea. At this point, he probably has no idea what to think about you. Which is good. It'll keep him on his toes. It keeps things interesting, lets him know that you are capable of being like...sensual and sexy and shit."

    "Yeah, and now I have to face him in class on Friday," Tatiana muttered, sounding worried.

    "You say that like it's a bad thing," Kenya said. "And don't forget that you also have the basketball game that night with him, too."

    Tatiana rolled her eyes upward.

    "What we really need to do is go shopping," Kenya said, lying down. "Have your parents put any money into your account yet?"

    "Yeah."

    "So we go shopping. Get you at least two cute outfits. One for class on Friday, and one for the basketball game."

    "God forbid I wear the same outfit to both," Tatiana said wryly.

    Kenya made adismissive sound with her mouth. "Come hell or high water, Tati, I'm goingto turn you into a normal girl."