Lover for Pay: The Escort & the Teacher (manxman)

VII - Scar

Chapter Seven

Marbell had taken London to a French restaurant for their date, and while they were seated in their booth, it wasn't hard to tell London had other things on his mind. Glad to have the twenty-one-year-old with him, of course, Marbell wanted this time they had together to be enjoyable, but with the saddened expression going on about London's mood, he was no longer sure of it.

They were seated in a booth centered in a section of others in the middle of the restaurant. Upon coming inside, they received a couple glances from other guests, ones of both curiosity and judgment, but Marbell tried not to let it bother him. London hadn't noticed any of the people around him, and Marbell was even beginning to think he was forgetting they were there together.

To bring life to the silence, Marbell reached across the table top, letting his fingers sweep across London's, "Do you like this place?" he asked.

Coming out of his noted haze, London looked up at the teacher, and then around the restaurant next as if it was his first time seeing the place. "Yeah," he said, "It's nice. I'm more of a basic fast food kind of guy, but gourmet service is never bad."

Marbell smiled, "This is my favorite place in the city. I usually come here alone after school."

"You better be careful," London joked, "Someone might know you're skipping and call you in."

"If this table wasn't between us," Marbell laughed, cheeks blushing, "I'd kiss you right now."

London, definitely not seeing the table as an adversary, stood a bit and leaned across the surface, kissing Marbell's smirked lips before sitting back down.

The teacher couldn't help feeling so wanted and appreciated by this other man, especially when London took his hand just to hold it. His gaze swept over the few people around them then, a young couple not caring about the public display, but there was a table with an elderly couple that didn't seem to like it very much. Not that Marbell or London gave a flying fuck.

A minute later, their waiter came to the table to take their orders. It wouldn't have taken as long as it did if London knew anything about French food. Needless to say, he ended up playing it safe and ordering the only typical American food they had: a burger and fries, while Marbell got something with a name that London couldn't pronounce for the life of him. But, if there was one thing he knew, it was that he was mighty turned on by the way the sexy French accent rolled off Marbell's tongue.

Folding his hands professor-like on top of the table, Marbell finally said, "So, tell me about yourself. I want to know more about you."

London sat back, crossing his arms over his chest, only the tattooed sleeves of his forearms shown. "What do you want to know?"

Marbell hummed, thinking for a moment, "Have you ever been in love?"

Scoffing at the question, London answered quickly, "Hell, no," then he thought about it. "Actually, I correct myself, in second grade, I think, there was this boy who would always share his goldfish crackers and cookies with me under the slide. Man, if that's not the closest thing to love, I don't know what is."

The answer was enough to make the teacher laugh, and then he said, "Okay, what about...your tattoos." He pointed one out on London's wrist. It was a small black and gray hummingbird with a flower sash.

London looked over the permanent ink drawn into his skin, "It's for my sister Joyce. She started learning how to talk real late. The most she ever did was grunt or whine when she was trying to communicate. When I'd try to get her to use her words more, I bought this book of animals so she could learn too, and the first one she got right was the humming bird. And the flowers are just because she likes flowers."