Forbidden Extras

1| Green Jewels

"Without further ado, allow me to introduce the winner selected to join the guest speakers for the Harrington Writing Convention, our very own, Dr. Jasper Andrews!" Dr. Porter greeted me to the stage and added, "Professor in Poetry Writing here at Bulfort and author of Strength in Words!"

As I made my way up to the stage I silently cursed my father for giving me his fear of speaking in public. Teaching a class with one hundred students? Not a problem. Giving a two minute speech in front of one hundred people? Major problem. What I would give for a drink right now.

When the applause died down, which I thought was over the top since they had no fucking clue who I was, I grabbed the mic and began my speech I made up five minutes ago. I hit the big parts such as greeting everyone and letting them know how excited I was to be going to the convention before getting to the meat of the speech. I briefly wondered if they would still be clapping if I told them I didn't actually want to go and the only reason I am is because I fucked the host. Would they still be applauding then? I know I wouldn't.

After I wrapped up the speech thanking everyone for the support and hoping to make this a great experience for us all I quickly strolled off the stage and made a beeline to the bar. 

"Let's give another hand to Dr. Jasper Andrews!" the crowd cheered once more as if I was a celebrity.  Which I guess to them was true since I made it into the event they all worked their asses off for. All I had to do was sleep with the right person and here I am. Now I'll be teaching a handful of the students from the crowd for an entire week.

I groaned at the thought. I couldn't believe I agreed to this bullshit. A week teaching brats who think they know it all about poetry? And I'm not getting paid? The only thing I'll learn from this whole thing is that I need to stop thinking with my dick so much. I'm not proud of what I did, and frequently I imagine what would have happened if I never pursued June in the first place. Or was it the other way around? Regardless, I shouldn't have been so weak.

When I finally made it to the bartender the first thing that flew from my mouth was, "I'll take a whiskey."

But he shook his head. "We don't serve alcohol above a certain percentage."

"Then give me the highest percent you have."

He shuffled around before pulling out a bottle of cider and setting it in front of me. I eyed him incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Hey, I am just paid to serve out drinks for a couple of hours. I don't pick what the selection is."

I huffed knowing that I probably seemed like as ass right now, but I really just wanted to forget about this entire mess. It didn't help that my phone blew up every five minutes to tell me June had emailed me either. The constant reminders are driving me nuts. I was ready for this next week to fly by. And there was only one way to do it.

I looked back at the bartender before grabbing the bottle. "Just keep them coming."

As the bartender kept his promise, I listened to Dr. Porter drone on announcing the winners of the convention. While he did that I registered the crowd seeing my new possible students. I could weed out a couple that I didn't think would make it, especially the very emotional ones who were crying even before their names were announced. But what if they do get in? What if I have to teach them everything I know about writing a proper poem and they will be an emotional wreck the whole time? I'm not the best with emotions, especially tears. I dealt with plenty of tears with my last girlfriend. It was enough to make me realize that I wasn't the one for her. I'm not saying that I think a woman shouldn't cry, it's that that--

My thought was cut short when I heard a cellphone going off from somewhere in the back of the room.

The entire room including me turned to see where it came from when my eyes located the source. Standing near the back of the room was woman dressed in a fitted black dress taking the interruptive phone from a girl's hand and smothered the device in a napkin. With her back to me I noted that the dress outlined the curves of her body very well. Not busty like June, just curved. I took in her caramel curls hanging down her back thinking of how I could do some solid imagery with just that feature. Maybe it was because she was at a distance, but even then I could tell she was stunning. I may have pursued her if she wasn't a student, but that wasn't the case.