THE ROSE AND THE THORN

Chapter 10

"Welcome to my humble abode," I joked as I opened the door to my house.

In all honesty, I was embarrassed by the size of it. I don't know why my parents felt it necessary to buy such a large house when it was just the three of us. I saw Miss Rose's eyes widen as she took all of it in. The grand staircase, the large concrete pillars, the cinema room off to the left of the entrance and the bar to the right.

"Wow," she whispered, "and you're here all alone?"

"Most of the time. Mum says she has business trips but in reality she just wants to get away," I said simply, throwing my bag to the floor next to the door and walking through the house to the kitchen.

"Get away from what?" Miss Rose asked me.

"From me. She practically despises me," I said casually, opening the fridge and looking to see what food I could eat.

"I'm sure that's not true India..." she said sadly.

"No, it's definitely true. My dad fucked off with another woman and now my mum can't stand to look at me because I look like him. Doesn't help that I'm gay either," I told her, closing the fridge door and moving onto the pantry instead.

"Wow, I'm so sorry..." she said, her eyes full of sadness.

"Don't be, it's fine. Anyway, do you want pasta for dinner?" I said.

"Pasta sounds great," she smiled.

After cooking dinner I piled some pasta into a bowl and slid it over to Miss Rose who was sitting opposite me at the kitchen bench.

"Looks..." she began.

"Like shit, I know. But I promise it tastes good!" I replied.

She looked at me warily before stabbing some with her fork and placing it in her mouth.

"Wow, okay you were right. This is good!" she said happily.

"Were you doubting my honesty, Miss Rose?" I said, feigning offence.

"Don't call me Miss Rose when we aren't in school, it makes me feel old," she laughed.

"How old are you, anyway?" I asked curiously.

"I'm twenty two," she replied.

"That's only like..." I stopped to do the math, "four and a half years older than me."

"Exactly, which is why I don't want you to call me Miss Rose when we aren't at school," she laughed.

"Okay...Ruby," I said with a smile.

Once we had both finished dinner I showed her to each of the rooms, letting her choose where she wanted to sleep. I threw an old shirt and pyjama shorts at her, telling her to come back downstairs to the movie room when she had showered and gotten changed. We had a real connection, and she didn't feel like my teacher. She felt like a friend, but did I want something more than that? There was no denying that every time I saw her she turned me on. There was no denying that she was so attractive I couldn't help but stare at her. But I didn't want get involved with anyone from school, especially a teacher. That was just asking for trouble.

After showering I decided to play it risky, wearing a thin oversized t-shirt and some tight booty shorts. I looked at myself in the mirror, noticing that the outline of my nipple piercing could be seen through the shirt. I smiled to myself, but quickly shook my head. Why did I care what I looked like? Why did I care what she thought of me? She was my fucking teacher, she definitely had no interest in me that way.

I made my way down to the movie room, turning on the large tv and opening the Netflix app. I sat there playing on my phone until I saw Ruby come through the door. When she walked in I couldn't help but admire her. Her tattoos glistened on her moist skin and her wet hair was tousled from being towel dried. I looked at her face, noticing that her eyes had travelled down to my chest. I pretended not to notice, standing up and closing the door behind us.

"So, pick a movie," I said, sitting back down in my chair and throwing her the remote.

"Nope, not that one," I said as she hovered over an Adam Sandler film.

"What! Why not?" she pouted.

"Because it sucks. For a cool chick you have terrible taste in movies," I said, and she rolled her eyes and threw the remote back to me.

"Fine, you pick!" she said sassily.

After arguing over what movie to watch and getting absolutely nowhere, I turned off the TV and we made our way to the lounge room. We both sat down on the oversized couch and sighed.

"Tell me about your tattoos," I said, and she looked up at me through her thick lashes.

"Which one?" she asked me.

"All of them," I said, and she shuffled closer to me to show me her tattoos.

"This one here," she said, pointing to a small tattoo on her wrist, "was my first ever tattoo. I got it on my sixteenth birthday."

"And this one," she continued, pointing to a larger one on her forearm, "I got when I was drunk on my twenty first."

I suddenly became aware of how close we were sitting. Our bare legs were touching and I could feel her breath on me. Our body heat was mingling together and I was suddenly extremely hot. I could feel myself being more turned on by the second, my breathing becoming inconsistent and ragged. What was happening to me?

"I think we should go to bed," she suggested, snapping me out of my daze.

"Yeah, right. Yeah, okay. Bed," I mumbled, standing up off the couch.

"Thanks for letting me stay tonight, and thanks for dinner. I really appreciate it," she thanked me, extending her arm out and putting it on my shoulder affectionately.

"It's fine, Miss Rose," I said, smiling at the warmth radiating from her hand through my body.

"What did I say?" she scolded.

"Ruby. It's fine Ruby," I corrected myself, and she smiled.

"Goodnight, India..." she said.

"Goodnight, Miss - Ruby. Goodnight Ruby," I said, and she gave me a small wave before disappearing up the stairs and into the guest bedroom.