The Student Ch. 02

She didn't answer immediately, glanced up momentarily and nodded, obviously in thought. Playing with her glass of iced tea a few moments before looking up at me she said "I don't think we should let people know about us." She paused, I started to protest, but she interrupted. "No -- think about it. What are you going to say? There's nothing you can tell anyone about us that won't have repercussions somewhere. Can you tell anyone else on the staff that you're seeing someone -- and she's one of your students? Can you tell other students that you're living with or even just seeing a student on the side? Are you even supposed to be getting into your students panties? I can hear it now if people know; accusations of favoritism, accusations of grades for favors, all the sleazy things that are going to be said. And then someone will question who I am, where I live, where I work -- and it all comes tumbling down. And all that has to happen is that they think it might happen, and every girl with a bad grade will be trying to trade a lay for a grade."

"Oh, that won't happen...." I really didn't believe that myself, even as I was saying it. I'd already seen it, several times. The girls that spent more time flirting and trying to get a date than doing homework and studying, who suddenly at the end of the semester were making appointments for office hours, then showing up in something slinky, something sexy, and trolling for a professor fish. The first time it had happened I was shocked, not having expected it, but the next time I spotted it coming two days before it did. I'd always deflected, kept my head up high -- but I knew she was right; people would accuse her of bedding me for the grade.

"It happens every semester," she stated.

I nodded. "Yeah, I know." I looked up at her and reached over, taking her hand. She put hers in mine and I squeezed, just holding it.

"Even if that didn't happen, what will you tell the other staff?"

"Why would I have to tell them anything?" I questioned obstinately, while simultaneously feeling that my train of life had just jumped the track and was careening for the station, knowing that no matter how much I didn't want to admit it -- she was right.

"Do they have any staff events during the year? Will you go alone? Christmas Parties, New Year's parties -- those kinds of things? Would you take me, could you take me, with you? Would you go alone, or with someone else? And what would you tell the dean or anyone else who I was if you did? What will you tell Mary Richards when she gets back and wants to bump uglies with you?"

She was right of course, or at least I thought she was. I knew we really couldn't be together while she was in my classes. I knew I couldn't take her with me to staff events; I couldn't introduce her to anyone that would know or suspect that she was my girlfriend. I knew intellectually this was true, no matter how much my heart didn't want it to be. I'd gotten used to having Lori and Linda around; I liked having Lori and Linda around. But I also knew that in a student-professor relationship, especially one with 14 years difference in ages, it couldn't happen.

Besides acknowledging that we couldn't let others know of our relationship, we really didn't carry that conversation any further. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, wasn't what I wanted to admit, no matter how right she was. To change the subject, I asked if she'd had any further episodes with her car; it had acted up the previous week. I figured it probably just needed a major tune up and did it for her, hadn't detected anything significant wrong, but with over 200,000 miles - her car had certainly seen better days. She asked if I was all prepared for my classes, and I acknowledged that I wasn't, but I was far enough along that I had the first day prepared. I'd pick up the others as we went along.

We made love that night in a plain old fashioned missionary position. After we'd finally cum, I started to roll off, but she asked me to stay. I did, until several minutes later when my shrunken manhood finally fell out, and I rolled off. She rolled onto her side and I pulled her against me, spooning. The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was her hand stroking slowly up and down my arm.

I made Lori her favorite pancakes in the morning and played with her for about an hour before Linda got up. I told her that I was going to run over to my office for a short time, maybe a couple of hours. She didn't really indicate what they were going to do, but I expected they would probably be there when I got back. Linda's car wasn't out front, so I knew they weren't home, but I didn't realize that they were totally gone until I went to the bathroom.

I went in to take a pee, and noticed that something wasn't quite right. It took me a moment, and then I realized that her toothbrush was gone. Going back into the bedroom, I checked the dresser -- all her panties and lingerie were gone. I didn't need to open the closet but did, finding the same emptiness that had greeted me when my wife had moved out. Once I knew what to look for, I noticed it was all gone; Linda's clothes, Lori's clothes and toys, all the knick knacks that we have when we live somewhere. Linda had left, and it was obvious she wasn't coming back.

I found the note in the kitchen.

"Rick,

It's been a wonderful summer, but it's time for us to move on. Just as Linda can't be Brook, and Brook can't be Linda, I don't think it's possible for you to be Rick to me anymore. I can't just be someone's bedmate and fantasy girl, I need more than that, Lori needs more than that, and we know it can't happen. We both understand that our relationship cannot go on as it is -- so Dr. B must once again be a professor that I will have a crush on and daydream about, and Rick must become a thing of the past. It's best this way for all of us. Please -- just let it be.

All my love,

Linda

When my wife moved out, the house had one less person in it, but it didn't feel emptier. With her, we really weren't crossing paths anyway. But without Linda, without Lori, the house now felt like a big empty barn. Until that moment I hadn't realized how much life they had brought to the house, and now everything I saw seemed to remind me where the two of them weren't. On the counter, dried but not put away, was the griddle from the morning's pancakes. On the end table next to the couch, nestled up against the arm where it was almost out of sight, was the bottle of strawberry lube that we hadn't put away the previous day. The empty toothbrush slot, the missing pillow in the bed; no matter where I looked I saw evidence of where Linda and Lori weren't.

I wandered back out to the living room and plopped into the easy chair, devastated. Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I'd assumed that Linda was more than a passing fling. Now I felt like I'd been kicked in the balls.