University Blues Ch. 02

- You get off on the strangest things, he told her.

- Not so strange when you're a voyeur like me. Plus, I like teasing people. It's a game.

Tom, slowly recovering from the sheer excitement, cooled to a lukewarm acceptance of the facts. He had just acted completely out-of-character, inappropriately, on the school grounds no less, and with one of his own students. There were so many ethical violations at play here. At least, she was 21 and consenting - driving the act, in fact - but it was still morally reprehensible.

And yet, he couldn't regret it.

- Dammit, Myriam. Fine. What happens now? You know you got me hooked.

- Hey, Tom. Don't pretend you don't want this.

- I'm not, believe me. But... look. If we're gonna do something like this, there have to be some ground rules. Like - not in school. Seriously.

- Rules? she replied. I can deal with that. Tell you what. You come up with yours, I'll work with mine, and we can put them together.

Since it was obvious this play between them wasn't bound to stop, it made sense to delineate a setting around this 'game' as she called it. The small room now smelled of sex: if Dana came in, even after they had dressed and Myriam was gone, she would be suspicious. Tom put his penis back into his pants and went to open the window to get some fresh air in. He turned back to find Myriam leaning against the door of the office, her back and behind raised to him.

- What are you doing?

- Take a picture.

- Are you for real?

- Take a picture of my butt and back. No head. Please.

- You're not going to use this to blackmail me, right?

Myriam could understand his reservations, but she had no such intention. She needed to convey it plainly.

- That way, she said, you have something on me too. Makes it fair game.

- I don't want to hold anything over you, he replied.

- Just take the damned picture!

Without thinking and following her command, he picked up his cellphone, activated the camera app, framed it so her head wouldn't be included in the shot and took a few pictures. As he put his phone away, she started covering herself again.

- Thank you, she said.

- For what? For taking the picture.

- No silly. For taking a chance.

- Look, are you looking to... date me or something?

She didn't want to laugh but she did. It made Tom uneasy. Immediately, she felt bad for her reaction but she couldn't help it.

- Oh. No. Don't think that, Tom, please. It's a game. I'm not looking for a boyfriend or a relationship. It's just two consenting adults playing out adult fantasies.

- Okay. I can live with that.

- Good.

There was an awkward moment. He didn't know if they should shake on it, kiss, or anything else. She just smiled at him, obviously in less emotional turmoil than he was.

- Really though, thanks Tom. It means a lot to me that you trust me enough. I swear I won't get us in trouble.

- From now on, nothing happens at school. Understood.

- Yes. But we should trade phone numbers.

They did, and then Myriam left rather abruptly. He watched her turn a corner into the staircase and crawled back into his office. Tom crumpled into his chair, wondering how the hell he had allowed himself to get involved in this – and what else she would throw at him once they'd settled on the rules of their 'game'.

The rest of the day slipped by absent-mindedly. It wasn't until Dana returned, around 1:30pm, that Tom zoned back in. By then, the smell had thankfully gone away, though a crumpled mass of stained tissues rested in the wastebasket, a reminder of the reality of Tom's plight.

- Tom. Are you okay?

- Oh. Yeah. Sure.

- Still on for coffee?

- Yep. Now?

- It's a little earlier but I'm ready.

- All right. Let's go.

Tom was glad to be out of the office. How could he work there peacefully now that this had transpired? He would constantly revisit that scene every time he came in. As he picked up his phone to leave, he was also reminded of the nude pictures on there. He was tempted to delete them, but it might hurt Myriam's feelings.

Dana and Tom sat down at a café twenty minutes later. Tom realized he hadn't eaten at all. Dana was in the same scenario, so they ordered food as well as coffee.

- So, you seem distracted, Dana spoke up. How'd your first class go?

- Swell. Nothing to say, really. All good.

He didn't like being evasive. Mostly, his answer felt clumsy. It wasn't like him, but what else could he say? Dana would never understand and she would have to report him.

- Great, she replied, oblivious to his internal struggle.

They waited around for their sandwiches, chatting up minor items of conversation first, before turning to the reason why they had agreed to coffee in the first place. Tom didn't have to press the issue - then again, he wouldn't have thought of it in his current state of mind. But Dana needed to share – perhaps overshare, in fact.

- It's a funny thing with Randy, Dana confessed. I don't really love him anymore but I miss him. Like, his physical presence, you know?

- I think I do.

- When you're in a relationship for so long - gosh, eleven years!

Tears began to form in the corner of her eye but she wiped them away.

- Eleven fucking wasted years.

- Hey. You're better than him.

- No contest there, she sneered. But you know... I've been sleeping alone for a while now. We had separate beds in the past few months. You know, we tried having sex a few times but...

The intimacy of potential upcoming details unsettled Tom - especially given his current situation with Myriam. Still, he wasn't about to tell Dana to stop. She needed to vent and share herself. Tom took his own discomfort in stride.

- You know, she continued, it's so weird how one can go from wanting someone pressed against their skin and the next, you can't stand their smell. What the hell happened? How did we fall out of love?

- I honestly can't tell you. I can only tell you that it's probably nothing you did, because I can't see what would drive someone away from you.

The compliment was meant to be sincere - it sounded more like a come-on to Tom but Dana thankfully didn't hear it that way.

- I mean, I'm not perfect, but I tried. I really did. At some point, I even started to get into things he liked, you know - just because I wanted more out of him.

The curiosity which was assaulting Tom as to what she meant threatened to spill out, but he kept his mouth shut. He was here to listen, not to control the conversation to what he wanted to hear. But a hint of arousal - with lingering memories of Myriam sliding in and out of awareness - was definitely there, and it made Tom feel guilty.

- You know, the therapist, he told us we needed to be more frank with each other, so we were. It led to some nasty conversations though. We said a lot of hurtful stuff.

She paused, reminiscing. Tom carefully chimed in.

- What was said, if I can ask that.

- He said I wasn't adventurous, for one thing. That I didn't want to take chances. You know, in life, in general... with sex. Other stuff too. Maybe he's right but...

Suddenly, Dana looked up, perhaps finally noticing that Tom wasn't his usual self.

- Is this bothering you? This isn't something we've ever talked about so I want to be sure I'm not imposing on you.

- You're not, Tom lied in order to appease her worries. Anything you need to tell me. I won't judge.

- I know you won't but... all right. Thanks Tom.

The second woman to thank me today, Tom thought to himself. He nodded politely. She lowered her voice because of the content she was about to reveal.

- In the last year, I really tried to spice it up with him. That was our therapist's recommendation. I bought adult toys so I could put on a show for him. I'd play adult videos while we were having sex. We had bondage play, role-playing where he pretended to be a thief... God! I even let him put it up my... you know... ass.

- Well, Tom said as plainly as he could so as not to betray how turned on he was, you can't say you haven't been adventurous.

- God! I even let him fuck another woman in front of me. And... then he goes and dumps me and...

Tom's erection was back and he hated himself for it. Dana was beautiful, smart and witty - and now, Tom also knew she could be kinky. It was still best to ignore it all, but Tom could now visualize his department mentor seated in a loveseat, watching her husband having sex with another woman in their bed - only in Tom's vision, it was Dana watching him having sex with Myriam.

Tom swallowed reflexively, shaking the image from his mind. They definitely needed to change the subject. Luckily, Dana did.

- And of course, there's David.

As she ranted about the impacts of their impending separation on her son, Tom was able to recover most of his wits as the excitement in his brain and between his legs dwindled down. All in all, the two of them spent about two hours chatting, way past finishing their meals. The ease at which they communicated surprised Tom at first, but he reminded himself how smart Dana really was and how amazing it felt to chat with someone whose brains matched their beauty.

- Tom, I don't know how to thank you, she finally said at the end of their exchange. You have been one heck of a listener.

- Well, it's easy when you care about someone.

The sentiment, shared, made Dana smile. As they paid for their meals and drinks, then walked out of the café, they parted with a strong hug - the first one they had ever shared. It was the first time they had hung out as anything else than colleagues. They were now friends of a sort. That much was obvious. The thought made Tom happy.

- I'll see you back at school, Dana said.

- Take care. And I'm just a phone call away.

Tom quickly headed home. The first thing he did was to upload the picture onto his hard drive and erase it from his phone. He didn't want to be carrying it around needlessly, and his hard drive was potentially more private.

Uncharacteristically, Tom drew himself a bath and waded in it for almost thirty minutes. He needed time to cool off from the emotions brought on not just by his encounter with Myriam, but also by the sexual commentary from his colleague. He didn't masturbate - he just let the chill relax him. It worked for the most part.

When he got out, he checked his phone and found a text message from Myriam. At first, he was afraid of its content. She was liable to sext him in some way. As it turned out, the SMS was more formal than he had anticipated. It read over several posts as follows.

Myriam: RULES OF THE GAME

- No sexual activity on school grounds

- No further pictures/videos of participants to be shot

- Game will not trigger until both parties agree to it; this means game is not ongoing outside of game running time, and game can be interrupted by one player at any time

- Female player is game leader; she will direct the play as she wants

- Male player will follow leader's ideas

- Male player may make suggestions of plays, but final say belongs to leader

- No player shall use the game as an excuse to lord/blackmail the other players for favors

DO YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS?

DO YOU WISH TO AMEND ANY OF THEM?

Reading these rules made Tom smile. Myriam was serious about it. She clearly wanted to be in control. Perhaps that was how she liked it. These rules made sense to Tom and he could see himself abiding with them. He replied.

Tom: No suggestions at this time, but the rules need to remain open for revision if needed.

Myriam: Agreed. Let the games begin.

The answer was almost instantaneous.

- Well, Tom, looks like you just got drafted, he told himself. I hope I don't live to regret it.

Given Myriam's attitude, it didn't seem likely. Truth of the matter, Tom was lonely, and Myriam, though she didn't want a relationship, did want to spend 'fun' time with him. So what if it were sexual in nature? It had been so long since Tom had enjoyed some female company. Why shouldn't he indulge in it, especially if the young woman in question didn't expect anything but the game from it, and it was all consensual?

- I can live with this, Tom spoke up, trying to convince himself so the impropriety of this arrangement would not dawn on him.

END CHAPTER 2