Author's note: This story runs concurrent to my other story, "Teacher's Pet". It would make more sense if you read that story in its entirety first before reading this story.
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The bell rang as Sarah was just finishing her explanation of the homework assignment. She raised her voice to be heard over the din of the students as they all began to gather their books and head to lunch.
"Don't forget, I want at least 500 words in your personal journals this weekend. Email me over the weekend before too late on Sunday and I promise I'll do my best to read and comment back to you before Monday..."
Sarah loved teaching English. Her favorite senior seminar, "Creative Writing" was off to a good start. It was a small class, only 14 students, mostly girls. This wasn't unexpected given the students had choice on their seminar, and everyone knew that this class required more writing then most, and you had to be willing to make stuff up. That part, Sarah knew was harder for many students because it took a certain amount of confidence to write stories and share ideas that were your own then it was to write an expository essay about Shakespeare.
The rest of her day was uneventful. A few sections of freshman English class. After school, Sarah took advantage of the school's new athletic facilities and worked up a good sweat. When Sarah got home, she discovered her apartment was devoid of food. At least nothing she wanted to eat. Her stomach growled in protest. At least she had showered and was presentable, she thought as she grabbed her keys and headed for the grocery store.
She worked her way through the store, but even as hungry as she felt, didn't find that much she felt like buying. She ended up picking up some ready-made foods and was just stocking up on some staples when someone almost ran into her with his shopping cart. It turned out to be another faculty member, Geoff. He was among the young faculty like herself, and she felt suddenly self-conscious when she realized who it was. She had always thought he was cute, but he taught in the math department, and somehow, she didn't see him much, and hadn't really gotten to know him.
She noticed he had a bottle of wine, and compared to her cart, a lot of food. She joked with him about the amount of food, and asked him if he had a hot date, pointing out the wine. She really did want to know. In fact, she was fishing for an invitation. Sarah tried to be as obvious as she thought was appropriate, but he was oddly flustered, and responded that he was stocking up since he didn't like to shop. To her fishing expedition, he wiggled out of any sort of specific response, "sure, well maybe we should organize a faculty party one of these days."
"Yes, sure, that would be nice," Sarah replied. She tried to sound enthusiastic, but she knew her disappointment was evident. "Well, I better get going. Don't want to keep you here all night since you don't like to shop anyway. Bye now. See you at school."
By the time Sarah returned home, she had fallen into a funk. She hadn't really realized until her meeting with Geoff at the store how lonely she was. There were only a few teachers her age, and being a teacher, it was easy to just bury herself into her work. As an English teacher, this was simple, just assign longer writing assignments. Everything the students wrote, she had to read.
She picked at a frozen dinner she had heated up in the microwave while channel surfing on the TV. Realizing that she was neither eating nor watching anything, she turned off the TV, wrapped up the dinner and stowed it in the fridge. Feeling a little blue, she figured she may as well just curl up in bed and do some reading.
As was her usual ritual, Sarah grabbed her laptop to check her email one last time. While sifting through the random junk emails looking for anything real, Sarah clicked on one message with a subject header, "Redefine yourself! 50% off Fall fashion sale!" She didn't even read it, but something about the subject got her thinking. She glanced at the clock on the screen, and quickly shut the laptop.
"Screw Geoff! I don't need him," she said to herself under her breath. Sarah stowed her laptop and headed for her bathroom, leaving a trail of clothes like bread crumbs. An hour later, Sarah had showered, shaved her legs, primped, and completely glammed up. She had put on make up and perfume, and was looking like she was preparing for a hot date as she stood in front of her closet in a skimpy matching black lacey thong and bra.
"Shit, what I am I going to wear? Hell, where am I going?" she asked herself outloud while internally scolding herself for her poor choice of words -- and she was an English teacher! For the past hour, all she knew was that she wasn't going to stay in, and that she was going out to find something. She pushed her work clothes to the side, and started digging into the clothing that she almost never wore. Things that were either out of fashion, or just not appropriate. After a few minutes of digging, she found a simple but altogether appropriate dress. It was what one might call "a little black dress". It was little, and it was black, and as soon as she saw it, she knew it was perfect.
One last look in the mirror, a quick touch up to her deep red lipstick, and she declared herself ready to hit the town. She dropped her lipstick into a small black purse along with a tiny vial of perfume, her house keys, ID, credit card and some cash. She paused momentarily as her mind took inventory. "God, who are you kidding Sarah, you won't need a condom!" she scoffed at herself, zipped the purse, and headed out the door. Her heels clicked seductively as she walked from her home just three blocks to a major boulevard where she knew she could catch a cab. She still didn't really know where she was headed, but she was exhilarated to be going out. She hailed a cab, and when he asked her where to, she simply replied, "Take me to the hottest club in town. I trust you know where to go?"
She saw him take a look at her in the rearview mirror, smile, and he nodded, "Yes, of course." In minutes the cab dropped her off downtown in the area of town that she knew had the clubs, but if you had asked her before which one was popular, she would not have had an answer. The air was alive with the sounds and smells youthful exuberance. The cabbie had pointed out one club in particular to her, "The Asylum". He said it was the hottest dance club in town. Judging from the line, he was right. She almost lost her nerve and got back into the cab when she noticed a handsome twenty-something giving her a once-over. Her adrenaline began to pump through her, "fuck it" she said to herself and again scolded herself internally "profanity is just a lack of vocabulary", and pushed out her chest, and sashayed toward the line. As she passed by the front of the line, she noted that the line was mostly men. They all looked at her appraisingly. The bouncer at the head of the line motioned to her, and she turned toward him. He unhooked the velvet rope, and waived her in.
"ID miss..." he asked.
"Of course," she answered, fishing it out of her purse and handing it to him. He glanced at it, and handed it back. As she was putting it back into her purse, she felt someone push up against her back.
"Are you sure you're in the right place?" the bouncer asked her giving her a questioning look. He clearly could tell she was out of her element. She hesitated, then an arm hooked her own, and the person that had bumped up behind her was leading her forward.
"Don't worry, Johnny, she's with me," a female voice said with confidence. Sarah wanted to object, but the voice was commanding, and Johnny was already stepping aside and smiling.
Sarah was led into the club by her new companion. The music was loud outside, but it was deafening inside. The bass beat was physical as it vibrated Sarah's entire body. She couldn't see her companion as she was a half step in front of her. She could only see that she was about her height, and had long black hair. She led Sarah right to the middle of the dance floor. Somehow, the sea of writhing, dancing people seemed to move around them allowing them to join the throng with a minimum of jostling. Then, her companion turned to face her, and she began to dance.
