2: The passion flower.
The bus pulled in to the college stop and I gathered my things together to get off and head in for the first lesson of the week. It was Monday and the first hint of Autumn was in the air.
Despite the bustle of students around me going about their daily routine, I was in a world of my own. Everything seemed different somehow. Everything was different. As if I had stepped through a door into a much larger existence. I stopped, closed my eyes and breathed deep of the September air.
I opened them to find Sally standing at the college gates waiting for me. She just gave me a look as I came and stood before her. I pursed my lips trying not to grin like a loon. Her smile widened into a pearly white grin as she gave me a huge hug and slipped her arm through mine as we walked together into the building.
*
As we made our way along the corridor to the classroom, I suddenly hesitated as a wave of self doubt washed over me. Sally turned to me wondering if something was wrong.
"I'm alright," I reassured her. "I just. Would you? Can you see if he's already there?" I asked her weakly.
She gave my arm a squeeze and skipped away as I stood watching and waiting nervously. My heart was beating so fast in my chest and thundering in my ears. What was I going to say to him? What would he say to me? Do I give him a hug? A peck on the cheek? A proper "oh my god, I want to eat you alive!" kiss? In class? In front of everyone? Maybe I should just smile. Or ignore him. Oh, good grief. I looked at Sally who gave me a thumbs up. Oh hell, here we go.
I entered class walking like I had lead in my boots and was blushing like no tomorrow. As I got to the bottom of the steps, life sort of went into slow motion as I came to a stop. Instinctively, my attention was drawn to where he was sitting. He was staring at me. His blue green eyes fixed brazenly on me as I slowly climbed one stair at a time. I couldn't look away and everything around us just faded away into nothingness.
I stopped two steps below where he sat. He was still staring at me and now that I was closer to him I could see that the same thoughts of our first encounter were on his mind too. What to say? What to do? It felt like I was drowning as we continued to stare at each other for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a minute or so. Oh, you sweet man. The taker of my virginity. With that deliciously large appendage of yours. The ache was still there. I could feel it. A dull throbbing in the depths of my sex. For me, there was nothing to say. The love in my eyes said it all.
He suddenly got to his feet and I took a step back and down in surprise. There was something in the way he was looking at me that made me shiver with unease. Uh oh. What was he going to do? I had slipped off my back pack and held it nervously in front of me as he stepped out of his row and slowly came down to stand in front of me.
Class was filling up. Most everyone had taken their seats and Miss Elsender was at her desk looking busy.
Then he came to me and I gasped out loud as he drew me to him and placed his lips on mine in a long deep kiss that had me bending back over his arm which held me tightly to him. I had no idea how long the kiss lasted as he finally released me from its thrall. My eyes were closed as I swayed back and forth as I dropped my bag at my feet in shock. Unknown to me, he had taken the opportunity to slip something in my pocket.
"Hey you." he smiled as I stood there completely befuddled.
Whu.. what? Did he just do that? Whatever happened to the shrinking violet? The shy guy who wouldn't say boo to a goose? It was then the dream faded and I suddenly realized that everyone EVERYONE was staring at me in total silence. I reached up and pressed my fingers to my lips. Oh. Uh. Okay.
Thank God for Sally.
She skipped forward, picked up my bag and dragged me to our seats giving Rick a "what the hell was that?" grin. She helped me out of my coat as my head still buzzed loudly like it was full of punch drunk bee's. Everyone was still staring until teacher called for attention. I still felt like I'd been hit with the stupid hammer. Slowly, I came to my senses.
I twisted in my seat to look up at Rick. He was pretending everything was normal but I could tell he was trying hard to keep a straight face. He was probably more surprised than me that he had done something like that. He glanced down at me and gave me a naughty smile looking like a ten year old who'd been caught doing something he shouldn't.
I just stared at him like he had lost his mind and said - much too loudly - "WHAT?!"
*
I sat and steamed all lesson. Three whole flipping hours of it. What made it worse was Sally who sat beside me full of the joys of Spring and much amused at my reaction.
"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning in so we were touching shoulders. "That was sweet and awesome. The looks on everyone's faces!" she grinned.
Debbie on her left nodded enthusiastically.
I took a deep breath. "Listen. Look, I mean, okay, it was nice. But not here. Not in front of the whole class!"
Sally sat chewing her gum occasionally looking up at Rick who was doing whatever it was he was doing. She turned her attention back to me and I could tell what was going through her mind. "What was it like?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Debbie looked puzzled for a second until the penny dropped and her mouth fell open in surprise. Oh good grief.
I turned pink and started twiddling my pen around my fingers. "Nice," I mumbled. "It was nice." NICE? It had been WAY more than nice. I was still feeling him more than twenty four hours later.
Sally just smiled and gave my hand a squeeze. "Alright, we can take a hint." She looked over at the girl sat to her left. "We'll have to get her drunk and tickle it out of her." Debbie giggled and nodded.
"Ladies." said Miss Elsender who was sat at her desk looking up at us gossiping. "Plenty of time for chat later. Back to work if you please. Oh, and Miss Hanson," she added. "A word at the end of the lesson."
It was almost a relief to get back stuck into Macbeth.
Almost.
*
The noon bell rang and class evacuated en mass as I packed my things away and went down to see what the teacher wanted. Turned out it was something to do with my registration that needed to be verified. No big deal. Behind me, Sally and Debbie were waiting in the corridor. I looked back to see Rick whisper something to Debbie before disappearing.
Once I was done with Miss Elsender, I went out to meet my friends. I glanced down the corridor and tilted my head at Debbie.