A few years after I graduated things were not working out for me. A teacher's life is not easy. There are many more demands than people think. There are many reports, tests, meetings and all sort of bureaucracy that takes a lot of time and patience. Teaching in the classroom is just a small part of what we do. The best part, for sure, but just the tip of the iceberg. Many people think that my job is simply to come to class and fill the board with exercises and forget that I need to study, prepare lessons and do endless paperwork. And I was doing this in two private schools at the same time. It had to be this way or I wouldn't be able to make ends meet.
I left home early and worked all day. At the time I was sharing an apartment with an engineer friend, Julie, in a sort of sorority. However, she received a job offer in a big company with good pay and had to have her own place. Unable to afford the rent on my own, I looked for a smaller place and found a spot downtown. It was a great building, with 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments on twenty floors. I took the smallest and cheapest one. It was more than enough for me.
I packed all my stuff in one afternoon and carried almost all of it to the new place in one day. All that I left behind were some boxes of books. So I went back to my old address and filled my nice eight years old Fiat 500 with novels and math textbooks. Without much thought, I stuffed everything into the car and, arriving at the garage, I put the books in an unordered box and got into the elevator.
The box was heavy and it was a struggle to press the "5" button on my floor. The elevator went up and stopped on the first floor. Someone got in and I didn't notice, lost in thoughts as I was.
"Carol?"
"Hey"
"Remember me, Carol? Joshua!"
"Yes, of course! Joshua!"
Joshua was his name. His nickname was Jordan...
For a second, I couldn't speak. My mind was processing too many memories at vertiginous speed. First, of course, I remembered that afternoon at Harper's house. I was being butt-fucked by Theo when Jordan, Joshua, came into the room with his girlfriend. I remember the fear of being caught being replaced by the excitement of being naked on a balcony with a cock deep in my ass while watching a woman give a blowjob in front of me. I remember Theo's cock throbbing inside me as he watched the girl sucking Joshua off with her pussy and ass facing us. I remembered how much I came from it all. But it wasn't just that afternoon that came to mind in that split second. How many times had I touched myself remembering that day? In particular, how many times had I wanted to be that girl, licking that beautiful big black cock? How many times had I taken my dildo and filled all my orifices, putting on an act that Joshua was there fucking me. Tearing me apart.
So, I blushed.
"How are you?"
"I'm doing fine. Working hard. I teach at two schools. "
"That's great!"
"It's really nice to see you! I see you've got a lot of books. Let me help you carry them."
"No problem!"
"I wouldn't mind! That must be heavy!"
It was. I had overestimated my strength and put too many books in that box. I agreed and handed the box to him.
We exchanged a few more words and he walked me back to my apartment.
"You can leave it there", I said, showing him the table in the living room.
I went to the kitchen to get him a glass of water and when I returned I saw that he was going through the books curiously and I paled. It turned out that I had several, shall we say, "hot" novels in that box. It was my hobby. There were, of course, some classics, but most of them were hot, with covers that left no doubt as to the content. Joshua, however, didn't seem to mind too much.
"You read a lot!"
I handed him the glass of water.
"I do. I like it a lot."
But I didn't give him a chance to see the other books in my collection and discreetly pushed them to the corner.
"You know, I live here. It's a nice building. Peaceful."
"Good. I need peace to work and prepare my classes. But right now I won't be able to stay here for long. I still don't have internet access and I can't prepare a lecture this way. The service provider has asked for at least a week to fifteen days to set up things. I'll have to come and go from school every day."
"But is the internet all you need?"
"Yes, it is."
"But you can use the internet at my place. I have a home office all set up."
"I don't know..."
"Carol, I insist. You were one of the gang in college. I remember you from college. I'd be happy to support you if you think it would help. I work most of the time from home, but the office is big and I swear I don't make too much noise!"
I thought for a moment and then he continued.
"Come on! It'll be good. I have air conditioning and an unlimited supply of Diet Coke and coffee. "
I won't lie to you that the naked pictures of him having sex with Riley didn't cross my mind again, but that wasn't what made me take the offer. To be honest: it was laziness. I didn't want to have to spend hours and hours at school, in a stuffy and noisy office, going back and forth in traffic to prepare for classes. Being in his home office would save me a lot of time and I would gain a lot of comfort. And, after all, what would be the problem? He seemed like a nice guy.
"Ah, so, if it's okay with you..."
The next day I met him, I went up to his apartment carrying some books and an old notebook. I rang the doorbell and he answered me with his usual smile!
"Carol! Welcome!"
When I walked into his apartment, I was amazed. It was nothing like mine. I was living in a rented studio apartment whose walls needed painting, all messed up. Joshua's apartment was a penthouse. A duplex with industrial style decoration, in shades of gray and wood and green touches. Everything was exactly where it should be. It was beautiful. He took me up to the second floor and there was a sort of grassy outdoor area with a hot tub, a dining table, and lounge chairs. The view was beautiful.
"Wow, your apartment is gorgeous!"
"I like it here. It gives me peace."
Soon he put me in his office on the second floor. It was a relatively large room, with a workstation for him with several monitors and a meeting table with six chairs in the center. Next to it was another table, unused, where he set me up.
Joshua did not lie: he was quiet, unobtrusive. We talked only at regular intervals, but at these moments he was extremely pleasant. We laughed a lot and had fun. Moreover, he had an excellent espresso machine.
He told me that after his graduation he had received a master's fellowship abroad. Even before he finished his master's he had received a job offer from an investment fund to work in the IT security sector. As I understood it, he was a kind of reverse hacker. He tried to predict the security flaws in the systems so that they could be fixed before they became problems. After a while, he became the head of the division. But then he got homesick and came back here.
Well, actually, the homesickness was more for Riley.
Joshua and Riley, the girl I had seen him having sex with, were together for a long time. He wanted her to go to England to live with him. She didn't want to. He got a home office and moved here. But, the relationship didn't work out. They kept going back and forth. Several times. He was clearly in love with her. Crazy for her.
But I found this out over time, not in a single morning. As we talked in the following days he would open up and tell me more about his life. Sometimes we talked only about books or movies. Then about our romantic disappointments.
One day I came to "my" desk in the office and there was a package. A box. I thought it was a book.
"How kind!", I thought.
But when I opened it, I saw that it was a laptop.
"What is this supposed to mean?"
"I've seen you struggling with this computer of yours and I thought this one might speed up your work."
"But... I can't accept..."
"Carol, relax. I love having you here and I'd be happy if you could take it. I get computers from the company, I don't spend a dime on them. This one should solve your problem."
And with that he called me in for coffee, as if the gift was no big deal. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it either, so I accepted it and took the coffee.
It was a nice gesture. Not because it was an expensive gift, but because it showed that he not only cared about me, but that he really enjoyed my company. And it was mutual. I was enjoying spending time with him.
In the end, I spent more time going there than I needed to. The internet was set up in my apartment, but I kept regularly spending some afternoons and mornings with Joshua. I enjoyed both the moments of silence and the conversations we had.