The Tutor Pt 07 10

Part Seven

How had I lost track of time?

There was literally a clock on the oven. The kitchen may have been huge, but it was also an open design with plenty of visibility. All I had to do was look up from the various tasks Trixie gave me, and I could have seen how long we were taking to prepare lunch and prep for dinner. But I didn't. And now Trixie was telling me there was more to do.

"Sorry, Trixie," I said, deciding immediately to call it quits. An extra set of hands may be helpful, but she would have managed just fine if I had decided to turn down the tutoring opportunity and wasn't here today, "I need to continue my session with Annabelle."

"Ms. Moore, stay. Please." After the low key subservient way the young blonde girl spoke to Annabelle, she was surprisingly firm when speaking to me. "You said you would help me with the kitchen. That means cooking and cleaning. The job isn't done until the room is spotless."

If you're a stickler, sure. Personally, I tend to do the dishes a little while after making my meals. This didn't exactly line up with my lifestyle, however, so who was I to argue? "I know, but-"

"But nothing. How about this? Get started on the dishes while I take Ms. Annabelle her meal. I'll ask her if you may return upstairs instead of assisting me. Okay?"

"Trixie-"

"Dishes, Meredith. I'll be right back."

With a pointed drop of the prepared plate onto a silver tray, Trixie added a small salad bowl and a glass of sparkling ice water she had recently poured to the mix. Then she walked out of the kitchen without another word, tray in hand, leaving me speechless behind her.

What was happening?

Rather than treating me as a guest, the girl literally dressed as a maid was bossing me around. I'm pretty sure she and I were the same age, too. And yet, I felt powerless to do anything but reluctantly obey. I wasn't the biggest fan of confrontation, especially with people I barely knew, and something told me that following Trixie upstairs would result in something like that. Surely Annabelle didn't want her new tutor wasting this much time downstairs, but she also hadn't come to check on me. Was she too spoiled to bother? Or maybe she lost track of time as well. Or, more likely, she wanted a bit of her Saturday morning to herself if given the opportunity.

Regardless, there wasn't much I could do in the meantime. At least Trixie said she would ask Annabelle, and I'm pretty sure the teenage girl would suggest that I should return. There were plenty of people who could wash dishes, but only so many that could teach undergraduate-level mathematics.

Sighing, I trudged over to the sink and started running the water to warm it up. Even if I was heading upstairs in a minute, I could at least help Trixie a little. Better than just twiddling my thumbs. While I didn't appreciate the way she spoke to me, I could understand how stressful it could be to handle all the chores that came with a house this size.

Where to start? Trixie had only made lunch for Annabelle; a meal for one girl, and yet there were so many dirty dishes. I suppose we did some dinner prep as well, but still. Rather than coming up with a game plan like I might do at home with my more familiar kitchen, I simply grabbed the closest pan and began scrubbing. I actually don't mind dishes; it's one of those chores that can be cathartic if you allow it to be. But not when there's something more important to be doing with my time; Annabelle's time, too.

It took Trixie a little longer than I expected for her to simply deliver a meal and have a short conversation with Annabelle. From what I had seen so far, conversations between the two of them didn't last very long. But finally, a few minutes later, she returned. "Miss Annabelle said to stay down here until the kitchen is done," she said, right away, "Then you may resume your tutoring."

"Wait, what?" I asked. The moment I saw the girl arrive out of the corner of my eye, the plan was to finish washing the cutting board I was working on and then dry my hands. But, with Trixie coming to stand between me and the hand towels, that wasn't as simple any more.

"We're not done with the kitchen yet," she replied.

So what? Trixie is the maid; not me. "I'm only here for 45 more minutes," I said, a bit exasperated as I set the board aside, "This is a total waste of my time!"

"Meredith, it will go much more quickly if you stop complaining about it," Trixie said, "Now, will you please keep working on the dishes while I put everything else away?"

"No, I just said-"

"Now, Meredith."

My aversion to confrontation wasn't helping, nor was the girl's curt tone. I hadn't even noticed that she had switched from 'Ms. Moore' to my actual name, but it definitely snapped me to attention mid-conversation. But wasn't she listening? At this rate, Annabelle and I would barely have any time for actual teaching. "But-"

"Dishes, Meredith. You're wasting your own time at this point."

"Umm..." I trailed off, at a complete loss. You'd think a girl dressed like that wouldn't be intimidating, but I had no idea how to handle the abruptly bossy attitude. Relenting, with a small sigh, I turned back to the sink. "Okay."

Continuing to work on the barely halfway completed task, I picked up the salad bowl next. Once she saw that I was committed to the dishes, Trixie began working on everything else. Putting everything on the counters away, wiping down the counters, and eventually drying some of the dishes I had already washed.

All in all, it took a solid ten minutes together to make the kitchen spotless. It could have been twenty for Trixie, and I could have been with Annabelle, but no. Finally turning off the faucet and drying my hands off, I looked at the young maid with as stern a look as I could muster after subjecting myself to all that cleaning. "Are we done, now?" I asked.

Part Eight

Trixie didn't bat an eye at my annoyed glance, but also didn't try to press any more cleaning on me. From what I could tell, the kitchen was spotless, but I was half expecting her to notice some nitpicky thing we hadn't dealt with yet.

"That's everything, Ms. Moore. Thank you for the help."

"Great," I muttered. Without another word, I left the kitchen.

I actually wasn't sure if Trixie was the right target to vent my frustrations towards. She had been bossy, sure, but Annabelle also apparently said that I should keep cleaning instead of doing the job I was here for. And, of course, I was partly to blame for not standing up for myself and just walking away. Instead, I was my usual pushover self every step of the way.

The house was still intimidating in its size, but the layout was still straightforward. Now that I had been to Annabelle's wing once, it was easy to retrace my steps. Down the long corridor on the first floor, back up the wide stairs by the front door, and all the way to the last door that opened into the spoiled teenager's suite. I opened the door to her private living room without giving it a second thought, and immediately regretted doing so.

Annabelle was on a yoga mat, doing 'upward facing dog.' That would normally be fine, if not a little bit unexpected; except, in this case, the redhead was only half dressed. Her clothes were neatly folded in half over the back of the sofa, and Annabelle was only wearing a simple black bra and a matching thong. Since she was facing me, my eyes were immediately drawn to her cleavage, exaggerated from the yoga position. Since I was standing, I could also see over her shoulders to catch her mostly bare ass as well. Her body was as flawless undressed as it seemed when she was dressed, but it was also a body I should very much not be seeing without clothes.

I immediately averted my gaze, the rest of my body still frozen from the surprise. Thankfully, Annabelle's eyes were closed in the stretched out position, but opening the door and stepping into the room must have alerted her to my presence. Maybe she thought I was Trixie, coming upstairs to deliver a fresh drink or something; I could see how she wouldn't bat an eye when her young maid walked in on her like this.

Clearing my throat, still solidly staring out the window rather than at the half naked girl girl on the floor, I started with yet another unintentional, "Umm..."

"Oh. Meredith. You know, it's polite to knock."

Since I was making the effort to look away, I didn't even know if she had opened her eyes yet. However, she didn't seem particularly freaked out that it was me. Not in tone, at least; and there was no scrambling for clothes that I could see in my peripherals either. I guess there's no shame when you're confident and have a great body. "Sorry," I mumbled. She was right. Even if we were studying here before, it was still Annabelle's private space. I just hadn't thought of it that way, since it wasn't a bedroom. "I can wait outside, or something."

"Don't be silly," Annabelle said, "I'm almost done. In the meantime, do you want to look over my answers?"

Like, while she was still doing half dressed yoga?

In a matter of seconds, I had already lost all my steam. Between the kitchen and her suite, I was considering a mini lecture for the girl. About how I was here to tutor her, not to do Trixie's job. About how I didn't appreciate how presumptuous she was in terms of waving me off to help without even asking me about it first. The mental dots hadn't all been connected yet, but I still wanted to say something. If this was going to be more than one session, it was important to set boundaries.

But now, I was too thrown to even remember half the phrases that had formed on the way upstairs. "But, you're-" I began, not sure where to even start. Speaking of boundaries, this was a whole different issue than what I had been preparing myself for. She was eighteen, and we were both girls, but the fact that she still attended high school made me feel a bit unsettled. "Can you please get dressed?" I ask. Immediately realizing I sounded a bit more like a babysitter than the peer she treated me like earlier, I made sure to hastily add, "Or, I guess I can check your work downstairs?"

"Nonsense, Meredith. Everything's already set up in here," she said, "And I'll only be a few more minutes; promise. Does it really bother you that much?"

"Well," I said, then hesitated. Yes, it bothered me. I was already confused enough in terms of how attractive she was despite my straightness, and that was before everything else. The frustration of cooking and cleaning with Trixie. The surprise of walking in on Annabelle like this. Most recently, the addition of 'that much' to the question. I was stuck between looking super reserved, or having to stumble through an explanation of how it bothered me when talking to a girl who clearly felt totally fine with all this.

Ultimately, I decided not to fight it. Mostly because Annabelle was using the same logic she used when telling me to go off with Trixie, but reversed. It would take me a few minutes to go through the problem set she completed, so she was just keeping herself busy in the meantime. Using the most of her time, I guess.

Perhaps my body language would be enough for her to realize that this was all a bit awkward for me, or maybe I'd be more prepared to discuss it next time. "It's fine," I said. Still not looking at her; it felt a bit strange to talk to someone without making any eye contact, but I didn't want to risk another unintentional glance at her body while she was mid-stretch.

Which was going to be difficult. As I sat back down on the sofa, I realized that the table in front of me didn't hide Annabelle in the slightest. And she was directly in my line of sight.

Part Nine

I'm a straight girl.

Always have been. And not in a closed-minded way. I grew up in a progressive area, with open and accepting parents. Several of my old high school friends and current university friends are gay or bi, and it's never bothered me in the slightest. Like who you like, and let people like who they like; it's not that difficult of a concept. Sure, I've kissed a few girls for the stupid sleepover reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm actually into them. A cliché dare is still just a dare at the end of the day.

Until Annabelle.

I don't know what it was about her. I've seen attractive girls before, but anyone can recognize good looks within their own sex. Perfect face, perfect hair, perfect body. Youthful in her late teenage years, but mature in her expressions and body language. Confidence practically exuded from her, no matter what attitude or tone she was taking. I had already seen several facets of her personality within a single morning. But I had also seen all those features on all other girls throughout the years, often combined in similar ways. None of them had made me subconsciously question a thing or two about myself.

And here she was, in just a bra and thong. The simple black style of her undergarments didn't seem to match the expensive outfit that went over them, but what did I know? She could have paid plenty for the right fabric, the perfect fit, etc. Lord knows bras are a pain to get just right. Or maybe Annabelle just wasn't picky about her underwear when she was at home on a Saturday. Either way, the simplicity didn't detract from her beauty. The black paired well with her long red hair, and both red and black offered a contrast to her flawless fair skin.

Not that I was staring.

I was looking over Annabelle's work. The extensive problem set I had prepared for her, to see what the best tutoring approach would be. When choosing the problems, as well as creating some myself, I had started with calculus. Even though I was hired to prepare her for undergrad, it wouldn't hurt to help her shore up any weak spots in her current AP class. Plus a strong grasp on calculus would help her in future classes as well, considering that she would be taking a more advanced version of the subject next year. That's what I did when I started university.

Looking over Annabelle's work. Not constantly glancing over to the portrait view of the scantily clad girl. It's not even that I was actively checking her out. She was too young for me, and a private student of mine, and a girl. But she was also literally doing yoga in my peripherals, even when I managed to keep my gaze down on the sheet in front of me. Ultimately, I just had to keep telling myself that both nudity and movement would draw anyone's eyes. If someone walked into Annabelle's suite right now, man or woman, I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble keeping my eyes up if they were unexpectedly wearing next to nothing.

Back to mathematics.

Going into this session, I had no idea what to expect. Annabelle's mother told me that the girl was bright, but that could have just been a mother being a mother. Despite being told that I was hired to prepare her for undergrad classes, there was still a chance that she was a spoiled rich girl who didn't have a solid grasp on the basics. I already knew I was wrong about that particular assumption, based on the problems Annabelle completed before I went to help Trixie with the dishes. Annabelle had breezed through everything, leaving her to work on the last two thirds of the problems in my absence.

As for the rest of the problems, I was once again surprised to see just how well she did. Correct answers, again and again, until she made it to the last ten problems. It's not that I had prepared the girl to fail, but I also purposely complicated things as the problems progressed. Unless she had a tutor before me, or had worked her way through numerous mathematics textbooks on her own, there was no way she would be able to solve the higher level problems I had given her. And she didn't. But her efforts were still impressive. She had inferred quite a bit on her lonesome, despite not knowing the proper formulas, and had taken a stab at every problem rather than leaving anything blank. The last few were blatantly wrong, but at least she didn't leave them blank.

One thing was certain: I'd have to adjust my tutoring plan. Annabelle knew a lot more than I expected her to know. But since most of my time had been wasted on chores rather than teaching, I wouldn't have to improvise a lesson for very long. And, now that I was thinking about my work with Trixie again, there was also the question of whether or not I'd be coming back at all. It was good money, but this was also a lot more than I bargained for when hesitantly agreeing to the trial session. Not only the excessive time spent in the kitchen, but also the current situation where the redhead bombshell was carrying on with her stretches regardless of my discomfort.

Part Ten

Annabelle finished up her underwear-clad yoga just as I was marking a few things down on the last problem she had attempted.

It was almost perfect in how we synced up the ends of our separate activities, like she first suggested when idly continuing her stretches instead of joining me to look over her work. From her position on the floor, there was no way she could have known I was wrapping up as well, which meant she'd have even more grounds to feel validated in her earlier assumption that the timing would work out.

I had hoped that the girl would have a little more modesty afterwards, but she was clearly too confident in her body and her private suite to be bothered by such things. Instead of retrieving her clothes and getting dressed, Annabelle just walked over and plopped down next to me on the sofa. "Well? How'd I do?"

When she was doing yoga, I wasn't staring; she was just right in my line of vision. Now I was dealing with a similar problem. Her D cups bounced the slightest bit when she landed on the sofa, immediately drawing attention to her obvious cleavage between the bra cups. And, just below that, the matching thong left her thighs fully on display. It was a LOT of bare skin, and I had no idea how to carry on a normal conversation next to someone so scantily clad.

If this were a guy, I would have fled back to my car the moment I stepped back into the private living room. Maybe even called the cops on him for the uncalled for visual, especially when paired with such confidence. But this was different. Annabelle was a girl. Not only is the fairer sex a little more comfortable around each other in terms of locker rooms and such, but we also all have the same parts at the end of the day. This was very much not a locker room, of course, yet the redhead next to me was acting totally normal.

Maybe it was fine for her, but it was all still pretty awkward to me. "Umm, maybe you should get dressed first?" I suggested, albeit not in the most assertive way, "It will take a little while to go through all of these."

"That's fine; I don't mind," Annabelle said, "It's a little warm up here anyway."

Well, yeah. It was already pretty apparent that

she

didn't mind. "It's just," I began, wanting to choose my words carefully. Sure, the girl was crazy confident, but I still didn't want to risk somehow making her feel self conscious. But I already started talking, so I had to say something, "I mean, I'd be more comfortable. You know, tutoring you like normal?" As in, fully clothed.

"Oh." She glanced down at her mostly bare form, then back to me, "Are you, like, a lesbian or something?"

What?! "NO." I quickly blurted out. I could feel the heat rushing to my face, both from the unexpected question and from my knee-jerk reaction to it. There's nothing wrong with liking girls, but the word 'lesbian' is just so sexualized compared to 'gay.' Especially when suggested out of the blue like that. "No, I'm not," I added, more calmly than before.

Annabelle didn't seem particularly bothered or taken aback by my reaction. "Really? Then what's the problem?" she asked, "I've been like this ever since you got back, and it's been fine. Hasn't it?"