Taught: A City's Secrets Novella (2 page)

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L
iving with my best friend made college easy. We’d been friends for as long as I could remember, and when it came time to choose where we were going to college, the decision was easy when we both found out that we got into Temple. We lived together ever since, and never looked back.

Lane was crazy in the sort of way that made you want to be around her. She was outgoing, beautiful, and fun. Boys flocked to her like seagulls on a hotdog, and that suited me perfectly. She was thin and brunette, with deep brown eyes and tan skin, the kind of girl you saw modeling swimsuits. She was a long distance runner in high school, and although she stopped running competitively, she still kept her training up. That meant her body was fantastic, muscled but still full in all the right places. I wasn’t really jealous of the attention she got since I was never really that into meeting guys. In fact, if anything, she pulled all their attention away from me, and that worked out perfectly. I was studying pre-med and my only goal was to get into graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. That way, when graduation rolled around, Lane and I could still live together in the city. It helped that Penn was a fantastic school, too.

After my shift that night, I walked into my apartment to find Lane sitting on the couch with Dillon watching some awful reality TV show about child dancers. Lane met Dillon our freshman year in the dorms, and he became part of our little group ever since.

“Sup Emma,” Dillon said.

“Hey guys,” I replied. Lane gave me a big wave. I dropped my bag by the kitchen table then went over and flopped down between them. Dillon snuggled up against my arm.

“What’s this crap?” I asked.

“It’s called Dance Moms, and it’s all about these wacko ladies teaching little girls to dance way too sexy,” Lane said.

I laughed. “So why are you guys watching?”

“Uh, it’s hilarious and those little girls are fabulous and Lane doesn’t know anything,” Dillon said.

I laughed but didn’t say anything, knowing better than to get involved in a dispute between Lane and Dillon. They were both fantastic, but they could also be the bitchiest people alive for the pettiest reasons. I wasn’t in the mood for an hour of sideways sniping at each other.

“How was your shift?” Lane asked.

I didn’t reply right away. I realized I had been thinking about the guy from the sorting room for most of the night, and was annoyed that he had crawled into my brain. The way he stared at me was both creepy and exciting, and his taste in books was pretty good. It didn’t hurt that he was attractive, too. I still wasn’t interested in anything, but he was the first guy I had met since coming to college two years ago that I was even remotely interested in, and I had no clue why.

“It was pretty good,” I said.

“Pretty good? Usually it was ‘awful’ or ‘terrible’ or ‘boring as hell,’” Lane said, perking up. “What happened?”

“You meet some hogtie in the stacks?” Dillon asked.

“No, I didn’t meet any guys,” I said, too defensively.

Lane jumped all over that. “You did meet someone cute, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t meet anyone,” I said, lamely. I knew it was too late. Dillon and Lane sensed my hesitation like a drop of blood in water and, like the insane social sharks they both were, they would ruthlessly hunt me down until I spilled my secrets.

“Don’t even pretend,” Dillon said, sitting up as well.

“Spill it,” Lane said.

“Guys, it’s seriously nothing.”

Lane stared at me, her face a mask of anger. “How dare you say it’s nothing? How dare you?”

Dillon jumped in immediately. “You’re tearing this family apart, Emma.”

“You’re never interested in guys, and the one time you find a cute one, you won’t even talk about it?” Lane was a pro at playing the fake-martyr. I knew I was in way over my head.

“Fine, alright, I met a guy. Well, I yelled at a guy.”

“Oooh, yelled how? Like, ‘stop talking this is a library, now get in my pants’ kind of yelling?” Dillon asked. He was the least subtle person I had ever met.

“Yeah Dillon, I basically forced myself on him.”

Lane laughed. “Seriously, who was it? What did he look like? Tell us everything.”

I shrugged. “It was just a guy. Probably a grad student. He was reading in one of the staff only sorting rooms, and I asked him to leave.”

Dillon groaned. “Seriously, you asked him to leave? You’re such a rule follower.”

“I let him stay, though,” I said. “I don’t follow every rule.”

“That’s right, you totally don’t,” Lane said, sarcastic.

“Hey, you guys want to hear more?”

“Yes please!” Dillon said. “We’ll be good, just go on, you sexy librarian.”

I sighed and ignored Dillon’s comment. I had to give them the full dish or else that was all I’d hear all night. “Anyway, he was weird, stared at me when I first came in. Basically eye fucked me, I guess. I asked him to leave, and he was about to, but then I saw he was reading one of my favorite books. He was kinda cute, so I don’t know, I let him stay.”

They stared at me after I was done talking as if they were waiting for more. I gave them a little smile and a shrug, and hoped we could drop it.

“That’s it? What did he look like?”

“Cute. Brown hair.”

Dillon let out a deep, fake sigh. “You are the worst person in the entire world at describing people. Seriously, Emma, I am appalled.”

“Yeah, I have to admit I’m with Dillon on this. Truly horrendous.”

I laughed. They were always pretending like they were on opposing sides of some war, and for the most part they were, but really I knew they liked ganging up on me more than anything else.

“What do you want me to say? He was wearing a button down shirt and khakis. He was attractive or whatever. And he had good taste in books. He was reading
Dhalgren
and that’s like my favorite.” I shrugged again.

“Typical of you to be more detailed about his reading selection than about his bod,” Lane said.

“So what happened, did he ask you out or something?” Dillon asked.

“Nope, I let him stay in the room, then I left. I’ll probably never see him again. End of story.”

Lane and Dillon both let out huge fake groans and leaned back into the couch.

“This is worse than the time Dillon had a thing for that straight dude in his Psych class.”

“Hey, I totally got vibes from him. Plus, his ass was fantastic,” Dillon said, grinning. “I would have changed his mind about dick.”

Lane fake-gagged and I laughed, then they started bickering about Dillon’s ability to turn straight men. I was glad that the conversation had moved away from me. As they began to dissect the poor straight dude’s butt in detail, I drifted off into my own thoughts. I wondered why I had never seen that guy before, since he so clearly was a big reader. I usually worked the third floor, but had a guess that he stuck to the second for some reason. That was good; it meant I’d probably never have to see him again. I’d never have to spend another minute wondering who he was, what else he liked to read, where he was from, all that boring, relationship stuff.

Eventually, the topic switched from Dillon’s straight crush to another reality show I’d never heard of, and I used that as an excuse to retreat back to my bedroom. I switched on the light and changed into more comfortable clothes before putting on an old Miles Davis record that my dad gave me. As the sound of his trumpet oozed from the speakers, I opened my biology textbook and tried to study, ignoring the thoughts about the guy from the library that kept popping up to break my concentration.

I
t was late, and the campus felt empty. The streets always thinned out about an hour after dinnertime on the weekdays; most undergrads were either eating late, or they were in their dorms studying like the good students they were. Or they were at the bar drinking under age, either way, they weren’t out along the bike paths as I walked toward the library. The night was cool and comfortable, and I liked the solitude. The lunch trucks were closed or closing for the night, but the library was still brightly lit. I thought I had at least an hour before they kicked me out, so I showed my I.D. to the security guard and climbed the main staircase up to the second floor. I noticed the elevators weren’t working, although I wouldn’t have taken them anyway.

It had been a week since I last saw that girl, though I hadn’t gone searching for her. I had this recurring fantasy that involved intricate flexibility and those return carts the staff always had. As I walked, the stacks were empty save for a few scattered kids deep in books. I had to admit, Temple students weren’t all cliché college bros, drinking lots of beers and acting like idiots. For the most part, they were smart and studious, and I got along with most of them. There were some jerks, but there always would be.

I slipped through the rows of books and found
Dhalgren
again. I pulled it from its place and carried it back toward my usual spot, the cubby toward the back of the floor. I couldn’t believe I never noticed the little “Staff Only” sign, but nobody had ever bothered me before that girl, so I guessed it didn’t really matter either way. I opened the door and set myself up at the table again, part of me hoping that she would show up. As much as I hadn’t wanted to, I spent all that week thinking about her. There was something about her, something that made her stand out from all the other students I dealt with every day. She was serious, or maybe it was how hot she was. I had to remind myself over and over that I needed to be careful. It wasn’t technically wrong for me to date her, since she wasn’t my direct student, and I was only a few years older than she was, but dating a student of any kind was definitely frowned upon. Plus, it wasn’t exactly dating that I wanted to do with her. I was still too new to teaching to do anything to mess up my position, especially considering it was the first job I felt really good about in a long time. I kicked my feet up on a chair and opened the old, cracking spine. I found the spot I last left off and fell into the world: no more pretty girls, no more teaching stress, no more self. There was only the story.

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but the next thing I knew, there was a loud knock at the door. I nearly jumped out of my chair as I looked up and saw her: the same girl, the same annoyed expression, staring in at me.

I got up, shut the book, and opened the door. “Hey there,” I said, grinning like an idiot. I realized I was excited to see her and had to will myself to calm down.

“Library’s closed. You should have left like a half hour ago,” she said.

Shit. Was for she real? I checked my watch and sure enough, I had fallen so deep into my reading that I hadn’t noticed the time.

“I’m sorry, I got distracted,” I said, holding up the book. Her eyes narrowed.

“You’re a fan of Delaney?”

I shrugged, looking at the cover. “I guess. I’ve only read this one, but I really like it so far.”

“
Dhalgren
is one of my favorite books.”

“Seriously? It’s a pretty weird sci-fi novel.”

She looked pretty annoyed at that. “What do you mean, seriously? Yes, I like that book.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She cracked a small smile and shrugged. “It’s fine. But you still have to leave.”

I nodded and walked out of the room. She stepped aside for me to pass by, and I felt a thrill at being so close to her. It was a strange feeling, entirely out of my control, like my body knew what it wanted before I did.

“What’s your name, by the way?” she asked.

I stopped and looked back at her. She was wearing tight black jeans and a white, button down shirt. Her glasses topped off the cute but seriously nerdy look. She had a sexy librarian thing going on, her thin cotton shirt barely holding back her full breasts, and I wanted to tear the buttons from their holes and let her skin spill out.

“I’m Jim. What’s yours?”

“Emma. Are you a grad student, or what?”

I laughed. “No, I’m an adjunct in the music department.”

She grabbed her book cart and started to walk. I took a few steps and matched her pace. “So you teach music?” she asked.

“Yeah, music theory. What year are you?” I said.

“I’m a Junior, studying pre-med.”

“Going to be a doctor one day?”

“That’s pretty much the goal.”

“Impressive, that’s a tough major. You must be smart.”

She laughed. “I guess. I could be an idiot you know, get terrible grades and stuff. Anyone can study to become a doctor.”

I grinned. “That’s true, but something about you says you’re a good student.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s the glasses, isn’t it?”

“Yep, it’s the glasses. Makes you look very studious,” I said, teasing. I suddenly realized I was flirting with her, despite having told myself not an hour or two ago that I’d never do anything to jeopardize my position at the school.

“Maybe you’re right then,” she said.

We walked a bit further in silence until we came to the end of the stacks. We lingered there over her empty cart for another second.

“So, I need to drop this cart off, then I’ll walk you out.”

“You don’t need to, it’s no big deal.”

She shrugged. “Okay. The elevators aren’t working right now, so you have to take the stairs.”

There was another short silence. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew I should. What I really wanted to do was take her into an empty study room and learn every inch of her skin. We both lingered for an awkward moment.

“Okay then. Have a good night,” I said.

“Yeah, you too,” she said. Her face was deadpan and I wondered if she was annoyed that I was using that room again. She hadn’t said anything about it, though.

I walked off without looking back, and pushed through the first stairwell I came to. The image of her face peering at me through her glasses wouldn’t get out of my head. I walked down the steps at a near jog, trying to outrun my mind’s obsessive need to think about every inch of her. I bet she looked incredible, her auburn hair spilling around her bare shoulders as she slipped my cock between her lips. I shivered, feeling my cock stir again. What was wrong with me? I had to relax. I hit the bottom of the stairs, realizing I was in an unfamiliar spot, and tried to push through the door.