AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grab my phone.
Me: Wanna come over and catch up? Made a casserole and saw your car in the driveway.
I haven't seen Jaden in almost six months, but he’s one of my good friends. He works in corporate funding so he’s always traveling. Jaden is the one person that I can talk to about this situation who I can trust not to run their mouths.
Jaden: Be over in ten.
He has been telling me to get back out there, but I didn’t feel like I was ready, until meeting Leslie. She is just so down to earth, and anyone that can sit down and discuss literature with me for multiple hours in a winner in my book. Someone like that is extremely hard to find. And yet, here I am, unable to see her because of my profession.
Jaden is the one that talked me into trying out these newfound dating apps, and honestly, I’ll never do it again. Some people might like the blind date thing, but not me. Finding happiness with someone isn’t going to be easy, especially a second go around, but I won’t sabotage myself either.
There is a knock at the door, and then it opens and closes.
“Hey, man. Been a while.”
Jaden only lives a couple blocks away and knows to just walk in. Hell, he’s been coming over here for over a decade.
He follows me into the kitchen and makes himself a plate. It’s my wife’s recipe. She was the one who cooked meals normally, but some of it rubbed off on me.
After dishing our food, we head out into the living room, and I put on the History Channel for background noise. I don’t plan on watching the documentary, but hate when it’s quiet.
“So, how are things going with you and Evelyn? Is she still traveling with you?”
Jaden and his wife almost got a divorce last year. She was sick and tired of being home by herself all the time. He offered for her to come on his trips with him, and they have been doing that ever since. This eases her mind because she knows what he’s doing. For some reason, she thought he was seeing someone else, but Jaden is the most loyal man I know.
“Better than ever. We are going to renew our vows next year. It’ll be our ten year anniversary. She wants to do something special, so I’m going to surprise her.”
One thing I know about Evelyn. She doesn’t normally take to surprises very well. One year he threw her a birthday party, and when everyone popped out and screamed happy birthday, she thought she was having a heart attack. Maybe he should rethink that.
Jaden asks how I’ve been, and I try to mosey around the subject at first. Give him the rundown on the university changes, and the tenure situation, but then he asks if I’ve been seeing anyone. I hesitate and he puts down his plate.
“Listen here, don’t hold back on me. You know I’m rooting for you to find love again. What’s going on?”
How do you tell someone that you slept with a student, but even after knowing the consequences, somehow you want to go against all of that and do it again anyway? I’m a fool. I can’t give up everything I’ve worked for.
“So, I met a girl last night. We talked about Agatha Christie, discussed our favorite books, and she came back to my place.”
“Look at you. That’s great. How did it go?” he asks, picking up his plate and taking another bite.
“Well it went great, until today when I found out we can’t see each other again.”
“Why is that? Please tell me you aren’t pushing this girl away. She sounds like your type. So, what is it?”
I pop my fingers and look down at the floor. “Turns out she is one of my students. Obviously, I didn’t know that last night, and neither did she. So, we can’t see each other again.”
He drops his fork on the plate, and starts laughing. Like uncontrollably.
“Wait, you’re serious?” His eyes lock on mine as I nod. “I thought you were kidding. She’s not like nineteen, right?”
I knock his shoulder. “I’m not a fucking cradle robber, J. She’s in her thirties. I would never sleep with someone that young and you know it.”
Sure, I could have deterred from telling him she was a student, but I knew some sound advice. And J is the only person I trust.
“Hell, if she is grown, I don’t see the problem. Unless you think she might use this to blackmail you or something?”
Leslie doesn’t seem like the type that would ever do something like that. Matter of fact, she seems to really need to pass this semester. No way she is one of those girls that uses sex to get better grades. Especially, since she didn’t know I was her professor when we met.
“No, not her.”
