"Why didn't you warn me?!" I yelled into the phone as I pulled away from the hotel.

Ava laughed, "I snuck to the restroom just to have this conversation. It was good huh?"

Good? More like great, perfect, exquisite.

"Good is not the word. But I'm talking about why didn't you warn me about that other stuff he liked."

"Because he said he wouldn't do it." She responded as a anger seeped into her voice, "You should've told him to get the fuck away from you."

I frowned as I came to a stoplight, "It wasn't that bad. I just wasn't expecting him to ask me to call him that."

"Call him what?"

"Mas- Girl you know what I'm talking about." Now that I wasn't in the moment anymore, I couldn't bring myself to repeat the word.

"Ohhhh. I thought he did something else. Bye Ky because that's not shit."

Maybe not to her, but it was a lot to me. I generally pick what kind of sex I'd like to have, and it's never extreme.

I can do rough, but I didn't wanna do what that type of sex entails. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but from what I've heard, no thanks.

"Oh that's not why I called you." I said, "Why was that my english professor?"

"The one you hate?"

"The one I used to hate." I replied with a laugh.

I turned down the volume as her laugh resonated throughout the car, "Oh my God. Shit like this only happens to you."

It's true. I'm always in the most awkward and messed up situations.

"Kyser, why would you still fuck him?"

I shrugged as if she could see me, "I don't know. It just happened."

"Wowww. They're literally tears running down my face." She continued to laugh.

"It's not funny." I chuckled.

For some reason, I didn't feel embarrassed right now. I'm sure it'd hit me when I had to see him at school Tuesday.

I took comfort in knowing that even though I was the one selling, he was the one buying.

A business transaction.

"We'll talk later." Ava spoke, interrupting my train of thought, "I have to go back to hell."

After agreeing to call her tomorrow, I hung up and continued home.

• • •

I woke up the next morning feeling as if someone was in my room.

When I rolled over, I saw Paisley going through my dresser looking for something.

"Can I help you?" I snapped.

Taken by surprise, she jumped and turned to look at me with a face full of guilt, "I was looking for... a pair of pants."

This wasn't the first time I'd caught her in my room looking for money. She also didn't know what I did but that didn't stop her from searching for any left over money I may have had.

"Get out."

Paisley rolled her eyes, "I need to borrow some money."

Borrow was a loose term for her as she wouldn't be paying anything back.

"I don't have any money."

"Stop lying." She insisted, "Jr is going on a field trip and it costs $15."

"Show me the permission slip."

"What?"

"Show me the permission slip." I said in a slower voice, "And then I'll give you $15."

I was willing to bet my life that she wanted the money to buy a gram for $10 and spend the remaining $5 at Wendy's.

She kissed her teeth, "Just don't worry about it. You always doing too much."

Her shoes stomped against the floor as she marched out of my room, flinging the door closed behind her.

I rubbed my eyes while standing up to go in the bathroom to do my morning routine.

The faint sound of Paisley telling my grandma that I wouldn't give her money for Jr. could be heard through the thin door.

My grandma knew better than to believe that and asked her what happened to the rest of the money she had just given her two days ago.

Crickets.

I laughed around my toothbrush and looked down at my phone, glancing at the notifications from my home screen.

Outlook was at the bottom and I stopped brushing as I saw an email from my professor.

Should I call him Jaxon now? I wondered, I feel like we're on a first name basis.

I finished what I was doing, my heart a fluttering mess as I tried to think about what he wanted. I would've assumed it was the mass email he sent out weekly, but the preview showed it was addressed solely to me.

After drying my hands, I opened the email.

Hello Kyser,

When your schedule allows it, please stop by my office as we have an important matter to discuss.

My office hours are listed below,

Jaxon D. Carter

Adjunct Instructor

Department of Education

I reread the email repeatedly, frozen in the same spot.

My curiosity was at an all time high, wondering what he wanted to talk about. In my head, I already knew since my assignments were graded for the week. What else could he want?

Leaving my email, I called Ava as I paced in the bathroom. It was barely 8 and she likely wasn't up but fuck it.

"Hello?" She answered with sleep very much evident in her voice.

"My teacher wants to talk to me."

It came out nervously and that was an accurate description of how I felt in the moment.

I heard her shifting in the background, "Talk about what?"

"I don't know. He sent me an email with his office hours asking me to stop by so we can talk about an important matter."

"Well I guess pussy is very important." She laughed through a yawn.

"Ahehe-hell. I'm nervous as fuck Ava. What do you think he wants?"

"Girl I don't know. Just go see. He can't say anything about what happened unless he wants to lose his job so."

That was true. He'd lose his job in an instant if anyone found out about us having sex. I'd never say anything since I'd probably die if the school knew about what I did, and He'd never say anything because he'd lose his income.

Although he doesn't seem to be hurting for money.

I put her on speaker as I went back to the email to look at his hours, "I think I'm about to go right now."

"Might as well get it over with." She agreed.

"I'm scared though."

"Girl grow up. Go talk to the man and get it over with."

"Okay, okay." I said, "I'm about to get ready."

"Call me and I'll mute the phone so I can hear what's being said."

I laughed, "Goodbye."

• • •

When I arrived on campus, I walked towards his office, hating how upset my stomach felt.

I knew I needed to get this over with though so I pushed those feelings down and trotted as slowly as I could.

I'd decided to get ready as if I had a class to go to since I was just going to stay on campus and sit in the library or something until my class for today began.

Arriving at his office, I stood there for a minute.

Then it turned to five.

Which turned to ten.

I made up my mind to just say fuck it and email him telling him we could talk on Tuesday, when his door opened.

"Hi Kyser." He greeted in his deep voice.

"Hi."

He watched my face, searching for something, "I'm assuming you got my email?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah."

How do I do the shit I do, and still find a way to be awkward?

Keeping my eyes on the floor, I walked closer to the door and he backed away to let me in.

I made my way to the chair and heard him softly close the door behind me. I don't think he was stupid enough to try anything on campus, so I patiently waited for him to start the conversation.

He didn't seem to be in a rush to begin as he slowly moved papers around, seemingly not interested in me.

"So." He started slowly, "I would like to talk to you about last night."

___________

authors note: thanks for reading