When I got home I felt happier and freer than I had felt in a long time.

"Where were you," my mom asked, walking out of the kitchen.

"Oh," I said, trying to think of something on the spot. "I was talking to a teacher. I would've texted you but I thought it would be rude." That wasn't a lie. Mr. Hudson- I mean Daniel and I did talk.

"Oh okay. I was just wondering. What were you talking about that could've kept you for an hour?"

Think Lydia. Think! "Oh, just about an assignment."

"Did you have a question about it?" She started to walk back into the kitchen and I followed closely behind her.

"No, he was just telling me how good mine was and then started talking about his life."

"What teacher was it?"

"Ms..." Think! Think! "...Carter?"

"I thought you said 'he'?"

"I meant 'Mr.'"

"I've never heard of him before."

"He's not my teacher. He's friends with my English teacher."

"That's the new teacher, right? What was his name again?"

"Mr. Hudson."

"He was the one that gave you a bad grade, right? Did he ever fix that or do I need to go down there?"

"He fixed it. We're good now." We're really good now. I smiled to myself, looking at the floor.

"That's good. Glad we don't have a problem."

"Actually, you met him. He was the one that took Asher to the principal's office."

"Oh okay. I remember him now. Is he nice, besides that little incident?"

"Yeah, he's really nice. He's a good teacher too."

"He's taught you a lot in his time at the school?"

"Yeah, you could say that," I whispered.

.

.

.

My phone rang, waking me up. "Hello," I answered groggily.

"Hey," Chloe answered. "I totally forgot to tell you that Mrs. Hudson invited us to her house to learn some dance moves and talk about dance scholarships."

I popped up from my bed. "Her house! You mean where she and her husband live."

"Umm, yeah I would assume her husband lives with her," Chloe laughed. "Oh my gosh! I'm so dumb. I completely forgot that her husband is our teacher. Ooh, didn't he used to work at Harvard? They probably live in a nice house. Do you know how much Harvard professors get paid? It's a lot!"

"Yeah I know," I rubbed my eyes to try and wake myself up. "Why would you just invite me to something without consulting me?"

"He probably didn't make as much as your mom though," she ignored me. "Now that lady! She is balling! Claudia is a 'G'."

"Chloe," I yelled. "Focus!"

"Well, I didn't want to go alone! And she asked for both of us anyway. She was a professional dancer. It would be helpful. Plus she said she has connections."

"I don't want to go!"

"Why not?"

"Because!"

At this point, we were just yelling back and forth. "Please! You can't make me go alone."

"Fine. An hour tops."

"Okay thank you! I love you. Be there in thirty. I'll send you the address and we'll meet there."

.

.

.

I was two minutes away from the house when I felt a buzz in my pocket. Since I was driving, I couldn't look at it.

I pulled into the driveway and checked my phone to see one text from Victoria and another from Chloe.

Are you kidding me? I did not just drive over here for nothing. I rested my head on my hands on the steering wheel before hearing a knock on the window. I jumped in my seat and screamed.

"Don't do that! What the hell!"

Mr. Hudson laughed on the other side of the door. I rolled down my window. "Nice car!" He said looking at it. "How'd you get it?"

"My mom got it for me for my sixteenth birthday."

"Is she rich?"

"Something like that." I leaned back in my seat and rubbed my temples.

"Not to be rude, but what are you doing at my house?"

"Your wife invited me."

"She did? When?"

"Well, she invited me and Chloe to some dance thing."

"Well, she left like five minutes ago."

"Yeah, I know that now," I said annoyed. "Sorry." I quickly realized my attitude. "It's just I went to bed late and I woke up early to come here even though I just found out, and I wasted power for no reason."

"I get it. Well, it doesn't have to be for no reason. I just baked some cookies if you want some."

I just smiled faintly. "Sure."

"You can't have an attitude when you eat cookies."

"Watch me." I turned off my car and got out, locking it.

He led me inside the house and I was immediately met with the smell of fresh cookies. His house was beautiful and very modern.

"You can sit on the island," he began. "I ordered chairs a while ago but they still haven't come in yet."

I tried to hop on the counter but it was too tall. I just gave up and he lifted me onto it with a chuckle. "Thank you." He walked around to the other side of the kitchen where the cookies were and I spun around to watch him.

"Did you make these from scratch?"

"If you consider store-bought, pre-made dough, scratch. Then yes. Yes, I did!"

I laughed. "I guess it'll pass."

He handed me a plate with two cookies and I just stared at him. He added another cookie and then I took it and smiled. "You want milk?"

"Of course. You can't eat a hot cookie without milk. People who don't are disgusted human beings."

He poured me a glass of milk and set it beside me. "Victoria refuses to eat cookies with milk."

"I stand by what I said. That's just proof."

He laughed. "Honest much."

"Always and forever. It was part of my Girl Scout code," I held two fingers in the air.

"You were in Girl Scouts."

"For two weeks," I took a bite out of a cookie.

"Why'd you quit?"

"I didn't. I got all of the badges in that period and sold all of my cookies. Then I got bored."

"Wow! Impressive. How'd you sell all the cookies that fast?"

"Some would say I'm persuasive."

"You do have a way of getting what you want."

"I'm charming," I winked.

"Yeah. I've noticed."

"Have you? In what ways?"

"Your eyes are enchanting. It's like magic. You just have a way of getting what you want. It's like you can see every emotion behind them." I just looked at him. I didn't know what to say. Had he really noticed that much about just my eyes? "Sorry. That was weird."

"No. It was poetic," I responded. I placed the now empty plate of cookies down.

"How did you eat them that fast?"

I shrugged. "I didn't eat breakfast."

"Oh, do you want some more then?"

"No, I'll leave some for your wife."

"Don't call her that."

"Why not?"

"I don't consider her that anymore. It just makes me cringe. And either way, I didn't make the cookies for her, I made them for myself."

"Well, then I'll save the rest for you." He stood in between my legs, rested his hands on my thighs, and licked his lips while staring at mine. "If you wanna kiss me you can."

His lips crashed into mine, more passionately than he ever had before. I wondered where the sudden burst of emotion behind the kiss came from. I wrapped my legs around his waist. His hands moved up to my waist and slipped them under my top. He trailed kisses down my jawline to my neck as one hand grabbed my waist and the other grabbed my ass.

"Wait. Umm..."

"What's wrong?" Daniel had a concerned look on his face.

"I just... I feel weird doing this here. I know Victoria cheated on you and that's a good enough reason for me to like her, but I still feel guilty having sex with her husband, under the same roof."

"Trust me, if you knew her, you wouldn't give a shit. But, if you don't feel comfortable, then that's fine." He walked back over to the cookies and ate one.

"Well, now I feel bad."

"Don't. I'm not mad," he shrugged.

"That's what people who are mad say."

He turned around to look at me with a genuine smile, "I'm not mad, Lydia." He turned back around and finished eating his cookie.

I hopped down from the counter. "Can you dance?"

"Uh, not like your type of dancing, but I guess I could get down in the club." He smiled at me.

"People don't say 'get down' anymore. But I get your point. Could you dance for me?"

"No," he turned around with a serious face.

"Oh come on," I tilted my head. "I'll dance with you. It'll be fun."

"Dammit," he whispered. "See? There! Those are the eyes I was talking about. And then your voice does a thing too."

"What thing?"

"I don't know! It just does it! And I can't help but want to do whatever you say. It's like a mixture of seduction and cuteness. That's a weird combination, but I don't know how to explain it."

I laughed, "So you'll dance with me?"

"Fine," he rolled his eyes.

I saw a speaker next to the stove and plugged my phone in. I played the first song I saw. "Baby It's You" by Jojo. I slipped off my sneakers so I could slide in my socks.

As soon as it started playing I started dancing and he just watched me. "Oh come on!" He still just stood there. I walked over to him and grabbed his hands and pulled him over to me.

"Baby," I sang. "Having you is enough." He just laughed at me. "You said you'd dance, so dance." I stopped dancing and just stood there crossing my arms. He finally caved in and grabbed my hand, spinning me in a circle.

"You ain't gotta buy nothing, not what I want. Baby, it's you!" I sang.

"I guess you got a couple of moves, old man."

"Excuse me, I'm not old."

"How old are you?" He pulled me close and we started swaying to the beat of the song.

"24."

"You look 20."

"Thank you." He spun me around and dipped me causing me to laugh.

Just as the song was about to end we heard the keys start to unlock the door. I slid across the floor to my phone to turn off the music just in time for Victoria to walk in. I thanked all that was good that I took my shoes off earlier. I started to put them back on.

"What's going on here?" Victoria walked into the kitchen to see me leaning across the counter.

"Hi, Victoria," I waved.

"Hi, Lydia. I thought I let you know I wasn't going to be here."

"I was already here by the time I got the text," I laughed nervously.

"Then why are you still here?" She said with a hint of attitude in her voice.

"I-uh..."

"I invited her inside," Daniel stepped in. "She drove all this way, might as well be for a good reason."

"And what were you two doing?" Victoria didn't take her eyes off me.

"Talking and eating cookies. Is there a problem with that Tori?"

She finally looked over at Daniel. "No. But don't you think your mom wouldn't appreciate you being alone with a male teacher at his house?" This time she didn't break eye contact with Daniel. It was like they were telepathically having a conversation and it made me wonder if she knew about us.

"I should probably head home." I grabbed my phone and walked towards the door.

"I think that's a good idea," Victoria stared me down.

"Have a good day." I walked out of the door, but before I could go far, I heard Victoria screaming. I pressed my ear to the door.

"How the hell am I supposed to compete with a seventeen-year-old? She's probably still right and has a perfect body! What do you expect me to do?"

"Well, I don't expect you to be rude," Daniel said calmly. "She's a high schooler. Do you see how pathetic that makes you look? No, do you see how pathetic you are, Victoria?" I could hear Daniel's voice slowly raising.

"Don't call me pathetic. If anything that's rude."

"It's the truth."

"You know what? You're probably fucking her! That's why you defended her instead of me!"

"There was nothing to defend you for!"

"You didn't deny it!"

"I'm not fucking my student, Victoria!"

"Then why did you invite her inside?"

"Because she drove all the way here because of you. It's called human decency. Maybe you could learn a thing or two about it from her."

"Are you kidding me, Daniel? You know what? I don't want you to speak to her ever again!"

"You don't want me to speak to one of my students because you're that jealous?"

"Yes!"

"One, why would I listen to you when you've cheated on me countless times with three different guys? And two, I'm not listening to you because we're not even together. I've already filed for divorce."

"What?" Her voice got softer as if she was saddened by that. "Why would you do that?"

"I think we both know why." I heard something crash and it made me jump. "Victoria what the hell is wrong with you!"

"You can't leave me! I'll make you regret this!" I heard a door slam.

I ran to my car and drove off. He was right. I should've just fucked him on the counter.