Page 5 of Hot For Teacher
Chapter Three
Brendan
Having a roommate is not all that bad, I suppose.
My roommate being my former stepmother who I have had the hots for since I got my first boner, a little bad. When I told Blair she could stay with me I think I forgot how hard it was living in the same space as her. I did this once before, for a few months after she married dad. I couldn’t take being that close to her with how I felt about her.
After she married dad, I pretended I never had a thing for her. That my asking her to prom meant nothing. I turned my attention to my sister’s other best friend. Mandi is bright and beautiful, but she had her life figured out while I was still deciding who I wanted to be when I grew up.
Blair used to be a lot like her that way. Until her stepfather passed away, she had plans for her future. It was one of the reasons Bobbi and I were shocked when she decided against going to college to get married.
“You think she was hanging out with us to get close to dad? To have someone to take care of her?” I had asked my sister a few months after their quickie wedding at the courthouse.
“No. No, I never even saw them talk, let alone flirt. When she told me she was getting married...I was shocked. When she said it was to dad....”
We were both a little pissed off at them both after their bullshit wedding. Bobbi never turned her back on Blair, but they were never the same after. Ididturn my back on her. And on dad. I had to get away from them both.
“Can we see a movie tonight, Bren?” Blair’s soft voice calls and I blink, pausing my intense round of Tetris on my Gameboy to answer her.
Before I can speak, I feel her. Her shower fresh scent fills my lungs as she comes to sit beside me on the couch, tucking her long legs beneath her. Sitting so close I can feel her soft skin through her thin robe, she cocks her head, twisting long strands of damp hair around her finger,
“We...we can if you want. What do you want to see?”
“Anything. I just want to get out of here. With you. These first few weeks of classes have been so totally draining. I need a night out with you so I can forget about classes and school,” she mutters, lying her head at my shoulder.
Blair has been at my place for almost a month now. Two days after we moved her out of my dad’s place, she enrolled in classes. Just like she always wanted, she is working to become a teacher. Watching her follow her dreams has made me want to do the same.
That night I went home to find my father had abandoned her, I realized something. He had given up on me and my sister a long time ago too. Not because he didn’t love us, I know that, but because he was being selfish.
Marrying Blair was his first selfish act. Whatever the reason they got married hardly matters. He took advantage of a young girl. Forgetting he had two children who were still mourning their mother as much as he was mourning his wife was the second act of selfishness.
Let alone the girl he married was someone I had feelings for.
“Speaking of classes,” Blair says, swatting at my chest. “How is school going for you?”
Smiling, I nod my head before I even answer. We went together to the community college and enrolled. Her to finish her bachelor’s degree, which she started just before getting married, in education. I signed up to get my masters in cinematography to learn about film and editing.
“So far so good. It’s been totally wicked learning about editing and how to frame and light shots. I should have gone a long time ago.”
Nodding, she agrees with a soft sigh before she falls back against the couch. Well, she falls back againstme, really. Her head nuzzles against my shoulder, her thick hair brushing my cheek and smelling like strawberries.
Since she moved here, it has been impossible to ignore my feelings for her. I thought after she married my dad, after I moved away, I might get over this thing I have for her. I mean, I thought it was just a high school crush.
It’s not. Whatever this is that I feel for Blair, it is not only not going away, it seems to get stronger every single day. Being in the same space with her again, waking up to her burning Eggos or making that awful coffee she drinks out of those little tin cans, makes me happier than I’ve felt in a long time.
“You would make good movies, Bren,” she mutters, fussing with the buttons on my jean jacket. “If Mandi wrote them, with you behind the camera, I bet it could be pretty special, huh?”
“Yeah, I bet they would be,” I agree, honestly excited for the first time about my career. That I might really make a career out of what I love.
If I am being honest with myself, I might never have taken a shot at it, if not for Blair. Seeing her stoked to go back to school was totally infectious. I wanted to go through the whole thing with her. I am proud of us both.
“What do you want to do tonight?” she asks, turning to face me, a big grin at her beautiful face.
What do I want to do tonight? I want to rent a movie from Blockbuster, make some popcorn—I make the best popcorn at the theater, the whole town knows it—and sit right here with her, with her cuddled up beside me.
Best not to tell my former stepmother I want a date night.
“We can totally do a movie for sure,” I mutter, ware of her eyes on me. I do my best to ignore how often I catch her watching me. Not just looking at me, watching me. As if there is something about me she wants to figure out.
