The Summer of Consent Page 3

  Michael frowned.

  “Are you sure that’s going to be enough for the year?” he said. “You’re not gonna be having Ramen noodles and Vienna sausage for every meal, are you?”

  Gloria chuckled. “Hey, I have simple tastes.”

  But Michael didn’t look convinced. “Just because your parents didn’t spend any money on you doesn’t mean you have to live like a church mouse anymore. I got your back.”

  She gave her brother a lethal side-eye glare and opened her mouth to sound off. It was Robyn who diffused the situation.

  “Mike, you’re just cranky because you’re hungry. C’mon. Let’s go eat and let Glo eat. I’m not gonna miss the start of the movie.” Robyn grabbed Michael by the arm and began to lead him away. “Glo, we’ll see you later. Be sure to lock the door.”

  Robyn blew Gloria an air kiss and dragged Michael out the door leading to the garage. Gloria’s shoulders sagged. Talking about her parents was still a tender subject with her.

  If she could blink her eyes and make her past disappear, she would. Since that was impossible, the next best thing she could do was not talk about it.

  The ding of the microwave timer snapped her out of her mood...somewhat. She took her dinner, grabbed a soda from the fridge, and went to the living room to eat. She sat in the center of the sectional couch, put her feet on the coffee table, picked up the remote, and began to channel surf.

  “Oh, what a day! What a day, what a day,” she sang, imitating Erykah Badu. She finally settled on The Big Bang Theory, which got her thinking about science, which got her thinking about chemistry and Ms. Oliver...which got her thinking about Mr. Nate Larsen.

  Gloria ate her dinner and watched TV in a trance, Robyn’s delicious lasagna notwithstanding. What a day....

  Considering that he was disappointed when she first arrived, his chilly attitude had thawed somewhat by the time she’d left for the day. After all, he did buy her lunch—and refused to be paid back for it. But he did act a little strange in the office, as if something wasn’t quite right.

  Suddenly, Gloria felt the blood rush from her face and the hairs on her arms prickled. He didn’t get a view up her skirt—did he? Oh God! Surely he didn’t...did he?

  “Jesus, shit, no!” she wailed. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” She dropped her fork onto her plate. “Now just chill, Gloria Ann. You’re freaking out from your own mind games. Of course he didn’t see up your skirt. Get a grip.”

  A cold shower. That’s what she needed, and not because of the summer heat.

  When Brittany first told her about the job, Gloria struggled whether or not to follow up. Nate Larsen was one of the few older men who interested her. While most girls at her school drooled over Chris Hemsworth, Zac Efron, or Benedict Cumberbatch—guys they had no hope of ever meeting—Gloria set her sights lower. She crushed on boys in her class, boys who at least had a chance of meeting her in person and talking to her if she hadn’t been so shy.

  Nate Larsen was the only “real” man she had eyes for. Well, him and her fantasy man Ashton Kutcher...and Bruno Mars. She tried not to waste time on wishes and dreams, but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself. Yet, the idea that maybe...just maybe Nate Larsen got an eyeful made the rest of her appetite disappear, but it also prompted visions of Nate Larsen naked and with her.

  Oh, she’d had more than one dream about what it would be like with him and how romantic it would be. She may be a virgin, but her thoughts and dreams were far from virginal—and had been for a long time.

  She didn’t live in a vacuum. While still in middle school she had read her mother’s Jackie Collins books. Later Gloria started to read erotic romances by Zane and any others she could sneak reading at the public library. But when she discovered what Fifty Shades of Grey was about, she gave it a miss. She had enough pain and dysfunction in real life.

  Then she discovered the stash of porn DVDs in Michael and Robyn’s bedroom one day while putting away linens in their closet. They fell out of a shoe box tucked away on a shelf. Robyn and Michael were away at work and she was home alone so....

  That was a day of enlightenment. Gloria learned how porno movies were light on plot but heavy on action. And although she couldn’t say she enjoyed everything she saw, some of it sparked her interest and got her wondering—what if...?

  Like, what if Nate Larsen suddenly saw her as a woman and not a giggly teen? The thought agitated the nervous flutter in her stomach that had plagued her all day.

  Gloria turned off the TV, got up, and cleaned her dinner dishes before going upstairs. She really was tired, and a nice soothing bath might help. She ran her bath, not too cool, but not too hot because it was still warm outside, and added her favorite rose and honeysuckle-scented bubble bath. It was an eighteenth birthday gift from Michael and Robyn last November.

  Her parents didn’t send a thing. Not that she expected them to.

  Tension returned to her shoulders at the thought of her parents, so she quickly stripped, got into the silky waters of the tub, and soon relaxed. The fact that it was a Jacuzzi tub helped too.

  She allowed herself to soak, and she eventually dozed off. The water was completely tepid and her skin was starting to prune when she got out. She dried off, wrapped up in her terrycloth robe, and went to her room.

  Gloria’s room in Michael’s house was larger than the one she had growing up. At first, she didn’t want to do any decorating to it because she knew she’d be going to college soon. But Michael made her realize that she would have to come back during school holidays and his home was her home.

  So, Robyn helped Gloria decorate and pick things out to make her feel comfortable. The warm color of the walls contrasted with the crown molding, and if Gloria had to describe her style, she’d call it “in progress.”

  She didn’t want to have magazine posters and cut-outs on her walls like she did at her parent’s house, so she and Robyn picked some nice posters and prints and had them framed. One of Gloria’s desires was to travel, so on the wall opposite her bed was a triptych of posters of the Eiffel Tower and surrounding area. When she woke up in the morning and when she went to sleep, the iconic vision of Paris was there.

  It was barely 9:00, but she got into bed, not bothering to put on her gown. She picked up her iPod Touch and put her ear buds in her ears. Once she got all nestled in, Gloria took something from a small box she kept in her nightstand, tucked away in the back of the drawer and underneath the various crap she tossed in there without thinking.

  A purple butterfly vibrator that was a birthday gift from Robyn.

  “Your brother would kill me if he knew about this,” Robyn had said, “but you’re all grown up, and there ain’t nothing wrong with helping yourself...relax, if you know what I mean.”

  Gloria had hid the vibrator in the nightstand, but left it alone. Often she thought about it being there and giving it a try, but she always chickened out. After the day she just had, being in close proximity of Nate Larsen, listening to his soothing voice all day, his buying her lunch.... She could think of no better time to give it a whirl.

  She opened the box. It still had gift wrap stuck onto it. She took the toy out and the instructions. Robyn had even bought batteries. For the first time, Gloria got a close look at the toy and realization washed over her face.

  This was something she had to wear?

  She got up and went to the bathroom to wash it, but with that worry out of the way, it lead to another.

  Would it fit? She was plus size, after all, but after reading all the instructions, it fit just fine. She lay down and fit it around her waist and thighs. Soon, the little purple butterfly rested against her clitoris, surrounded by a nest of black, short and curly hair. Maybe she should shave first, but it was pretty comfortable. In fact, it tickled.

  But she still couldn’t bring herself to turn it on. She stalled for at least ten minutes, shuffling tunes on her iPod until she figured she’d found the perfect playlist to go with what she was about to do.
It was a mix of slow songs by some of her favorite vocalists: Kelis, Jill Scott, Usher, John Legend, and of course, Erykah Badu.

  She hit PLAY on the iPod...and then turned on the vibrator by gently pushing up the slide control.

  “Oh. My. GOD!”

  Her body trembled and moved on its own. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve sworn her belly was full of butterflies similar to the one humming between her thighs.

  “Oh! Ohh....” She moaned, as her spine melted into the mattress along with her limbs. Instinctively her hands cupped her breasts and she squeezed, hanging on to them for dear life.

  Time disappeared as she pushed the slide control up and down, testing the various speeds and how her body responded, at times leaving her breathless and thankful she still lay on her terrycloth robe, which absorbed her arousal. She eventually discovered that the lowest setting was just enough to allow her to completely relax.

  Gloria fell asleep with visions of the Eiffel Tower and she and Nate walking toward it, hand in hand.

  One week later...

  It didn’t take long for them to fall into a work routine. Gloria showed up every day, ten minutes early, and would start work right on time.

  Nate didn’t know if someone had advised her on how to dress for the office, but she had a uniform of sorts, consisting mostly of pencil skirts that stopped just above the knee, button-down shirt or blouse, and heels that brought the top of her head to his eye level. Sometimes she wore a dress, but nothing too lightweight or revealing. He debated about telling her that she could dress casual for the job—jeans and sneakers—but something held him back.

  He liked it.

  Gloria’s presence, her work, and her efficiency were all just like having a professional secretary. Within the span of a week, she had knocked the hell out of those tapes and had presented him with enough manuscript pages to allow him to start editing.

  He noticed a change in her too. After that first day, when she was more tense than a stray kitten in a dog park, Gloria had definitely relaxed. She was even cheerful. It was as though she had found a release for her bottled up anxiety. He didn’t think it was because of the work, but maybe it was. Who knew with teenagers? But all in all, she was easy to work with and he looked forward to going to the office.

  That morning when he arrived, she was already at her desk, typing. He stood in the doorway, observing her intense focus on the computer screen and how her fingers played that computer keyboard with the confidence of a virtuoso. His lips twitched up into a lopsided smile at the way she bit her lower lip slightly as she typed.

  “Happy Friday!”

  Gloria looked up, startled, and her expression went from deep concentration to happy in an instant, making his breath catch in his throat.

  “I bought juice and donuts to celebrate your first week on the job,” he said, indicating the white box in one hand and a small plastic bag in the other. “Along with your first pay check.”

  “That’s awfully nice of you,” she said with a smile.

  “Come over here and see what I got. I didn’t know what you’d want, so I got a variety.”

  He placed the box and bag on his desk and opened the box. Inside lay a dozen different types of donuts and pastries. Cake, iced and plain, glazed, cream filled and jelly filled. She stood by him and looked at the selection.

  “Wow! You don’t play around, do you?” She giggled.

  No, it wasn’t a giggle—her voice was a little deep for that. It was more of a chuckle, and it sent a twinge of excitement straight to his balls. He remembered how Jill had said Gloria “used to laugh.”

  “And you went to Greg’s Donuts!”

  “How did you know?”

  “I can recognize their strawberry-chocolate cake donuts anywhere.”

  “That one’s mine.”

  When she turned to look at him, her crushed expression was priceless. He couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Help yourself.”

  She gave him a playful shove—and he returned it, which led into a good-natured shoving match until she grabbed the donut in question and one of the twelve-ounce bottles of OJ and skittered on her heels back to her desk, her backside making an attractive presentation as she retreated.

  “Chicken,” he teased, still light hearted, but it came out throatier than he expected.

  “I may be chicken, but I got my donut.” She raised the pink-and-brown frosted cake donut in a salute, gave him a wink, and then took a slow, exaggerated bite out of it. “Mmmm....”

  Her eyes closed as she chewed, but Nate couldn’t take his eyes off the way her full lips moved, her lip gloss trapping a few of the crumbs on her lower lip that she licked away.

  He blinked and turned to pick a glazed donut out of the box. He needed to get to work. He circled his desk and sat down, and when he looked up, Gloria was watching him, still smiling and chewing slowly. He cleared his throat again. Must be some pollen in the air.

  “My classes start up next week, Gloria. I’ll be teaching one class of honors biology for students from the middle school, and one class of remedial high school biology. Don’t forget that I’ll need you to be here by 8:30.”

  She nodded. “Got it marked on my calendar.”

  “Good. The first class doesn’t start until 9:00, but they’re three hours long with two fifteen-minute breaks. Two classes a day, Monday through Thursday.”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  Gloria froze and her eyes grew wide, probably taking her cue from his own look of surprise. He didn’t think she meant to let that info slip. She put down her donut and became interested in taking the top off her juice bottle.

  “I had to take some summer courses my junior year,” she admitted.

  “I know,” he said softly. “Ms. Oliver told me.”

  Gloria snapped her head up and the look she gave him was so sharp it pinned him to his seat, but then her look softened. “Then I guess she told you why.”

  “She did...I’m sorry.”

  Gloria took a swallow of her drink and pursed her lips together. She was actually grinding her teeth. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose.

  “Nothing to be sorry for.”

  “I could have been more understanding. Tried harder to offer help.” He sat up in his seat and leaned forward across his desk, trying to close at least some of the gap between them, symbolically if nothing else. “I could tell you were struggling.”

  “It’s alright. That reminds me. There is a message for you from Ms. Oliver.” She busied herself looking for something on her desk and finally found the pink message slip. “She’d like for you to meet her at Face Full’s for lunch today.”

  End of discussion. He sighed.

  “Thanks, Gloria.”

  Way to go, jackass. Just as things are starting to get relaxed and she’s coming out of her shell, you go and fuck it up.

  He shook his head and the office fell into silence as they ate. He got his computer going and pulled up the files with his lesson plans, but he wasn’t really looking at them. The way their desks and computers were arranged, they faced each other if they worked on their computers. Not straight on, but it didn’t take much to glance up and see the other.

  Nate tried to focus on the screen without letting his gaze drift to where she sat, where she worked. Damn! Why was he acting this way?

  He knew the reason why. He liked her. She was funny, hard working, and smarter than he’d given her credit for. And she was cute. Actually, she was more than cute—she was quite attractive. Her quiet nature gave her a certain allure he didn’t encounter often, considering most of the females he encountered were either giggly teenagers or motherly—and married—faculty. There were few exceptions, the main one being Jill Oliver.

  He sighed again and hit a few keys on the keyboard to keep up the pretence of working. He and Jill started working at Darning High at about the same time. He started a year after she did. Jill was already divorced, whereas
his marriage to Denise was just starting to dissolve. Jill had been there with a sympathetic ear—and then some.

  Nate tried not to cringe at the memory of the one night they’d spent together after the faculty Christmas party. It was three years ago, just before his divorce was finalized. They had carpooled to the party at the Crowne Plaza downtown. It was an elegant affair, and even though the school district could not provide alcohol, they couldn’t stop people from using the hotel bar.

  It was nearing eleven o’clock when the party started winding down, but it was also snowing outside. Nate and Jill went to the bar and stayed there for another hour. That’s when they discovered the snow. By this time, they both knew the score and Nate got them a room.

  Why get a two queens when all they needed was a king?

  They didn’t make love—they fucked. For Nate, Jill provided a release for his built up anger and frustration over his divorce, and he may have been more intense than he normally would have been. He assumed Jill didn’t mind having a fling behind her then-boyfriend’s back, but he should’ve known better.

  The next day, when the dawn brought the light of reason along with a kickass hangover, they both knew what they had done was wrong. They agreed to move on and just stay friends.

  But it didn’t take long for Nate to realize that wasn’t going to happen when Jill announced she had split from her boyfriend and started hanging around even more.

  Nate had succeeded in keeping Jill at arm’s length ever since, but every semester it got harder and, more often than not, their class schedules synched so their breaks and lunches corresponded. But what pissed him off the most was what he learned just before the summer session started.

  Jill was good friends with Melanie Ruiz, the executive assistant to Dr. Gillis, and she helped set the class schedules. Nate didn’t have proof that the two women were in cahoots, but it made complete sense. If it had happened once, it could be called a happy accident. Twice, a coincidence. But six times? And now the summer session?