Two | Dangerous Violets

I had to admit, applying for a job at Arbor Coast was one of my best ideas. The campus was large, and not to mention, beautiful. There were large, green birch trees that decorated the campus, and a huge, green hill where plenty of students would hangout between classes. I admired the natural beauty of every square inch. Looking back on my college campus (at Cleary University), I realized that it didn't even compare to that of Arbor Coast. Here, it was much more stunning and pleasing to the eye. Not so bland and dull.

I had been teaching for a week, and it was finally Friday, which I was very thankful for. I wasn't used to working so much since I had just gotten out of college, and already the transition was proving to be a bit rough.

The bell rang and my 4th-period class ended. I was looking forward to some downtime, including my lunch break, until I saw a silhouette outside my door. I mentally groaned, hoping that it wasn't a student needing assistance. And to my luck, it wasn't a student who walked through the door, but my roommate Jason.

"Hey dude," Jason said, making his way over to my desk and taking a seat on one of the tables in the room. "Ok, so I don't mean to barge in, and I really hope you don't have another class coming because I'm gonna talk to you about this party thing, and I don't want any high schoolers over hearing. Unless the dude throwing it invited them or whatever."

"Go for it," I said, stacking the papers of my class lists as I listened.

"There's this party tonight and it's at this old house, and it's supposed to be really awesome. And dude, there will be a bunch of hot chicks, too," he finished, wiggling his eyebrows in a creepily suggestive manner.

"Hot chicks? Wow, how could I resist?" I said sarcastically. "You know I can't. I've got papers to grade, teacher stuff to do. Sorry, Jason."

He rolled his eyes. "Please, Otto. I know you, and you like to procrastinate a lot. You aren't grading those papers until Monday morning. It's Friday, you've got time."

"No. I'm starting fresh with this job, Jason. I'm grading the papers tonight," I argued.

But Jason never took no for an answer. "Actually, you're coming to the party or else I'll tell all of your colleagues and students about that one time, when you-" I didn't let him continue on with that sentence and interrupted him instead. Trust me, you do not want to know where he was going with that sentence.

"Okay, okay. What the hell is your problem, Jason? It's just a bloody party!" I tried to keep a straight face when I said that, but I couldn't. Jason and I had an inside joke where we would put on our best British accents and act like fools for some reason. There was no point to it. It was just boys being idiots.

"And a bloody good party it will be!" Jason yelled in an awfully mimicked British accent. He lowered his voice and said, "Alright, I'll see you at the party then." He winked and then left the classroom.

Jason always got to me.

Maybe a party would be good, though. It would be a sort of reward for completing my first week of teaching, and there were only two more class periods before the week was officially over. I honestly couldn't wait to relax and take it easy the rest of the weekend. Besides, of course, grading papers.

I wasn't the biggest fan of parties, but I didn't hate them, either. However, I much preferred drinking a beer alone and away from all of the drunk college students. But alas, it seemed I would be going to the party anyway.

Maybe it would be good, is what I kept telling myself.

•••

Before the party began, Jason ordered me to drive to the liquor store and pick up a few packs of beer. "You know, the normal stuff," he had said. But right as I headed to leave the house, Jason yelled again. "Oh, wait!" So I turned to face him, half of my body outside of the house and half in.

"What now?" I asked.

"Pick up some of that Coniston Bluebird ale, will you? Just like 2 of them," He requested

I furrowed my eyebrows. Who in their right mind drank that stuff? "You're talking about the bitter stuff?" I asked. "Is that a special order or something?"

"You know that guy I've been seeing?" Jason asked.

Yes, I thought, the one I've never met before.

"His friend is coming and she likes the stuff. It's  her favorite or whatever," He proceeded. "He said that was the only way she would come tonight, and he really insisted on having her here."

I sighed and then said, "Fine, I'll pick some up."

I slipped the other half of my body out of the door and Jason yelled one last time. "You're the best, my dude!" I rolled my eyes and made my way to the car.

A couple of hours after I had brought the beer back home (yes, including just 2 cans of the bitter shit), the party was in full swing.

Only 20 minutes had passed before the house was overcrowded, music blaring way too loud, which definitely couldn't be good for anyone's ears. There were people having beer pong tournaments, shot competitions, and games of Truth or Drink. However, I was leisurely drinking a beer and sitting on the couch, deciding that there was no one at the party worth actually spending time with. I could never really get into the normal party festivities, anyway.

An already-drunk blonde girl stumbled and fell onto the couch, laying with her head halfway on my stomach. Christ. Some of these frat girls were serious lightweights. Not to mention, she was completely invading my personal space.

    "And who might you be?" She slurred,  her words so inaudible I could barely even understand the simple question. I really wasn't in the mood to socialize with a wasted college sorority girl. And by the way she looked at me, it was like she wanted to devour me, which made me slightly uncomfortable. No way was I going to indulge in that.

    That's when I looked up only to see a few students of mine walk through the door. And one of them, to my surprise, was Harrison. The girl from the coffee shop. The stubborn, black coffee drinker.

    I calmly pushed the sorority girl up and off of my stomach, muttering a weak "Excuse me," before I stood up and walked into the living room looking for Jason. I found him cheering on the current round of beer pong, so I walked over to him and pulled him into the slightly quieter kitchen area.

"Hey, what gives?" Jason asked, upset that I removed him from the stupid tournament. I swear, I could never understand what was so exciting about a bunch of drunk idiots bouncing balls into red solo cups filled with (guess what?) more beer.

"I didn't expect to see my students here, Jason," I said quietly.

    "You have students that are here?" Jason asked. "Dude, I didn't know that the high school kids were invited! I told you that."

    "Are you sure you didn't know?" I asked.

    Jason's eyes widened and then he said, "Oh shit." He laughed a little. "I totally forgot! My boyfriend, West, and his friend. They're in high school."

    "West?" I asked. You have got to be kidding me.

    "Holy shit!" He exclaimed. "He's your student? Fucking small world. Look, I'm sorry, but West is cool, dude. It's not a problem."

    "It's not West I'm worried about."

    "You're talking about the girl, aren't you?" He asked. Duh. "Shit, dude. I'm sure she's cool, too."

    I sighed and shook my head. As much as I had been looking forward to getting at least a little drunk, I knew that the best decision would be to leave. "I can't be here with them around, Jason. Sorry."

    "No, no, no! You can't go anywhere, Otto! You've barely even been here, so you have to stay or else, you know what," he warned.

    "Blackmailing again? Seriously?" I asked and Jason shot me a look that meant he was actually serious. Of course. Drunk Jason was always overly serious about his parties. Even sober Jason was overly serious about his parties. "Fine, fine," I agreed. "But I'm certainly not partaking in any of these games. I'm out," I pushed my way through the crowd of people and walked outside. I stood on the patio, resting my arms on the railing and looking down at the ground.

    Why had Jason never mentioned the fact that his boyfriend was still in high school? I shook my head, slightly annoyed with him. I waited before focusing my attention upwards, looking at the sky. There were some stars, constellations, and it made me feel less annoyed at Jason for a moment.

    But still, this night was already off to a bad start.

    I heard the sliding glass door open and turned to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Harrison.

    She made her way over to where I was standing. "Did someone drag you here, too?" She asked. She stood next to me, but not too close, which I was thankful for. She smelled heavily of blue freesia and violet petals, a luscious mix. I was afraid that if she stood too close, I might not be able to resist her scent. "I was dragged here to be a wing-girl. Like that's even necessary."

    "Wing girl, huh?" I replied.

    She nodded. "Yeah. And what are you? The wing-man?"

    I shook my head and replied, "No. I'm just being blackmailed to be here and I can't leave." She laughed as if it was a joke. I looked over at her and noticed she was drinking a beer, too. And not just any beer, the bitter shit I had to pick up. "Typical," I said and laughed, shaking my head.

    "What?" Harrison asked.

    "You're the one I had to pick that shit up for. The Coniston bitter ale," I said and took a sip of my own beer (the normal stuff). I remembered back to meeting her in the coffee shop, confronting her about her choice of black coffee. "You have a thing for the bitter taste, don't you?"

    She rolled her eyes and looked forward. "I like my beverages bitter, what can I say?"

    "Aren't you a little young to be drinking beer?" I asked. "I mean, you're in high school."

    "Like you didn't drink in high school," Harrison scoffed. "Everyone does."

    She had me there. So I just raised my beer towards her and took a sip. I certainly couldn't speak based off of my high school experience.

    Harrison kept her eyes up towards the sky. Her bright blue eyes sparkled and reflected the light of the moon, and I couldn't help but stare. She whispered, obviously not talking to me but I still listened, "I love the stars."

    And even though she hadn't been talking to me, I thought I'd reply anyway. "You can see the Big Dipper tonight." She looked over at me and then I pointed to show her, "The handle is there, and the body of it is there."

    For a few seconds, I was unsure if she could see or if my pointing was pointless (pun intended). But as she stopped squinting her eyes, she gave me my answer.

    "I've never been able to see the Big Dipper," she admitted. "I could never make out the picture. I can see it tonight, though. That must be my luck."

    I looked over at her and she looked at me, making eye contact with her glistening sapphires. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

    "Neither do I," She replied. "I don't even know why I'm here talking to my teacher. Why do I even bother?" She shook her head and took a rather large swig of her beer, then turning to face the backyard.

    "Bother with what?" I pressed on.

    She hesitated and looked down at the ground, fidgeting with her hands. "Nothing with me has ever been normal. And here I stand, drinking a beer with my English teacher who I met at a coffee shop and who told me to drink a cinnamon latte because my order was too boring."

    I laughed. "That makes sense," I said. "I could say the same, though. About the whole normal thing." And that was true. Nothing about my life had ever been normal, either. And I wasn't sure if it ever would. I was almost convinced that normal wasn't even a real concept. Even if it was a real concept, I knew that nothing in my life would ever be close to normal.

    "Yeah, but you're probably 30 or something," she said.

    "Actually, 24." I corrected her. "But it doesn't matter." I smirked. "Are you saying I look old?" I was pretending to be offended. She could tell and shook her head at me, but smiled nonetheless.

"No, I just assumed you would be older," she told me. "You look good, I just— never mind."

I laughed. "I'll take your speechlessness as a compliment."

    Harrison rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever," she said. "So you're fresh out of college, aren't you? You probably went to the same school as all of these people."

    I nodded. "Not like it matters. I didn't come to this party by choice, I wouldn't have. And neither did you from what you've told me. But I guess the least I can do is try and have some fun."

    "And are you?" She asked, turning her attention back towards me. Her right hand gripped the porch railing as she looked deep into my eyes. A slight smile crept onto her face.

    "Well it hasn't been terrible just talking to you. Laying low and all." A smile of my own started to form.

    "I could say the same," she agreed.

    The stars in the sky glistened, giving a natural, yet dim light above us. Harrison turned her attention to face the backyard, keeping her hand on the railing, but not like it had been before. No, this time, her hand had moved an inch closer to mine. I couldn't stop myself from looking at her, taking in every beautiful feature of face. Especially her eyes. And I wanted to look into them deeper. Without realizing it, I lifted my hand off the railing. Without thinking, I held my hand up to move a strand of hair behind her ear. And she looked into my eyes when I did. Impatiently, I grabbed the small of her back, pulling her into me and kissing her. She was taken aback, but slowly gave into the kiss as I ran my tongue along her lower lip.

Momentarily, I forgot about all of the papers I had to grade, and all of the things I needed to get done. I even forgot about how much I detested this party.

I slowly pulled myself away from her. My eyes closed as my body pressed up against hers, a foxy friction. My eyes opened and she was looking right at me, and her lips curved into a smile as I stared into her eyes. Those damn eyes. It was dangerous the extent to which her eyes pulled me in, tempting me. And it wasn't the kind of danger I should have been playing with.

But for some reason, I couldn't care less.

    So careless words slipped from my mouth. "Come with me," was what I said. I grabbed her hand and to my surprise, she didn't even try to pull away, but followed me without any hesitation. I led her upstairs and into a room I knew belonged to Jason's friend. Closing the door behind us, I pushed her up against it before leaning in to kiss her again. I hovered my lips above hers, feeling the sexual tension between us, giving myself up to the pleasure. I moved my lips over to her neck, loving the way she reacted to my teasing.

I wasn't sure what had gotten into me, but I couldn't stop myself. Harrison was a temptation I couldn't resist.

With each lustful motion, us moving closer and closer towards the line of danger, I knew that what we were doing was wrong. She was my student, for goodness sake. But the intensity of our chemistry made it impossible for me to let go of her. Adrenaline was surging through my body, and I couldn't ignore the excitement. I pulled Harrison away from the wall, leading her to the bed where she sat down as I took my shirt off. I looked down at Harrison as she took me in, reaching out to run her hands along my torso. I pushed her so she was lying down and straddled myself on top of her, continuing the kiss. Breathing her in as she breathed me in. Pulling her body closer to mine, needing to wallow in the flowery scent that surrounded her. I could taste the violets on her neck and shoulder blades.

I was playing with fire, but I loved every second of it, and I didn't dare hold back, despite knowing how perilous my decision would end up being.