“I’m not pregnant!”
“Then what the hell are you talking about?”
“Chase. He’s in my math class. He’s my student. He’s seventeen. He just turned seventeen. I checked his file. I’m going to jail!”
“Can I get a scotch on the rocks over here?” Donna Lee called to the waiter who was two tables away. “Okay, calm down. Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure!” Delia snapped. “I think I know what he looks like. I know what every part of him looks like. Oh God, I’ve violated a child.”
“But how is this possible?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to jail. I’m going to jail.” Delia burst into tears. The drink arrived and Donna Lee finished it in two gulps.
“
Keep
‘
em
comin
,” she instructed the waiter. “You’re not going to jail, Dee. He’s seventeen, not thirteen.” Although she had to admit that those two ages were eerily close, she would never say that to Delia.
“What am I
gonna
do? I can’t keep teaching him. What if he tells someone? I’ll get fired and go to jail. I’m going to jail.”
“For the last time, you’re not going to jail. Sixteen is the legal age for consent.” Donna Lee wasn’t sure about this, but she thought that was what she heard. Well, at least it sounded right. Suddenly her problems at the magazine didn’t seem like that big of a deal. She’d write a hundred figure skating stories if it meant not having to face possible statutory rape charges. Donna Lee started to feel that sex really just complicated life. Maybe she would look into that celibacy thing. Whoa, that had to be the scotch talking.
“But I’m still his teacher.”
“You need to talk to him and find out what the hell is going on. How could you not know he was underage? How was he drinking on the ship if he was underage?”
“Pedophilia, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, statutory rape.
I’m going to jail.” Just then Delia slammed her head down on the table and declared, “Oh God, he’s here.”
“Here?
Where?”
Donna Lee turned around and looked at the front door. She immediately saw how her sister could mistake him for an adult. He was over six feet tall and devastatingly handsome. The only clue that he was a high school student was his uniform of navy blue pants and green Saxon Arms blazer. Chase spotted Delia and rushed over.
He stood in front of the table for a moment and stared at Delia as she cried into her napkin.
“You must be Donna Lee,” Chase said, turning his attention to her and extending his hand. “Delia told me all about you.”
Donna Lee shook his hand weakly, not knowing what to make of him. She should’ve been angry with him. She should have hated him for lying to her sister, but for some reason she didn’t. There was something in his eyes when he looked at her sister. In just those few seconds she knew one thing for sure, Chase was in love with Delia.
***
“I’m
gonna
go take a leak,” Donna Lee said suddenly. Delia’s eyes expanded to twice their size when her sister bolted from the table before she could utter a word of protest.
Chase/C.J stripped off his blazer and sat down in the seat Donna Lee had just abandoned. He stared into her emerald eyes, now wet with tears, and had to turn away. The guilt of how he’d misled her tore at his soul. He’d spent the last several weeks trying to forget her, but looking into her eyes now caused everything he’d felt for her on the cruise to come flooding back. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words formed. How could he ever explain? No matter what he said, Delia would hate him. And she had every right to.
The waiter returned and set Donna Lee’s scotch on the table. Without thinking, Chase picked up the glass and downed it in a single gulp. Delia’s eyes, which still hadn’t returned to their normal size after Donna Lee’s departure, expanded even more.
“Good God. I’m having a drink with a teenager. I’m definitely going to jail. How could you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Delia,” he said when he’d finally gathered enough courage.
“I’m not Delia to you anymore. I’m Ms. Clark now.”
“Don’t say that, Delia.”
“Well, what do you want me to say, huh? Did you want us to just pick up where we left off? Hey, I
know,
why don’t we go back to my place and have a quickie before your Latin class?”
Chase was taken aback by Delia’s uncharacteristic sarcasm.
“In all fairness, you never asked how old I was.”
“Oh, so I’m supposed to assume that every man I meet in a bar on a cruise ship throwing back beers is possibly a teenager?” She had a point there. You had to be twenty-one to even get in the bar. She had a right to assume he was of age. “You didn’t even tell me your real name. C.J. Mitchell? I thought you were Chase Donovan.”
“And I thought you were Delia James.”
“James is my married name. I went back to my maiden name, Clark, at the end of the summer.” He had to admit, that was a logical explanation.
He knew Delia lived in D.C. which is why he never told her where he was from, but he had no idea she was a school teacher. Even so, what were the chances that she would teach at the school he attended? But then again, considering the way he went through private schools, the odds were not in his favor.
Chase looked longingly at the empty glass of scotch. He needed another drink badly.
“You shouldn’t be drinking. You’re a child.
You should be in class or … popping pimples or arguing with your parents about something.” Delia studied his face looking for signs of adolescence, but she didn’t see any. He looked perfect, tanned, mature, and unfortunately sexy. Delia put her face in her hands.
“Can I get you another drink?” The waiter asked Chase. He didn’t even get carded. Chase wanted to say yes, but he didn’t want to cause more problems so, he shook his head no. “Let me know when you’re ready to order,” the waiter said cheerfully as he bounced away.
“It’s complicated. I can’t get involved right now. I have a lot going on in my life,” Delia mockingly repeated the phrases Chase had told her at different times while they were on the cruise. “Of course, you can’t get involved. You’re in high school. You have to go to prom and apply to college and do homework, homework that I give you because I’m your teacher! I can’t believe I fell for a high school student.” Chase’s eyes lit up. She still cared for him.
“I fell for you too. I’ve thought about you every day since we left the cruise.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better? I’m your teacher. You can’t have feelings for me.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” he offered knowing she was worried about losing her job. “No one has to know.”
“I’m supposed to believe that? After all the lies you’ve told me, I’m supposed to believe you’re suddenly telling the truth.”
“I never lied to you, Delia. I just … didn’t tell you some things.” Chase reached out for her hand.
Delia abruptly stood from the table and said, “Chase, C.J., whoever you are, just go back to school and leave me alone.” She dashed out of the restaurant.
Sex was so much better when he paid for it. It was a fact his wife would never understand. At least she didn’t get in the way of his need to feed this urge. She was too mild and meek to argue or try to stop him.
The perfect front for his little obsession.
Everyone thought him to be the caring, faithful family man.
He took off his suit jacket and undid his tie, wondering the entire time
who
Amanda had picked out for the evening. It didn’t really matter to him as long as she was young. He liked his prostitutes to seem young and vulnerable even if they were professionals. Amanda had done an excellent job over the past few years providing younger and younger girls. Sometimes he even had to sit them down and persuade them that he would be gentle and wouldn’t hurt them. He didn’t know whether they were acting or if it was really their first time. He didn’t care, though; it was the process, the game that excited him.
Recently, he had gotten his hand on some pharmaceutical enhancements that made the encounters even more enjoyable. For the nervous girls, he offered them drugs that promised to heighten their experience and make it the best sex they would ever have. He had gotten a few repeat performers with this method. Girls would actually ask Amanda to see him again because they wanted more. It was great for his ego.
Some girls needed stronger medication, something that released all their inhibitions, and he was prepared for that as well.
For
himself
, he had drugs that kept him aroused for hours on end. Sometimes one girl wasn’t enough for him. On those nights, Amanda was ready for back up. He undid his pants and studied his erection. Tonight might be one of those nights.
***
Delia didn’t quit her job. She was too embarrassed. She couldn’t think of a viable reason why she would void the teaching contract that she was only three weeks into. Instead, she used up all her sick leave and took the next week off. She stayed in bed and ate ice cream while watching the Mary Kay
Letourneu
story over and over again trying to figure out how her life had gotten so screwed up.
After the depression phase, she went into the rationalizing stage. No one knew about the affair. She could deny it ever happened. As long as it never happened again, she was safe. And it definitely would never happen again. Chase now repulsed her. Besides the fact that he was a liar, from what she’d heard about his reputation, he was a little too much like her soon-to-be ex-husband. She wanted nothing to do with him.
At 10:30 on Friday night, Delia awoke to someone pounding on her door.
“What are you doing here?” she asked Donna Lee while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Donna Lee disapprovingly surveyed Delia’s blue cloud pajama pants and top. “
It’s
10:00 on a Friday night and you’re dressed like a three-year-old and in bed sleeping already.” Donna Lee pushed past her sister into the small studio apartment. She walked into the combination living room/bedroom and plopped two outfits on the bed. “Pick one.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re going out.”
Delia rolled her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve had a stressful week and all I want to do is sleep.” She pushed the outfits aside and crawled into bed, covering herself with the blankets.
“You’re a beautiful 25-year-old woman. You should be out enjoying yourself, not sleeping your life away,” Donna Lee said after whipping the sheets off the bed.
“I’m not single, I’m not divorced, I’m … I’m
… ”
She wanted to say something to the effect that she was a pedophile who had been dumped by her husband, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
“You’re going out with me, now get up and get dressed.”