Guilty Pleasures

It didn’t start with lust.
Contrary to what most people would expect, the passion didn’t come until later, although the attraction was always there.

The longing, the excitement, the fixation- they were all side effects of
what was really happening.
Of what was boiling below the surface.
Nobody would have expected it. Nobody would have thought that it started with something so effortless, so undemanding.
That something so involved and full of such an array of emotions could have started with a simple brush of their hands.

* * * * *

“Nae!” Jo called to her best friend.

Naomi turned and waved at her friend, making her way to where she was
leaning against a huge oak tree. “Hey, Jojo,” she said with a bright
smile, seconds before she was lifted into the air and spun around.

“Petey!” Naomi squealed, knowing it was her friend without even looking.

“That’s enough!”

Pete immediately dropped Naomi to the ground, reaching out to steady her
as she wobbled dizzily on her feet before they all turned to face the
annoying voice.

“Sorry, Principal Baxter,” they all mumbled. Even Jo, who wasn’t guilty
of anything.

“First day of school, and you hooligans are already out in full force,”
Baxter said, glaring at each of them in turn.

Naomi quickly tuned out the irritating so-called authority figure as her
eyes focused on the man standing next to him. She felt a blush creep into
her cheeks when she realized his eyes were already fixed on her as well.

“Keep an eye on them, Mr. Way,” Baxter continued, turning to face the
man. “They’ll be sure to give you some trouble.”

Gerard was barely listening to the man as he nodded his agreement, slowly
following after Baxter as he reluctantly broke eye contact with the
beautiful girl.

“Wow,” Naomi mumbled under her breath, giving Jo a sheepish smile when
she overheard. “Um…we should probably get going.”

* * * * *

Naomi and Jo were giggling about something as they walked into their
history class. It was the last class of the day, and Naomi had been trying
as hard as she could to get the image of the handsome man out of her head.

This task would have been much easier if he wasn’t standing behind the desk
in the classroom. Naomi came to a quick stop, causing Jo to run into
her with an, “Oomph!”

Naomi seemed to go into a trance as the man raised his light hazel eyes to
hers. The energy in the room seemed to crackle as they stared at each
other. Naomi reluctantly broke the eye contact, feeling a blush creep into
her cheeks as Jo walked around her and led them to two desks, close to
the front.

Gerard watched the black haired beauty, feeling slightly short of breath as she sat down,
her already lowcut top, showing more after she sat. He tore his eyes
away, silently kicking himself for ogling a student, as the bell rang,
signaling the beginning of class.

“Hello, all,” Grerad greeted. He noticed the girl's eyes shoot up to his as
he spoke. “My name’s Gerard Way, and although I have no problems with
you calling me by my first name, the school does.”

‘Oh Bob, oh Bob, oh Bob,’ Naomi thought, her eyes still trained on the man
who was way too hot to be a teacher. ‘He’s got an accent!’

The rest of the class seemed to pass in a blur as Naomi tried to focus on
keeping her breathing regulated and the blush out of her cheeks every time
he looked at her- which seemed to be a lot.

‘Don’t be silly, Nae,’ she scolded herself. ‘You’re sitting in the front
of the class- of course he’s going to look your way since you’re closest to
him.’

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class, and Naomi slowly began to
gather her things together.

“Naenae, I’ve got to run,” Jo said, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder.
“I promised Sam I’d tutor him, and I’m supposed to meet him in the library
right now.”

“Okay, Jo, call me later,” Naomi replied with a smile as her friend left
the room with the rest of the class.

Naomi quickly gathered her books before turning and running into her
teacher, dropping everything in her arms. Her hand immediately flew to her
mouth in shock. “Oh my God, Mr. Way, I’m SO sorry,” she cried in
embarrassment. “I-I have this problem with coordination,” she finished,
blushing when she saw the smile on his face.

“It’s alright, sugar” Gerard replied, entranced by this endearing girl.

‘He just called me ‘sugar,’ she thought excitedly before reaching down to
pick up her scattered books. Unfortunately, she didn’t see that Gerard was
about to do the same thing as their heads bumped together. Both groaned,
each holding their foreheads before straightening, empty handed.

“I told you,” Naomi said with a mortified smile. “I’m like a walking jinx.”

“No,” Gerard said, shaking his head with a smile. “It was my fault.”

Naomi gave another nervous smile before retrieving her books and shoving
them in her bag.

“I’m sorry, I’m not exactly the most efficient teacher on the first day. I
didn’t get your name.”

“Naomi,” she replied, getting lost in his eyes again. “Naomi Hackett.”

Gerard stared into her eyes for a long minute before giving her a soft smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Naomi Hackett.”

“You, too, Mr. Way,” she said, not wanting to leave but knowing she had
to. “Well, I better…”

Naomi trailed off as she gestured to the door.

“Oh…yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to keep you from your friends,”
Gerard replied with a nod, feeling a stab of disappointment that she was
leaving his presence.

“No, don’t worry, you didn’t keep me from them.”

“Boyfriend?”

Gerard knew he was getting much too personal, but Naomi didn’t seem to mind.
He held his breath as he waited for her answer, and he really didn’t want to analyze why he was doing that.

“No…no boyfriend,” she said, shaking her head.

Naomi saw the smile that he quickly tried to hide at hearing this and felt
an answering smile spread on her lips.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss Hackett.”

“Yeah,” Naomi said quietly as she left the room, trying to control the
butterflies that seemed to be raging in her stomach.

Gerard sat down at his desk, dropping his head into his hands. “She’s your student,” he whispered to himself. “She’s off limits.”