Still the One

My mouth goes dry and my throat feels annoyingly tight. I would give anything to have Harry standing beside me right now. I’d love to watch him corner Mr. Jacobs and demand an explanation out of him. ‘I don’t want to seem incredibly rude, but what are you doing here? I wouldn’t have pegged you for a Glamour magazine reader.’ I carefully study my Literature professor in the crowded field. ‘I’m fairly certain that this is an invite only event.’

‘I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable Miss. White, I know this is your work and all but I was invited.’ Mr. Jacobs explains, gesturing to Charlie who stood beside Jackie and Tiffany for a photo nearby, ‘We met at that little café not too far from Glamour and just started talking. Charlie needed a date and I needed an excuse to take a break from grading papers. Believe it or not, your professors do tend to have lives outside of the university.’

‘Oh.’ I purse my lips with a firm nod, just as Charlie makes her way over to the two of us.

I watch as Mr. Jacobs wraps an arm around her to pull Charlie towards him. ‘It’s so great seeing you again, Lib.’ Charlie muses, briefly leaving his arms to hug me. ‘You already know Will.’ She smiles up at him happily. ‘He tells me that you’re one of the brightest minds in his literature lecture.’

‘It’s true. I find that I work so much that it causes me to constantly talk about my students. Some women it rather annoying really.’ Mr. Jacobs throws his head back with a loud laugh, his broad shoulders comically moving up and down.

‘I think it’s cute.’ Charlie chimes in, her round eyes full of admiration. I wanted to feel happy for Charlie but something about Mr. Jacobs just rubbed me the wrong way. There was something behind his eyes that I didn’t trust. Not anymore.

‘It was great running into you both but I should probably find my family before they leave.’

‘Okay, it was lovely seeing you. Call me this week so we can have lunch.’ Charlie looks up from her phone, ‘I miss being at the office with you.’

‘Definitely, see you around.’

‘See you in class.’ Mr. Jacobs decides to find a place for himself in the conversation.

‘Right, I hope that you both enjoy the party.’ With those last few parting words, I slip back towards my family to avoid Mr. Jacobs for the rest of the night. Charlie and Mr. Jacobs? I definitely did not see that coming whatsoever.

Only because you’re worth it and more

I smile at the latest text from Harry before joining my family at their table. ‘I can’t thank you guys enough for coming tonight. It means a lot.’ My mom reaches over to grab a hold of my hand heartily.

‘We’re so proud. So so proud. Thank you for sharing tonight with us.’

‘Please don’t get all emotional, girls.’ Tanner protests from across the table with an embarrassed grin.

‘I say that we get dinner next weekend, that’s if you’re not busy.’ My dad comments taking a sip of the champagne in front of him, ‘Doesn’t that sound good?’

‘It does, I’ll be there.’

For the first time, in a long time my family finally felt how it used to be. I couldn’t remember when we were all happy simultaneously. It was an odd, rare occurrence. Everything felt like it was finally going in the right direction for us. I walk the three of them to their car before heading back towards my own once the party was finally over. All I wanted to do was get out of this tight dress and hear Harry’s voice. The moment I make it into the house, I lock the door and set the alarm because I knew Harry would bring it up. I kick out the too tall heels and practically tear the dress from my body before running a bath. I sit on the side of the tub waiting for the water to slightly cool down.

Are you busy? I’m missing you a little bit more than usual tonight.

Within a matter of minutes, Harry was calling. I smile at his quickness as I slide down into the tub. ‘Hi.’

‘Hey baby, how was the party?’

‘It was good. I think your video may have been the highlight of the night.’

‘I don’t know, I’m pretty sure that you were the highlight of the night.’

‘You weren’t there.’ I remind him with a small laugh, ‘how would you know?’

‘I just have a feeling.’ He defends with a laugh of his own.

Harry’s Point of View

‘Were you busy?’ Libby questions, slightly concerned.

‘I am never too busy for you except when I’m filming and that’s only because I would prefer not to be fired from my first role.’ I say causing her to giggle once again. I could just see her eyes lighting up right now. ‘I had training all day but it’s almost six at night here now so we were pretty finished for the day. I have a fitting tomorrow morning.’

‘Are you going to take pictures?’ She speaks curiously.

‘Of course. I will crash your phone tomorrow so be ready. Did your family come? How was your mom? How did that all go?’ I inquire quickly, remembering just how nervous she was about it before I left.

‘Everything was great honestly,’ Libby tells me and I knew that she was smiling, ‘For once, I’m not worrying about my family. I’m going home next weekend to have dinner at their place.’

‘I’m really happy for you, Lib.’ I wanted to sigh with relief but I hold it in. I was beyond happy that everything was going good for Libby. Especially since I couldn’t be there. ‘It’s so quiet. Are you laying down?’

‘I’m currently in the tub.’ She confesses in a mere whisper, ‘It’s so nice and warm.’

I bite back the forming gulp in my throat as I run a hand along my chin, ‘Do you know what I would do to you if I were there right now?’

‘Uh uh, what would you do?’ I could tell she was just as eager as me.

‘I think tonight that I would go for a little revenge. I would take my time with you, like you did before I left. I would hover over you, making you wait. The more you would squirm towards me, the longer I would make you wait. I would tease you, over and over, until you were begging for me to stop.’ With that, the line goes silent. I pull it away from my ear to see if she was still there, ‘Does that sound good to you?’ I challenge with a smirk, dying to physically see her reaction.

‘Uh huh.’ Was all she could manage to finally get out, ‘really good.’

I smile to myself, feeling accomplished. We talk on the phone for another good thirty minutes before I nearly make her get off the phone so she could get some sleep. I lay there for a solid twenty minutes, staring at the ceiling with a goofy smile on my face that I couldn’t shake.

Libby’s Point of View

Monday morning rolled around before I had time to process the weekend. I grab my final copy of my paper for Literature as well as my Communications presentation cards before rushing out the house to get a decent parking space.

‘Good morning everyone, this is a nice stack of papers I have on my desk.’ Mr. Jacobs remarks as he strolls into the room casually late, ‘I hope that all of you have your final draft here for my reading enjoyment. Today and Wednesday, I will be pulling each of you into my office to discuss your overall standing in the course so that you know exactly what letter grade you need to make on the final paper for your desired goal. I want to give every single one of you A’s but you have to meet me halfway and really apply yourselves for the remainder of the course.’ I watch as the class hangs onto his every word, soaking it all in. They absolutely idolized him.

‘What’s the next topic, Will?’ Some guy in the back questions and others enthusiastically nod their heads in unison.

‘For the next paper, you have two options. Would you rather give advice to your past self or get advice from your future self? I know that this may seem incredibly easy and simple but you will have to thoroughly explain your reasoning for your choice. I don’t want any papers saying oh I choose the future because the past has already happened blah blah blah. Remember, I can give you argumentative essays that require six sources but I want to make writing enjoyable for you as students. So, help me out, no lazy papers.’

Mr. Jacobs rambles a while longer about the next topic before dismissing the class early. During Communications, I decide to start on a rough draft of my paper. Mr. Jacobs prompts were strangely vague, just like him. I think he took pride in watching students squirm over the lack of rubric and guidelines. There was no right or wrong answer with him. The inconsistency has caused me to challenge myself as a writer, and for that I had to thank him. ‘Libby, Max, and Christopher – you’re up.’ Dr. Caldicott signals us to come towards the front of the room. She was definitely someone I wish didn’t follow strict guidelines. By the time the three of us were finished with our presentation, she looked fairly pleased. By her standards.

‘Good morning!’ Tiffany beams from her desk, briefly glancing up from her computer. ‘Did you have a good weekend?’

‘It was too short,’ I complain with a smile, ‘how was yours?’

‘Paul’s mother had Charlotte yesterday so we slept all day, it was fantastic. Probably the best Sunday in a while.’ Tiffany exhales dramatically, ‘back to reality this morning.’

‘I will happily take Charlotte for you one day, if you want to go out with Paul or just sleep. Just drop her by and we’ll have us a girls’ day.’

‘Do not be surprised when I’m at your place at 5 o’clock tonight.’ She teases as I’m heading to my office.

My desktop screen greets me as I wiggle the mouse. I smile at Harry’s face across the screen. My skin grows warm thinking back to the conversation we had last night. I pull out my phone to send him a quick text.

Miss you, as always.

Now that the Glamour party was over, the office slowed down. Everyone hung around the halls, laughing and sharing pictures from last night. Jackie was still glowing from the success of the event. I’m pretty sure I saw her floating down the hallway more than once this afternoon. As promised, Harry sends dozens of pictures from his fitting today.

Meet Alex.