It was Monday morning and Joe was on his way to the university. Last night he had slept like a baby. He smiled as he remembered dancing at the nightclub. He still couldn’t believe that he had let Kalisha to talk him into going but then, again she could talk him into anything.
After they left The Brit, they had gone back to her place. As soon as they got inside and she locked the door, they were all over each other, kissing wildly as desire consumed them like a raging fire out of control.
They were naked before they got to her room and parted long enough to pull the sheets down before climbing into the bed. He lay on his back while she covered his body with hungry kisses, driving him out of his mind. Then, she lay on top of him and kissed him passionately on the mouth. He groaned and clutching her head between his hands, he hungrily responded.
Minutes later, she pulled back and got on her knees, straddling him. Her eyes met his smoldering ones as he grasped his shaft so she could ease herself down on it. Her breath caught in her throat when he was inside her and she began to surge against him, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. He watched her, thinking that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen and how lucky he was that she was in love with him. His fingers gripped her thighs as ripples of mind-blowing pleasure washed over him.
“Professor Warren?” A voice called out behind him and startled, he turned around. The student looked apologetic. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, Sir.”
“No. You’re not. Do you need to talk to me about something?”
“It’s about last week’s lesson and was wondering if I could stay after class today to ask you questions about some of the things I’m not clear about.”
“Sure. We will have at least enough time before the next class uses that room.”
The student looked very relieved. “Thanks, Professor Warren.”
“You’re welcome, Brian. I’ll see you in class in shortly.” They parted ways. He went to his office.
After class was over, Brian stayed and together they went over the material he wasn’t sure about and by the time they were done, he understood the material better. “Thank you so much, Professor Warren to taking this time to help me out.”
“You’re welcome, Brian. Any time you need help in understanding the material or have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let me know and we can arrange a time to talk. We can talk after class like we did today or we can set up an appointment for you to see me in my office whichever one works better for you.”
“Sure thing, Professor Warren. See you on Wednesday.”
“See you on Wednesday.” He packed up his papers and left the classroom. He had another class before lunch.
“How was your weekend?” Marianna asked him during the afternoon break. After grabbing coffee from the Coupa Cafe they were sitting outside of The Engineering Quad in the bright sunshine.
“It was great. What about yours?”
“I ended up going to the concert with my sister-in-law.”
“I’m happy that you didn’t miss it on my account.”
“I would have preferred it if you had come with me but you had other plans.”
“Yes.”
“Were your plans with your niece or another family member?”
“No. They were with Kalisha.”
She stared at him in shock. “Kalisha?”
“Yes.”
“You mean you and she…?”
“Yes, we are in a relationship.”
She shook her head in shock. “You and Kalisha. I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true. We’ve been seeing each other for about four years now.”
“For Pete’s sake, Joe, you’re old enough to be her father.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Do you think I set out to fall in love with a girl who’s thirty years younger than me?”
“You’re in love with her?”
“Yes.”
“And, is she in love with you?”
“Yes.”
“Were you and she seeing each other while she was still a student here at Stanford?”
“No. We started seeing each other after she graduated.”
“She and Brody broke up in June of 2017.”
“We started seeing each other in August.”
“She didn’t waste any time, did she?”
“Would you have preferred if she had waited until the end of the year or the following year?”
“It would have been more tactful if she had waited for a while before jumping into another relationship so soon.”
“What you really mean is that she should have put off dating again until Brody had gotten over the breakup.”
“She wasn’t thinking about him when she decided to get involved with you any more than she was thinking about him or his feelings when she broke up with him.”
“Would you have preferred if she hadn’t broken up with him and continued dating him even though she didn’t love him? Would he have wanted that?”
“If she didn’t love him why did she stay in the relationship that long? They were dating since high-school.”
“I don’t know. Maybe she thought that if she gave it time, she would grow to love him but it didn’t turn out that way so she did the decent and sensible thing and ended the relationship. I know that it was painful for Brody but it’s far less painful than staying in a relationship with a woman who doesn’t love you.”
“I think what she did to Brody was wrong but I also think that he’s better off without her. There are other young women out there who would love and appreciate him the way he deserves. It’s too bad he wasted so much of his life giving his love to someone who didn’t deserve it.”
“I think you’re being unfair to Kalisha.”
“And I think you’re a fool for getting involved with her.”
He rose to his feet, his expression grave as he met her resentful stare. “Marianna, I don’t appreciate you putting me down like this because I happen to be in love with the same girl your son was in love with. The difference is that she loves me. And in time Brody will come to see that she did the right thing when she broke up with him. Now, I’d better head back now. I have a class in twenty minutes.”
“Joe, I’m sorry I called you a fool. That was insensitive of me. I said it in anger.”
“Anger? Why?”
“Because it angers me to see men your age take up with women half their age.”
“Does this have to do with Patrick?”
“It was furious with him when he took up with that scatterbrain but I’ve gotten over it. But, you. I thought, I hoped that you and I could become more than friends, more than colleagues but you never showed any interest in pursuing a relationship with me and so, I resigned myself to accept what I could get and then, I find out that you’re involved with Kalisha who’s young enough to your daughter or mine. I’m extremely angry and upset, Joe. Why couldn’t you have fallen for a woman in her fifties or even in her forties?”
“I couldn’t help that I fell in love with Kalisha any more than Patrick could have helped falling in love with his second wife. We don’t plan these things but, they happen. And I’m not going to apologize for being in love with Kalisha to you or to anyone else.”
“I’m sorry that it has come to this, Joe, but, I feel I can’t be friends with you any longer. I can’t accept your relationship with Kalisha. It’s like a slap in the face.”
“I’m truly sorry you feel this way but I will respect your wishes. From now on, we are merely colleagues. I’d better head back now because I have a class. Thanks for the coffee. Excuse me.” He turned and walked away.
She sat there, her mind spinning and blinked as the tears welled in her eyes. Damn you, Kalisha, she muttered under breath. You broke my son’s heart and now you’ve broken mine by costing me my friendship with a man whom I greatly admire and care very much for. Damn you. If you hurt him like you hurt Brody, you will regret it, I promise you.
Sources: International Student; The Six Fifty
Notes to Women 