Ambition

Flash fiction. MILDLY erotic. A student falls for her young teach over the course of one school year.

            This had followed him for the first half of the year. Her friend called herself Marie, and even though the girl had introduced herself at least a dozen times, he had never spoken her name. She came by his class when time was free, stood near his post in the hall before the first bell, and had once sprinted across the parking lot when she saw him at Wal-Mart. She told him she was good at keeping secrets.

            By the time Christmas came and went, she had bet money she would be under his desk by spring break. She say with Marie on the sidelines Monday through Thursday no matter what the weather as he coached – gasping, giggling: he plays without his shirt! He’s only four years older, she’d say for the millionth time, turning her head back towards a future where big hands don’t hurt and each morning begins with orange hair and blue eyes

            One day, she goes to his empty class, certain the time has come, all the while rehearsing the lines that will move him her way. He sits, typing, before a monitor dark with words. Her eyes switch from his flicking fingers to the letters that click onto the screen. She sees the words darling and love. ‘You know she’ll leave you,’ this girl says, her lips lined and glossed, all her clever intentions forgotten. He looks at her. She sees something slam inside his eyes; he turns, unresponsive, back to the girl in his computer. She goes, then, stumbling through the door. Outside, Marie is waiting.