"Kristina, I'm so glad we finally convinced you to come up with us!" Abigail exclaimed taking a sip of her latte.
"Yeah, you never hang out with us anymore. Seems like since you left last semester you're never around." Stephanie agreed giving Kristina a look showing her disapproval.
"That's what happens when you transfer schools, guys." Kristina told her friends while they sat across the table from her in the coffee shop, "What are we doing tonight?"
"They're having this really awesome frat party tonight. We should go!"
Kristina looked up when the door opened and she immediately wished she hadn't. Parker walked in looking every bit as beautiful as ever. Her blonde hair laying flawlessly over her coat. It was enough to break Kristina's heart and speed it up all at the same time.
"Don't look now but it's our resident hot professor."
"What I wouldn't give to get some of that."
"Seriously, you two? I thought you were more into frat boys." Kristina admonished her friends at their comments towards Parker.
"Oh come on, Kristina. You can't tell me that you didn't at least fantasize about Parker Forsythe. Don't worry we won't judge you. I used to love her classes just so I could enjoy the view." Stephanie commented watching Parker order her coffee.
"You guys are ridiculous."
"I think it would be rude not to speak. What about inviting her over to join us?"
"Abigail, Stephanie, if you two do that I will never speak to you again."
"Professor Forsythe!" Abigail ignored Kristina and called for their professor to come join them. When Parker walked over she was hesitant until she saw Kristina. Upon seeing the other girl she felt all of the hesitation slip away.
"Good evening, ladies. It's nice to see the three of you."
"Not as nice as it is to see you, Professor." Stephanie twirled her brown hair around her finger and Kristina was shooting daggers at both of her friends while they flirted with Parker. They may have been unaware of her past with Parker but, it was still off limits in her mind.
"Kristina, I haven't seen you around campus this semester."
"I transferred schools. I'm going to PCU." Kristina gave into Parker's eye contact for the first time, "You remember that school, right? You gave a lecture there over the summer."
Parker stopped breathing for a moment and looked at the other two girls who were sitting with Kristina. She needed to talk to Kristina in private and she needed to do it now, "Ladies would you mind if I stole Kristina for a moment?"
"Absolutely, Professor Forsythe. Try to convince her to come back to campus. We miss her being around."
"Kristina, we're going to head on to the party. Text us later."
Parker smiled at the two young women when they stood up and took Stephanie's seat once they were gone. Kristina shifted uneasily at the prospect of being left alone with her ex-lover. Part of her wanted to see Parker but the other part wanted to get up and run out the door as quickly as she could.
"Kristina…"
"Parker, I have no desire to talk to you. Especially here where there's a dozen witnesses."
"I wanted to call, Kristina."
"But you didn't, Parker. You didn't call. You left me a goodbye letter and you skipped town after you got what you wanted." Kristina took a breath and looked around the coffee shop to ensure no one was paying attention to them, "I'm not talking about this here."
"Tomorrow. Come to my office and we can talk."
"Your office on campus or at home?" The question was meant to hurt and it did. It hurt Parker because, it made her realize that Kristina thought it was just code for hooking up.
"On campus. I have office hours from three o'clock until seven."
"You don't expect me to really show up."
"I don't deserve to see you, Kristina, but I want to. I want to be able to talk without worrying what will happen if someone else overhears." Parker stood up from the table.
"Yes, we'd hate to ruin your reputation with a rumor floating around about us."
"I'm not worried about my reputation. I just don't want to hurt you again."
Kristina didn't know what to say when Parker walked away. She couldn't object because while the dean and disciplinary committee knew what had happened between them the student body didn't. Kristina wanted to tell herself that she wasn't going to see Parker tomorrow but she knew what she was going to end up doing.
"Come in!"
"Kristina, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Steph."
"Professor Forsythe was just answering a few questions I had about our paper that's due next week."
"Was she?" Kristina crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Parker who was sitting behind her desk.
"She was and it was helpful. Hopefully, I cover the topic of female sexuality in modern films, well."
"I'm sure it will be wonderful, Stephanie."
"I'll let you two get to it. Always a pleasure, Professor Forsythe."
Kristina threw her purse down into the chair as soon as Stephanie was out of the room, "Well that didn't take long."
"What didn't take long?
"For you to replace me."
"Kristina, I didn't replace you. What are you talking about?" Parker stood up and walked around the desk, "There hasn't been anyone else."
"I find that hard to believe. Not even two months later and here you are with yet another student."
"Stephanie? You think something is going on between me and Stephanie?" Parker let put her humorless laugh at the thought, "There's nothing going on with Stephanie."
"Really? Because, when you walked into the coffee shop she and Abigail couldn't stop going on about you. How they thought you were so hot and that they would love to have a turn with you in bed."
Parker walked around her desk and sat on the edge so she would be closer to eye level with her former student, "They can have their fantasies if they want Kristina but I'm not taking part in making any of them come true."
"I find that hard to believe."
"I've had students that I've thought were good looking, Kristina. I've had students that I could talk to about every subject in the world. But, I never showed up to their houses in the middle of the night, I never kissed them, and I sure never made love to them."
"When I said the words, making love, you were terrified. Now you can just throw them around without a care in the world!" Kristina yelled with her throat burning from the on-coming tears.
"Kristina, I need you to know that I didn't leave because of you."
"No? You didn't leave because of me? Then why did you leave, Parker?"
"I left because after the things that your mom said…"
"My mom? What did she say to you Parker?"
"She told me," Parker looked off to the right and the tears welled up in her eyes, "She told me that if I cared about you that I would leave. That it would destroy both of us if I stayed."
"She said what?"
"She told me I cared about you that I would break things off and leave her to pick up the pieces. Alexis told me she knew how it was going to end and I believed her. Kristina, I believed her."
Parker saw Kristina's body shaking with tears and reached out for her. At first, Kristina resisted but after a few moments she gave in and broke down. She knew her makeup was going to be ruined but feeling Parker's hiccups she knew she wouldn't be the only one. Pulling back, Kristina kissed her cheek.
"I can't believe she would do that to me."
"She was trying to protect you. I understand why she did it."
"Trying to protect me is one thing but controlling me is another. Parker, she made you think we didn't have a chance so instead of prolonging it for both of us, you left."
"I didn't want to leave. I wanted us to spend the day together in my hotel room."
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know." Parker ran her hands through her hair, "I don't expect anything from you, Kristina."
"Well I do expect something from you."
"What's that?"
"I expect you to be honest with me and tell me what you want. Do you honestly want to be in a relationship?"
"I want to see where this goes, yes."
"On one condition."
"What's that?"
"No taking Stephanie or Abigail back to your house for after hours." Kristina smirked and Parker laughed at the comment.
"That's reserved for you and only you." Parker cradled Kristina's face and kissed her slowly.