Change of Heart

Chapter 24

Sami stepped out of the bathroom determined to ask EJ if he would be interested in helping her lose her virginity. She didn't want her first time to be with just anybody, she wanted it to be special and memorable.

If he agreed she was pretty sure the memorable part was assured. She walked out of his bedroom and searched the darkened apartment for his whereabouts. It didn't take long, his place wasn't that big, although it was spacious enough for one possibly two people.

She found him with his back to her, at his desk with a small lamp turned on beside it providing the only light in the room. He appeared to be busily typing on something; his book he had told her he was writing was her first guess.

There was a half filled glass on his desk too filled with an amber liquid which could be bourbon, she wasn't really certain about those things since she mostly drank beer and the occasional wine cooler which were staples of the girls who partied at college. She didn't particularly like what she called the hard stuff since she was afraid of losing too much control of herself if she attempted to drink something with such high alcohol content in it.

She watched him for a few minutes; he didn't realize she was in the room with him yet. EJ was completely oblivious to his surroundings as he kept typing. He would stop for a few seconds, mutter something under his breath she couldn't decipher and then begin once more typing at a very quick pace.

She hated to interrupt him, he looked like he was in the zone, typing away, pausing occasionally to take a sip of whatever was in his glass and then back at it again. Finally though before she lost all of her nerve she walked up closer to him, not close enough to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing, but close enough for him to sense someone was in the room with him.

"EJ, thank you for taking care of me tonight," she began before taking a seat on his couch.

EJ jumped slightly in his chair at the sound of her voice, not really being used to having anyone in his place since Samantha was the first person he had even brought to his apartment since he had moved to Salem and started his teaching job at the college. He immediately saved his work and pulled down the top of his laptop so that she couldn't take a gander at what he was writing. She definitely didn't need to see what he was writing at all.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you," Sami's voice was apologetic.

EJ turned his desk chair around so that he could properly face her while they were speaking to one another. "Forgive me for being so jumpy, I was writing and I tend to forget where I am sometimes."

"I shouldn't have stopped you; you seemed to be very engrossed in what you were writing."

EJ looked at his watch, "I'm glad you did, I've lost track of time and I've been up much longer than I needed to be, but I was on a roll. I've learned when the muse strikes you need to write before you lose what you were trying to scribe in the first place."

"I wish I knew that feeling, it's a struggle for me to even write a paper for your English class."

"Hmmm, I never would have guessed that about you at all," EJ said in a light teasing voice as he gave her a grin.

"Smartass," Sami shot back before she thought better of it and then she put a hand to her mouth. "Oh god, I'm sorry. You're my teacher and I shouldn't call you that ever."

"Well I was being a smartass, so please don't apologize to me. I thought we were past the teacher student phase of our relationship especially after our talk last night. If I recall correctly we had both decided we were at the friend stage."

Sami nodded her head slightly, "I remember, well at least most of the night, although I don't know how I ended up here in your apartment instead of my dorm room."

"You fell asleep on the way back and I didn't think it would be appropriate to take you back in the dorm myself. You were still pretty tipsy at the time. I didn't want to wake you either," EJ offered up as an explanation to her.

"Thank you, I wouldn't want to have to explain why my professor was bringing me back to my room, especially since you're the hot topic on campus."

EJ quirked an eyebrow as he looked at her, "Professor? We're back to you calling me Professor again? Hot topic, eh? I've told you before people are not talking about me in a sexual way. Plus I thought you didn't listen to all the gossip on campus anyway."

Sami rolled her eyes and called him by his given name, "EJ, if you want to be dense over your good looks and how you affect people than that is your choice, but believe me when I tell you that you're a wanted man on campus. I even bet there are gambling pools going around on the lucky woman who finally snags you. Although I think all those girls are pretty delusional."

"Thank you, I think," EJ gave her a small smile. "I don't know whether to be flattered by your utter lack of interest in me as a man or congratulate you on seeing the light that I'm not all that these girls are making me out to be with their silly guessing games."

Sami shook her head, "For you to be so smart I'm kind of starting to rethink how highly I placed you on the intelligence scale."

"Now you're just being catty," EJ began as he picked up his glass of bourbon and prepared to take a sip of it. "I never claimed to be the smartest man around."

"Good because if you were smart you would have already figured out that I do listen to you. More importantly since you made me promise not to give myself away to any of those boys lightly I've come to a very important decision."

"Great, I'm glad you will at least listen to me about things of life even if you completely disregard my urgings for you to embrace the magic of poetry."He finally took a sip of his drink from the tumbler he that he had been holding.

"No, you are wrong I'm very interested in you as a man. EJ what I'm proposing to you is this. I will be the best student you've ever had in class, if you'll agree to teach me some very important lessons. I want you to be my first. I want to give you my virginity." Sami stated in a matter of fact manner as if they were talking about an assignment she had been given in class by him.

EJ's eyes grew wide and he inadvertently spewed out the sip of alcohol he had in his mouth. Surely he hadn't heard Samantha correctly because she was asking him something he had never imagined hearing come out of mouth. Samantha was asking him to sleep with her.

He sure hadn't been expecting that kind of proposition from her ever. What in the world was this girl thinking and what in the hell was he going to say to her? She was looking at him waiting for an answer.

He looked up to the ceiling for a brief moment hoping for some divine intervention before answering her question...