Steamy Night With My Professor

Aurelie My boyfriend cheated on me on my birthday and if anyone had told me that on this very day, my life would turn upside down, I’d tell the person, " You are very stupid. Not because my life was perfect. In fact, it was far from it. But I thought Jason was. “Happy birthday, big sister!!!” Chloe, my younger sister, said, shoving a silver necklace in my face with a smile that she had perfected since we were kids. The one that made our mother coo and our father open his wallet. I pushed myself off the bed, resting against the wall. “It’s beautiful,” I muttered, still fighting sleep. I touched the tiny pendant. A silver star. Cute. Cheap. But I wasn’t expecting a birthday gift from her anyway. Chloe and I weren’t those cute sisters people write poems about. After the incident that happened when I was eighteen, I moved out and stopped pretending Chloe’s love didn’t come with a fine print. “I wanted to be the very first,” she said, bouncing on her heels. “Three AM doesn’t count if you’re asleep right? So, technically, I win.” The corner of my lips turned up. Maybe we could finally move on, just as mom said last night when I worked late and couldn’t return to my dorm. “Thank you,” I said and I meant it. She beamed. “Now get dressed! Mom went insane with the decorations. There's a balloon arch in the living room. A balloon arch, Aurelie. For a twenty-one year old.” I laughed. “Give me ten minutes.” She flounced, actually flounced out, like a sitcom character and I turned toward the bathroom. Every excitement I was feeling before entering the bathroom dipped out as I saw the plastered wall of dark circles I’d been collecting since midterms, every worry line I had earned from watching my scholarship GPA dip below a 3.0. Twenty-one years old and failing macroeconomics. “f**k it.” I bathed quickly and pulled on the burgundy dress Becca had made me buy last month. “Birthday s*x dress,” she had called it, wagging her eyebrows. Jason had seen it and said he liked it but lately everything Jason said felt like a Band-Aid, placed carefully over something he didn't want me to look at too closely. A knock on the door snapped me from my thoughts. Three fast, one slow. Our signal. “Come in, you animal.” Becca, my female best friend, burst in wearing yellow, only Becca could pull off yellow on a random day. Her wild curls bounced excitedly with her freckles glinting in the morning light. She crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug my ribs began to hurt. “Happy birthday, b***h!” She pulled back and looked me over slowly, from head to toe. “You look hot. That dress is criminal. Jason’s going to swallow his tongue when he eventually arrives.” “Jason’s already seen the dress.” “Then Jason’s going to swallow something else.” “Becca!” “What? It’s your birthday and I’m manifesting good s*x for you.” I snorted. Becca and Luca have been my best friends since I was fifteen. They were the first people who had cuddled me after my first college heartbreak, who had slipped cash into my bag when they knew I was short on rent, who had spent three hours last week trying to explain supply and demand curves to me even though they didn’t major in my course. “You’re ridiculous,” I said. Her face paled when her eyes caught the necklace. “Wait! Where’d you get that?” “Chloe,” I said. “She came by early. Wanted to be first.” She reached into the bag she was holding and pulled out a smaller box, velvet. “I got you something too.” “Becca, you didn’t have to…” “Just open it.” I opened it. The necklace inside was silver; a thin silver chain with a small crescent moon, simple and elegant. “Becca.” “I mean it’s better than the one on your neck. Hers is fake, by the way.” My hand tightened on her gift. “Why do you always have to…” “Always have to what? Tell you the truth?” A tired sigh escaped my lips. “Where’s Luca?” I asked, changing the topic. Becca’s face lit up in a smile she was trying so hard to contain. “He’s already there.” “Already where?" "Downstairs." She grabbed my arm and steered me toward the door. "Don't ask me anything else. I am not telling you. I have been sworn to secrecy under penalty of death and I take that very seriously." "Becca —" "He has a surprise for you, that is all I am saying, and if you ruin it by asking questions I will never forgive you." She pointed at my face. "Do not look like you know. Look surprised. Practice your surprised face." "This is my surprised face." "That is your suspicious face. They are different." She pulled me out of the room. "Come on. Your mother built a balloon arch for a grown woman and we are going to respect that." The living room was wild. A banner that said. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AURELIE” was hanging in the middle of the room. There were a lot of people and I wasn’t so sure everyone here was actually my coursemates. I didn’t know this many people. My mother spotted me first. “There’s my birthday girl!” She hugged me and then her eyes went straight to my neck. “Wait, isn’t this like Chloe’s necklace?” My hands moved to the necklace instinctively. “What do you mean?” My dad and my aunt hovered around me now, their eyebrows raised. “Why do you always have to copy Chloe? There are plenty of necklaces to choose from and you had to choose the exact same one——“ I shook my head. “She gave it to me this morning. She came to my room and said she wanted to be the first.” “Always an excuse,” My mother pulled away from me, looking at me with disgust. “I shouldn’t have let you back in. I thought you have learnt your lesson. I should have believed Chloe when she said you were only pretending.” I clenched my fists. Where the hell was Chloe? My gaze ran through the room and of course, I couldn’t find her. My aunt moved closer along with my cousin Maddie who had a phone in her hand like she was waiting for something worth recording. “She’s always trying so hard,” Maddie, whispered, not quietly enough. “If she wants to copy Chloe, she should at least get the real thing.” Tears pricked the back of my eyes. Twenty-one year olds didn’t cry over stupid necklaces and bitchy relatives at their own birthday party. I moved out of the room. My nerves raging in anger. I needed air. I needed Luca’s stupid grin and the way he always says something stupid that resets everything. I needed one friendly face before I say something I couldn’t take back. I made my way towards the stairs. “Aurelie,” Chloe’s voice sounded at the foot of the stairs. I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn’t miss the sinister smirk that had appeared on her lips. It was gone just as it came, making me wonder if I had hallucinated it. Without a word, I began making my way upstairs but she held my hand causing me to halt. “Aurelie, where are you going? You should stay here. People will talk if the birthday girl disappears,” she said, her voice sickly sweet with her gaze filled with fake care. I pulled my arm free, trying to contain my rage. “You b***h! Stay the f**k away from me.” With that, I made my way upstairs. I moved toward the guest room, the one with the balcony, the one Luca always claimed as his whenever he visited because he said the lightning was better there. If he was setting up a surprise or hiding one, it would definitely be there. I rounded the corner but before I reached the door. A low voice reached my ears. “Faster baby. Use that pretty mouth of yours to suck me dry. I’m close.” Jason? No, it couldn’t be. I pushed the door open and Jason was there, his head bent backward with his hand firmly in the hair of another figure below him. Jason’s eyes shot up, his body going still as our gaze locked. My nails dug into my palm in rage and I was about to lurch at him when the figure below him raised his head causing my heart to stop. It was Luca. My Luca. He stared at me with pleading eyes, his chest heaving. And between his lips, dripping slowly down his chin was Jason’s c*m.