Addiction

23

Sunday

Someone cleared their throat. My eyelids felt heavy. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my parents standing by the door.

Oh s**t. Professor Hunter had his arm around me and his eyes were still closed. s**t! I elbowed him in the stomach.

"Penny," he mumbled and kissed my shoulder.

I elbowed him again. I was relieved to see that my hospital gown was tied back in place. James must have done it after I had fallen asleep. "Mom, Dad, hi."

"Huh?" Professor Hunter opened his eyes.

Oh my God. I had no idea what to do. I pushed Professor Hunter again so he'd get off the bed. "James," I whispered and tilted my head toward my parents.

He slowly sat up. His hair was sticking up in that sexy way it always did after we slept together. Oh my God, he has s*x hair. And my parents are standing there seeing him with s*x hair. I ran my fingers through my hair just in case I looked anything like Professor Hunter.

Professor Hunter rubbed his eyes and looked over toward the door. "Oh." He pretended to cough as he zipped up his pants. "Oh, umm..." he quickly climbed off the bed and laughed awkwardly.

Holy f**k. Did they hear him zippering his pants?

He looked down and zipped up his hoodie to hide his naked torso.

This isn't happening.

"Wow, this is not how I expected to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Taylor." He ran his hand through his hair and looked over to me. He looked so uncomfortable and nervous. Which made him look even younger. Thank God he looks so young.

"Mom, Dad, this is James."

James walked over to my parents and held out his hand to my father. "I've heard so much about both of you. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

My dad looked at me and then back at James. He seemed pissed. "That's quite the shiner," he said dryly and shook James' hand.

"Oh." Professor Hunter touched his black eye and tried to laugh it off. "I had forgotten about that. Just a misunderstanding." He turned toward my mom. "And Mrs. Taylor." He put his hand out and she quickly shook it. She didn't look angry at all. She actually looked ecstatic.

"Excuse my outfit." Professor Hunter tugged the zipper on his hoodie all the way up to his neck. "I just rushed over as soon as I heard what happened." He leaned down, picked up his shoes off the floor, and sat down in a chair. He laced his shoes and stood back up.

"It's so nice to meet you, James," my mom said. She was smiling from ear to ear. "So how do you know Penny?"

"Oh." He smiled over at me. "We actually met at a coffee shop on Main Street at the beginning of the semester."

"Is that so?"

"And we ended up having a class together. Comm."

"Do you hate it as much she does?" my mom asked.

Professor Hunter laughed. "I actually love the class. It's my favorite this semester. Mostly because Penny's in it." He smiled at me. "You know, I didn't actually know she hated it, though. Her speeches are really good. She tends to be too hard on herself."

"That's what I always say," my mom responded.

This could not be any more awkward.

"It's so nice to get to meet Penny's new friends. We got to meet Brendan yesterday. Such a sweetheart. He stayed and waited for hours to see if she was okay. Are you friends with him too?"

A cloudy expression crossed over Professor Hunter's face. But only for a second. I was probably the only one who saw it.

"No. And actually, Penny and I aren't just friends. She's my girlfriend."

"Oh?" My mom looked even happier, if that was possible.

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry, James. Penny didn't tell us she was dating anyone. I'm so embarrassed. Penny, this is kind of a big deal isn't it? Your first boyfriend?"

Mom! "It's still new. I was going to tell you." I thought it couldn't get any weirder, but it just had. Is she trying to mortify me?

Professor Hunter turned back to me. It looked like he was biting the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing. He seemed to be enjoying himself now.

"You know what? James was the first thing she said when she woke up. We had no idea what she was talking about. But I guess she wanted to see you. Isn't that sweet, honey?" She looked over at my dad.

"Mhm," my dad said and crossed his arms. He never got mad, but he looked so angry right now.

James seemed to sense the hostility in the air too. "Well, I don't want to interfere with your time, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. I just spent all night with her."

What the hell?

"Sleeping," Professor Hunter quickly said.

"Excuse me?" my dad said.

Professor Hunter cleared his throat. "Not sleeping with her. I was just in bed with her. Sleeping next to her I mean. Just beside her." Professor Hunter shoved his hands into his pockets. He was usually so collected. But my father was intimidating him. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch.

My mom laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, James. We'd like to get to know you." She walked into the room and sat down in one of the chairs. My dad walked over to the only other chair and sat down. His arms were still crossed.

Professor Hunter half stood half sat on the edge of my bed. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He seemed to automatically relax. He squeezed my hand.

There was an awkward silence in the room. I was relieved when there was a knock on the door and the doctor walked in.

"You look a lot better this morning," she said. I saw her eyes flit toward Professor Hunter for a second. I couldn't help but be a little jealous.

"Do you think I can go home today?"

"Let's see." She pressed a button on the machine that had been monitoring my heartbeat. It started printing out a long chart. "Well that's strange."

"What is it?" my father asked.

"Well, it looks like there was a twenty minute period of escalated pulse."

Professor Hunter laughed and then turned it into a forced cough. He squeezed my hand and looked down at his shoes.

Oh my God. I hadn't even thought about someone monitoring the information on that stupid machine. Who has s*x in a hospital bed anyway? Didn't I have any control?