Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Aubrey
No matter how busy I kept myself the past couple of days, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ethan. He had my phone number, yet I hadn’t heard from him. Ian told me that guys would typically wait a couple of days before calling a girl they went on a date with because they didn’t want to seem too eager. Penelope told me that he was nothing but a man whore. He would probably never call, and I had to put him out of my mind and move on. I tried. I really did, but he wasn’t so easy to forget.
“Hi, Aubrey,” I heard Gigi’s voice speak as I walked into my classroom.
“Hi, Gigi.” I smiled as she walked over and gave me a hug. “How was Italy?”
“Amazing.”
Gigi Graham was my teaching assistant and had been with me since my first day as a teacher last year. She had attended college with the hopes of becoming a teacher herself until she became ill and had to drop out. She was a thirty-year-old woman who married her high school sweetheart and didn’t need to work. But she loved being in a classroom, so she decided to become a teaching assistant instead of going back to college and finishing her degree.
I ran my hand along the steel edge of my desk and smiled as I sat down in my chair. It felt really good to be back. The first bell of the morning rang, and the students started to shuffle in. Once everyone found a seat, Gigi closed the door. Getting up from my chair, I picked up a white piece of paper with squares on it and placed it on the first desk closest to the door.
“Good morning, everyone.” I smiled. “I’m Miss Callahan, but you can call me Aubrey. I don’t believe in formalities at your age. We’re all adults here, right?” I grinned. “I call you by your first name, so you should call me by mine. Welcome to English Literature. As some of you may know, I am blind. For those of you who didn’t, surprise. I would like to introduce you to my teaching assistant, Gigi Graham. She will be in class every day with us, ensuring you are on your best behavior. I can promise you that by the time the school year ends, we will be like a family, and that’s something I take very seriously. Just to give you a little background information about me, I lost my parents in a horrible car accident when I was eight years old, the same accident that took my sight. I was angry, depressed, and felt like there was no hope for me like I’m sure some of you are feeling right at this very moment. But I fought back, I won, and here I am today, teaching you beautiful men and women all about English Literature. The point of this story is that no matter how bad life seems, you can and will conquer it, but you, and only you, have to put in the effort. Now.” I smiled. “The seats you are sitting in will be the seats you will sit in for the rest of the school year, and I will know if you decide to be funny and switch.”
The subtle laughs of the students filled the room.
“I don’t really have any rules. I just ask that you be respectful, not only to me or Gigi but also to your classmates. Feel free to bring in snacks or a drink, but be prepared to share with your teacher.” I smiled.
I repeated the same speech for the next five classes, and before I knew it, the first school day of the new year had come to an end. As I was putting my laptop in my bag, Ian walked into the room.
“How was your first day?” he asked.
“It was great. How was yours?”
“Good. I had some students excited to learn about history, and the rest just slept.”
I laughed.
Ian was hired as a teacher shortly after I was. He started as a substitute for one of the history teachers on maternity leave. She never came back, and the students really liked him, so the school offered him the job. We drove in together every day. He picked me up at my apartment in the morning and then drove me home after school.
“Have you heard from him yet?” Ian asked.
“No, and to be honest, I don’t think I will.” I threw my bag over my shoulder.
“It’s probably for the best, Aubrey. From what I hear, he’s bad news. You know my friend, Lance?”
“Yeah,” I spoke as I placed my hand on his elbow, and we walked to his car.
“He told me that his girlfriend, Amber, works at Ethan’s company, and he’s a total dick to everyone there. He’s rude, disrespectful to all his employees, and very demanding. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone. They call him The Iceman.”
I laughed lightly as I climbed into Ian’s Honda Accord.
“Why would they call him that?”
“Because he doesn’t show any emotion or feelings toward anyone. He’s as cold as ice. Amber also told him that Ethan has never been in a relationship, and he uses women for sex and then drops them like a hot potato. Gee, maybe I shouldn’t have told you that last part.”
“It’s fine, Ian. You wouldn’t be my friend if you didn’t. Listen, I don’t expect to hear from him again, so don’t worry about me.”
“I guess the good thing is you had sex for the first time in forever.” He grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it.
“Yeah. At least I had that.” I softly smiled.
Ian dropped me off in front of my apartment building and headed home. I wouldn’t lie and say that our little conversation about Ethan Klein didn’t hurt a bit because it did. But this was something I had grown used to.
Ethan
“Lucy!” I shouted from my office. “Where the hell is that report I asked you to finish over an hour ago?!”
“Lucy isn’t at her desk, and you, my friend, need to calm the fuck down,” Charles spoke as he strolled into my office and took a seat across from me.
“Here’s your report, sir. I was in the storage room getting new ink for the printer.”
“I asked for this over an hour ago.” I grabbed it from her hands.
“I’m sorry, but I?—”
“I don’t want to hear your sorry-ass excuses. The next time I ask for something, you better fucking get it to me when I ask for it. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir. Is that all?”
“Yes. Get out of my office.”
I threw the report down and leaned back in my chair, taking in a long, deep breath as I looked at Charles.
“What has your feathers all riled up today?” He smirked.
“Nothing. I just want things when I ask for them.”
“I haven’t heard from you since the art exhibition. By the way, the painting was a huge success. Lexi loved it and gave me not one, but two blowjobs when she came back.” He grinned.
I hadn’t told Charles anything about Aubrey. He only knew that I was talking to her that night. He didn’t even know that she was the girl in the painting.
“How did things go with that girl you were talking to at the gallery? What was her name again?”
“Aubrey.”
“Yeah, Aubrey. You seemed to be into her.”
“She invited me over to her house on Saturday for dinner.”
“Way to go, Mr. Casanova. Did you fuck her? Wait, don’t answer that. Of course, you did.”
I turned my chair sideways and stared out the window.
“Was she really bad or something?” he asked with a serious tone.
“No. She was great. She’s blind.”
“What?” He laughed. “Blind to the fact that you’re an asshole?”
I shot him a look as I turned my chair around and faced him.
“She’s blind.”
He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at me.
“Blind? As in, she can’t see anything, blind?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck, Ethan? Damn. That’s a new one for you. You fucked a blind chick. Holy shit! How was it? Come on, tell me. Was it different? Did you get off fast knowing that she couldn’t see you?”
“Knock it off, Charles!” I shouted.
“Bro, relax.” He put his hands up.
“She’s a great girl who has endured a lot. She wasn’t born blind. She lost her sight and her parents in a car accident when she was eight. She basically had to learn to live all over again.”
“Okay. So, have you talked to her since?”
“No, and I don’t plan to. It was one night. She’s no different from any of the other women I sleep with.”
“Is that so? Because you just defended her, and you’ve never done that.”
“I didn’t defend her.”
“You did. You didn’t like what I said, and you jumped to her defense.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to.”
He sighed as he got up from his chair.
“Anyway, I just stopped by to say hi since I hadn’t heard from you in a few days. Oh, and by the way, I’m having a little birthday get-together for Lexi on Saturday at the house. You will be there.” He pointed at me.
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
“I’ll talk to you later. Try to stay off your secretary’s ass.”
“Don’t tell me how to run my company,” I smirked.
As I picked up the report from my desk, my phone rang, and it was my mother calling.
“Hello.”
“Ethan, it’s been ages since we heard from you.”
“Sorry, Mom. I’ve been really busy.”
“You need to come to dinner on Sunday at the house. We’re celebrating Labor Day a day early.”
“Okay. What time?”
“Four o’clock. Your sister and Kenny will be here too.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good. Do me a favor and pick up a lemon cake at that bakery I love so much.”
I sighed. “Got it. One lemon cake.”
“See you Sunday, Ethan.”
“See you then, Mom.”
As much as I loved my family, I hated going over there. My mom and dad were always on my ass about finding a nice girl, settling down, and giving them grandkids. I flat out told them the last time I saw them that they’d have to get their grandkids from Lila, my sister, because there was no way in hell I’d ever had kids. Not to mention settling down with a nice girl. I didn’t see them as often as I should because it was best that I stayed away. They didn’t know the full story of what happened that night. They only knew what I chose to tell them.