Addiction - Chapter 27 #3
"Oh crap, Penny. I didn't realize you lost your scholarship. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know why everyone is making such a big deal out of this. You know I have the money to pay for it," James said.
"The perks of having a loaded boyfriend." Melissa smiled. "Speaking of which, I'd love a tour."
"I will let you handle the tour, Penny. I need to get some work done." James stood up.
"But you're not a professor anymore," Melissa said.
"I'm working on some other stuff." He kissed my cheek. "I'll be in my office."
Melissa didn't say anything. She just watched James disappear. "Oh my God, this place is so cool! Show me everything!"
I laughed and slid off the stool. "Okay, so this is the kitchen." This whole part of the apartment was open. I didn't really need to say anything. "And the dining room and living room."
Melissa walked over to the big box in the living room. "New T.V.?"
"Yeah. James knows that I like to watch T.V. and he didn't have one. Plus his brother, Rob, is coming to town tomorrow. He wanted something to watch football games on with him."
"That's cute. Are you excited to meet him?"
"Yeah, and I'm really curious to see what he's like. I feel like I'll know James even better once I meet his brother."
"And you two are good? I mean, I saw all the news vans outside. It's kind of ridiculous."
"We're good. I'm just trying to ignore everything else. What was class like today? Did you hear anyone talking about it?"
Melissa shrugged. "A few people. But I wasn't in any of James' classes. I feel like your Comm class is going to be a nightmare. Have you decided whether or not you're going to drop it?"
"I mean, I'm already halfway done. There are only a few speeches left.
I don't want to have to take the whole class over.
" But I also didn't want to have to face the other students.
Especially Raymond Asher. But it was also the only class I had with Tyler.
Tyler was one of my best friends. I liked getting to spend time with him.
And I wasn't sure how James would feel if I hung out with him outside of class.
"I get it. So..." Melissa's voice trailed off as she looked around the living room.
"Yes?"
"James mentioned paying what your scholarship used to pay. I know that he has a lot of money. But do you have any idea how much? I remember when these places were being built. They were selling them for like a million dollars or something ridiculous."
I looked at the door that James had disappeared into.
I was pretty sure anyone could look up the price he sold his company for.
It didn't seem like a big deal for me to tell her.
"I don't know exactly. The only thing he's told me is that he sold his company for 2.
8 billion dollars before he became a professor. "
Melissa started laughing. But she stopped when she saw my face. "What, are you serious? Billion with a B ? Who the hell has that much money? That's like...well I don't even know who makes that much money. I don't even have a comparison. Are you serious?"
"Yeah, that's what he said."
"Well you should totally let him pay for your education."
I laughed. "I don't want him to do that."
"You're so weird. I mean look at this place. Clearly he can afford anything he wants. And he said he wanted to pay the difference of your scholarship."
"I don't know. I'm sure we'll talk about it again. I'd just feel weird taking his money."
"You wouldn't be taking it, he'd be giving it to you. What's in there?" she asked, pointing to James' bedroom door.
"That's his room. Come on, you've gotta see his bathroom."
Melissa laughed. "Geez, this is weird. I can't believe I'm about to walk into a professor's bedroom. I have to say, if I was to guess which one of us was more likely to sleep with their professor, I would have guessed me."
"I know. I would have too." I opened up the door to James' bedroom.
Melissa laughed and lightly pushed my arm. "Holy crap." She stepped into his room and looked around.
James' room was my favorite place in his whole apartment. Probably because of how often we had sex in his bed. The shower was one of my favorite places too. I could feel my face starting to blush.
"I've never felt sheets this soft." Melissa ran her hand along the bottom of the bed. "What side do you sleep on?"
"The right side."
Melissa jumped onto the right side of the bed and laid down. "Oh my God."
I started laughing.
"I'm never getting up. You can't make me."
"But you haven't even seen the bathroom yet."
"Fine." She sighed, slowly climbed off the bed, and followed me into the bathroom. "This is like my dream bathroom." She sat down on the edge of the tub. "I need to find a professor to sleep with."
"Melissa!"
"I'm just kidding. I'm obsessed with Josh. But seriously...you're so lucky. Is that his closet?" She peered around me, back into the bedroom.
"Yeah." I was more embarrassed now. I had forgotten about all the clothes that James had bought me. Most of them still had the tags on.
Melissa wandered past me and into the closet. "Gross."
"What?" I asked and ran in after her.
"He kept his ex's clothes. You should make him get rid of these."
"Those aren't Isabella's clothes. They're mine."
Melissa pushed a few of the hangers back, studying the shirts and jackets. "Penny, these aren't your clothes. They're actually nice."
"Hey! My clothes are nice."
"Sorry, you know what I mean. They're expensive. They're classy and trendy, and really there's some of everything in here."
"Yeah, James bought them for me."
Melissa turned around. "Seriously? All of this stuff is yours? You better let me borrow this top. This is so pretty."
"Yeah, you can borrow it. Of course."
"Wait. So you let him buy you a T.V. and tons of clothes but you won't let him pay for some of your schooling? All of these clothes probably cost a fortune."
"I don't know, it's just different. I didn't ask for any of those things. He just got them for me. He wanted me to be more comfortable here."
"Geez, what else has he bought you? No wonder you chose him over Tyler."
"Melissa, it wasn't like that. I don't care about his money."
"I know. You wouldn't even add that it was a pro when you were choosing between them. Because you're insane."
"I didn't really think it was important."
Melissa shrugged. "You're right, it shouldn't have been part of the decision. Oh, that reminds me. Last time we hung out, you were going to talk to him about something he was hiding from you? I guess it wasn't so bad if you're still here."
"Oh. Yeah." This wasn't my information to share.
James was clearly embarrassed about it if he had kept it from me for so long.
And so far I hadn't even seen any evidence of his addiction.
He seemed fine. He had three shots of vodka earlier and then walked away from it.
He could have easily had more. "You know what?
You were right. It wasn't anything I can't handle. "
"I knew it." She smiled. I was glad when she didn't press me about it. Apparently being right was enough closure for her. She did love being right.
"So, he did actually get me one more thing," I said.
"Oh yeah?"
I nodded. "A key to his place."
"Wow, big step."
"I know. He asked me to move in with him. I said yes."
"Wait, you're leaving me? Penny, I don't like sleeping alone. You know it creeps me out. I've spent like the past week sleeping at Josh's."
"I thought you liked sleeping at Josh's?"
Melissa shrugged. "I guess. He snores though."
I laughed.
"Well, you'll still come hang out after class and stuff right?"
"Of course."
"Okay good. And I totally get it. I'd never want to leave this place either. So is his brother super rich too?"
"Melissa!"
"I'm just kidding. Kind of."
We both laughed.
"Do you want to finish the tour?" I asked.
"Is it just his office?"
"And some guest rooms." I actually hadn't seen the guest rooms. I was excited to explore some more. Melissa followed me out of James' room and I opened the door that led to the hallway. I opened the first door in the hall that I came to. It was just a normal bedroom. Ornate and perfect, but normal.
"Oh, yes! Same sheets!" Melissa said. "I can't wait to get totally wasted one night and have to crash in this bed."
"You can definitely be my first house guest."
"Awesome."
The next door was a guest bathroom. It was a smaller version of James' bathroom, without a tub.
Another almost identical bedroom was on the other side of the bathroom.
There was only one more door. I opened it up.
I was expecting to see just another bedroom.
But instead, there was a pool table in the center of the room and a bar to one side.
"Wow, this is really cool." I ran my hand along the side of the pool table.
"Have you never been in here before?"
"No."
"I guess you've been too busy doing other things to get a proper tour?"
I could feel myself blushing. "Well, today he was helping me study for my Stat test next week."
"How professor-like of him."
"Yeah." I looked up at the huge picture on one of the walls.
It was of a bunch of guys smiling. It took me a second to find James.
He was in the center. He looked so happy.
It didn't look like he had a care in the world.
I recognized his friend Mason Caldwell that I had met in New York to the left of him.
Otherwise, I didn't know anyone else in the picture.
"Do you think that was from when he was in college? He looks almost exactly the same," Melissa said.
"I don't know. But yeah, that's why I never would have guessed he was my professor when we first met. He doesn't look 27."
Melissa smiled at me. "Have you met any of his friends?"
"Yeah, that one." I pointed to Mason. "It was weird though. Apparently they lost touch after he moved here. James is kind of closed off. I'd like to meet more of his friends."
"Well, it'll be fun to meet his brother. I bet you can ask him tons of questions."
"Mhm." I suddenly felt nervous about meeting Rob. James had made it clear that his parents probably wouldn't like me very much. I hoped that his brother and sister would be more accepting.
"I actually need to get going," Melissa said. "Maybe we can hang out this weekend? I know it's a little awkward, but the Sigma Pi formal is on Saturday and I could really use your help getting ready."
A while ago I had hoped that Tyler would ask me to the Sigma Pi formal. That seemed like ages ago. "No, that's not awkward at all," I said. "Actually, that sounds great. I'll probably want to give James and his brother some guy time anyway. I don't want to be third wheeling with them."
Melissa laughed. "I'm pretty sure Rob would be the third wheel in that equation. Let me say bye to James before I go."