Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 43: Growth Experience 

EMMA’s POV :

We didn't stay the night at the cabin.

lan and I had to drive back to Georgia early in the morning, so we drove back to his mom’s house that night.Hailey and AJ were riding in the car with us.They were both asleep, sitting in the backseat.lan and I didn’t talk much during the car ride.

We just listened to music and he held my hand.We got back pretty late, around 11 PM.We only had a couple of hours to sleep before we had to leave early in the morning.

So I jumped in the shower and dried my hair.When I was done, I was ready for sleep, so I climbed on the bed.lan was still reading something on his phone.I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and said, "Good night,"

I turned to my side and closed my eyes, waiting for the darkness to let me sleep, but then I felt lan moved.

He scooted closer to me, wrapping me in his arms from behind.

"Hey, you're being especially quiet tonight.Is everything ok?" he said as his fingers ran soothingly down my arm.

I opened my eyes and turned to the side.

He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at me, waiting for an explanation.

I guess I was being quiet on purpose.

This morning started off great, but things kinda went sour in the afternoon.

As soon as Ally came into the cabin, she wouldn't stop grilling me about my relationship with lan.

How we met, how long we've been together, what our future plans look like, and so and so forth.

Thankfully, Hailey would chime in once in a while with a different topic to discuss.

The worst part though, was when Ally spilled stories after stories about lan and his friends in the good old days.They all knew each other since they were kids.They had inside jokes and everything.

I felt sort of left out and I didn’t know if Ally was doing this on purpose.

By dinnertime, I felt completely forgotten.

Sure, lan was always around me, he would hold my hand or kiss my cheek, but his attention was somewhere else.

Ally was the center of everyone’s attention.

And I swear, sometimes she and lan would share this secretive lookas if they were the only two people in that room.

"Baby girl, what’s on your mind?" lan said again.

"You've told your friends all about me. But I never knew anything about them," I spoke up finally.

"That's because you're an interesting topic to me. I wanna talk about you to anyone that'll listen,"

"But then I don’t know anything your friends, or the good old days when you used to live here,"

"You wanna know about my friends?" he laughed ,

"Sure, I'll tell you everything.What do you wanna know?"

"I don't know..." I trailed,

"What were they like, I guess?"

"Well, you've met them all.Tommy and AJ are my best friends in the entire world.We used to get into a lot of trouble when we were kids.Sometimes I still can’t believe that Tommy's married with three kids"

"How about Ally? She seems to know you well," I shot point blankly. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

That was what I wanted to ask all night long.

"Are you two super close?"

"Yeah, kinda," he shrugged.

"Like, how close?"

"Emma," he said my name as if he was scolding me

"Are you being jealous right now?"

"No," I scoffed and flushed my face against the pillow.

"Hey," he laughed softly and tilted my face back to him,

"We're just old friends.We used to fool around a little bit when we were young, but that was years ago,"

"So, you and her...you guys dated?" the word made a lump in my throat.

"No, we never dated," he was quick to answer,

"We hooked up like once at the prom, but I was really drunk,"

I knew this happened ages ago and it shouldn't even matter right now.

But I still couldn't help myself.

I turned my head back and scooted away from him.

"Emma," he cooed,

"I’m not attracted to her like that.We really are just friends,"

"It was just a one time thing?" I breathed as his nose nuzzled my neck.

"Yeah, I was just a kid.I was in high school.It didn't mean anything,"he snaked his arms around my body and held me tight.

My back was pressed tightly against his chest.

"I'm in high school right now, but I don't see us as kids just having fun,"

"That's different,"he hissed,

"We're different,"

And then it dawned on me, lan was my first, and I was definitely not his first.

He probably had many other firsts before me already.

"How many girls have you been with?"I said and he looked taken aback.

"Why's this question suddenly coming up?"

"I just...wanna know.I know I’m not your first..."

I paused for a second before continuing,

"Just give me a number.How many girls have you been with before me?"

"Emma," he laughed, trying to ease the tension, but I pressed on.

"I'm serious. Tell me,"

"You really wanna know?" he asked as if I would regret hearing the answer.

"Yeah," I nodded firmly.

"Uh, well," he sighed and raked his hair,

"I don't know the exact number..."

"What? Like ten?"

"Maybe more,"

"Twenty? Thirty?"

"Could be a little more,"

"Forty?" I gaped.

"Yeah maybe, or maybe more," he shrugged.

"Seriously? You've had sex with more than fifty girls, maybe?" I fully turned my face around and stared at him with wide crazy eyes.

"I don't do relationships so I did a lot of hook ups.It didn’t mean shit though, okay?" he gripped the side of my face with his hand as his eyes pleaded with me.

I turned my gaze down and my lips quivered as I said, "I’m not just some number to you, am I?"

"Fuck no!" he said quickly.

"Ever since I met you, everything's different.You changed the game for me, Emma.You're the only one I want,"

Not waiting for my response, he leaned closer and found my lips with his.

He kissed me hard and hungrily, as if to prove a point.

Whatever doubt I was feeling before, it all went away as soon as he kissed me.I kissed him back and he tightened his grip around my body.

"You have no reason to be jealous.You're the only girl that ever matters to me,"he murmured to my skin,

"Okay?"

I felt really nice to be wrapped inside his arMs.My body was enveloped completely in his and I felt safe and warm.

I could feel his heart beating against my skin and his scent was intoxicating.

Yeah, he had been with many girls before, but he only wants me now.

"Okay,"

I breathed finally and drifted into a peaceful sleep under his touch.

"So, how was thanksgiving in New Jersey?"

Carrie said as she jumped on the bed next to me.

"Spill the tea, sis,"

Tiff closed the door to my room and followed suit.

Thanksgiving break was over and we were back at school again.

Tiff and Carrie hadn't seen me in a while, so they decided to come and sleepover tonight.

Tiff brought doughnuts from Krispy Kreme and Carrie brought Korean face masks.

"It was great.I met his mom and his sister, they were so sweet.And then I met his friends..."

I trailed, and I stopped when I remembered a particular friend of his I wasn’t so fond of."Uh-oh, I see a look,"

Tiff noticed something wrong with my expression.

"Me too.I sense a but coming," Carrie added.

"lan has this friend… her name’s Ally,"

"Ugh, such horrible name," Tiff rolled her eyes as Carrie and I laughed.

"Yeah.They've been friends since high school.They’re super close.And then I found out that they hooked up once during the prom,"

"Oh, snap!" my two friends exchanged a look.

"He says it didn’t mean anything.Anyway she’s engaged now, she’s gonna marry this brain doctor.They're only friends and that’s it.And lan says that I'm the only girl that ever matters to him,"

"Aw, that’s so sweet," Tiff said as she munched on the glazed doughnut.

"I wish Mark would say sweet things like that," Carrie sighed.

"He doesn't say things like that to you?" I asked her.

They had been together for years, I would have expected more.

"Mark can write an essay like Ernest Hemingway, but when it comes to sweet talk or dirty talk? Man, he’s hopeless," Carrie pouted.

"That's okay.Not all guys are good with words.Sometimes they just have to be good with their mouths," Tiff laughed sneakily.

"Oh, Tiff," Carrie shot her a look.

"Sounds like you have tea to spill," I added.

"Guys," Tiff grabbed both my hand and Carrie’s hand as she said,

"Nick and I did.I finally lost my virginity,"

"Dude, you lost your virginity already in freshman year," I rolled my eyes at her.

"Not that virginity.The other one,"

"We have two virginities?" I asked stupidly.

"She's talking about anal," Carrie answered me.

"What?!"

"Yup, we did it!" Tiff was doing her little victory dance.

"Holy cow.Dude! How was it?" I gaped at her

"Okay, so it all started like any other day: I was super horny," she started talking and we all laughed.

We sat up straighter and huddled closer together so we could hear everything better.

"So, Nick and I were just chilling at his place and making out.Things were getting hot and heavy and we were about ready when I realized, I had forgotten to take my pill the past couple of days! So I asked him if he has a condom.And just our luck, he ran out.If he were to go out and buy when you had anal?" Carrie scoffed and I laughed.

"Okay, you two make fun of me now.But once you've tried it, let's see if you're still making fun of me,"

"I don’t think I could ever do anal," Carrie said.

"How about you, Em?" Tiff asked.

"Oh, I don’t know..."

"lan’s an older guy.He’s definitely way more experienced.He’s probably done it already," Tiff said.

"Most likely," I rolled my eyes and sighed,

"He’s had sex with like, over fifty girls,"

"Fifty? What the f !?" Carrie and Tiff gaped at me this time.

"I know. I was shocked too,"

"Damn...Mr.Hayes’ been around,"

"Honestly, sometimes I don’t know why he stays with me.It’s troublesome and inconvenient and I’m ..inexperienced," I sighed.

I wasn’t nearly as pretty or as sexy as Ms.Diaz or his friend Ally.

"It's that thing called love, Emma," Carrie nudged my elbow.

"Yeah.And you're not that inexperienced," Tiff added.

"I was a virgin when I met him.Everything we've done together, they were all firsts for me.Zach and I never got too far,"

"Well, hey, it’s never too late to try,"Tiff said meaningfully.

"What are you saying? You want me to do anal?"

"No!"

Carrie and Tiff said in unison.

"Emma, I think you're not ready for that yet.Start with something more...simple,"

"Like what?"

"Like...toys.Do you have any?" Tiff suggested.

"What do you mean, toys?"

Tiff and Carrie exchanged a worried look.Tiff then got up and started raiding my bedside drawer.

"Oh, how about this?"Tiff pulled out a shiny aluminum pack from the drawer.

"What's that?" Carrie asked.

"Those are birth control pills my mom got me," I told them.

"And you don't use them?" Tiff asked.

"No, lan always uses a condom,"

"Girl," Tiff and Carrie exchanged another look.

"What?"

"You need to get on the pill and let your man ditch the rubber,"

"Why?"

"It's gonna feel...different," Carrie explained.

"Better," Tiff added.

"Really?"

"Emma, we're your best friends. We wouldn't lie to you,"

"Trust us on this one. lan’s gonna love it, that’s for sure,"

I must admit, I was getting insecure after our thanksgiving trip.

I knew I had to step up my game if I wanted to keep lan happy.

What my friends suggested to me sounded like the perfect thing to try.

Plus, I've always wondered what it would feel like to feel him inside me, flesh to flesh.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

After all, people say experience is the best teacher...