The Whale - 19. Part III, chapter 3

- III -

Luke

Bah, today was Sunday, and Faith would be leaving tomorrow morning to attend that damn class of hers. I sighed and lit a cigarette. Suddenly, I was thinking about the first time my mother met Faith, and I immediately started cracking up.

It was back in November or maybe early December, I don't remember now. When I told Faith that my mother knew about us, I thought that she would throw a plugged-in toaster into my bathtub one of those days. Seriously, she looked horrified.

"Russell," she said in a shaky voice. "Are you out of your bloody mind?! You told your mother?!"

I laughed at that really hard, and finally, she whacked me on the head with a book.

"It was an accident," I breathed. "It sort of slipped out..."

"You know what is going to slip out...?" she asked dangerously, and I winced.

"Faith, she freaked out..."

"Gee, REALLY?!"

"...at first. She freaked out at first," I said patiently. "She is fine now."

"God," she moaned. "I don't believe this... Your mother knows..." and she covered her face with her palms.

"Yup," I nodded. "She wants to meet you. And usually I don't really care about what my mother wants, but she's been bugging me nonstop about it."

"Luke..."

"It'll be fine," I laughed again. "My mother is insane, but she is not too judgmental."

Faith was huffing and puffing all the way to my house that weekend. She kept saying that she couldn't believe what an idiot I was that I couldn't keep my damn mouth shut, and I agreed with her wholeheartedly. I told her that I always had troubles with shutting my mouth before something bad or dangerous came out of it. "It's a curse," I shrugged. "I'd say," she muttered gloomily.

When we were walking towards my front door, I seriously thought that Faith would just say, screw this shit, and take off running. I could see that she was actually quite tempted to do so, but finally, she took a deep breath and muttered, "Suck it up, Connor," and I grinned.

I made sure that my father wasn't home that particular day. I was finally able to talk to my mother about Faith and me, but I knew that I would never be able to talk to my father. Hell, I couldn't even talk to him about the weather without feeling like I was going to explode any minute.

So we walk inside, and there is my mother, sitting at the kitchen table, looking like she is about to meet a freaking queen of England. I guess she didn't expect Faith to look younger than me. Apparently, the fact that Faith was four years older and also a math teacher, automatically drew a picture in my mother's head that made Faith look like a mix between Margaret Thatcher and Linda Rothschild.

So I say, "This is Faith Connor," yada, yada, yada... And my mother starts moving her lips silently, and I can't help but think that right now she looks like someone who is showing quite a few signs of mental retardation. I thought that it would make me feel embarrassed or something, but nope, it never did. I just sighed.

The first half an hour or so was pure hell. It was beyond awkward and uncomfortable. But then somehow, everything got better, and the next thing I know, my mother is telling Faith that Greg is gay. I told her that before, and Faith was cool as a cucumber. It didn't make her feel weird or anything. The only thing she said was that she was really glad that it was my brother who was gay and not me. I remember how she looked at me with concern and sighed that night. "What?" I demanded. "Nothing," she shrugged with fake indifference. "You sure you are not gay?" I growled, and then I had to prove it to her. The memory still brought a smile to my face.

So yeah, after that meeting, my mother wouldn't even mention anything about the whole ethics and legality thing. I was surprised, but I never pushed the matter any further. She is not bugging the hell out of me anymore; I can live with that.

*****

I flicked my cigarette away and growled softly. Jesus, the whole week without her is going to freaking kill me. But I knew that she had to go, and I was really happy that she'd be back for spring break. I mean, come on! The entire week off school with her and me alone in her house? I definitely could deal with her going away for this one week, and then have her all to myself the following one.

I was getting really tired of pretending that nothing was going on between us. I knew that Faith felt the same way. Williamson kept pestering her with his damn invitations, and she kept declining them politely. It got to the point when Williamson cornered her in her office one day, and I was, like, that's it, I am going to kill him. I didn't, of course. I just walked in with an innocent expression on my face and said that I had a hell of a lot of questions about math. Williamson looked like he was about to have a stroke when he saw me. I just blinked at him indifferently, as if I was completely clueless, and he left.

After that incident, Williamson became even more of a pain in the ass than he used to be. There wouldn't be a single day when he wouldn't find something to bug me with. He would use every single excuse in the book to give me detention, and I gritted my teeth and kept repeating to myself that I had less than one semester left with this prick, and after I graduated, I could flip him off freely.

He was also bugging Faith nonstop. It would always be something. A question about grades; a question about her teaching methods; a question about the fact that almost every single student called her Faith and not Miss Connor... I was really glad that the spring break was coming up, and that Faith and I would be free of all that bullshit even though only for a week.

I turned my head when I heard her walking out of the shower.

"Whatcha thinking?" she asked and started to dry her hair off with a towel.

For some strange reason, I found it unbelievably sexy. I sighed.

"About you going away for a week," I admitted.

"It'll go by fast," she grimaced. "Go to that party on Friday night, unwind."

I snorted and took the towel away from her.

"Unwind?" I threw the towel on the chair. "I can't unwind if you are not here, teacher..."

She smiled and slowly moved her finger from my neck all the way down to my belly button. I didn't even bother wearing a shirt lately.

"You know," she murmured. "It's really hot when you call me 'teacher'..."

"Oh, yeah?" I raised my eyebrow in fake surprise. "I wouldn't know..."

Of course, I knew. The damn word turned me on as well. Faith laughed.

"Uh huh," she said, and I tried to ignore her fingers fumbling with my belt buckle.

"What are you doing, teacher?" I asked and she shrugged.

"Exploring the possibilities of science," she said seriously, and then I wasn't able to ignore her fingers anymore.

For a math teacher, her fingers were surprisingly talented. It was almost like she was a musician or something. I couldn't believe that after all the time we spent together, I still couldn't get enough of her. I guess six months is not really such a big deal for some people, but for me it was a long period of time. I mean, I never stayed with anyone for longer than a week or so, and I would never even consider the possibility of living with somebody. I always cherished the thought of living alone. Yet here I was, more than eager to move in with Faith. I was seriously counting days until my damn graduation.

By the end of that day, we both needed another shower.