LC#3 - History Repeating, PG (Teacher, Cross-over)
ENTRY 3, LONG CHALLENGE 1
Title: History Repeating
Themes and/or Prompt/s Teacher, Crossover
Rating: PG, mild language
Word count: ~5500
Characters/Pairings: Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Lance, Elena with many others and some that belong to me.
Spoilers/Warnings: It may disappoint as this section of the story ends at the beginning.
Disclaimer: Summary: Life is all about making choices, taking chances and learning how to be happy. Most of the times, things are easier said than done.
Author’s notes:
Chapter I
Arthur took one of the plain white shirts from the little closet in the corner of his two-room flat. It was clean and pressed perfectly. He’d have to thank Mrs. Cameron again, he thought. His landlady had graciously offered to have them cleaned for him. She was a sweet woman, but not without her schemes. Still though, he decided to knock at her door on his way to work.
He tied a small knot in the skinny black tie and smoothed every stray hair into place, slipping his black jacket over his arms.
“Mrs. Cameron.”
“Mr. Pendragon,” the woman said.
“Ah, I told you to call me Arthur.”
Mrs. Cameron giggled. “Arthur.”
He smiled back. “I came by to thank you again for the shirts. I don’t quite know what I would’ve done without all your help this past week.”
“It was no trouble to me at all. Elena managed it. She’s a proper wife, that one. Elena,” Mrs. Cameron yelled behind her. “You should be thanking her,” the mother added.
Arthur felt a tiny quickening of his pulse. The blonde woman appeared over Mrs. Cameron’s shoulder with a welcoming smile on her face. The contrast between the two women couldn’t be more striking. The daughter stood tall, thin and graceful while the mother was barely five feet tall, had dark curly hair and a plump face.
“Hi, Arthur.” The girl waved at him, blushing.
“I’ll leave you two alone, then.” Mrs. Cameron vanished almost as quickly as her daughter had appeared. Elena stuck her hands into her back pockets, smiling broader with a pair of adoring eyes fixed to his.
“Um, I just wanted to thank you for the shirts. Your mum said you had them done for me.”
“It was no trouble.” She hid her face away as it burned red, eyes searching all around him. “I know this great place across town. It’s just a few extra stops past my work. Anytime you need them done, just let me know.”
She glanced up and then down at the floor again. Arthur’s heart raced faster. “Ah, Elena, you probably already have plans, but if you’re free, maybe you want to come up for some pizza or something on Friday.”
“Really?” she exclaimed and swept a chunk of her loose hair behind her ear.
“Sure. How about seven?”
“That’s perfect. You’re perfect,” she blurted out and then her eyes got wide and disappeared to inspect the floor.
“Okay, then,” Arthur muttered awkwardly, “I’ll see you Friday.”
Arthur quickly left, regretting ever wanting to be thankful and reminding himself to find his own dry cleaner. This part of London remained foreign to him. He only really knew how to get from his flat to work and back, a few take away places and the café three doors down.
From the station, the school was another ten blocks yet he got to Mrs. Price’s office with more than a few minutes to spare.
“Mr. Pendragon,” the slender woman said. “I cannot tell you how proud we are of you for what you’re doing and that you choose our little school. Everyone on the staff is thrilled to meet you.”
“Well, I’m happy to be here. I can’t wait to get started,” he told her. “The school is well known for doing a lot with little.”
“We do try.”
She was beaming. The headmistress surprised him. During their prior meetings she didn’t behave like the slightly giddy teenage girl sitting across from him now. She went on for a long while, dancing around the subject until he politely suggested that there might be something that the Pendragon Foundation could do to help. Her enthusiasm could barely be contained. Arthur wondered what she might look like when disappointed. He made her no promises, although he was certain that Morgana would at least be decent enough to give him a meeting.
“Well, I should probably get started, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” She stood and they walked from her quiet office. Just outside, the room teemed with the rest of her staff. They all smiled sweetly at him and nodded low hellos. Mrs. Price didn’t stop to introduce him. Down a hall, they went to another room. She opened the door and the room fell silent. Every pair of eyes, blue ones, brown ones, green ones and the like, all stared back at him. More smiles from this crowd, though not all of the faces here were friendly ones.
Mrs. Price announced him to the rest of his peers more like a knight come to rescue them rather than the new sixth form Maths teacher. “I’ve asked Mr. Emrys to shadow you,” she said to him. “He’ll help you through the week.”
The bell rung and many of the faces absconded right away, leaving the room in a rush before he could properly meet any of them.
“That’s your first bell,” Mrs. Price said. “Have a good day, Mr. Pendragon and Mr. Emrys, please try your best not to lead him astray.”
Mr. Emrys grinned and saluted the woman as she left. “Nervous yet?” he asked. He was about his height, probably his age with ink black hair and blue eyes. He was thin and Arthur guessed that he watched more sports than participated in them.
“I don’t get nervous.” His answer sounded more brash than he’d intended it. The truth was he was keen. The sooner he could teach the better.
“Well, that should come in handy.”
A little embarrassed Arthur sought to explain. “I just meant that I’m eager to get started, is all, um….”
“Oh, it’s Merlin.” He grinned at him now. “You don’t mind if we call you Arthur, do you?”
The dig forced a laugh. “I suppose I deserve that.”
“Nah, but I couldn’t resist.” They shared an easy chuckle between them. “Well come on then, let’s get you to your classroom. You’ll be wanting to meet some of the brightest minds that Chelsea Secondary has to offer. I’m certain they’re even more eager to meet you.”
Merlin led him from the room and they marched down the hall. Most of the students lingering about recognized him. They’d slow their steps to scrutinize him or simply gaped as he past. A few yelled out his name and he wondered if that would be daily occurrence or disappear after a week. He glanced to his left. “You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“You do have to admit it’s quite a spectacle. I didn’t think you’d show up today.”
Arthur scoffed. “So, how long have you been here?” Merlin couldn’t have been much older than him.
“This’ll be my second year.”
“I suppose you like it then.”
“It’s a job,” he shrugged.
Arthur gave him a questioning look. “But you do want to be here, right?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love teaching and thank God that I do because we barely make enough to live. None of us are eating lobster on Tuesday nights. But I suspect that’s not something you have to worry about.”
Arthur couldn’t fault him for thinking that. After all, he was a Pendragon.
“Here you go then.” Merlin pointed to his classroom. “I’m right across the hall, if you need anything.” He headed towards his door. The final bell rung and suddenly Arthur was alone. He inhaled deeply, ignored the damp feeling in his palms and the churning in his gut.
Another room settled just from him having entered it. Every pair of eyes observed him as he went to the large desk at the front of the class. He dropped his satchel and was about to speak when a hard-faced boy in the back of the class cursed loudly at him. The entire room erupted in laughter. Arthur gazed at all the faces. This sort of ridicule is to be expected. Not everyone’s going to like you.
Chapter II
Merlin had been a great help all day, stopping in to check on him between classes. He declined a lunch invitation, preferring to eat alone in his room, at least this once. He also wanted to think. With the exception of the prat from first period, the other everyone else had been pleasant enough. If this last group behaved then he’d consider the day a success.
They filed inside the room one by one. A behemoth of a boy with tightly trimmed blonde hair that Arthur figured had to be on the football team. Behind him strutted a slightly shorter boy, athletic with dark hair, good looking - likely a footballer as well. A group of girls strolled in next, one blonde and dressed rather questionably, another with long, red curls and then a pair of brunettes.
Arthur’s breath hitched in his throat. He watched as the pretty girl saunter past him, praying that his jaw wouldn’t drop open. She, along with the other girls, sat in a loose cluster at the center of the room. He tried to look away, focusing on the door and anyone else walking through it. His eyes glanced back to the middle of the classroom where the girl with the bounty of brown curls, sun-kissed, caramel skin and a perfect posture sat in the front row.
The bell brought him out of the momentary daze. Unconsciously, - he would realize later - he checked his tie and smoothed his hands over his shirt and hair. Her name was Gwen. The dark-haired bloke who ended up spending most of the free time in class gawking at her was Lance. When she turned around to tell the boy something, he decided.
“Can anyone manage this problem?” Arthur asked. Without waiting for a response, he pointed at the younger man, “How about you?”
Lance hesitated out of his seat, though he moved directly to the chalk. Arthur paced at the side of the room and stopped to lean against the wall of windows where he could see everyone in the room.
Trying to get a sense of all the different personalities in this class, he surveyed them one at a time. From the tall, quiet one in the back nursing a tender beard idly with his fingers to the shifty-looking boy next to him with eyes fixed on the blonde girl sitting just ahead of them. Arthur could only imagine what he might have been thinking.
The girl twirled a pencil between her fingers, her chin resting in the other hand and eyes unabashedly undressing him. Her lips pursed together and blew a not so discrete kiss in his direction, her large brown eyes closed then opened at a seductive, dramatic tempo. Morgause, he recalled her odd name. She might be trouble, he thought.
Moving on, he looked to Sophia next and then quickly glanced over at the board. Unexpectedly, Lance made progress through the first half of the problem, breezing through it with no trouble. Arthur studied him now, admittedly a bit surprised and excited that the presumed idiot might actually solve the equation.
Shockingly enough, Lance was finished a moment later, returning the chalk to its proper place and taking a step back to view the work. He turned to him. “I think that’s your answer,” he declared cockily.
“Well done.” Arthur genuinely applauded his effort after pausing for a short beat. The rest of the class clapped as well and Lance took a little bow. “You were the only person able to solve that all day,” he told him.
“I have a good tutor, Mr. Pendragon,” he answered and grinned at the first chair in the middle of the room. Lance returned to his seat to continue his visual assault on Gwen.
Arthur handed every student a three page exam to test each of their skills, wanting to judge their abilities for himself. He examined all of his student while they worked. Everyone, except for Morgause, had their heads down for much of the time, staring at the numbers on the pages. Even the bloke in the back with the beard seemed fully alert, pencil scribbling away in his hand.
Gwen finished first, faster than she should. She copiously reviewed all her work a second and then a third time checking for any errors. The bell sounded and she bounded up to his desk with the paper in hand. “Ah, thank you, Ms. Leodegrance,” he said. “Just place it right there.” She smiled down at him innocently and set the exam down. The rest of the class, Lance, Sophia, Mordred, Percy, Leon, a few others whose name he couldn’t recall, crowded his desk and deposited their papers on top of hers.
The day was nearly over and Arthur felt nothing but sheer relief having survived it without much frustration. He scooped up the last batch of papers and added them to the others from earlier in the day. Going through what would likely become a routine, he sorted his desk, put away the practically useless text books and shuffled over to the chalkboard to clean away Lance’s handy work.
“Well, you haven’t committed suicide yet,” Merlin said from the other side of the room.
Arthur chuckled lightly. “No, but everything in due time.”
Merlin leaned a shoulder against the doorway. “Need a drink?”
“Maybe more than one,” he confessed, “but it’s a bit early, isn’t it?”
“Just another consequence of the work,” he said.
After meeting with Mrs. Price to report on his first day, he and Merlin left together. Arthur held back his complaints regarding the out of date textbooks he was expected to teach with and the fact that only one student managed to complete an equation that more of them should have known.
“We have a usual place. Eventually everyone makes their way there from time to time but always on the first and last day. It’s tradition.”
Merlin’s words proved true. A few faces had already gathered inside the pub. Four of them sat at the round table with two pitchers of beer in the middle. Revelry started earlier here than at Uni. He drew in a deep breath and dived into the fray.
Arthur frowned at what was left in his wallet. His pittance of a budget for the week spent in just one night of drinking. Being independent provided some freedoms though trepidation offset much of the euphoria. His new flat had been an attic Mrs. Cameron converted to a separate apartment to help with the mortgage once her husband died. “Mostly students rented in this neighborhood,” she told him.
He sighed, fell onto the sofa and yanked the exams from his satchel, going straight away to the bunch from his last period and the first assignment handed in to him. A crooked smile broke over his face eyeing the way she wrote her name at the top of the page. Scanning the first page, the smile broadened after each correct answer. Not one error, a perfect exam. He set hers aside and went on to the others, starting with Morgause’s. On the last page, the blonde had scribbled her phone number with little hearts around it. That was less disturbing than what she’d done with the rest of the pages - she hadn’t even attempted many of them.
He cycled through the others. Gwen and Lance did the best. Arthur looked at Gwen’s paper again especially pleased for a reason he cautioned himself not to fully identify.
Had he met her at somewhere else, anywhere else, no one would bat an eye at a relationship between them - well except maybe his father, but for entirely different reasons.
He slumped into the back of the seat, arms stretched out with his eyes staring up at the ceiling. Elena was eighteen and her mother seemed more than eager to marry her off to him. At twenty one, he wasn’t a dirty old man. By all right he should be back at Uni drinking heavily with Gwaine and enjoying life as a Pendragon.
He was only a few years older than she probably was, nothing that would qualify him as a pedophile. But Gwen wasn’t shopping for fruit when he first saw her. She was his student, so, of course, nothing could come of it.
Half ten, he trained his mind on the next morning, the rest of the week and the remainder of the year. Beer still coursing through him, he flung his body onto the lumpy little bed, fully clothed and mentally shattered.
Chapter III
“Gwen.” She heard his voice call out to her. She inhaled deeply and closed the door to her locker.
“Gwen,” Lance panted.
“Hey.”
“Hey. You weren’t at practice yesterday.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I had to go see my dad. Didn’t I say?” Gwen pulled the strap over her shoulder and started for their class. Lance followed.
“So, you want to come over tomorrow night?” he asked, ignoring her question. “I could use some help.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “You don’t need any help.” Lance was perfectly capable at Maths and all of his other subjects. “You just want me over,” she said with a giggle.
“Maybe,” he grinned.
She liked his smile and if she had to be completely honest, his attention wasn’t unwanted. Lance was captain of the football and every girl’s dream. Right now though, Lance was a distraction and she needed to be focused. If only things had been different. She sighed.
“Please,” Lance begged as they walked together, snapping her thoughts back to what was happening in the hall. “We won’t be alone. And I even invited Elyan too and he said he’d be there.”
Gwen stopped and folded her arms. “You’re going to be drinking, aren’t you?”
“Some people might, but I swear I won’t take a sip if you don’t want me to.” Lance brushed his hand up and down her arm. He tried pulling her close. He must do this all the time, she thought. “And I’ll take you home myself,” he finished. Of course you will. Elyan would probably go straight back to Uni and with her dad in the hospital, she’d be home alone…again.
The bell rang. Gwen glanced at the door and saw their new teacher waiting for them to enter. She edged by Lance, wordless. “Mr. Pendragon,” she greeted the blonde teacher, not looking at his eyes or his broad chest and swiftly taking her seat.
She tried to block out all the talk. Morgause and Sophia swooned over him - swoon is being polite, lust would be more accurate.
Normally, she participated far more in Maths class being it was her favorite subject, but how could anyone with him as your teacher. He captured the attention and affections of every single female in Chelsea and a lot of youthful adoration from the men and boys as well - he’s dated models after all…well, one model that she knew of. Far from disagreeing with most of their sentiment, Gwen understood the fascination. He was damn attractive. Still, having to listen to Morgause plot in splendid detail was traumatic and knowing that Morgause always got what she wanted unnerved her even more.
Gwen eyed the clock and then the chalkboard where Mr. Pendragon had his back turned when she felt the poke in hers. She nearly leapt out of her chair. A low chuckle rumbled over the classroom. When their teacher called her name, she was glaring at Lance. She spun around.
“Would you like to share what’s so fascinating behind you?” His question was stern, though not completely harsh. Gwen couldn’t imagine him being angry.
“No,” she answered quickly. “I…I…mean it was nothing. I’m sorry.”
“It was my fault, Mr. Pendragon,” Lance spoke up.
“What was, exactly,” their teacher asked. Gwen sat quietly. “Maybe you’d both like to stay after class and the three of us could discuss whatever it is a bit more.”
Gwen sighed and her shoulders drooped as her eyes trailed down to her textbook. She didn’t even listen to rest of their exchange or what was said in class.
While the others left, she remained in her seat. Lance gathered his belongings and sat in the chair next to her. “I’m sorry,” he apologized.
“It’s fine,” she said but refused to say anything else to him as they sat alone.
Their teacher stepped back in the room. Walking over to them, he sat against his desk with his palms pressed into the wood on either side of him. “You two are my best students,” he started. “Can I trust you to stay that way for the few moments out of your day that you sit in my classroom?”
“You have my word, Mr. Pendragon,” Lance said. Gwen never realized until now just how good he was at manipulating others.
“And you?” Her teacher cocked his head to look her.
“I promise,” she said, hoping he would see her sincerity.
He sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. Keeping his head down, he told them to leave. Gwen sped from the classroom, putting as much distance between her and Lance as possible. Not that it mattered; of course he would follow.
“You’re angry with me.”
“Why wouldn’t I be, Lance?” Her response was a low grumble. Something more than Lance and her father grated at her.
“I said I was sorry and you said it was fine. You can’t change your mind now.”
Yes I can. Gwen rolled her eyes again. She’d be late and there couldn’t be a worse excuse. Mr. Emrys appeared behind them, crossed the hall and went into Mr. Pendragon’s classroom. More controlled, she told him, “I should go. I have to visit my dad.” She tossed some of her books in the locker and rifled through it for others.
“Let me come with you,” he said, “I’d like to meet your dad.”
Gwen looked at him, stunned. A part of her - a large part of her - knew that he only half-offered just to appease her. She gave him what he wanted. “Thanks, Lance. That’s really kind, but maybe next time, yeah?” After a tortured moment, he nodded.
He walked with her, but she made him go away as soon as they got outside, explaining that she needed some time alone to think which was not entirely untrue. Strolling across the street to the bus shelter, she flopped onto the bench, then started tapping the toes of her shoes together to a made up beat in her head.
Gwen spotted him straight away as he emerged from out of the large double doors. Her eyes shifted to peer down the road in search of her bus. Admittedly, she liked him better now since he hadn’t really punished them. She wondered whether his decision was more of an indifference for people like her and Lance rather than actually wanting to understand or care.
“Ms. Leodegrance,” he said. Gwen jumped…again, never expecting he’d come here instead of the car park. He chuckled and she couldn’t help but to giggle. “Do you do that often?”
“No,” she said shaking her head, still hiding her laugh behind her fingers. Her brows furrowed thinking surely he didn’t really want to be a teacher and God knows if he really did, he couldn’t possibly want to teach at Chelsea Secondary. “Why are you here?” she spat out.
Where did that come from? He smiled and she wished he hadn’t. Her teacher sat next to her on the bench. Gwen could feel a rush of warmth rise up her neck and pinch her cheeks but she couldn’t take her eyes off him and for whatever reason she felt emboldened.
“I’m allowed to take the bus,” he said. It sounded somewhat like a question with the tiniest dose of condemnation.
Her swagger faded and she shuffled her feet closer together. Why wouldn’t he be allowed to take the bus Gwen? Not that that was the question you were asking, but I suppose he can also have a sense of humor. “Sure,” she said. She dropped her gaze to the ground and hoped to say something clever because currently, she was failing. Forget he’s beautiful and utterly adorable, she told herself. This will not be like those three days last term when you swore you were in love with Mr. Emrys and that you’d marry him by Mr. Darcy’s bridge.
“You’re really good, you know,” he said suddenly. “Have you always been like that?”
“Like what, ridiculously awkward?” He laughed with her and Gwen promised to scold herself at the earliest possible opportunity for the shitty attempt at flirting. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why I said that or why I’m acting like this.” Liar. You know very well.
“It’s strange…I mean I’m strange, I know.”
“No,” she lied some more.
He only laughed. “Well, I think it’s strange even if you won’t admit it.”
She couldn’t seem to help the fit of giggling or disregard the way he kept his eyes on her. “Okay, so it is a little strange that you’re my teacher. I mean, I’ve seen you in the papers since before I can remember.”
Finally, he looked away. Gwen noticed he blushed. “Tell me you weren’t really paying attention to those.”
“At times, but mostly when I was younger.”
“And now?” He was able to study her again.
She paused to think, but really only pretending to. “Now, I prefer more intellectual pursuits.”
Her teacher chuckled. “Somehow, I’d expect that of you.”
Their bus arrived. They sat with a respectable distance between them, talking at times about nothing in particular. When they got to the station, he went one way and she went the other.
Grateful for the short while where she didn’t feel overwhelmed, Gwen sulked some before perking up the instant she walked inside her father’s hospital room. They talked until he fell asleep again and she curled up in the chair next to his bed.
At least tomorrow was Friday, she thought.
Chapter IV
Lance had lied but she really couldn’t make herself care. His arm weighed heavily around her shoulders but his body was warm and he smelled inviting. Gwen took a sip of her beer and listened while the boys told each other stories. The party at Lance’s wasn’t really a party, just a handful of their friends. She was sure Lance thought there was more than friendship between them, although she’d never committed to anything and he’d never bother to ask - he also hadn’t left her side or let her out of his sights all night.
She came with Sophia and Morgause. The latter had disappeared a few minutes earlier with Mordred. Gwen didn’t want to think what they might be up to. She was with left with Lance, Percy, Sophia and her brother who brought along a few of his friends too. She missed Elyan and felt guilty for taking him for granted when they were younger and went to school together. Now that he was only able to visit every other weekend it made her ache for the days when things seemed so different. Gwen still had hope, but with every visit to the hospital, the doctors would give her worse news and sadder looks.
Lance continued talking and then the small group laughed when he got to the funny bit. He guzzled his drink and pulled her closer to whisper. “You all right?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking up at him.
“You’re so quiet.”
The others went on without them. More people sat to take part in the chatter and Gwen searched for an excuse. “Just a little tired,” she shrugged and took another swig.
“Want me to take you home?”
“No, not yet,” she said, glancing at her brother getting cozy with a girl from his Uni. She’d only met her tonight and Elyan never mentioned her before. Where they growing apart? she wondered.
Lance kept drinking and she nursed her bottle some more. He went back to the conversation and she daydreamed. It was somewhere in the middle of the fantasy that she first considered doing it.
An hour later he asked again. “I think I better,” she told him. Gwen’s head was swimming. Had I really drank so much? They were at her house before she knew it. Lance took her keys and opened the door. She stumbled inside and planted her back against the wall; it cooled the skin under her dress. “I think I drank too much.”
“You said that already, Gwen.” She heard him snort a little and then the door shut and the lock turned. Lance’s shadow blocked the soft light from the street lamps that filtered inside. “Maybe I should stay the night, just to make sure you’re all right.”
He felt too close. Her eyes were shut but she could sense him, dull as her senses were, lingering in front of her. His warm lips brushed against hers lightly and then his tongue slipped into her mouth. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Lance’s hands held on to her waist and they kissed for what she seemed like a long time.
“Where’s your room?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not ready.”
“It’s okay,” he sniggered. “I’ll sleep in Elyan’s room. Let me get you to bed.”
“Okay.” Gwen started up the stairs. Lance stayed close, not speaking as they felt their way in dark. “It’s right here,” she told him outside her door. “Elyan’s room is there. What if he comes home tonight?”
“He won’t. Trust me your brother has plans to be somewhere else tonight.”
“He’ll be upset if he finds out you stayed.”
“I won’t tell him and besides he trusts me.” Gwen chewed her lip then nodded. “One more kiss?” Lance asked politely. He didn’t wait for an answer.
***
Without a doubt, she had just said something. He knew for certain because he was sitting right across from her, watching her nibble at the edges of her slice of the cheese pizza and her mouth was moving, so chances were good that words were being said. She was smiling and flirting too. Ignoring that seemed less of a challenge than staying interested in anything she had to say.
Inviting her up tonight - however innocent the intent - was by far his worst idea this week and he’d had a slew of bad ideas the last few days or at least that was what he kept reminding himself. His new mantra started up once more time in his head. Gwen is your student. You can’t like her. Even if you do seem to be able to talk to her far easier than most people you’ve known for a lifetime. And don’t read too much into how simple a thing it was for her to make you laugh, either, you git. All of that is just plain stupid, Arthur and it was just one brief encounter on the bus, not a bloody first date.
“Don’t you think?”
His eyes shot up all of a sudden at Elena’s question. She sat gazing at him with her head tilted to one side, eyes wide and blinking fast, mouth slightly agape, and a finger twirling around the ends of her hair. He said nothing and stared back blankly.
“You didn’t hear me, did you?” Elena’s eyes disappeared from his.
You’re an idiot. Now would be a good time to apologize for the millionth time tonight. “I’m sorry, Elena. I’m just…it’s, it’s been a hard week.”
“No, it’s all right,” she said shaking her head looking cheerfully at him. “It must have been so hard for you. We don’t have to talk and I know I talk too much sometimes…”
She wasn’t lying and she might have been planning on continuing, but she stopped, realizing that she was beginning to ramble. “No. No, you don’t,” he lied. Arthur rubbed her arm and just then he remembered Lance doing the same to Gwen yesterday. Was he trying to console her too? No, he decided. Lance wanted something more in that moment.
They ate a while longer and then settled on the little sofa. He tried not to think about Gwen and succeeded for much of the evening. In fact, it wasn’t until Elena slunk into him that an image of his student reentered his mind. He locked eyes with Elena and she moved in. Although he wanted to, he didn’t back away. She kissed him, slow and soft and then with a little more urgency.
“Do you want to go to your bed?”
He was sluggish to respond, but finally he whispered, “No.” His eyes stayed shut and he could still see Gwen asking him the question, brown hair and brown eyes instead. He told himself it was wrong for thinking that had she been asking, his answer would be very different.
“Here then,” he heard the blonde say.
He opened his eyes and she kissed him with a lot more force. His body slid across the back of the sofa and she was on top of him before he could say or do anything.
***
_____________
Click HERE to return to the Masterlist
(Feel free to leave your feedback for the authors here. All comments will be screened until the end of the vote and the winners are announced.)
Title: History Repeating
Themes and/or Prompt/s Teacher, Crossover
Rating: PG, mild language
Word count: ~5500
Characters/Pairings: Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Lance, Elena with many others and some that belong to me.
Spoilers/Warnings: It may disappoint as this section of the story ends at the beginning.
Disclaimer: Summary: Life is all about making choices, taking chances and learning how to be happy. Most of the times, things are easier said than done.
Author’s notes:
Chapter I
Arthur took one of the plain white shirts from the little closet in the corner of his two-room flat. It was clean and pressed perfectly. He’d have to thank Mrs. Cameron again, he thought. His landlady had graciously offered to have them cleaned for him. She was a sweet woman, but not without her schemes. Still though, he decided to knock at her door on his way to work.
He tied a small knot in the skinny black tie and smoothed every stray hair into place, slipping his black jacket over his arms.
“Mrs. Cameron.”
“Mr. Pendragon,” the woman said.
“Ah, I told you to call me Arthur.”
Mrs. Cameron giggled. “Arthur.”
He smiled back. “I came by to thank you again for the shirts. I don’t quite know what I would’ve done without all your help this past week.”
“It was no trouble to me at all. Elena managed it. She’s a proper wife, that one. Elena,” Mrs. Cameron yelled behind her. “You should be thanking her,” the mother added.
Arthur felt a tiny quickening of his pulse. The blonde woman appeared over Mrs. Cameron’s shoulder with a welcoming smile on her face. The contrast between the two women couldn’t be more striking. The daughter stood tall, thin and graceful while the mother was barely five feet tall, had dark curly hair and a plump face.
“Hi, Arthur.” The girl waved at him, blushing.
“I’ll leave you two alone, then.” Mrs. Cameron vanished almost as quickly as her daughter had appeared. Elena stuck her hands into her back pockets, smiling broader with a pair of adoring eyes fixed to his.
“Um, I just wanted to thank you for the shirts. Your mum said you had them done for me.”
“It was no trouble.” She hid her face away as it burned red, eyes searching all around him. “I know this great place across town. It’s just a few extra stops past my work. Anytime you need them done, just let me know.”
She glanced up and then down at the floor again. Arthur’s heart raced faster. “Ah, Elena, you probably already have plans, but if you’re free, maybe you want to come up for some pizza or something on Friday.”
“Really?” she exclaimed and swept a chunk of her loose hair behind her ear.
“Sure. How about seven?”
“That’s perfect. You’re perfect,” she blurted out and then her eyes got wide and disappeared to inspect the floor.
“Okay, then,” Arthur muttered awkwardly, “I’ll see you Friday.”
Arthur quickly left, regretting ever wanting to be thankful and reminding himself to find his own dry cleaner. This part of London remained foreign to him. He only really knew how to get from his flat to work and back, a few take away places and the café three doors down.
From the station, the school was another ten blocks yet he got to Mrs. Price’s office with more than a few minutes to spare.
“Mr. Pendragon,” the slender woman said. “I cannot tell you how proud we are of you for what you’re doing and that you choose our little school. Everyone on the staff is thrilled to meet you.”
“Well, I’m happy to be here. I can’t wait to get started,” he told her. “The school is well known for doing a lot with little.”
“We do try.”
She was beaming. The headmistress surprised him. During their prior meetings she didn’t behave like the slightly giddy teenage girl sitting across from him now. She went on for a long while, dancing around the subject until he politely suggested that there might be something that the Pendragon Foundation could do to help. Her enthusiasm could barely be contained. Arthur wondered what she might look like when disappointed. He made her no promises, although he was certain that Morgana would at least be decent enough to give him a meeting.
“Well, I should probably get started, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” She stood and they walked from her quiet office. Just outside, the room teemed with the rest of her staff. They all smiled sweetly at him and nodded low hellos. Mrs. Price didn’t stop to introduce him. Down a hall, they went to another room. She opened the door and the room fell silent. Every pair of eyes, blue ones, brown ones, green ones and the like, all stared back at him. More smiles from this crowd, though not all of the faces here were friendly ones.
Mrs. Price announced him to the rest of his peers more like a knight come to rescue them rather than the new sixth form Maths teacher. “I’ve asked Mr. Emrys to shadow you,” she said to him. “He’ll help you through the week.”
The bell rung and many of the faces absconded right away, leaving the room in a rush before he could properly meet any of them.
“That’s your first bell,” Mrs. Price said. “Have a good day, Mr. Pendragon and Mr. Emrys, please try your best not to lead him astray.”
Mr. Emrys grinned and saluted the woman as she left. “Nervous yet?” he asked. He was about his height, probably his age with ink black hair and blue eyes. He was thin and Arthur guessed that he watched more sports than participated in them.
“I don’t get nervous.” His answer sounded more brash than he’d intended it. The truth was he was keen. The sooner he could teach the better.
“Well, that should come in handy.”
A little embarrassed Arthur sought to explain. “I just meant that I’m eager to get started, is all, um….”
“Oh, it’s Merlin.” He grinned at him now. “You don’t mind if we call you Arthur, do you?”
The dig forced a laugh. “I suppose I deserve that.”
“Nah, but I couldn’t resist.” They shared an easy chuckle between them. “Well come on then, let’s get you to your classroom. You’ll be wanting to meet some of the brightest minds that Chelsea Secondary has to offer. I’m certain they’re even more eager to meet you.”
Merlin led him from the room and they marched down the hall. Most of the students lingering about recognized him. They’d slow their steps to scrutinize him or simply gaped as he past. A few yelled out his name and he wondered if that would be daily occurrence or disappear after a week. He glanced to his left. “You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“You do have to admit it’s quite a spectacle. I didn’t think you’d show up today.”
Arthur scoffed. “So, how long have you been here?” Merlin couldn’t have been much older than him.
“This’ll be my second year.”
“I suppose you like it then.”
“It’s a job,” he shrugged.
Arthur gave him a questioning look. “But you do want to be here, right?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love teaching and thank God that I do because we barely make enough to live. None of us are eating lobster on Tuesday nights. But I suspect that’s not something you have to worry about.”
Arthur couldn’t fault him for thinking that. After all, he was a Pendragon.
“Here you go then.” Merlin pointed to his classroom. “I’m right across the hall, if you need anything.” He headed towards his door. The final bell rung and suddenly Arthur was alone. He inhaled deeply, ignored the damp feeling in his palms and the churning in his gut.
Another room settled just from him having entered it. Every pair of eyes observed him as he went to the large desk at the front of the class. He dropped his satchel and was about to speak when a hard-faced boy in the back of the class cursed loudly at him. The entire room erupted in laughter. Arthur gazed at all the faces. This sort of ridicule is to be expected. Not everyone’s going to like you.
Chapter II
Merlin had been a great help all day, stopping in to check on him between classes. He declined a lunch invitation, preferring to eat alone in his room, at least this once. He also wanted to think. With the exception of the prat from first period, the other everyone else had been pleasant enough. If this last group behaved then he’d consider the day a success.
They filed inside the room one by one. A behemoth of a boy with tightly trimmed blonde hair that Arthur figured had to be on the football team. Behind him strutted a slightly shorter boy, athletic with dark hair, good looking - likely a footballer as well. A group of girls strolled in next, one blonde and dressed rather questionably, another with long, red curls and then a pair of brunettes.
Arthur’s breath hitched in his throat. He watched as the pretty girl saunter past him, praying that his jaw wouldn’t drop open. She, along with the other girls, sat in a loose cluster at the center of the room. He tried to look away, focusing on the door and anyone else walking through it. His eyes glanced back to the middle of the classroom where the girl with the bounty of brown curls, sun-kissed, caramel skin and a perfect posture sat in the front row.
The bell brought him out of the momentary daze. Unconsciously, - he would realize later - he checked his tie and smoothed his hands over his shirt and hair. Her name was Gwen. The dark-haired bloke who ended up spending most of the free time in class gawking at her was Lance. When she turned around to tell the boy something, he decided.
“Can anyone manage this problem?” Arthur asked. Without waiting for a response, he pointed at the younger man, “How about you?”
Lance hesitated out of his seat, though he moved directly to the chalk. Arthur paced at the side of the room and stopped to lean against the wall of windows where he could see everyone in the room.
Trying to get a sense of all the different personalities in this class, he surveyed them one at a time. From the tall, quiet one in the back nursing a tender beard idly with his fingers to the shifty-looking boy next to him with eyes fixed on the blonde girl sitting just ahead of them. Arthur could only imagine what he might have been thinking.
The girl twirled a pencil between her fingers, her chin resting in the other hand and eyes unabashedly undressing him. Her lips pursed together and blew a not so discrete kiss in his direction, her large brown eyes closed then opened at a seductive, dramatic tempo. Morgause, he recalled her odd name. She might be trouble, he thought.
Moving on, he looked to Sophia next and then quickly glanced over at the board. Unexpectedly, Lance made progress through the first half of the problem, breezing through it with no trouble. Arthur studied him now, admittedly a bit surprised and excited that the presumed idiot might actually solve the equation.
Shockingly enough, Lance was finished a moment later, returning the chalk to its proper place and taking a step back to view the work. He turned to him. “I think that’s your answer,” he declared cockily.
“Well done.” Arthur genuinely applauded his effort after pausing for a short beat. The rest of the class clapped as well and Lance took a little bow. “You were the only person able to solve that all day,” he told him.
“I have a good tutor, Mr. Pendragon,” he answered and grinned at the first chair in the middle of the room. Lance returned to his seat to continue his visual assault on Gwen.
Arthur handed every student a three page exam to test each of their skills, wanting to judge their abilities for himself. He examined all of his student while they worked. Everyone, except for Morgause, had their heads down for much of the time, staring at the numbers on the pages. Even the bloke in the back with the beard seemed fully alert, pencil scribbling away in his hand.
Gwen finished first, faster than she should. She copiously reviewed all her work a second and then a third time checking for any errors. The bell sounded and she bounded up to his desk with the paper in hand. “Ah, thank you, Ms. Leodegrance,” he said. “Just place it right there.” She smiled down at him innocently and set the exam down. The rest of the class, Lance, Sophia, Mordred, Percy, Leon, a few others whose name he couldn’t recall, crowded his desk and deposited their papers on top of hers.
The day was nearly over and Arthur felt nothing but sheer relief having survived it without much frustration. He scooped up the last batch of papers and added them to the others from earlier in the day. Going through what would likely become a routine, he sorted his desk, put away the practically useless text books and shuffled over to the chalkboard to clean away Lance’s handy work.
“Well, you haven’t committed suicide yet,” Merlin said from the other side of the room.
Arthur chuckled lightly. “No, but everything in due time.”
Merlin leaned a shoulder against the doorway. “Need a drink?”
“Maybe more than one,” he confessed, “but it’s a bit early, isn’t it?”
“Just another consequence of the work,” he said.
After meeting with Mrs. Price to report on his first day, he and Merlin left together. Arthur held back his complaints regarding the out of date textbooks he was expected to teach with and the fact that only one student managed to complete an equation that more of them should have known.
“We have a usual place. Eventually everyone makes their way there from time to time but always on the first and last day. It’s tradition.”
Merlin’s words proved true. A few faces had already gathered inside the pub. Four of them sat at the round table with two pitchers of beer in the middle. Revelry started earlier here than at Uni. He drew in a deep breath and dived into the fray.
Arthur frowned at what was left in his wallet. His pittance of a budget for the week spent in just one night of drinking. Being independent provided some freedoms though trepidation offset much of the euphoria. His new flat had been an attic Mrs. Cameron converted to a separate apartment to help with the mortgage once her husband died. “Mostly students rented in this neighborhood,” she told him.
He sighed, fell onto the sofa and yanked the exams from his satchel, going straight away to the bunch from his last period and the first assignment handed in to him. A crooked smile broke over his face eyeing the way she wrote her name at the top of the page. Scanning the first page, the smile broadened after each correct answer. Not one error, a perfect exam. He set hers aside and went on to the others, starting with Morgause’s. On the last page, the blonde had scribbled her phone number with little hearts around it. That was less disturbing than what she’d done with the rest of the pages - she hadn’t even attempted many of them.
He cycled through the others. Gwen and Lance did the best. Arthur looked at Gwen’s paper again especially pleased for a reason he cautioned himself not to fully identify.
Had he met her at somewhere else, anywhere else, no one would bat an eye at a relationship between them - well except maybe his father, but for entirely different reasons.
He slumped into the back of the seat, arms stretched out with his eyes staring up at the ceiling. Elena was eighteen and her mother seemed more than eager to marry her off to him. At twenty one, he wasn’t a dirty old man. By all right he should be back at Uni drinking heavily with Gwaine and enjoying life as a Pendragon.
He was only a few years older than she probably was, nothing that would qualify him as a pedophile. But Gwen wasn’t shopping for fruit when he first saw her. She was his student, so, of course, nothing could come of it.
Half ten, he trained his mind on the next morning, the rest of the week and the remainder of the year. Beer still coursing through him, he flung his body onto the lumpy little bed, fully clothed and mentally shattered.
Chapter III
“Gwen.” She heard his voice call out to her. She inhaled deeply and closed the door to her locker.
“Gwen,” Lance panted.
“Hey.”
“Hey. You weren’t at practice yesterday.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I had to go see my dad. Didn’t I say?” Gwen pulled the strap over her shoulder and started for their class. Lance followed.
“So, you want to come over tomorrow night?” he asked, ignoring her question. “I could use some help.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “You don’t need any help.” Lance was perfectly capable at Maths and all of his other subjects. “You just want me over,” she said with a giggle.
“Maybe,” he grinned.
She liked his smile and if she had to be completely honest, his attention wasn’t unwanted. Lance was captain of the football and every girl’s dream. Right now though, Lance was a distraction and she needed to be focused. If only things had been different. She sighed.
“Please,” Lance begged as they walked together, snapping her thoughts back to what was happening in the hall. “We won’t be alone. And I even invited Elyan too and he said he’d be there.”
Gwen stopped and folded her arms. “You’re going to be drinking, aren’t you?”
“Some people might, but I swear I won’t take a sip if you don’t want me to.” Lance brushed his hand up and down her arm. He tried pulling her close. He must do this all the time, she thought. “And I’ll take you home myself,” he finished. Of course you will. Elyan would probably go straight back to Uni and with her dad in the hospital, she’d be home alone…again.
The bell rang. Gwen glanced at the door and saw their new teacher waiting for them to enter. She edged by Lance, wordless. “Mr. Pendragon,” she greeted the blonde teacher, not looking at his eyes or his broad chest and swiftly taking her seat.
She tried to block out all the talk. Morgause and Sophia swooned over him - swoon is being polite, lust would be more accurate.
Normally, she participated far more in Maths class being it was her favorite subject, but how could anyone with him as your teacher. He captured the attention and affections of every single female in Chelsea and a lot of youthful adoration from the men and boys as well - he’s dated models after all…well, one model that she knew of. Far from disagreeing with most of their sentiment, Gwen understood the fascination. He was damn attractive. Still, having to listen to Morgause plot in splendid detail was traumatic and knowing that Morgause always got what she wanted unnerved her even more.
Gwen eyed the clock and then the chalkboard where Mr. Pendragon had his back turned when she felt the poke in hers. She nearly leapt out of her chair. A low chuckle rumbled over the classroom. When their teacher called her name, she was glaring at Lance. She spun around.
“Would you like to share what’s so fascinating behind you?” His question was stern, though not completely harsh. Gwen couldn’t imagine him being angry.
“No,” she answered quickly. “I…I…mean it was nothing. I’m sorry.”
“It was my fault, Mr. Pendragon,” Lance spoke up.
“What was, exactly,” their teacher asked. Gwen sat quietly. “Maybe you’d both like to stay after class and the three of us could discuss whatever it is a bit more.”
Gwen sighed and her shoulders drooped as her eyes trailed down to her textbook. She didn’t even listen to rest of their exchange or what was said in class.
While the others left, she remained in her seat. Lance gathered his belongings and sat in the chair next to her. “I’m sorry,” he apologized.
“It’s fine,” she said but refused to say anything else to him as they sat alone.
Their teacher stepped back in the room. Walking over to them, he sat against his desk with his palms pressed into the wood on either side of him. “You two are my best students,” he started. “Can I trust you to stay that way for the few moments out of your day that you sit in my classroom?”
“You have my word, Mr. Pendragon,” Lance said. Gwen never realized until now just how good he was at manipulating others.
“And you?” Her teacher cocked his head to look her.
“I promise,” she said, hoping he would see her sincerity.
He sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. Keeping his head down, he told them to leave. Gwen sped from the classroom, putting as much distance between her and Lance as possible. Not that it mattered; of course he would follow.
“You’re angry with me.”
“Why wouldn’t I be, Lance?” Her response was a low grumble. Something more than Lance and her father grated at her.
“I said I was sorry and you said it was fine. You can’t change your mind now.”
Yes I can. Gwen rolled her eyes again. She’d be late and there couldn’t be a worse excuse. Mr. Emrys appeared behind them, crossed the hall and went into Mr. Pendragon’s classroom. More controlled, she told him, “I should go. I have to visit my dad.” She tossed some of her books in the locker and rifled through it for others.
“Let me come with you,” he said, “I’d like to meet your dad.”
Gwen looked at him, stunned. A part of her - a large part of her - knew that he only half-offered just to appease her. She gave him what he wanted. “Thanks, Lance. That’s really kind, but maybe next time, yeah?” After a tortured moment, he nodded.
He walked with her, but she made him go away as soon as they got outside, explaining that she needed some time alone to think which was not entirely untrue. Strolling across the street to the bus shelter, she flopped onto the bench, then started tapping the toes of her shoes together to a made up beat in her head.
Gwen spotted him straight away as he emerged from out of the large double doors. Her eyes shifted to peer down the road in search of her bus. Admittedly, she liked him better now since he hadn’t really punished them. She wondered whether his decision was more of an indifference for people like her and Lance rather than actually wanting to understand or care.
“Ms. Leodegrance,” he said. Gwen jumped…again, never expecting he’d come here instead of the car park. He chuckled and she couldn’t help but to giggle. “Do you do that often?”
“No,” she said shaking her head, still hiding her laugh behind her fingers. Her brows furrowed thinking surely he didn’t really want to be a teacher and God knows if he really did, he couldn’t possibly want to teach at Chelsea Secondary. “Why are you here?” she spat out.
Where did that come from? He smiled and she wished he hadn’t. Her teacher sat next to her on the bench. Gwen could feel a rush of warmth rise up her neck and pinch her cheeks but she couldn’t take her eyes off him and for whatever reason she felt emboldened.
“I’m allowed to take the bus,” he said. It sounded somewhat like a question with the tiniest dose of condemnation.
Her swagger faded and she shuffled her feet closer together. Why wouldn’t he be allowed to take the bus Gwen? Not that that was the question you were asking, but I suppose he can also have a sense of humor. “Sure,” she said. She dropped her gaze to the ground and hoped to say something clever because currently, she was failing. Forget he’s beautiful and utterly adorable, she told herself. This will not be like those three days last term when you swore you were in love with Mr. Emrys and that you’d marry him by Mr. Darcy’s bridge.
“You’re really good, you know,” he said suddenly. “Have you always been like that?”
“Like what, ridiculously awkward?” He laughed with her and Gwen promised to scold herself at the earliest possible opportunity for the shitty attempt at flirting. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why I said that or why I’m acting like this.” Liar. You know very well.
“It’s strange…I mean I’m strange, I know.”
“No,” she lied some more.
He only laughed. “Well, I think it’s strange even if you won’t admit it.”
She couldn’t seem to help the fit of giggling or disregard the way he kept his eyes on her. “Okay, so it is a little strange that you’re my teacher. I mean, I’ve seen you in the papers since before I can remember.”
Finally, he looked away. Gwen noticed he blushed. “Tell me you weren’t really paying attention to those.”
“At times, but mostly when I was younger.”
“And now?” He was able to study her again.
She paused to think, but really only pretending to. “Now, I prefer more intellectual pursuits.”
Her teacher chuckled. “Somehow, I’d expect that of you.”
Their bus arrived. They sat with a respectable distance between them, talking at times about nothing in particular. When they got to the station, he went one way and she went the other.
Grateful for the short while where she didn’t feel overwhelmed, Gwen sulked some before perking up the instant she walked inside her father’s hospital room. They talked until he fell asleep again and she curled up in the chair next to his bed.
At least tomorrow was Friday, she thought.
Chapter IV
Lance had lied but she really couldn’t make herself care. His arm weighed heavily around her shoulders but his body was warm and he smelled inviting. Gwen took a sip of her beer and listened while the boys told each other stories. The party at Lance’s wasn’t really a party, just a handful of their friends. She was sure Lance thought there was more than friendship between them, although she’d never committed to anything and he’d never bother to ask - he also hadn’t left her side or let her out of his sights all night.
She came with Sophia and Morgause. The latter had disappeared a few minutes earlier with Mordred. Gwen didn’t want to think what they might be up to. She was with left with Lance, Percy, Sophia and her brother who brought along a few of his friends too. She missed Elyan and felt guilty for taking him for granted when they were younger and went to school together. Now that he was only able to visit every other weekend it made her ache for the days when things seemed so different. Gwen still had hope, but with every visit to the hospital, the doctors would give her worse news and sadder looks.
Lance continued talking and then the small group laughed when he got to the funny bit. He guzzled his drink and pulled her closer to whisper. “You all right?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking up at him.
“You’re so quiet.”
The others went on without them. More people sat to take part in the chatter and Gwen searched for an excuse. “Just a little tired,” she shrugged and took another swig.
“Want me to take you home?”
“No, not yet,” she said, glancing at her brother getting cozy with a girl from his Uni. She’d only met her tonight and Elyan never mentioned her before. Where they growing apart? she wondered.
Lance kept drinking and she nursed her bottle some more. He went back to the conversation and she daydreamed. It was somewhere in the middle of the fantasy that she first considered doing it.
An hour later he asked again. “I think I better,” she told him. Gwen’s head was swimming. Had I really drank so much? They were at her house before she knew it. Lance took her keys and opened the door. She stumbled inside and planted her back against the wall; it cooled the skin under her dress. “I think I drank too much.”
“You said that already, Gwen.” She heard him snort a little and then the door shut and the lock turned. Lance’s shadow blocked the soft light from the street lamps that filtered inside. “Maybe I should stay the night, just to make sure you’re all right.”
He felt too close. Her eyes were shut but she could sense him, dull as her senses were, lingering in front of her. His warm lips brushed against hers lightly and then his tongue slipped into her mouth. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Lance’s hands held on to her waist and they kissed for what she seemed like a long time.
“Where’s your room?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not ready.”
“It’s okay,” he sniggered. “I’ll sleep in Elyan’s room. Let me get you to bed.”
“Okay.” Gwen started up the stairs. Lance stayed close, not speaking as they felt their way in dark. “It’s right here,” she told him outside her door. “Elyan’s room is there. What if he comes home tonight?”
“He won’t. Trust me your brother has plans to be somewhere else tonight.”
“He’ll be upset if he finds out you stayed.”
“I won’t tell him and besides he trusts me.” Gwen chewed her lip then nodded. “One more kiss?” Lance asked politely. He didn’t wait for an answer.
***
Without a doubt, she had just said something. He knew for certain because he was sitting right across from her, watching her nibble at the edges of her slice of the cheese pizza and her mouth was moving, so chances were good that words were being said. She was smiling and flirting too. Ignoring that seemed less of a challenge than staying interested in anything she had to say.
Inviting her up tonight - however innocent the intent - was by far his worst idea this week and he’d had a slew of bad ideas the last few days or at least that was what he kept reminding himself. His new mantra started up once more time in his head. Gwen is your student. You can’t like her. Even if you do seem to be able to talk to her far easier than most people you’ve known for a lifetime. And don’t read too much into how simple a thing it was for her to make you laugh, either, you git. All of that is just plain stupid, Arthur and it was just one brief encounter on the bus, not a bloody first date.
“Don’t you think?”
His eyes shot up all of a sudden at Elena’s question. She sat gazing at him with her head tilted to one side, eyes wide and blinking fast, mouth slightly agape, and a finger twirling around the ends of her hair. He said nothing and stared back blankly.
“You didn’t hear me, did you?” Elena’s eyes disappeared from his.
You’re an idiot. Now would be a good time to apologize for the millionth time tonight. “I’m sorry, Elena. I’m just…it’s, it’s been a hard week.”
“No, it’s all right,” she said shaking her head looking cheerfully at him. “It must have been so hard for you. We don’t have to talk and I know I talk too much sometimes…”
She wasn’t lying and she might have been planning on continuing, but she stopped, realizing that she was beginning to ramble. “No. No, you don’t,” he lied. Arthur rubbed her arm and just then he remembered Lance doing the same to Gwen yesterday. Was he trying to console her too? No, he decided. Lance wanted something more in that moment.
They ate a while longer and then settled on the little sofa. He tried not to think about Gwen and succeeded for much of the evening. In fact, it wasn’t until Elena slunk into him that an image of his student reentered his mind. He locked eyes with Elena and she moved in. Although he wanted to, he didn’t back away. She kissed him, slow and soft and then with a little more urgency.
“Do you want to go to your bed?”
He was sluggish to respond, but finally he whispered, “No.” His eyes stayed shut and he could still see Gwen asking him the question, brown hair and brown eyes instead. He told himself it was wrong for thinking that had she been asking, his answer would be very different.
“Here then,” he heard the blonde say.
He opened his eyes and she kissed him with a lot more force. His body slid across the back of the sofa and she was on top of him before he could say or do anything.
***
_____________
Click HERE to return to the Masterlist
(Feel free to leave your feedback for the authors here. All comments will be screened until the end of the vote and the winners are announced.)