Apple for the Teacher

"Do you have to? Maybe we could go get a cup of coffee or something?"

"That isn't a good idea," said Sara.

"Are you attracted to me, Sara?"

There it was, the million dollar question. Sara already knew the answer and it made her tremble. She also knew it was wrong and it couldn't happen.

"It doesn't matter if I am. I'm your mentor, Rick, not to mention more than a bit older than you. We can't...Nothing can happen between us. You would be better off going back in the club and finding Carolyn Davies."

"I'm not interested in Carolyn Davies."

Rick stepped closer his face filling her vision and blotting out the glare of the bright lights that illuminated the parking lot. He took her free hand running his thumb across the back of it. Sara's breath quickened. The night grew even quieter like they were in a bubble of time suspended together in a world no one else could see or touch. She felt her eyes fluttering shut on their own like her body had made the decision for her and she was being pulled along for the ride. A soft, wet warmth pressed against her lips and she sighed in the back of her throat. Rick's lips were firm, his kiss strong and laced with need and a distant hint of the beer he had been drinking. Sara felt his arms slip around her waist pulling her closer mirroring the position they had been in on the dance floor. The one arm she had free looped up behind Rick's head touching the wavy curls of his dark hair. Sara parted her lips sliding her mouth more freely. The kiss deepened. A groan issued forth from her chest when Rick slipped his tongue into her mouth teasing the tip of hers with a promise of things to come.

"I say we hit the nearest pizza place I'm fucking starving!" came a loud voice.

The front door of the club had burst open letting a large group of rowdy young folks out into the night. The sound of pounding dance music briefly filled the air again followed by a gaggle of drunk voices as the crowd of former patrons headed straight toward where Rick and Sara stood caught in their embrace.

Sara broke free stumbling back a step raising her hand to press her fingertips to her still tingling lips. Her eyes were wide with surprise like she had been jolted out of a dream only to discover it had been a reality the whole time.

"Oh...God...I have to go. I'm sorry, Rick. We shouldn't have...I have to go," she babbled reaching for her key again and unlocking her car door.

"Wait, Sara, it's o.k." Rick started to say but she was already turning over the engine and throwing the car in reverse trying to back out of the parking lot. He dodged out of the way as she pulled away her tail lights vanishing quickly down the road. He stood for a while with his hands in his pockets staring after her departed vehicle.

"Nice job, Rick, way to go..." he mumbled under his breath kicking at the dirt.

Sara pulled into her driveway and shut off the engine listening to the slow ticking noise as it cooled. If the steering wheel had been made of weaker material she might have crushed it as hard as she was holding on, and it was sometime before she could bring herself to release it. Sitting back in the driver's seat, she stared into space.

"What the fuck am I doing? He kissed me...and I kissed him. Jesus! This is not going to end up anywhere good," thought Sara.

Her cell phone rang in her purse making her jump in her seat.

"Hello, Marie," said Sara after retrieving the phone from where it was nestled in a side pocket.

"I thought I should check and see that you made it home all right," came Marie's voice on the other end of the call.

"No, you didn't. You're calling to see if anything happened with Rick and I after we left the bar."

"Am I that transparent?"

"Yes, Marie, you are."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Did I call too soon? Is he still on top? I should call back when you finish."

"You're hilarious, Marie."

"So nothing happened, huh?"

Silence.

"Sara? Are you still there?"

"He kissed me."

An even more extended silence followed this pronouncement.

"Holy fuck! Tell me everything. Don't leave out a single detail. Is he hung like a horse? Tell me it's huge," said Marie in a voice filled with excitement.

"Jesus, Marie! It was just a kiss nothing else happened."

"Seriously? Why didn't you take him straight home and mount him like a show pony?"

"Because unlike a certain over-sexed Mexican woman I know, I don't jump right into bed with a guy because he kisses me."

"I'm Puerto Rican, and when was the last time a guy kissed you who wasn't your crappy ex-husband?"

"Soon to be ex-husband..."

"Whatever! I can't believe you're not more excited about this, Sara."

"It's been a long night, Marie. I need to get some sleep."

"What are you afraid of, Sara?"

"You mean besides getting caught and losing my job?"

"I grant you it's the kind of thing you would have to keep on the down low, but I'm not saying marry the guy. You have a handsome man who likes you. What's wrong with enjoying the attention for a night?"

"I do need to go, Marie. I'll think about what you said, thanks."

Sara hung up before Marie could get in another word about the subject. Then she wearily climbed out of her car and made her way inside her house. Mr. Smithers waited patiently by the door while she closed and locked it behind her. His fur felt soft, and warm in her hands as she scooped him into a hug while walking toward her bedroom.

"You know, Smithers, sometimes I envy you your lack of testicles. It must be nice not to have any urges to worry about."

Sara went to bed a short time later, but it was a long while before sleep finally claimed her.

The following Monday, Sara was in the teacher's lounge bright and early leafing through the papers in her mailbox. There was one piece of good news. The principal had given the go-ahead for her to take some of her advanced students on a field trip to Copperfield. The larger city was going to be hosting a traveling N.A.S.A exhibit of rare artifacts from the era of the Apollo moon missions, and she was excited to expose the kids to this educational opportunity. She already had the permission slips ready to go.

"You're looking chipper this morning," said Rick as he joined her.

"I just got word that the field trip to Copperfield is on. I need you to run off copies of the permission slips and pass them out to my A.P. class today."

"It would be my pleasure."

Sara started to walk away and Rick fell in beside her.

"Look, Sara, about the other night..."

"I would rather we drop it, Rick. We can't take back what happened, but I think we both know for the sake of our careers it can't happen again."

Rick's face fell slightly, and Sara could almost feel the disappointment radiating from her young colleague.

"I'm sorry, Rick. Besides the ethical issue, I feel like you would be better off with someone your own age. I'm in the middle of a divorce, and I don't think now would be a good time for me to get involved with anyone."

"I understand," he said although his tone gave her the impression that he didn't agree with her assessment of their situation.

"I will see you in the room," said Rick turning off at the end of the sidewalk to head in the direction of the copy room.

Sara watched him walk away and sighed, "Why does everything have to be so complicated."

It was too early for any of the students to have shown up yet, but Sara found Marie loitering around outside her classroom when she arrived.

"If you are going to try to pick up our conversation from the other night don't bother. My mind is made up on the subject," offered Sara as she unlocked her door.

"I was going to offer my chaperoning services. I heard that you got the field trip to Copperfield. It's going to be an overnight, right?"

"Yeah, it's too far to make the trip in one day. We will have to spend the night. I'm only taking my A.P. students so it's a fairly tight group about thirty kids or so."

"Sounds like a real hoot. I can get a substitute to handle my class on Friday."

"I appreciate your help."

"Maybe I just want to sit next to Rick on the bus," said Marie with a smile.

Sara opted not to answer slipping into her classroom and letting the door shut behind her. She placed the stack of quizzes she had prepared for the day on the edge of her desk. The kids were going to be in for a rough start to the week, but she hoped that the news about the field trip would soften the blow for some of them.

Rick returned shortly, but seemed disinclined to talk much the rest of the day. It was clear he was less than happy about her decision to keep things strictly professional between the two of them. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be going out of his way the rest of the week to keep his distance from Sara. The sudden cold shoulder routine bothered her more than she imagined it would. She missed bantering with Rick between classes or talking over the kid's reactions to the various subjects in history that came up. By the time Friday rolled around she was looking forward to the field trip both as an educational opportunity for the kids as well as a chance to perhaps mend fences with Rick.

Marie may have joked about sitting with Rick all the way to Copperfield, but it was Sara who grabbed the seat next to him before the bus pulled away from the school. The kids were fairly subdued on the way out, so it gave her a chance to talk to her melancholy friend.

"Don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been acting toward me this week, Rick."

"Was I doing something different?"

"Don't play coy with me. You've been freezing me out all week. I know you're pissed at me about my stance on things between us, but I want you to know I think it's for the best. I do miss having you as a friend. I think we were getting along well and I hate that things have changed."

Rick sighed, "I don't always handle disappointment very well. I'm sorry if I've been distant lately."

"Does this mean we can be friends, again?"

"Of course, I would rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all."

Sara reached over and squeezed his hand in hers briefly. It might not have been the outcome he had longed for, but she hoped it would be one he could accept.

They arrived in Copperfield with a minimum of fuss, and the bus dropped them off at the convention center where they spent the afternoon touring the exhibits and listening to lectures given by notable former members of the same N.A.S.A team that helped Apollo 11 reach the moon. It was an exciting afternoon for the kids who seemed to relish the opportunity to go hands-on with artifacts that they usually only saw as photos in the textbooks. When the excursion ended they were picked up by the bus again and taken to their hotel where they broke into groups for dinner.

Sara was thrilled with how things had gone so far, the kids had behaved maturely and the logistics of the trip had gone off without a hitch. She almost tapped the wood of her dinner table for continued good luck, and given what happened next she probably wished she had done it.

They divided up the rooms among the thirty kids and six adults for the night. Sara didn't have enough adult chaperons to put one in every room, but she trusted her kids enough that she didn't think it was necessary. After everyone had turned in, Sara went to her room for some well-deserved rest but was awakened by a knocking on her door. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was a little after eleven and she padded to the door in her t-shirt and cotton pants only to find Marie standing there with a visibly upset student behind her with his head down.

"What's going on?" asked Sara.

"Spill it Jeremy! Just like you told me," said Marie to the young man with her.

Jeremy Spivey, a tall, skinny eighteen-year-old with shaggy blond hair and a look of desperate fear on his face slowly looked up at Sara like a defendant facing an angry judge.

"I woke up when they tried to slip out the door. They made me promise not to tell or they would kick my ass, but I didn't want to get in trouble if they got caught later."

"If who got caught, Jeremy?"

"The other guys in my room, Nick Carter, Tom Dodds, and Jerry Wannamaker. They snuck out to go to a club they read about online."

"Club? How would they get into a club?" exclaimed Sara.

"Nick's older brother got them fake I.D.'s. He had been to the club himself a few years back and was bragging about it when he found out we were going to Copperfield."

"Wait. What club are we talking about?"

Jeremy looked back at the ground too embarrassed to say, but Marie prodded him with her elbow, "A strip club called the 'Bush Barn' it's on 5th Street I think they said. Nick mentioned they were going to pick up one of the commuter trains to get there."

"Well this is just great! I'm going to kill all three of them when I get my hands on them!" said Sara angrily.

"What are we going to do?" asked Marie.

"I need you to stay with the rest of the group and make sure no one else gets any bright ideas to check out the Copperfield nightlife. I'm going to wake Rick. He and I will run down the kids, and bring them back."

A minute later, Sara was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt rapping on Rick's door. She quickly filled him in on what was happening and he dressed rapidly, joining her as they set a brisk walking pace toward the nearest train station.

"I can't believe the gall of those three. By the time I'm done with them they will wish they had never been born," said Sara.

Rick chuckled a bit earning him a blistering look from Sara.

"Hey!" he said spreading his hands, "you have to admire them at least a little. It was a pretty ballsy move. I would never have had the guts to try it at their age."

"They're three under-age morons wandering the seedy streets of a big city on a Friday night. I worry more about them being safe than anything else."

"Fair point, but they will probably be alright if they stick together."

"I hope so..." she said.

"We'll get them back don't worry," added Rick seeing that Sara was very concerned about the boys.

"I'm responsible for them. If anything happens to them..." her words trailed off.

"Seriously, I'm right here with you. We will get them back safe and sound, you'll see.

Sara squeezed Ricks arm, "I'm glad you're here."

The pair boarded one of the subway trains that whisked them quickly across the city. They were lucky in that the club they were looking for wasn't far from a train station, and they arrived a short time later at the doors of the "Bush Barn".

"You know, Sara, you could stay out here and let me go in and look for the kids," offered Rick.

"Are you trying to save me the embarrassment of seeing the inside of a strip joint?"

Rick never got to answer because Sara turned on her heel and marched right through the front doors of the club. They had to stop a short distance inside to let their eyes adjust to the darkness of the interior that was periodically illuminated by bright stage lights.

"Next up on the main stage...Give it up for...AMBER LYNN!" came a loud voice over the speaker system.

A tall red-head with breasts large enough they could have been used as flotation devices in an air crash strode out on a long stage that bisected the middle of the club. She almost immediately tossed her top to the audience eliciting more than a few cheers and whistles from the appreciative crowd. Rick stopped momentarily at the end of the stage before Sara roughly elbowed him in the side.

"If you don't mind tearing your eyes off Ms. Balloon Tits we are supposed to be looking for the kids."

"Sorry," answered Rick sheepishly.

They made a slow circle around the outside of the club before spotting their quarry sitting around a table near the back.

Sara walked up to the table stopping a foot away and crossing her arms.

"So tell me boys which of you wants to get expelled first?"

"Oh...shit!" said Nick Carter from where he sat wide-eyed and looking up at Sara's angry face.

"Oh shit is right! Get your asses up and out of here right NOW!"

Rick led the way and the group was out on the street a moment later.

"I have no idea what you boys were thinking! Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in? What if something had happened to you out here?"

The boys all appeared to be too shell shocked at having their night of debauchery blow up in their faces to answer. Rick put his hand on Nick's back to prod him along toward the train station, but pulled it back frowning, and then reaching down to lift the bottom of Nick's shirt.

"What do we have here?" said Rick pulling out a small bottle of alcohol that Nick had stashed in the back of his pants.

"Hey, that belongs to my Dad. I brought it for later," said Nick.

"This is an expensive bottle of single malt whiskey. I would say your Dad has good taste in liquor. I'm confiscating this for now. Let's move on." replied Rick.

The group returned to their hotel in short order. Since it was so late, Sara decided to postpone dealing with the kids until the morning when everyone would be more calmed down and sent them off to bed. She went into her room and sat down on the bed sighing in relief that things had turned out as well as they had. Rick followed her shutting the door behind him. A moment later, he was standing over her handing her a plastic cup filled with amber liquid.

"I think you need this..."

Sara took the cup from him sniffing its contents, "Is this the booze Nick was hiding?"

"Yeah, I figured it would just get poured out anyway and I hate to see it go to waste."

"We really shouldn't..." said Sara.

"You're such a stickler for the rules. Relax, Sara, I think you earned a drink tonight."

They sat side by side on the bed, and after a few seconds of hesitation Sara sighed and took a long sip from her cup. The fiery liquid burned all the way down and she choked a bit.

"Damn! I'm not used to drinking this stuff straight!"

"It will put hair on your chest," laughed Rick.

"I don't see that as an inducement to drink more," said Sara, but she took another sip anyway.

"Thanks again for going with me. I felt a lot better having you along."

"What are friends for..." replied Rick and he carefully tapped her plastic cup with his own in a toast.

They sat on the bed for a while quietly drinking and putting quite a dent in the bottle. Sara was starting to feel a pleasant warmth spread through her body. She glanced up at Rick admiring the sharp lines of his profile.

"This is quite good," she said swirling the liquid around in her cup.

"It grows on you," he admitted, "I could never afford whiskey this good in school."

"You were pretty funny back in the club. The way your eyes bugged out when that dancer took the stage," said Sara with a giggle.

"I hardly noticed," replied Rick with a grin.

"Yeah...Sureeeeee you didn't"

"She had nothing on you, Sara. You have a way hotter body."

Sara felt a blush creeping up her face, "Right, that girl was only half my age. I can see where I would outclass her in every way."

"I think you do."

Rick was looking at her with the same intensity he had that night at the club. The night that he had kissed her. Sara's hand started to shake making the whiskey in her cup form ripples in the bottom.

"We should probably get some sleep," suggested Sara quietly.

Rick didn't answer immediately, but he reached over instead, and took the cup from her hand setting it on the small round table next to the bed. His eyes were back on her. The night seemed to stretch out before them filled with possibility. Sara's breath came faster when Rick brought up one hand brushing her long, ash-blond hair back out of her face. He lay his hand on her cheek and the warmth of his palm flowed outward making her feel nervous and excited at the same time.