Bougainvillea Season

The oldest and most vivid memory of her starts with a blinding bright light. A big beige orb that slowly makes up her background and focus in to appear as the sunlight pouring in through the window; our plane old west facing classroom window.

She seems to be buried deep in some thoughts, her statuesque waist curved greatly to provide her standing figure a sensuous stance.

I move close to look at her face. Her long neck is strained downwards. Her face glowing in the sun but she seems absolutely unbothered. I follow her gaze and wanting to share her view, I too look down and see the boys of our classroom playing rouge football.

As if on cue, she giggles and her boyfriend looks up. I don't know which precedes which. It is annoying for some reasons.

She nudges my elbow and signals me to look back down. My boyfriend is now gazing up too. Our eyes meet and I force a smile. Their teammates cheer on, causing both of them to shy away.

"WHERE IS MY WALLET?" my husband exclaimed somewhere from the inside.

I couldn't hold back a pitiful laugh as I dropped the towel I was using to dry my hair on a straw chair before leaving the balcony.

He saw me enter the bedroom and asked his question again, but this time in a gentler tone. He stood in the center of the room, fixing his tie. I shifted the pillows on our yet-to-be-made bed and pulled out his wallet.

"You are my savior," he said, stuffing his slim wallet into the coat's inner pocket.

The urge to say 'I know' was mere seconds late.

Then he was gone.

I let out a deep sigh and started getting ready for work.

~

The university was a forty minute drive from home. The road was dull, as it is every summer. The blossoms along the roadside and in people's backyards overshadow everything else. A mop of white, pink, or orange bougainvillea sat on people's boundary walls. There were other flowers, but those messy tangles of stubborn leafy flowers always made my heart sink because our school building used to had those to adorn the otherwise drab building where students spent their precious hours.

I work as an assistant professor at a humble university and along side helping the HOD on his research, I worked on the process of publishing my own.

I parked my car and got id-ed and entered our lab. I was greeted my some PhD students, up and early using lab resources and I settled in my seat double checking my lecture planner for the day.

The bell rang and I jumped in my seat startling the fellow students in the room. I apologized and saw the Head professor walking in with his usual heavy steps.

"Good Morning, Sir," I said getting ready to leave the room.

"Good Morning. Good Morning," he chimed and smiled as I passed by him and out through the door.

I had to cross a long corridor and take up a flight of stairs to reach the classroom. On the way some students greeted me, some didn't stop and walked ahead of me but a couple of them walked with me until we reached the classroom.

From the entry door, I noticed a familiar lean figure standing by the large horizontal window on the opposite wall. I found myself walking up to her. When she sensed my presence, she smiled. I had a dizzying déjà vu after which I zoned in to hear her ask me a question.

'Professor, have you seen those flowers?' She pointed her slender, pointy finger at a thick row of yellow-orange marigold plants next to the university border wall. I'd seen them before. I had watched those saplings grow into mature plants with big bold flowers.

'Um hm,'

She turned to face me and said, "Don't they look beautiful today?" I had to look up at her.

'They look the same to me,' I said, and turned to the teacher's desk.

I noticed her patiently standing there, waiting for my gaze to fall back on her. More students arrived, the seats began to fill up. Some students paused to greet, while others proceeded directly to their seats. But she stayed. I gave in and eventually looked at her.

"Ms. Hart, how can I help you?" I forced a tight smile.

Her pink lips curled into an expectant smile and her hand reached out holding a small pen drive.

"Professor, Could you please review these for me?"

I rolled my eyes internally and took the pen drive from her hand. She returned to her seat, pleased with her cocky accomplishment. I shoved the pen drive into my purse and finally stood up to deliver my lecture for the day. Now and then, I felt her burning gaze on me. She would simply stare and respond to questions only to engage with me. I noticed some guys turning their heads at her sweet voice. She smiled at them too.

After that class, all other lectures flew by, and I returned home without seeing any more of her again at the university.

~

I de-cluttered my purse and found the tiny pen-drive. I took my laptop along with that pen-drive to my kitchen. I restocked water in the coffee maker and connected the pen-drive to my laptop. A dialogue box jumped on the screen and before I could proceed, I heard my phone ring from the living room.

I won't be home for dinner.

I placed the phone screen down on the counter and went back to my laptop. There was only a single folder titled "For you <3". I clicked on it and another dialogue box appeared showing me a video file. A quick double click on it made a pang of regret wash over my head. I removed the pen-drive and closed the laptop. Just then my phone rang up.

Eileen Hart

The name bright and bold shone on the screen. I waited and picked it up after six rings.

"Hello?'

"Professor. Did you like it?"

My head buzzed and I almost threw my phone away but-

"Is it not up to your mark? Is the camera angle not good?"

'No. It's fine," I mumbled and heard her laugh on the other end.

"Can we meet tonight?" the sudden change in her tone didn't go unnoticed.

I agreed and hung up the call.

~

There was no fuss over where to meet. We only had one rendezvous point, and I would wait for her there.

I wore a red knee-length evening dress and took my usual seat by the counter. The bartender saw me and smiled before approaching me.

"You look beautiful as always,"

Daniel is a handsome man standing six feet tall with a gentle voice and a kind demeanor. His compliment made me smile.

"By the way, would you give him a chance for today?" He said this as he shifted to the side, allowing me to see someone behind him.

Aye! He cried out for someone to turn around. A barely eighteen-year-old boy approached and stood beside him.

"This is Tony. The newbie," Daniel slapped his palm on the boy's back.

Tony smirked and said hello, and I nodded my head in response.

"Isn't he too young?" I asked.

"I am nineteen, ma'am," Daniel and I exchanged glances before laughing out loud.

Daniel left to serve the other customers. I asked Tony for a mock tail to drink while I waited for her. The drink was good, nothing extraordinary. I would occasionally feel Tony's distracted gaze on me. I wondered if he went to college. I was about to call out to him when I felt a warm breath on my shoulder and an arm wrapping around my waist. I went rigid and I saw Tony approaching me.

"Ma'am, Is anything bothering you?" Tony's boyish voice made me feel even more pathetic. 

Only if I could swat her away like that.

Before I could say anything, her voice rang out from behind me.

"No, she was waiting for me." Eileen's raspy tone caused Tony to back off.

When we were alone, she wasted no time in small talk and snatched me out of the place, leaving me only a few minutes to pay the bill. The thought of a worried Tony never left my mind. I assumed Daniel would assure him that I was fine. And it was not an unusual thing to happen to me.

We took my car to her apartment. I drove and through the entire ride, her gaze didn't leave me alone. She turned on her side and placed a hand on her temple supporting her head before suggestively staring at me.

"Was the video up to the mark?" she asked.

My throat started to itch. I cleared it a couple of time. But I didn't say anything.

"Say something for fuck's sake." she shouted unable to bear my silent treatment.

"Stop the car!"

I drove just a little before her gaze became so suffocating that I hit the brakes. In a blink, she was blocking my view, her face up close ran a shiver down my spine. I inhaled her delicious vanilla scent. She kissed me on my mouth and bit on my lower lip before returning to her seat. I started driving without a second thought and didn't stop until we reached her apartment.

Eileen opened the door and gently nudged me in. She shut the door with her legs before pouncing on me. Her grand aquamarine couch came into my view before I was slammed on to it. She rode up my dress and discarded my panties.

"Look at you enjoying this," she laughed and ran her thumb across my slit. My own body never ashamed me more. She buried her face into my crotch and I felt her lapping on my pussy in hunger. I could not rest my head on her matching couch cushion in the fear of spraining my neck, so I supported myself on my hands and suppressed all the screams I wanted to let out that would have satisfied her greatly.

She bit on my left butt cheek before flipping me over. She snaked her hand and wrapped her beautiful fingers around my neck, before going back down on me. I squeezed her head between my thighs but they were already on the verge of giving in. Before, I could completely give up, she stopped, wiped her mouth and nose with the back of her hand before coming to hover on top of me.

"Is this how you imagine her with you?"

"Don't you dare, Eileen?" I gritted my teeth.

She pressed her weight onto me and whispered those venomous words into my ear. "Don't call me like that. You sound like my mother and..." she chuckled before continuing, "It makes me want to fuck you more,"

I saw her devilish little smile and those perfect teeth as she leaned back.

"Get up,"

She stood up pulling me by my hands and slammed me against the wall beside her huge television. She knelt down and went under my dress, her head vanishing from my view. Her slithery tongue started doing its thing again. I groaned and sloped forward to support myself with her shoulders. It felt so good. Her mouth sucked on my clit as she introduced one finger inside me. Her finger deliberately touched my every wall. It was akin to her hands touching all over my body. When she tried slipping another finger in, my slit invitingly parted for her and my whole body shuddered. Her deep and knuckle length thrusts and the her mouth sucking ravenously on my bud made me come the first time that evening.

She emerged from under my dress and took good gulps of air before fully standing up. She pulled herself in as lovers do and pressed her body against mine.

"Look at me,"

I looked up at her and she kissed me. Her pent-up rage finally washed away, along with my orgasm. This was her form of apology. Her lips were salty and her tongue slightly cold. She once again wrapped her fingers around my neck, loosely this time and kissed my bottom lip, the corners of my lips and my upper lip, periodically as if choreographed. Her mouth gently sucked on my chin and nose before returning back to my mouth. I held on to the fabric of her t-shirt at her waist. I wondered if I wrapped my arms around her she would be kinder to me.

I did that. She didn't seem taken back. She didn't seem to notice it either.

She broke the kiss and tugged me by my left hand towards the bedroom.

Eileen pushed me into the room and locked the door despite only us being in the house. It was more fun this way according to her. I was shoved onto the bed and she came on top of me from between my hips.

She bit her lips before joining our lips for another kiss as she began undressing me. She undid the zipper of my dress on the side and slipped down the sleeves. Her cold fingers ran up and down my arms as her hips gyrated, rubbing the fabric of her jeans to my naked crotch.

"Should I tell you where the camera is?" she smiled and kissed me delicately with so much mischief behind that smile.

I shook my head.

"Oh yes yes, you like surprises. Don't you?" she leaned back and started taking off her top.

Flawlessly she took off her t-shirt revealing her toned abdomen and beautiful arms with carefully trained lean muscles. Her bra snugly held her big tits in place and the button of her jeans sat revealingly right below her navel. She then stripped me off my dress and I sat before her only in my bra.

"Your skin is so soft," she said as she gazed at me.

Unlike her firm skin, mine was soft and sensitive. A sad thought of aging and my body loosing collagen occurred but her lust for me somehow ebbed that thought away. She liked that about my body. Every single grope by her hand on my skin, gave her some sort of immense pleasure from which I stole a couple of moments to live by. Her gaze caused me to huddle back into a shell, only to realize there was no shell to return to. I never made a shell for myself to hide in because her actions and emotions were always contradictory, which contradicted mine.

Eileen lay me down and asked me to wait for her. She left the room and I found myself alone with my thoughts. My heart started feeling heavy and I wanted to ripe it out of my chest and I wanted her to be back soon. I didn't want to hear what my brain had to say. I didn't want to go home.

I walked out of the room and found my purse on the aquamarine couch. I snapped it open and dug out my phone.

I am going to stay at a friend's house tonight. Good Luck with your work!

No matter how nonsensical my existence might have been but I knew I would not survive alone in that home alone tonight. I felt a pair of arms holding my shoulders and her face nuzzling in the hollow of my right shoulder.

"I can stay here to tonight. Right?" I asked shoving the phone back in my purse.

"Really! You are staying? " She said and wrapped her arms around my stomach and pulled me close to her chest. I wanted to cry so bad. I wanted to cry for my pathetic self because no one else would.

I realized how she was the only person who never expected anything from me in exchange for what she had done for me.

I can score you up for in the tests, I had offered but she denied it with a shake of her head and ever since our union she had scored more than ever as a gesture of gratitude even though she never liked the subject to begin with.

She took me back into the bedroom and I saw the strap-on toy on the bed. On the bed, I took my time adjusting the pillows behind my head as she wore the toy around her pelvis before getting back between my legs. She squirted a copious amount of lube on my pussy. It was cold at first and then it started tingling as she entered me. With her elbows on either side of my head, she caged me and I felt so alive. She moved with intention and occasionally kissed my neck and face.

I started pushing her away until I was on top of her. She smiled happily as I rode her. She undid the hook of my bra and let the bra fall off of my chest. I saw her visibly shudder. It wasn't our first time yet her reactions never failed to embarrass me further. I blushed and stopped moving. She pulled my face closer and propped herself on her right elbow. I felt the most gentle kiss on my lips and then two more on my cheeks. She chuckled still holding my face.

"How can you be so cute? It makes me want to devour you and leave no crumbs," she whispered against my collarbone before laughing the situation off.

She flipped us over and I landed on my four and she took me from behind. I bit my lips and held onto the bed sheets. I let her hear my moans and fuck me harder before I collapsed. She lay down on top of my tired body breathing softly against my ear. It was ticklish yet relaxing.

Eileen got up and removed the toy from her body before coming back to me and resting her head on my soft chest. Her breathing fanned my nipples rhythmically. I didn't ask her to move up or down assuming she was doing it intentionally.

And I finally found my time to hold her and let my imagination not be afraid of my thoughts.

What if she were her. The girl whose memories continued to haunt me every single time sun beat down on the earth before setting. Those glaring sun rays and the window of that cold classroom under which our teenage sweethearts played while I looked her as she stood nonchalant without any hint of the havoc going on in my heart. I wondered if she still kept those pressed pink bougainvillea I gave her as my token of affection.

It was amazing how those flowers held their identity for a really long time and felt as if they would forever hold my love for her, until I realized they only held their color and shape brilliantly on the outside but become so fragile that one unintentional touch could make them crumble.