Damaged Ch. 01-02

She immediately sprinted ahead of Alan. He continued to walk towards them as he watched her greet the man with a warm, but noticeably quick, hug.

"Greg," Teri said as Alan approached them, "This is Alan. He works at the school with me."

"Hi. Greg Wu. It's nice to meet you," Greg said offering his hand. He had a deep but kind of earnest voice. A tall man, the same height as Alan, his face still had a doughy boyishness to it.

"Alan Rosetti," he said taking the other man's hand. He could feel the sweat in Greg's palms. Alan's perceptive blue eyes watched as Greg's slender gaze flitted anxiously towards Teri. She looked at both of them with her indomitable smile.

Teri said turning to Greg, "We're all going to go home and get changed then meet up back at Duffy's lounge for some dinner and drinks."

"You're coming, right?" Alan slipped in.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sure," Greg replied, "I'm here to see Teri anyway."

This was one really anxious guy, Alan thought to himself.

"Ok great! Um, so I think the others said in about an hour or so?" Teri remarked.

Alan nodded. The couple waved back to him as Greg led Teri to his car.

Dean finally showed up and stood beside his father as the blue Corolla pulled out of the lot. Alan looked down towards his son and said, "Fun day?"

The boy looked up and shrugged.

Alan saw the Corolla disappear around some houses.

"Should be a fun night," he added as the sun finally settled below the horizon.

*********

Duffy's lounge was rather boisterous that evening. Teachers really knew how to whoop it up after a long day. Alan sat on a stool watching the various members of the Drummond Elementary faculty drink, dance, and play billiards in the dark but spacious tavern. In his hands, he had spooled together two swizzle sticks with a small rubber-band, winding them up slowly.

He watched as Greg tried in vain to show Teri how to hold a pool cue. Unfortunately for the increasingly awkward man, the school teacher was doing just fine on her own and was quite oblivious of his overt attempts to hold her close. The way she leaned across the table, stretching her sweet and lithe frame as she worked the stick, was not helping the man at all either.

Alan, and the rest of the lounge, could see how hard up the guy was for her.

"Cute couple," Sophia said grinning as she slipped onto a barstool beside Alan. Her scent instantly wafted through his nose.

He looked at her.

"Wave to Turner," she instructed as she pointed with a glass in hand towards a booth at the end of the bar. Her smiling husband, a stout, round man, was seated with another couple. He threw Alan a wave and a thumbs up.

He raised his hand.

"Think the school teacher is into some naughty private lessons with her pupil there?" Sophia asked, "You know, it's the quiet ones who are always into the rulers and straps."

Alan took a drink from his glass. "Is that what they say?" he remarked dryly.

Teri leaned over the green fabric of the billiards table, lining up another shot. Her hair drifted over her eyesight again and she brushed it to the side, annoyed. As she did, she glimpsed Alan sitting at the bar alongside a decidedly seductive looking mature blonde woman in a red halter top and blue jeans that must have been stitched onto her long legs. They seemed to be having a pretty intimate conversation.

Barely concentrating on the game, she took her shot. Immediately there was a whoop from the people around her along with some high fives. It took her a moment to realize that she had sunk the 8-ball and won the game for her side. Greg gave her a squeeze on the shoulder but it didn't register.

After the elation died down, a group of female teachers led Teri to the dance floor. Greg decided to take a break and headed towards the bar.

"You'll be able to come by and fix some holes at the house tomorrow?" Sophia asked as she stepped off the stool.

"You have some holes?" Alan asked.

"There are always holes to fill."

"Busy tomorrow," he said looking away.

"Oh, well, maybe during the week," she said then walked back to her husband.

Her place beside Alan was immediately filled by Greg who spun around to face the bar. Alan did the same.

"Scotch. Neat," Alan said to the bartender and then pushed the glass over to Greg. He said, "On me."

Greg looked at the glass and then at Alan. He was already a bit tipsy, his face red and puffy, but he quickly picked up the glass. He held it up to Alan and said, "Thanks."

The older man nodded and watched him take a stiff sip. He continued to wind up the swizzle sticks. Then he asked, "So you met each other in university back in the city?"

"Yeah," Greg replied, "Right at the beginning of second year undergrad. She was in my first class."

"So that was like over 4 or 5 years ago?"

The Chinese man dipped a bit in his seat and nodded.

"But you stayed in the city and Teri came here?" Alan continued.

"I didn't think she would go," Greg replied dejectedly, "I thought if I said I was going to stay in the city, that she would, too."

Alan watched him as he polished off his drink. The older man waved down the bartender and asked for another.

"That's rough," Alan said, nudging the glass towards Greg, "2 hours is a long way to go every time."

Greg scratched and rubbed at his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Still," Alan continued as he turned around in his seat, "She's a nice warm body to come all this way for, isn't she?"

Greg picked up the glass and pivoted in his seat. They both watched the slender, cheery woman dance on the floor with spirited shakes and twists of her body. Her blouse pulled high above her flat midriff every time she raised her arms and spun around on her toes.

"Yeah well," Greg said, raising the glass to his lips, "Not so warm for me."

Alan turned to him and slapped his hand onto his shoulder. "You're kidding, right?" he said, "It's been over 4 years and you two...?"

Greg gave a glum shake of his head. "Well, I've never been sure if we were just friends or what."

"Greg," Alan leaned in talking with a low, smooth voice, "She talks about you all the time. I don't mean in a sweet, 'hold my hand' way either. She misses you... badly. You should have seen how excited she was when she was telling everyone that you were coming."

Greg's reddened eyes tried to focus on Alan and then swerved around in his head and gazed at Teri cutting up the dance floor.

"You know, man," Alan talked as he leaned back against the bar rail, "Things can change quickly in a long distance relationship. Who knows when your next opportunity is going to be? The longer you wait, the more you become 'just friends'."

The younger man's mouth slipped open, all glossy just like the rest of his face. Alan twisted the swizzle sticks tighter and tighter.

"I don't know, Greg," Alan said looking down at his fingers and shaking his head, "Lots of young studs around town spewing crap about how much they'd like to take a crack at breaking the new teacher, you know? She's bound to give in sometime. Meanwhile, you end up sleeping on the couch."

He could hear Greg's teeth grind together.

"I mean, you'd think that after all this time, all that you've been through, even if you part ways eventually, she'd at least have owed you one," Alan finished.

The younger man stumbled off his seat, his legs almost crumpling from underneath him. Alan held him up by the arm.

"Uh, gotta go to the toilet," Greg stammered and walked away unsteadily.

Alan turned in his stool. He placed the tightly wound up swizzle sticks on the bar and let them go, chattering and flailing against one another in an violent frenzy.

*********

"In you go," Teri said as she led Greg into her house. The man tripped on the step and stumbled into the dark foyer.

"Oh, Greg! Be careful!" she said as she flipped on the lights, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," the man nodded and walked into the living room. He inhaled deeply then exhaled.

Teri turned her head away from the smell of alcohol. "You, my friend, are soused," she declared. Her arm around his waist to steady him, she patted him gently on his chest.

"Nah. I'm good. I'm just..." he paused and smiled, "Nah. I'm fine."

"Good!" Teri chuckled as she looked up at him.

"Okay, give me my car keys."

"Uh, there's no way you can drive at this hour in this condition," Teri reprimanded, "You can just stay here for tonight."

Greg looked at her with his glazed eyes. "Yeah?"

She pursed her lips and nodded curtly. "Yeah."

"Aw that's great, Teri," Greg said as he took her hand from his chest. "That's so good to hear."

He leaned down to give her a hug with his free arm. Teri smiled and patted him on the back. As she stepped back, Greg still didn't let go of her wrist, holding it close to his chest.

Teri tilted her head, frowning and looking at her hand, "Uh, Greg...?"

Still with a firm grip on her wrist, the tall man yanked her close again, his other hand pressing against her back, pushing her up against him. He leaned his face towards her.

"Greg! What are you...?" she turned her head away and his lips just caught the side of her mouth and her cheek with a wet, spongy kiss. "Stop it!"

Amidst her protests and squirming in his arms, Greg continued to miss the target with his mouth as he clipped her hair, the side of her chin, the top of her ear, with blind kisses.

"Greg stop it!" she hollered and managed to break free from his arm wrapped around her back. But his other hand still had a locked grip around her wrist and he stepped backwards, pulling her along.

Teri leaned back on her haunches as she was dragged roughly across the living room floor. "Where are you going?" she demanded.

"Bedroom," Greg rasped, "Back there right?"

She managed a foot hold and held her ground. As she wrenched her wrist trying to twist away from his grip, she pleaded in earnest, "I meant you can stay on the couch until you sober up! Greg! You're hurting my wrist!"

"The couch?!" he bellowed. With a sharp tug that practically pulled her off her feet, Greg yanked her body against his and seized her around the waist again. Stunned by the force of his pull, Teri gasped. Her open mouth was quickly covered by Greg's parted lips. She squeezed her eyes shut, crying muffled protests into his mouth, as she beat on his chest and shoulder with her free hand.

Greg broke away from the lustful kiss but grabbed the collar of her blouse at her neck. Her eyes fluttered nervously, fearfully, around his face looking for some sort of reprieve.

"Do you think I've waited all this time, drove all this way, to sleep on the fucking couch?" he growled, "You owe me this!"

The words were like fire and ice up Teri's spine and she felt her heart stop. Her voice trembled as she spoke, "Greg. My god, what are you...?"

Greg suddenly leaned forward, his solid mass collapsing on her, shoving her onto the couch. He pressed the full weight of his body onto her smaller frame as he angled himself between her legs, pushing them apart. Teri was pinned down.

"Get off of me!" Teri yelled. She couldn't believe this. She smelled the alcohol on his breath and tongue as he covered her face and mouth with wet kisses and licks. She didn't know who this person was anymore.

She was trying hard not to cry. She was just becoming angrier and trying to focus that anger to get out from under Greg. Suddenly, she felt his hand at her waist fumbling with the button on her jeans.

"No wait! Greg stop! Please!" she gasped quickly.

The button popped open and, with a sharp tug, he parted the fly of her jeans revealing the low-waist band of her panties. She tried to wriggle her waist out from under him, desperately tried to close her legs, but his weight just pressed down between her thighs. She felt his rough hand flatten and slide down her belly, his fingers shoving underneath her panties.

"Stop! Don't do this, Greg!"

Teri's cries were blocked out by Greg's fervent and lascivious thoughts. He continued to breath heavy, alcohol-laden breaths against her face and neck. His other hand clutching at the collar of her blouse also pulled away with a stiff yank. The buttons tore away, scattering onto the floor and couch as her blouse was ripped to her belly. He pulled it over her shoulder and then pushed at the black strap of her bra.

"Greg! Oh my god! GREG!" she screamed.

Outside the house, parked on the street, Alan sat intently at the wheel of his truck listening carefully. He frowned then leaned to the side, reached down underneath the passenger seat and pulled out a crowbar.

A stern expression on his face, he stepped out of the truck.

To Be Continued