Literature, lust and love - Professor Romanoff

TWENTY-TWO

I pulled off the door of 23 on my advent calendar, reaching inside to grab the chocolate waiting to be demolished in a few seconds. I grinned at the design on the confectionary before popping it into my mouth and destroying it. I sighed and made my way back to my bed, where I stared longingly at the picture of Natasha on my phone. She had meant to call me yesterday but didn't, so it had been a few days without hearing her voice, and I was seriously missing it. When I first moved to college, I thought I missed my parents, but that was nothing to what I'm feeling right now. Everything in my body yearns for Natasha, but I just had to keep reminding myself that I would see her in two weeks.

"Des?" A soft knock on my door interrupted my pity-fest and the face of my mom popped around my door.

"Hey mom," I uttered, smiling softly at the approaching woman. She sat at the end of my bed and sighed.

"Who is it?"

"Huh?" I looked at her confused, as she was smiling while she investigated my face.

"Who do you miss so much? Don't think I don't notice it Desi. You disappear off to your room to talk to someone, and I catch you staring at your screen. Is it a girl?"

I smiled, knowing that I was never able to keep anything from my mom for long. She would always find out my secrets and urge them out of me when I was younger, and even though I was now an adult, I see that her tactics are just the same.

"It's not just any girl, mom. It's the girl." I sit up, leaning my back on my headboard.

My mom shuffled closer to me, lying down next to me whilst she looked up at my ceiling.

"The girl?"

"The girl of my dreams. She stole my heart, mom, I don't think I want her to give it back." I sigh, smiling at the thought of Natasha. My mom caught me smiling and she grinned, taking my hand in hers.

"If she makes you this happy, I already love her."

"She's incredible."

"GIRLS! We have you go!" My dad called down the stairs, interrupting me and my mom. We giggled and mom sat up, rubbing her head.

"You can tell me more about her another time, now we need to get to your dad before he explodes. He needs his caffeine."

We jumped off of my bed and skipped up the stairs, greeting an impatient dad at the top of them.

"Took your time, ladies. Time is a ticking, you know I can't last much longer!" My dad teases, and upon seeing our unamused faces, turns around and walks into the garage. Mom and I turn to each other, laugh, and follow him into the car. We drove to his favourite cafe, Christmas music being played on the drive there, accompanied by an animated conversation between my parents. Once sat down at our table in the cafe, with our food on the way, my mom took out her phone and started to discuss Christmas dinner.

"Aunt Lisa is bringing the veg, Dave is on pie duty, and Robin and Alex are beverages. Does that coverage the rest of it?"

My dad and I shared a look before nodding at my mother, who was looking expectantly at us. Satisfied, she returned to her phone and typed some texts to many people. I lost focus of my dad's chatter about the upcoming football and gazed out of the window, watching the people enter and exit the shop. The approaching face of my best friend and his mom was not a surprise, as Robin and my dad always hung out here, so my dad stood up and hugged Alex's mom. The face behind Alex, however, was a surprise.

"Hey my man! How's it going Al," my dad was exclaiming loudly in excitement, but I was too fixed on the woman standing apprehensively next to Alex. Her eyes scanned my face before looking back to Alex.

"Desi!" Alex turns to me, "Look who I ran into outside! Dunn family, meet Professor Romanoff. She's Desi's English and Russian teacher."

"Natasha Romanoff," she smiles, holding out her hand to my dad who happily clasps it and shakes it. My mom glances at me before greeting her.

"Excuse me," I whisper to no one, and I stand up and run to the bathroom. I hear the door slam behind me so I take a deep breath and splash some water in my face to cool me down. I'm staring at myself in the mirror when I feel her hands wrap around my waist, pulling me close to her. I sigh and lean my head against her shoulder, breathing in her scent before snapping into reality and spinning around.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" I whisper shout.

"Well that's such a lovely greeting, Desi," Natasha tuts, smirking at me.

I wrap my arms around her neck, bringing her dangerously close to me. "Would this be better for you, Miss Romanoff?" My lips meet hers and I almost moaned at the feeling, having missed it so much. Her hands trail down to my waist before picking me up and putting me on the counter and stepping in between my legs. I wrapped my legs around her waist as her tongue enters my mouth. I play with the baby hairs at the base of her head as we kiss, relishing in the reunion. I pull away suddenly, making Natasha frown.

"What about my parents."

"What about them?"

"What did you say to them when I left?"

"I came here for some business but it fell through, and I just happened to run into Alex as I was wondering what to do. I then excused myself to find you, because I wanted to say hello."

I quirked my eyebrow at her. "Okay, and what's the actual truth?"

"Alex set me up."

"He did?"

She shrugged. "Consider it his Christmas present to you."

I look deep into the green-eyed beauty actually in front of me in California. I whisper on her lips, "best present ever," before pulling her in once more.

When we walked out of the bathroom three minutes later, everyone was looking at us, at Natasha, as we sat down in the empty seats.

"So Natasha," my mom starts, "Can we call you Natasha?"

"Of course you can, Desi does so you certainly can," Tasha smiles sweetly at my mom, to which she reciprocates. Good first steps. Natasha's hand brushed mine between our seats, and I latched on, entwining our fingers.

"Great. So Dan and I were talking, and seeing that you don't have any plans for Christmas, we would love it if you came and stayed with us, only if you want to." My mom looked between us, smirking at my wide eyes.

"Dan and Amy love to host," Robin, Alex's mom inputs, and Alex nods furiously, everyone seemingly trying very hard to get Natasha to agree.

I'm surprised when Natasha replied that her voice sounded normal despite the pain I've given her by squeezing her hand so much. "That's very kind of you, Mrs Dunn, if it's no problem to you, I would absolutely love that."

"Brilliant! And it's Amy to you, by the way. Desi, I assume you'll help Natasha get her bags from wherever they are and take them to the guest room. We'll meet you back home when you're done? We've got gingerbread houses to build, and now we have an extra set of hands!" My mom and dad stood up, ushering Robin and Alex out with them as Natasha and I sat there in shock.

"I did not expect that, I must admit that," Natasha expelled a breath and I turned to her, grinning.

"Best christmas ever!" I whispered, pulling her up as I stand. "Come on! There's no time to waste. Gingerbread houses need to me made! And," I moved closer to her ear, "I need to show you my bedroom."

Natasha gulped but nodded, and we walked out of the cafe hand in hand, thanking anyone who would listen that our wishes were answered and that we were together. Christmas with Natasha, who would have thought.