Stolen Kisses

Chapter 4

I thought about the kiss that night as I laid in my bed. I thought, how could he kiss me like that and tell me we had to 'keep it professional?' Bullshit. Why can't I stop thinking about him?'

I cracked open my copy of 'Lolita,' I might as well get a head start. I fell asleep with the book by my side.

I woke up and my first thought was of him. What did he look like when he woke up? My mind wandered from his hair, was it its usual mess? To whether or not he wore socks to sleep.

I glanced to my alarm clock, 7:20 AM. I jumped out of bed and reached for my uniform.

My mom was waiting for me with her usual greeting, "Good morning, Katie Sue! You better eat your breakfast quick or you'll be late!"

I ignored her as usual.

"It's the most important meal of the d-" the slam of the front door interrupted her.

I ran out and hopped in my car, ready to start the school day in hopes that my thoughts of Dr. Kollier would cease to exist.

I tried to pay attention today. I really did. I listened to the teachers and tried to learn with a fresh brain, untouched by the subjects they were trying to teach us. But the harder I tried, the harder it was not to think of him. I still couldn't understand my book, so I figured I'd stop by his house.

I parked the car in my driveway and made my way to Dr. Kollier's  side of the fence. He wasn't back from DU yet. I knew he had an tangelo tree, so I decided to do some picking.

Lucky for me, there were a few ripe ones. The best looking tangelo, however, was at the top. I looked around and found a pole with a hooked end. A lot of Floridians have this. This one belonged to the previous tenant who must have forgot it, or moved somewhere unwelcoming to tangelo trees.

It took a few tries and lots of reaching, but I finally got a few good ones to topple to the ground. I sat against the tree and peeled away at my tangelos. I could hear the front door slam all the way from the backyard. I quickly got up, in hopes of not looking like a trespasser, which I technically was.

I gave three hard knocks on the back door. It took Dr. Kollier five long minutes to get to the door. He looked confused to see me, "Miss Mathers, what are you doing in my backyard," he peered behind my shoulder, "and eating my tangelos?"

I began to laugh nervously, "This doesn't make me look very good, but the previous tenant, Mrs. Nesbitt, she used to let me pick them from time to time. I forgot to ask you before, I'm sorry.

"Yes, it's fine," he said while giggling, "is that all you came for?"

I whipped out my copy of Lolita and we got to business. David and I read the book together and he explained the beginning to me. Turns out, this guy, Humbert Humbert did something terrible and got locked up for it. He was writing this book about his infatuation with nymphets, young girls with a certain quality only he noticed. It all started because of his first love, who was a year younger than him, she died before they could consummate their relationship. Deep stuff.

After David explained all of that to me, his hand was resting on the open book and we were silent. Mine was inches away on his dark wooden desk. I was sitting very close to him on a chair from the dining room that we dragged into his makeshift office which was really an extra closet that came with the house. I tried scooting a bit closer to him, moving my hand ever so gently. Our hands touched. His eyes never left the book.

He whispered, "Why are you doing this to me, Katharine?" It was the first time he called me by my full name, no one did that. He continued, "Why are you making it so hard to stay away?"

I kept my eyes on our hands and whispered back, "Because staying away is even harder."

He turned his face towards mine. I leaned in this time. His kiss was still as soft as the first. Both of my hands moved up his arms, which were still in the button up shirt he wore to class. My hands rested on his neck. I felt stubble towards the top, he must have missed a spot while shaving. His hands began to cradle my face and our kisses grew more passionate. Then, all of a sudden, I felt him start to slow down. And he wasn't kissing me anymore.

"I think you should go," he said in my ear.

I collected my book and sighed, "I'm sorry."

I left David alone in the closet, but I could still feel the ghost of his lips on mine.