The 10

4

Day 4

Laura woke to feel a way she had never felt her entire life. Smiling as she remembered every detail of the night before, her smile faded as her arm stretched to an empty, cold side of the bed. Sitting upright, she rubbed her face and blew out a breath. She swung her legs over the bed and wrapped herself in the duvet before walking to her bathroom. When she gets to the door, she hears the water running in the sink. Raising a brow, she knocks on the door and hears someone spit. Opening the door, she's met with the steam of a shower and Brian in the complimentary towel, sitting dangerously low on his hips.
Laura eyes him up and down and comes back to reality when he waves his hand in her face. She shakes her head and moves past him, stepping into the shower, closing the curtain, and sticking her hand out. She lets the duvet fall to the floor. Brian raises his brow and returns to the sink, looking for a razor or something to shave his face. He hears the shower start and looks at the barely traceable silhouette of her body. His mind reflected on her body last night, and he stops looking at her and continues looking for the razor.
Opening the final drawer and having no luck, he grows tired of the quiet and breaks the ice. "So, we're not going to talk about last night?"
Laura pauses, raising her head slightly. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I do." he turns and leans his back against the sink, watching her barely move.
"Okay." he notices she turns her head slightly and then moves it back quickly.
"Are you embarrassed? Ashamed? Feeling regretful?" he jumps right to the main questions.
"No, no, and no." She admits.
"Then what's the problem? Why the cold shoulder this morning?" he crosses his arms over his chest.
"I'm not sure myself." Laura mumbles. "I'm in the middle of a horrific divorce," she admits.
"Been there," Brian recalls, chuckling and shaking his head. "I had to move out of town after it was finalized. It was that bad."
"Wow, I hope mine doesn't get that drastic." she continues to run the soapy washcloth across her body. "Do you know the time?"
Brian grabs his watch from the sink and reads it. "Half-past six."
"Please say AM."
"Yeah," he laughs. "AM." He pauses, drumming his fingers on the marble countertop. "I've gotta go. Otherwise, I'm going to be late." he walks toward the curtain and pulls it back slightly.
Laura turns and asks him what he's doing. Brian ignores the question and grabs her arm, gently pulling her towards him and kisses her lightly. Winking, he walks out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him and beginning his day. By the time Laura is out of the shower, he's gone. Not even a trace that he was there, to begin with. Laura runs a brush through her hair; watching the matted mess, due to the rough, passionate sex from the night before, she decides to straighten it out a bit. Her students had probably heard them, she couldn't remember, but she wanted to look as decent as possible. When she's satisfied with how she looks, she sees it's already after seven and quickly throws on a pencil skirt that ends right below her kneecaps and a simple short sleeve white button-up. Throwing on a bra, camisole, and shirt, she pulls the skirt up and tucks her shirt into it. Finishing her outfit with black heels, she adds her accessories and hurries down to hopefully have some form of breakfast.
After successfully retrieving a cup of lukewarm coffee and an almost stale bagel, she manages to eat half and finish off the coffee. Grabbing her purse, clipboard, and a jacket (if needed), she makes her way down to the lobby. When she gets there, to her surprise, her students are waiting for her. Shocked, she stops in her tracks and laughs.
"What do I owe the honor of this?"
"We're eager to get back to our project and get as much as we can today so we can start our essays," Kate says.
"Yeah, that's what we were talking about at dinner last night." Isabella jumps in.
"Yeah, we didn't mean to ignore you. But then the guard showed up." Luke shrugs.
Laura smiles at her students. They were probably her favorite class yet in her almost seven years of teaching. She only taught eleventh grade and would miss them next year when they were seniors. She hopes they'll still visit her classroom whenever they get the chance. Shaking her head, she realizes her students are still waiting on her.
"Perfect. I'm glad you're so eager to start your essays, and I'm even more excited about the fact that you're enjoying the project." she smiles and leads the way to the buses.
Another surprise is waiting for her when they walk out of the hotel. The bus drivers are on the buses, ready to go as well. Raising her brow, she switches her clipboard from her right hand to her left and enters the bus. Her students follow and go into their usual bus. Before everyone is even seated, the buses begin to roll. Students lose their balance but thankfully keep themselves from falling. Ms. Peters asks if everyone's okay and hears an assortment of "yes's." Nodding her head, she thinks about Brian the entire ride there.