Mitchell and Eric had explained the situation to her, giving two different versions (Jeff likely had Covid versus he just had a bit of a cold).
Martha didn’t betray concern, kept her cool, carrying on as usual. “A trip to the infirmary might be in order,” she allowed, supporting Mitchell’s suggestion. She or they would accompany Jeff there. She didn’t assume he knew the location, in the same building but a ways off. Anyway, she thought the faculty member might welcome company, feel distraught, shouldn’t be left alone. Will she expect me to come along, Mitchell wondered, feeling distraught.
Martha stayed calm, spoke in her usual voice, smooth as buttermilk. She had the soothing aura of authority, was friendly but stayed apart from the faculty, feeling they wanted that. No matter how some might protest aloofness, it was a quality essential to a boss, and she was one, after all. Maybe at some future date she would become friends with some of the teachers- they were peers, after all- but not while she held her job as department head.
“We have the same coat,” she said to Jeff, who also still had his on. The style was similar. nubbly wool or an imitation, loden or the like. It looked light but warm. Eric’s was blue and hers red. She took his, brought it the closet.
Fearless, thought Mitchell who avoided getting closely to the man who might be carrying the infectious, disease.
“And you take mine,” she said to Mitchell as she doffed it.
But why? he thought. She’d already touched hers once after touching Eric’s so had nothing to lose by touching it again. But in Mitchell’s case..
Was she testing his courage, Mitchell wondered, his willingness to help others, think beyond his own well-being?
He felt like a coward even as he gingerly lifted Martha’s coat from the back of the sofa across which she’d draped it and carried it to the coat rack where she’d just hung Jeff’s.
The three took the elevator to the infirmary. Mitchell tried to hold his breath during the ride but that was impossible for twelve floors and there were stops on the way where others got on and off.
Another reason for the hurry, not a negligible one, was the visitor on the way. Eric was due in his office momentarily for the “grand tour.” Keep your friends close and your enemies closer was the idea on both of their parts. Eric thought will between him and Mitchell would help smooth his way to Akemi and Mitchell hoped it would keep them apart.
Mitchell had jokingly warned Eric he’d find the environment dull and he wasn’t far wrong. A few minutes of talking, listening to Mitchell go on about his job, go into detail of lesson planning and student success ratios and such trivia convinced Eric his impressions of the man until then had been accurate. He realized Mitchell was a boring guy.
They’d talked about Eric visiting one of Eric’s classes but the prospect of hanging out till then seemed intolerable. After less than a half hour he began to make his excuses, talk about leaving. First Mitchell looked at some mail he’d gotten and said, “Wait, wait. I wanna show you this.” There came on screen Twitter conversation involving him and some of his students. He thought Eric might find it diverting as it showed the real richness of his work, which was about people rather than numbers, abstractions.
“You use Twitter?” Eric asked as he stood behind the desk where Mitchell sat, looking at the large display.
“Yes.”
“But you said you weren’t on Facebook.”
“Yes.”
Mitchell had announced that once with apparent pride, as if suggesting he was above such things.
“But they’re almost the same, right? I mean, social media.”
A virtual exchange between two students occupied their attention. One complained of an inconvenience caused by Covid. A new rule, restriction. Yet another.
“Did you see that too?” she wrote to her classmate (friend, it seemed; the pair talked easily). “Damn the pandemic.”
She was Japanese, like Akemi, Eric noted, but she’d learned to use colloquial English in a way that seemed natural on screen at least. Maybe her speaking didn’t.
He took a dislike to the student who seemed to have everything yet found her compellingly attractive as a woman. He’d like to fuck her, he knew. Was his cock getting hard? Funny, he thought. Good thing noses didn’t. You couldn’t keep them under wraps, not even with a mask. Ha ha.
The profile photos of both students accompanying the messages held his attention as much if not more than the words. The Japanese showed herself in a teeshirt and panties. Pink silk it looked to him. Maybe she’d just gotten up. It was early morning. He hadn’t had coffee yet (Mitchell had explained mornings before class were the only times he had available to host a visitor) and that casual image revved Eric quicker than a strong cup of joe.
Eric didn’t like her expression. Her face wasn’t especially beautiful, but her body wowed him. Just a young woman’s body. Flat belly. Clear white it looked in the small picture. The hour glass curve from waist to hips as she faced the camera, completely at ease. The photo was nothing special. Those panties might have been a bikini bottom. She just hadn’t bothered to put on pants yet and felt comfortable enough to show her friend (and her teacher) the shimmering film of fabric, salmon color you might call it, low slung or hip-hugging, ending in a line just above her bush. Maybe a glimpse of her hair showed. Couldn’t tell from the small image.
And Mitchell made no comment about it. He took the photo in the stride, as casually as it had been posted. He saw women students from around the world all the time, Eric figured with some envy. Mitchell was used to it.
And of course he had Akemi. What did he need others for?
This was just the student’s informal, friendly style. Her at-home look. The classmate she was tweeting with also posted an informal shot. She was in pajamas or something loose, with pale stripes running its length.
Eric couldn’t help gaping at that image. Ha ha. He laughed at his reaction.
He’d called for an Uber but decided to cancel it and walk a while.
He phoned his roommate and business partner Rick, whose place he was staying at till he found something permanent to ask if he’d call the ride share service for him. He didn’t have his phone and for some reason preferred not to turn to Mitchell for a favor.
Mick answered in a bad mood. Apparently, he’d been sleeping, had partied the night before.
“I’m wondering if you could do me a favor.”
“No, Eric” came the answer.
“Sorry to wake you, but.”
“No.”
Mick dismissed Eric’s request without even hearing it. The guy was in that kind of bad mood. It sounded as if he might be angry with him about something else- did he feel Eric was imposing on his hospitality, had overstayed his welcome? This wasn’t the time to discuss that, of course.
Differences of opinion about how to run the photo studio could also be in play. There’d been some, only natural between two business partners. Complete agreement on everything would be a sign of trouble.
“Okay.” Eric hung up first, annoyed in turn. It didn’t matter if the chore went undone.
The anger in Mick’s voice was almost scary, like something that had been there a long time and he wouldn’t let go.
When Eric got home, his roommate was out and on the spur of the moment he called Akemi.
He wanted her in her panties, salmon pink satin or any kind at all.
As he waited for Akemi to pick up, an exchange with Lina came to mind. She’d accused him of bad faith in leaving her three years before and he’d taken issue with her version of events.
“We’d stopped having sex, remember? I was living without sex. That may not be important to you, but it sure as hell is to me.”
Eric told Akemi he was phoning “on a whim” and asked if she was free to spend the first part of the day hiking. “Just the first part. I’ve got things to do later, have to be back by three.”
Akemi wasn’t free, had meant to paint and catch up on school work. A paper was due for her English course and she was having trouble with it, as she did with anything involving her second language. But she accepted Eric’s invitation, which didn’t reflect a whim at all, nothing casual about it.
They both lied to the other. That was part of falling in love or whatever you want to call what was happening to them.
Akemi left her bicycle at the top of the cliff Eric and she climbed down to get to the beach. Carrying it there was impossible, too treacherous.
The water’s edge she and Eric reached was bathed in the light of late afternoon. The texture of pebbles made shadows through which showed as clearly as if there were no water, yet the water sparkled, sent out fragments of light. Akemi looked, gazed into the mesmerizing view, then returned from her joyously absorbed state long enough to realize that she’d left her bike unlocked at the top of the cliff, where it might be stolen- and that she didn’t care. Someone might come, see the bicycle unsecured- as if not considered important by its owner- and ride off on it. She didn’t care- didn’t worry, that is- as long as she was with Eric. No loss seemed important compared to the gain she felt in his company She felt so good with him. He seemed strong. Nothing bad could happen within the mesh of good feeling that formed around them when they were close. She saw she was being reckless but dodged away from the thought.