Her Teacher's Temptation (7 page)

"You can
come and help me mark some essays if you want." He offered. "They're
from the year below, but the mark scheme is the same as yours. It must help you
out with learning it."

I pretended to
weigh this over, though I was sure we both knew I was going to accept.
"Can I bring the rest of my vodka?" I finally asked.

He looked
slightly torn before affirming that I could, as long as I shared.

Chapter Ten

Unfortunately,
Ollie had put a shirt on when I returned with my bottles and the glass I'd been
drinking from and had retrieved a cup for him from the bathroom. "I don't
think this really counts as professional either," he commented as he let
me pour him a glass.

I shrugged.
"You could just call us friends and then it wouldn't have to be
professional," I suggested, giving him a small smile. I supposed we did
kind of know each other too well to be considered acquaintances, though I
wasn't sure if we'd reached friendship yet.

"Well, I
suppose if you put it that way," he grinned and took a large gulp from his
glass. "Let's get marking."

I chuckled and
pulled myself up a chair which had been in the corner of the room so that he
could show me what I was supposed to be doing. I knew that marking work when I
was already fairly tipsy wasn't a good idea, but really I just wanted to spend
time with Ollie. I'd just have to try and concentrate really hard.

After the first
one, though, I decided it was a lost cause. "I'm doing this really badly,"
I informed him seriously.

He checked over
what I'd ticked off and nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Maybe this
wasn't such a good idea."

We'd drank at
least half of my vodka between us now, which was a considerable amount. Ollie
wasn't really showing any signs of it, though.

"I'm just
going to lay on the bed and talk to you whilst you mark," I declared,
standing up and pouring myself another glass, then leaving the vodka on the
table for Ollie to drink when he wanted. I was surprised when he didn't bother
to disagree with me. "So, tell me something,” I instructed him whilst I
got comfy, not quite daring to go under the covers, despite my exposed legs
being a bit chilly.

I could almost
picture his raised eyebrow, though he didn't turn around. "I don't
know," he complained. "Ask me something."

I pouted. “But
I'm not good at asking questions,” I returned complaints. “Why don't you ask me
something?”

Ollie turned
around in his chair so that he was leaning over the back of it and watching me.
“Let's go out,” he blurted, causing my eyes to widen.

“You're sure?”
I checked. I'd completely understood his reasoning for not wanting to. It was
definitely the sensible option.

He shrugged. “I
do like breaking the rules a bit,” he admitted. “Just let me get changed. Don't
peek.” He gave me a warning look and I put my hands in front of my eyes for his
benefit whilst he walked over to the travel bag he'd brought with him.

Of course, when
I heard him unzipping the bag and realised that he must be facing the other
way, I couldn't help but take a sneaky look at the man who I'd been thinking so
much about lately.

Even from the
back, seeing Ollie practically naked stirred up some intense excitement in me.
His body was toned and definitely nice to look at, but it was accompanied with by
the annoying feeling that I liked
him
and not just his appearance, which
made the sexual frustration I was feeling even worse.

Whilst these
thoughts were whirring through my brain as I stared unabashedly at Ollie's only
boxer clad figure, he'd turned around and was giving me a disapproving grimace.
I shrugged and tried not to let my eyes fall further south than his face. “You
would have peeked too,” I told him, turning so that I was laying on my back and
couldn't see him anymore.

He didn't
bother to answer that. I hoped it was because he knew I'd been right.

“We should
probably try and at least be a bit inconspicuous in getting out of here,” he
instructed me, once he'd changed out of his pyjamas and into what I assumed
were the clothes he'd be wearing tomorrow, since there wasn't much chance he'd
brought more than one dressed up outfit. “I'm just going to check there's no
one in the corridors.”

Once the coast
was clear, we scampered down the hallway. Once away from the other contestants
we had nothing to worry about; the people working in the hotel wouldn't be able
to distinguish us from any of the other guests; not that I thought they'd care
anyway.

Out of the
hotel, I had to force myself not to show how chilled through I was. Neither of
us had brought coats, because no one did when they went out drinking, but I
wasn't quite drunk enough not to feel the cold yet.

“I hope you
know where we can go, because I've never even been to Newcastle before,” I
reminded him, glancing around at the deserted street near the hotel and hoping
we'd find some nightlife without having to walk too far.

“Yeah, don't
worry, I've been out in Newcastle plenty of times,” he assured me. “Just a ten
minute walk to where all the clubs are. I hope you have money because we haven’t
got guest list anywhere.”

“I’ve got
money,” I chuckled, becoming more and more excited as more people began to line
the streets.

When we finally
reached town, I was starting to think I'd never warm up again. I longed for
Ollie to wrap his arms around my shoulder, but instead he kept laughing at my
shivering. I scowled when we entered the club, my fake ID being accepted just
like it always was. “I think you owe me a drink for being so mean,” I whined.

Ollie rolled
his eyes. “I would have bought you one without you having to hint.” We worked
our way through the crowd towards the bar. It was definitely a large club and
the music was too loud for us to comfortably talk, but the atmosphere was what
I was hoping for. It was full of students who were all already extremely drunk
and dancing. And it ought to have been considering the steep entry fee.

The crowd
around the bar wasn't small and I knew it would take us quite a while to get
served. “Stand in front of me,” Ollie instructed. “You're more likely to get
served than I am.”

I smirked at
his implication as the male bartender's eyes swept down the line and he
approached the person closest to him to get their drinks. “I doubt it.”

We were leaning
close to each other so that we could be heard and it meant our fronts were
practically touching and I could feel Ollie's breath on my ear. “Hey,” I
remembered suddenly something I'd really wanted to do. “Say my full name.”

He pulled back
slightly and raised a curious eyebrow at me. “Why?”

“Just do it.”

Leaning back
close to my ear, closer than he had been before, I was sure, he breathed out my
name in his deep voice. “Madeleine.”

I bit my lip.
It was as nice as I'd thought it would be in his accent. “I like your accent.”
I might mock him for it sometimes, but really it was incredibly nice to listen
to. Especially when he was reading Shakespeare.

Ollie looked
particularly smug at that admission, though he was interrupted from saying
anything by a girlish voice calling Ollie's name. “I thought you were supposed
to be doing some teacher thing,” she sounded almost like she was chastising
him. “I'm sure that doesn't involve drinking.”

“I wasn't
expecting you to see me,” he countered with a small chuckle, moving away from
my side slightly to give her a hug. “This is my sister I was telling you about,
Annabel.”

“Hi,” I greeted
her with a large smile, though it only made her look more confused.

Thankfully, we
were interrupted by the bartender and so I was sure Ollie had time to think
about whatever he was going to tell his sister whilst he bought us our drinks.
“You’re his student?” Annabel inquired, leaning in to speak to me. “The one at
the competition?”

I nodded. I
doubted Ollie was coming up with some fantastical story anyway. “Yeah,” I
admitted.

“Interesting,”
she commented, head lost in thought as Ollie re-joined us and passed me my
drink. “Going to explain?” She aimed this at him now and grinned when he sighed
heavily.

“No?” He tried
hopefully.

Annabel only
smirked wider now. “Tell me everything.”

“We're just
friends,” he argued. “And sitting in a hotel room is really boring. And it's
really all Maddie's fault, she's the one who brought vodka.”

I shrugged at
Annabel's raised eyebrow. “I was definitely coming out regardless of what he
was doing.” That might be a slight lie; after listening to Ollie's reasoning I’d
realised I was wrong. “I've never been before.”

Annabel was
looking at Ollie persistently, though. “That doesn't explain anything!”

“We just met in
summer and she turned out to be my student.”

“Was that
really so hard?” She teased.

Ollie chuckled.
“I'm going to the toilet,” he excused himself, downing the rest of his drink
and making me realise I'd barely even sipped on mine.

That left me
with Annabel and I was glad I'd already drank a bit. I wasn't so good at
talking to random people. “You totally fucked him, didn't you?” She inquired as
soon as he was gone.

My eyes widened
at her bluntness and I was forced to laugh slightly. “Yeah,” I admitted. If
Ollie wanted me to lie to his sister, he needed to warn me in advance. “In summer.
It's just kind of weird now. He doesn't really feel like my teacher.”

“Doesn't look
much like it either.” I realised she must have seen us whilst we'd been pretty
close together. That must've been where she'd drawn her conclusion from. “Does
Jemma know he's slept with the student he's here with?”

“I don't think
so. She still tips me pretty well when she comes to the restaurant I work at.”

Annabel
snorted. “She's the kind of person who'd think that throwing money at you would
be showing her authority, or something.”

I found myself
biting my lip slightly to hold in a loud laugh. “Well, she did call me 'girl'.”

“Wow,” Annabel
whistled. “What is he doing with her?”

“Beats me,” I
muttered as Ollie returned and we both gave him sweet smiles.

He narrowed his
eyes instantly. “What are you saying about me?” He demanded.

I smirked.
“Nothing at all.”

“I'm going to
go and find my friends, anyway,” Annabel declared. “I'm coming to the reading,
so I'll see you tomorrow. Have fun.”

She gave him
another quick hug before weaving back through the crowd and leaving Ollie and me
standing there. “Let's drink some more.”

After a few
more drinks, we were completely out of it. “Let's dance,” Ollie encouraged,
linking his hand with mine and dragging me into the throngs of equally drunk
people. My heart was pounding in time with the music and I was probably going
to be too deaf to hear people’s readings tomorrow.

Our movements
were just as sexual as I'd anticipated considering the disgusting amount of
flirting we'd been doing since Annabel left and I grinned as Ollie's fingers
bit into my hips.

“This is a nice
shirt,” he complimented, one hand moving to play with the collar and barely
brushing against the skin of my neck. “Too many buttons, though. Must be
awkward to take off.”

I smirked and
leaned, so that my lips were barely brushing his ear. “I guess I'll just have
to take it off nice and slowly,” I murmured so quietly I wasn't even sure if he
could hear it over the loud music. I was too drunk to know whether it was a sex
thing to say, but the way he groaned softly in my ear was reassuring.

“We should go
back to the hotel,” he told me urgently, moving so his face was opposite mine
and biting my bottom lip softly to let me know exactly what he meant by that.

I flushed and
nodded, allowing him to drag me from the club as we started our agonisingly
long walk back to the hotel. We stopped multiple times to kiss and I got the
distinct feeling that if we'd been somewhere where we knew our way around, we
might not have made it back to the hotel at all.

We were at
least sensible enough to keep quiet as we walked through the corridor where the
other contestants were sleeping, but as soon as Ollie's door was shut I was
being pushed roughly back into it, his lips insistent on mine.

I relished in
the opportunity to be equally as enthusiastic, one hand tangling in his tight
curls and the other deftly unbuttoning my shirt far quicker than I'd implied in
the club.

“Fuck,” he
murmured against my skin. “You have no idea how much I've wanted to do this.”

If it was
anything like how much I'd been thinking about him recently, I was pretty sure
I did.

Chapter Eleven

Despite knowing
that my response should have been the exact opposite, I couldn’t help but
snuggle further into Ollie’s side when I woke up the next morning. It didn’t do
much for the guilt that had begun to rise or the awful headache I had, but it
did give me a momentary fuzzy feeling and I bit my lip to stop myself smiling.

The fact I’d
really convinced myself I’d be able to resist temptation was laughable.

I knew that
really it was both of our faults this had gotten completely out of hand and I
wasn’t sure whether I could bring myself to regret it or not. Then again, I
wasn’t the one with the girlfriend. That was the part that made me want to bury
my head. I should have known this would happen if I even brought the vodka with
me. Well, I did know, and I hadn’t cared. Now the aftermath was going to come
back to bite me. I should be banned from acting on impulse.

I couldn’t
quite regret it, though.

Sighing
lightly, I tried not to fidget in case I woke Ollie up. I had no idea what his
reaction was going to be. After our incident in Sheffield, he’d been beating
himself up so much. What was going to happen now he’d actually slept with me?
Maybe he’d just realised what a bitch his girlfriend was and that’s why he gave
in. That was unlikely, though. He’d probably just be ridiculously guilty and
make a definite effort not to come near me ever again. That was what made me
unsure as to whether this was worth it or not.

Did it make me
a bad person that I didn’t really care about whether Jemma would be hurt by
this? No matter how much of a bitch she was, that didn’t really seem fair. She
probably wasn't even as bad as I thought and my jealousy had twisted my opinion
of her. I was more concerned about how bad Ollie was feeling, though, and
selfishly, about how this would affect our “friendship”, as I’d labelled it, in
the long run.

It wasn’t long
before Ollie did wake up and I closed my eyes, just curious to see what he’d
do. I was surprised when he buried his face into my hair and let out a long
groan. “Why do you keep doing this to me?” He complained in a whisper, pressing
his lips to the back of my neck in a gentle peck. I couldn’t stop my cheeks
heating up and Ollie sighed. “I should’ve known you’d be awake.”

I offered him a
hesitant smile. “My head is killing me.” I didn’t want to make a comment that
would start a serious discussion just yet.

“Me too. Good
luck with looking happy when you’re doing your speech,” he teased slightly,
though he just sounded completely exhausted.

My expression
sagged, though neither of us moved from where we were wrapped up with each
other under the covers. “Maddie…”

“I know.” I
wasn’t sure what else I could say. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not
really your fault, at all,” he admitted. “I just, I don’t know why I can’t stop
myself when it comes to this.”

I gnawed on the
inside of my cheek as I considered my response. “I don’t know either,” I
finally replied. I didn’t normally consider myself someone who had questionable
morals, but when it came to Ollie I didn’t care that he had a girlfriend, I
just wanted to have him anyway. “I suppose this is a bit of an odd situation,”
I gestured to the hotel room we were in. “Nothing like this is going to be
happening again anyway.”

He sighed
heavily. “I know that. And I don’t think it’d happen again anyway, not after
it’s happened once. I feel awful.” He groaned, moving to lie on his back and
running a hand through his hair. “What do I even do now?”

“I don’t know.”
I confessed in a small voice. There wasn’t anything I could do to help. Ollie
probably just wanted me to leave so he could berate himself in solitude.

“I have to tell
her. It’s not fair not to.”

I couldn’t help
him with this decision. “It’s up to you.” Ollie sat up beside me and I
struggled to keep a straight face at seeing his naked chest. We weren’t really
touching now and I knew it was time for me to leave. “Want me to go?” I glanced
up at him to let him know I really didn’t mind that he wanted to be alone.

“Yeah,” he
conceded. “I need to think. And you need to rehearse.”

Slipping from
under the covers, I got dressed as quickly as I could, trying my best not to
look at Ollie whilst I did. That would have been just a bit too awkward. After
murmuring another quick apology, I slipped out of the door, grateful that there
was no one around in the corridor. I got the feeling we’d woken up too late for
breakfast, though.

Trying to keep
my mind off whatever Ollie’s mind was on, I threw my full concentration into
reciting my piece several times. I was far too hungover to eat anything and I
knew I probably looked a state too, but I needed to make sure I was prepared
for this. I didn’t want to embarrass myself when I knew the other contestants
had probably been practising for several weeks in advance.

I had a shower and
dressed in my formal clothes, cursing my aching muscles and bags no amount of
concealer could hide. We hadn’t even got back to the hotel that late, it was
what happened for hours after that had sapped my energy. When it was time to go
down to the lobby, I wasn’t sure whether I should knock on Ollie’s door or not.
I didn’t really have many other options.

I twiddled my
thumbs awkwardly until he opened the door and noted, with slight curiosity,
that he was wearing different clothes again. Maybe he’d been planning the same
as me after all. “Ready?” He inquired, eyes glancing over my outfit, but
expression not changing.

“Yeah,” I
acknowledged, shifting slightly. There was supposed to be a buffet at the
reading, which I really hoped was true. The fact I hadn’t eaten yet was
starting to make me feel even worse. My stomach rumbled loudly and I flushed
bright red. It was at least slightly worth it considering I got a laugh out of
Ollie, though.

“You’ve got
everything sorted?” He checked, his voice returning to a slightly strained
tone. “I don’t know what order everyone is going in.”

I nodded. “I
think so,” I admitted. “I have it on the cards, though, so I don’t think
anything could go too wrong anyway.”

I glanced at
the clock and realised we were five minutes late when the other contestants and
teachers gave us disapproving glances as we walked into the lobby. I just hoped
I didn’t look as rough as I felt. I’d put significantly more make-up on than normal
and I knew my hair and dress were pretty. Ollie looked just as good as normal.

I stared at the
fully stacked buffet in awe as we walked into the large lecture theatre where
we’d be doing our readings. There were a surprising number of people there, I
supposed some of them were the parents of the other contestants and the rest
were students of the university.

The format was
that half of us would read, there’d be a break, and then we could finally get
some food. After drawing names out of a hat, it was revealed that I’d go first.
I grimaced. That would mean I wouldn’t even get to judge the competition before
having to go.

We were all
seated on the front row, though, so I had Ollie’s encouraging face to ground me.
It had been morphing into a faraway look when he thought I wasn’t watching.

Smoothing down
my skirt in the first real show of nervousness I’d had since being in
Newcastle, I finally let the reality that I had to speak in front of all of
these people hit me. I’d been distracting myself fairly effectively last night
with going out and today with the repercussions of going out, but now I was
walking up and onto the stage I realised my smile was completely false and my
hands were sweaty where I held my cards.

Ollie seemed to
notice how nervous I was, though, and wiped any negativity off his face to
replace it with a wide, almost teasing smile, which did more than I thought it
would.

My first few
sentences were shaky, but when I got into it, it was almost easy to forget that
so many people were watching me. I did a good job of focusing on an air vent on
the opposite side of the hall and I knew the words off by heart. I’d been
impressed with my writing and that helped loads when it came to remembering it.

I flushed at
the round of applause I got when I finished and hurried off the stage back to
my place beside Ollie. “Well done,” he congratulated me with an almost smug
smile.

I raised a
curious eyebrow at him. “What are you looking so happy about?”

He grinned.
“You’re my student, so everyone’s going to think it’s because of me that your
reading was so awesome.”

I shook my head
in amusement, though my cheeks were so red it was impossible to hide my
embarrassment from his praise with a neutral expression.

The other
contestants before lunch were good, there was no doubt about it, but their
interpretations were generic and I wasn’t sure whether that favoured me or not.
Either way, I was happy not to think about it as Ollie and I made our way to
the buffet as quickly as possible.

A familiar face
met us there and I smiled at Annabel politely. She was grinning at me. “It was
very good,” she applauded me. “Risky, but good. I’m kind of surprised they put
you through.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Feeling
rough?” She directed this at the two of us and we nodded dismally.

“My head feels
like it’s going to burst,” Ollie complained. “And it doesn’t help that half
these kids have whiny voices.”

I rolled my
eyes. “Kids?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow at him.

He smirked.
“You know what I mean.”

An elderly lady
approached us then and smiled up at Ollie with some missing teeth. “We just
need to discuss with you and the other teachers about the awards ceremony.” She
explained, before walking off and clearly expecting him to follow. He offered
us an apologetic smile before leaving us alone.

“I’m surprised
you both look so civil with each other after what I feel sure happened last
night,” Annabel commented when we were alone, causing me to almost choke on the
bite of sandwich I’d just taken.

“Erm, I don’t
know what you mean?” I attempted, but I knew I was completely unconvincing.

“Oh, please. I
saw the way you two were dancing, and that kiss before you left. Please don’t
make me actually say the words. But, yeah, I thought it’d be more awkward than
it seems to be.”

I shrugged. “I
don’t know. It probably will be. It definitely was this morning, but I suppose
it’s easier not to be when there’s other people around and we’re actually doing
something.” I groaned, cutting my blithering short. “Oh God, we have a two and
half hour car journey. I might have to pretend to go to sleep.”

Annabel
chuckled, but then frowned slightly. “Is he actually okay, though? He’s the
kind of person to really beat himself up about this, even though Jemma is a
complete bitch.”

Sighing, I ran
a hand through my hair, no doubt ruining several ringlets that I’d spent so
long trying to get to stay. “I think he’ll be okay. This, erm, almost happened
before,” I averted my gaze slightly. “And he was okay. Maybe this will be a wakeup
call, or something, about how he clearly can’t like her that much.” Then I
blushed at what I was saying. “Not that I know anything about it, he could love
her for all I know. But, would you mind not mentioning that you know? He’ll
probably be more upset if he thinks you do.”

“That’s fine, I
understand. But yeah, I really hope it makes him realise what a mistake he’s
making with her.”

We returned to
the safe topic of the other contestants when we noticed Ollie was returning. “I
think it’d be a travesty if any of the people who’ve already read beat you.” I
wasn’t sure if she was just saying that or not. “They didn’t even read theirs
that well, never mind the writing quality.”

“I see you must
be inadvertently praising my teaching if Maddie’s that red.” Ollie re-joined
the conversation with a smirk.

I groaned. “I
hate my stupid blushing habit. The fact that everyone comments on it makes it
ten times worse, you know.”

“I know. Why do
you think I do it?” He grinned widely.

Back in our
seats, I was as surprised as Annabel at the apparent normality of mine and
Ollie’s interactions. I’d thought he’d want to avoid talking to me like the
plague and be lost in his thoughts of guilt. Maybe I was optimistic to think
that perhaps we could still be kind of friends. The only reason we’d interacted
like this in the first place was because we’d been stuck on this Newcastle trip
together. This wasn’t going to happen again. We’d be back to student and
teacher without any reason for other interactions before I knew it.

I sighed aloud
and was met with a curious expression from Ollie. I shook my head dismissively.
It wasn’t worth discussing this with him, because I was upset that I didn’t get
to be with him and he was upset because he’d cheated on his girlfriend.