The Hedonist (3 page)

“What a stick in the mud,” Stevens always thought before shrugging it off.

After a brief meeting in which Stevens spoke with the Department Chair about how he should handle attendance count, he headed to his office to wind down.

Stevens threw his briefcase to one side of the room, removed his jacket, loosened his tie, and plopped into his favorite leather chair. He had a small refrigerator placed next to his desk which contained bottles of water and a few snacks. Despite the campus being “officially dry,” he was still weighing the option of stock piling his fridge with vodka and olives.

“Maybe next semester,” he chuckled to himself.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.

“Come on in!” Stevens said.

In walked Lauren Styles, her glowing expression unchanged.

“Hello, Dr. Stevens. Just wanted to stop by and say hi.”

“Lauren, glad you could make it! Please… take a sit.”

“Cool, thanks.”

“Tell me a little bit about yourself.”

“Well I’m from a small town you’ve probably never heard of and this is my second semester here.”

“Great, so you’re 18… 19?”

“Yeah, just turned 19.”

“Then happy belated birthday. I remember being that age. But to be honest, I haven’t really changed much since those days.”

“Really?” she asked with intrigue.

“Yeah, I haven’t changed a bit. I mean, this job is just my way of remaining perennially adolescent. I just hang out kids like you and make a decent wad of cash. Talk about nice perks.”

She laughed with great interest. “Too bad more professors aren’t like you.”

“I’m one of a kind, Lauren.”

She looked around his room and then back at him.

“And you dress really nice. I love that tie.”

“Oh, this old thing? It’s merely vintage Versace,” he said while holding up his blue and gold tie grasped by his index finger and thumb.

“Wow, that’s a pretty expensive brand,” she said shyly.

“Truth be told, a girl as gorgeous as you doesn’t need brand names like I do. I mean, without these snazzy clothes I’m hideous!”

She began laughing and was quite won over.

“I appreciate the compliment,” Lauren told him.

In fact, she loved the attention he was showing her. A man she perceived to be of status was showing an interest in her and she couldn’t have been happier. She was now eager to spend more time with him.

They spoke for about an hour and she blushed with every commendation. He went all out with the compliments, making her laugh and smile with each line he delivered. The greatest feeling was knowing that of the hundreds of students he taught, he was most interested in her. Finally Lauren told him that she had another class to attend.

“Oh, Lauren, before you go… I was wondering if you’d perhaps like to have lunch with me sometime.”

“That would be great, Dr. Stevens,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“And call me ‘Shawn.’ All of my friends do.”

“Okay, Shawn. Great!”

A few days later, he invited her out to lunch. It went the same as their office meeting went. He made her feel great and she sang him praise of adoration in return.

“You’re incredible… You’re amazing… You’re cool… smart… funny,” she told him each time they met. Just as when he worked at the community college, the reverence of young people was what fueled him.

Lauren met with him after each class and each time he seemed sweeter than the last. They exchanged phone numbers and began communicating even more often than before. Back at her apartment, Lauren would not stop talking about Stevens to her roommates.

“What else is going on between you two?” one of her friends asked.

“Nothing, we’re just friends,” Lauren would say over and over.

“Yeah, sure you are!”

“I’m telling you the truth,” said Lauren. “I swear to you. I’ve never even been over to his house.”

“You’re friends with your 40 year old professor?” asked the other roommate, “The dude sounds like a creep to me. What 40 year old man texts his teenage students. Red flags, Lauren, red flags!”

Lauren was certain that her roommates were jealous and simply didn’t understand her friendship with her professor. Meanwhile, Stevens was becoming friendly with more and more students. Young adults flocked to him at every turn. By mid-February, he had collected more contacts in his phone than he had in the past few years combined.

Life had never been better for Shawn Stevens. Or at least until faculty members became more suspicious of the friendships he forged with his students.

CHAPTER 3

Shawn Stevens was back to his old ways. He found countless friends in the young adults he taught at Ashmore Regents University. And Lauren Styles quickly became his favorite. She was astounded at the sheer number of things he had in common with people her age. Fast cars, nice clothes, and stories of hard partying not only swayed her, but most of the young adults he befriended.

He didn’t go out of his way to become friends with several of his students. They generally drifted towards him. Before long, any student he wanted to hang out with was only one phone call away. Past partying was a favorite subject in particular to discuss. He liked to tell them stories about getting high in his college days and going on wild adventures.

“That son of a bitch mixed an upper with a downer. He was so high that he grabbed a shotgun and threatened everyone in our dorm room,” Stevens would tell a group of students during lunch one day while serving as master raconteur.

The each listened intently to every word as he continued.

“But the dumbass didn’t realize that the shotgun was plastic. It was a novelty thing that I had bought… but we all decided to play along anyway.”

The group of students he told this to laughed at every line.

“I mean this guy was spaced out like Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. I swear he thought he could chop down a mountain with the edge of his hand.”

“Did he try firing at you?” a student asked.

“Yeah, and he thought the gun jammed. He swore cops were hiding in the ceiling so he throws the plastic gun at the wall as hard as he can and it leaves a huge dent… So we’re trying to calm the guy down when he grabs a hammer and starts smashing all of the phones to pieces. He said the cops had bugged the entire dorm! It was one for the ages.”

These were the sorts of stories they loved to hear. And the more he told them, the more he felt like reliving his glory days.

“But don’t listen to any of these old bags that talk about ‘the good old days.’ Sure, the past had some great stuff but you guys today have it all. I’m totally jealous,” he told them. “I wish I was 20 years old in the 21
century. Even the drugs are better today. I mean, there’s a pill for everything.”

Stevens rented a large house but it was half empty. There were sofas and a television in the living room but the family room was empty. There was a table in the dining room but nothing in the office room. His master bedroom was the only one of the five bedrooms that was furnished. Decorating a house was the last thing on his mind but that didn’t stop him from entertaining guests.

He returned to similar behavior that got him sacked from his previous job. In late February he invited about two dozen students ranging from age 18-25 over to his house. He rationalized his way out of trouble by sending a mass text message that read “BYOB” or “Bring Your Own Beer.” If any 18-20 year olds had alcohol, he would not be to blame.

That night the music blared from newly purchased stereo speakers. Pills were popped and beers were downed. The guys and girls played what they considered a fun game. The slowest person to finish three jello shots had to do laps in the pool.

Stevens was mingling with various students and downing far too much alcohol when Lauren Styles approached him with a bottle of tequila in her hand.

“Hey Shawn! This is the first time I’ve been to your house. It’s really big,” she buzzed.

“Yeah, it’s empty but I’m working on that,” he said while loosening his tie.

“Actually, an empty place is a really good idea if you’re going to have parties all the time. You won’t have to worry about stupid kids breaking stuff or stealing.”

“Nah, I thing I just saw someone walking out with my television,” he laughed.

A male student passed by and yelled out to Stevens.

“Shawn, dude, you’re the only professor at ARU who kicks ass! Keep it up, my friend.”

“I’ve never heard that one before!” Shawn said while raising a beer from the cooler.

The music suddenly blared even louder than before when Lauren told him she was heading to the backyard to play “Swim Shots.”

Shawn was headed to the kitchen when he saw a young guy immediately pass out and fall onto the floor.

“Whoa!” Shawn responded.

The guy’s friend propped him onto a sofa.

“What do I do?” the friend asked.

“I got an icy-hot patch in the kitchen. You can get one and put it on his head I guess.”

“Dude, what the hell is an icy-hot patch gonna do?

“I dunno,” Shawn said while raising his shoulders. “I guess it’ll make him feel better.”

The friend followed Shawn into the marble-tiled kitchen, making his way through a storm of students. Shawn grabbed the medical patch and tossed it to the young man who took it to the aid of his friend. Shawn then entered his stainless steel refrigerator and reached for another beer.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Shawn ran to the stereo speakers. He quickly turned the music off and told the students to be quiet. Then he headed to the front door.

He opened the door and a single police officer greeted him.

“Sir, there has been a complaint about noise at this house from two of the neighbors,” the officer said rigidly.

“Oh… my greatest apologies,” Shawn said while maintaining his composure and acting as sober as possible.

“Are you having some sort of party?” asked the officer as he attempted to look into the house.

“A party? No. Just a few friends enjoying a leisurely game of scrabble and hangman.”

“Well, just keep the noise down, Mister…”

“Doctor… Doctor Stevens.”

“Okay, Dr. Stevens. Thanks for your time. This neighborhood tends to be quiet. Given your position I’m sure you understand that. So be careful and have fun… just not too much fun.”

Stevens waved him goodbye. He closed the door and watched the cop drive away. As soon as the officer was out of view, he cranked the music back up and the party resumed.

             
***

The following week several students that attended the party told their friends about it and those friends told other friends. One day Professor Hugo Sawther overheard students talking about a house party and he was certain he also heard the name ‘Dr. Stevens’ within the conversation. It was enough to arouse his suspicions.

Dr. Sawther was simply too indirect to launch a full scale inquiry by questioning students. Nor would he address Stevens head-on. He would only be confrontational if he knew for absolute certainty and by this point he only had a gut feeling.

While in the faculty lounge one day, Dr. Sawther began asking Stevens questions in the same sly manner that he usually operated.

“So Dr. Stevens… I’ve heard there was a recent complaint about you.”

“Really? That’s the first I’ve heard of this, Doc,” Stevens shrugged.

“Yes, apparently some of your older students weren’t please with what they considered an overly-liberal tone to your lectures.”

“Oh that!” Stevens thought back. He remembered that days ago a complaint was indeed lodged against him by a handful of middle-aged students in his class. They felt the manner in which he conducted his classroom and his curriculum was too liberal. Dr. Daniels asked him to be a little more considerate of the older students and Stevens promised to oblige.

“Conversely,” Dr. Sawther spoke with stiff lips, “From what I understand, you’ve become quite popular among the younger students.”

“What can I say?” Stevens smiled. “I do my best.”

“As a professional I personally prefer to maintain a certain boundary between my students… and myself.”

“Look Sawther, I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing but I know how to conduct myself. Save your lectures for class. I’m sure half your students sleep through it, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear the rest of it.”

Sawther hissed under his breath.

“I think we’re done here, Professor Stevens.”

Although Shawn acted cool and was far from afraid of Sawther, he decided some sort of cover would be helpful. A few days later he met Stacy Hines, a fellow assistant professor at Ashmore Regents. After speaking to her a few times, she was won over like most people.

“Would you like to grab dinner sometime?” he asked her one evening.

“That would be great, how about tonight?” she said gleefully.

“Tonight is perfect.”

That night Shawn canceled his plans with 19 year old Lauren in order to get to know Professor Stacy Hines more. He learned that she was a 39 year old English professor who graduated from Penn State. She had two young children, a two year old son and a three year old daughter from a previous marriage. When she wasn’t teaching or spending time with her children she would devote the rest of her time to research and publishing literary articles.

“She’s perfect,” Shawn thought to himself. She would be far too busy to spend great deals of time with him. When she wasn’t teaching she’d be doing research or taking care of her children. That meant he would get to foster the appearance of having an age-appropriate woman as a girlfriend but was free to do whatever he liked in the considerable amount of time they were not together.

Stacy Hines, on the other hand, was ecstatic to have such a charming man as her boyfriend. To Shawn’s chagrin, she wanted to have dinner with him every night their first week together. He knew it would break her heart to turn her down so for seven straight nights he agreed. She thankfully went back to her usual routine after that first week together.