Things between me and Brian did get back to normal at school once we returned to Pittsburgh from our trip to Manhattan. There was a week and a half left of the semester at that point. I first didn't know if we could pull it off successfully, but it was easy going back to our earlier teacher/student relationship with Brian's participation. I looked forward to his classes each day, both because I got to see him and because I didn't have to worry about how he would treat me during class. It was very refreshing after going through the tension of the last several weeks.

Brian often engaged in discussions with me during his classes as he had before my discovery of him at Babylon, which was really nice. We also eye-fucked each other regularly and exchanged many lingering smiles, which may have not been very professional but weren't harmful.  

Things outside of school were even better. I worked a few evenings at the diner that first week back from our trip, with my mother being nice enough to loan me her car. Twice Brian came to eat dinner and invited me to his loft after my shift. The sex was absolutely magnificent, somehow even better than it had been in Manhattan.

Daphne and I went to Babylon on Saturday night, where I wore one of the new outfits that Brian had bought me during our trip. I was thrilled when Bruce the doorman presented me with my very own VIP card. I had been afraid that Brian hadn't updated him on me being allowed into the club, so I was shocked to have been given VIP access without even having to ask Brian for it. Bruce even called me "Mr. Taylor" and smiled brightly at "Miss Chanders," wishing us both a wonderful evening.

Taking full advantage of my new elevated status, I got myself a whiskey sour and Daphne an appletini in no time flat, for free of course. We took our drinks over to the seating area and giggled over how special we (well, I and by default her) were.

We later hit the dance floor and shook our asses to the default techno music. I kept my eyes peeled for Brian and told Daphne to do the same, but neither of us saw him. Emmett soon found us, and the three of us danced for the next hour or so.

As my watch rolled past eleven PM, I was getting antsy. I knew that Brian had to be somewhere in the building and decided to go look for him.

I did not see him on the dance floor when I looked from the second level balcony and he did not answer my knock at his office door, so I decided to take a walk through the only other place he could be, the backroom. I didn't want to find Brian balls deep in another man, but I knew that Daphne couldn't stay out much later and there was no way I was going to leave Babylon without seeing him.

I entered the backroom, said hello to Todd, and looked around for Brian. Sure enough, that's where I found him. I was relieved to see that he was not fucking someone but was instead getting his dick sucked. The guy doing the sucking must have been doing a good job, because Brian was making the face he made when he was close to coming.

I boldly walked over and stood right next to him. He had his eyes closed, so to let him know I was there, I stood on my toes and licked the side of his neck. That certainly got his attention, because he turned his head to look at me and smiled.

"Well hello, Mr. Taylor," he said as if we were passing each other in the halls at St. James.

"Hello, Mr. Kinney," I replied before capturing his lips in a kiss.

We made out for the next several seconds before he moaned as he came. I would have liked to believe that kissing me was what made him come, but it was probably a combination of my lips and the guy sucking his dick that brought him off.

The cocksucker was soon forgotten as Brian continued to kiss me, not even thanking the cocksucker for a job well done.

"I want to fuck you right here, right now," Brian mumbled against my lips.

Although I had been looking forward to the day that he would fuck me in the backroom, the thought of him sticking his dick into my ass moments after it had been down some other guy's throat did not appeal to me. Sure, Brian would be wearing a condom, but it was still gross.

I looked into his eyes and asked, "How about you take me home and fuck me all night?"

He smiled. "That sounds like a great idea, Sunshine."

Holy shit... I didn't think he'd actually say yes.

We started in his shower, where I thoroughly washed his junk of any remaining stranger's saliva. He made use of the condoms he kept in the soap dish when he turned me around and fucked me against the glass shower door.

Our subsequent rounds continued in his bed. I couldn't decide what position I liked better: him on top, me on top, or doggy-style. Brian enjoyed testing my flexibility by lifting my legs and folding me up like a pretzel when he was on top, and he was able to pound into me until we were each screaming in ecstasy. I loved the power I felt when I was on top, even though I was technically bottoming since his dick was in my ass. Still, I could control the speed, depth, and angle, and of course it felt amazing. I hated that I couldn't see Brian's beautiful face when he fucked me from behind, but I loved it when he grabbed hold of my hips and rammed into me. All I could do was scream into a pillow as I savored the pleasure.

We fucked in all three positions before he finally tapped out from pure exhaustion.

"Okay... okay," Brian gasped as he pulled out and rolled off of my back after fucking me doggy. "I've hit my limit. I am incapable of coming again for at least the next six to eight hours."

I had to admit that I was starting to feel pretty sore. "Yeah, my ass may need a few days to recover."

Brian and I spent a lazy Sunday at the loft exchanging blow jobs and watching A Streetcar Named Desire, which I had never seen before. He took me home before dinner time, giving me a toe-curling kiss in the Jeep before I got out.

My Chemistry final had been on that previous Friday while my other six finals were taken over the next three days, with the last day of school being Wednesday before Winter Break began. I could have been exempted from taking two of the finals if I didn't have that suspension on my record after getting into the fight with Hobbs. Luckily each test had been very easy, especially the ones in Creative Writing and English Literature. Brian smiled at me each time I brought both of my completed tests up to his desk.

He dropped a note at my feet on Wednesday while I was at Daphne's locker at the end of the day that said, "I hope you've recovered. I'll pick you up at eight to celebrate the end of the semester. Wear that blue sweater I bought you."

Brian drove us to Woody's, where the gang was waiting at one of the large tables. Unfortunately that included Michael who didn't look any happier to see me as I was to see him.

"Jesus, why the fuck did you have to bring him?" Michael snarled at Brian.

"Be nice," Brian said in his teacher voice, which immediately shut Michael up.

Ted and Blake must have smoothed things over, because they were there together. In fact, Blake was sitting on Ted's lap.

Brian saw the couple and said, "Ted Schmidt, happy at last... fucking unbelievable."

"Yeah, who would have thought, huh?" Ted said before giving his blonde beau a kiss on the cheek.

Emmett motioned over to the table behind us with a tip of his head. "Did you guys see the new waiter? Yowza."

Brian and I looked at the waiter in question, who was indeed a very attractive blonde man wearing a tight white tank top.

"Damn," I said.

Brian draped an arm over my shoulder and whispered into my ear, "You're hotter."

Michael turned to Brian and said, "Oh, you didn't tell me how that meeting in New York went."

"What meeting?" I asked before remembering the brunch he went to after dropping me off at the Morgan Library.

"Brian had an interview a couple weeks ago," Michael said in a slightly condescending tone. "Did you ever hear back about that job, Brian?"

I looked at Brian, who removed his arm and sunk into his chair, a guilty look on his face.

"What's he talking about?" I asked, a sick feeling suddenly coming over me.

Brian sighed. "You remember that brunch I went to-"

"Yes," I quickly said.

"Well, back during my suspension last month, I called up a friend of mine from college who works at HarperCollins in Manhattan. You know, the publisher? I told him that I was afraid I was about to lose my job here, and he said he'd put a good word in for me with his department head. I sent them my resume and a writing sample, and apparently they liked what they saw because they wanted to meet with me."

I waited for several seconds. "And?"

"...and that's what that brunch was," Brian confessed.

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that," I said, trying to hold back my emotions. "Was that what that whole trip was about? An interview?"

"Partially. I would have gone out there anyway to go shopping like I did, and I also thought it'd be nice to bring you along, too."

"Wait," Michael interrupted. "You took him with you to Manhattan?"

"Shut up, Michael," Brian ordered, causing Michael to snap his mouth shut.

"So what happened during this ‘brunch'?" I asked, using air quotes around brunch.

"I met with a couple of people from HarperCollins at a restaurant across from their office downtown," Brian explained, looking down at the table. "They told me that I was too good to be toiling away making thirty-six thousand dollars a year as a high school English teacher in Pittsburgh and said that I could possibly get a job there as a book editor. They were even interested in selling a novel I've been working on and possibly re-distributing my old ones if the new one sells well."

"Did they actually offer you a job?" Emmett asked from across the table.

"They called me last week and offered it to me. Starting pay is sixty thousand per year, plus a ten thousand dollar advance on a novel. A realtor said I could easily get half a million for my loft and over a million for Babylon."

Tears were welling up in my eyes. "Did you take the job?"

Brian finally looked at me. "I start the day after New Year's."

I ran out of Woody's and onto the sidewalk, my body shaking with sobs. I realized that I left without my coat when Brian carried it out to me a minute later.

"Don't go," I begged him tearfully. "You can't go. What about me... us?"

"I'm sure you'll get along just fine on your own," Brian said as he pushed my coat into my arms.

I shook my head and started putting my coat back on. "No, I won't."

"Yeah, you will," he said, sounding confident. "You're going to do what you should have done a long time ago. You're going to meet some twinkie your own age and finally get over me."

"What do you think I want with some kid who doesn't know shit?" I screamed.

He thought about it for a moment before he said, "I think I should take you home. I need to start packing my stuff, anyway."

"Fine!" I yelled, not giving a single fuck that I was creating a scene. "Go! Go to New York! Go to your new life without me! In a year, probably not even that long, you won't even remember everything we've shared. How I was there for you after your dad died and all the time we've spent together. Maybe someday you'll think to yourself, ‘Oh, I wonder what happened to that student of mine who wouldn't leave me alone. The one that thought he was in love with me. The one I risked my job to be with.' That is, if you'll even fucking think of me at all!"

I started walking towards the Jeep before Brian yelled, "I won't! I won't think of you. After I leave, I don't plan on ever looking back. This whole thing with us has been a mistake since day one, but you were like a virus that I was powerless to fight."

I turned around to look at him.

"Why do you think I'm leaving, huh?" he asked as he walked towards me. "Yeah, the job is a great opportunity for me to one day become a full-time writer and have a deal with a major publishing house, but it's not just that. It's you."

I stood there on the sidewalk with my mouth open, gasping as I tried to not completely lose it.

Did that mean his feelings for me were so strong that he thought the only solution was to run away? Was he... was he in love with me?