Page 10 of Lesbian Professor (Sapphic Sweethearts #6)

Noelle

S he doesn’t text me that night.

Doesn’t call.

“Still waiting for the call?” Tori asks. I’m pacing in the living room, and she’s standing in the doorway.

“It’s pathetic,” I say.

“A little.”

“I deserve better.”

“You can give her time.”

I look up sharply.

“That feels like the opposite of what I need.”

“Does it?” Tori asks.

“Yes. If she wanted to, she would.”

“Okay, first of all, get off TikTok,” she says.

“What?”

“I know you’re trying to be young and hip, but you don’t have to have all of the answers. You don’t have to have everything handed to you.”

“I don’t think anything is handed to me ever,” I say.

“Fair, but she just found out the woman she slept with is her teacher. That’s got to be strange for her,” Tori says.

“It shouldn’t be strange.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re so compatible,” I say. Crap. I hate how whiny I sound, how needy. As the words pour out of me, I realize just how insane I sound. I’m obsessed with a woman who is not obsessed with me. That’s all. That’s it. I met her, slept with her, and now I’m getting all sorts of clingy.

“How are you compatible?” Tori asks.

“We both like the same things.”

“What? Eating pussy?” Tori laughs. “Lots of people like that, honey. Try again.” She crosses her arms over her chest, and she raises an eyebrow.

“Are you challenging me?”

“Maybe, but maybe that’s what you need.”

“It’s not,” I say.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Tori says.

“I also think she’s very smart. We both like literature.”

“What’s her favorite book?” Tori asks.

I stare at her. Shit. Why didn’t I ask that question this morning? I had to go with the stupid, tried-and-true “fun fact” that every professor does and every student hates. I really should have done better.

“Probably Jane Eyre,” I say.

“Jane Eyre is nobody’s favorite book,” she says.

“Seems like you’re ragging on me,” I say.

Tori stares at me. “Do you know what I like about your sister?”

“Besides eating her pussy?”

Tori laughs. She’s not offended by my blunt question.

“Yes, besides that.”

“You probably like that she’s driven,” I say.

“I do like that,” Tori says.

“She’s very take-charge,” I say. “Jessica has always been that way.”

“And in love, that’s important,” Tori says.

“I’m not in love.”

“Not yet, but you want to be.”

“I’m still getting over Judy,” I say. “It hasn’t exactly been a long time.”

“It doesn’t matter. No one has a right to say how long it should take before you find the person you’re supposed to be with.”

“You think I’m supposed to be with Polly.”

“I think you’re supposed to be happy,” she says. “I think that’s what matters most.”