Playing Chase (Against The Wall) by Julie Prestsater

kept my control. But I did. And it felt good to do the right thing for once in my life.
    No matter how much I want Tiffany, what I want doesn’t matter. All that matters is her.
    I seriously don’t know how I can go on working with her for the rest of the semester without doing something stupid. How can I keep my distance when I have to work with her every day?
    “Mr. Marino, are you going to have lunch?”
    Tiffany’s voice rings in my ears snapping me out of my thoughts of her—thoughts that had nothing to do with teaching.
    “Oh. Yeah.” I stand. “I’ll be right back though. I have to go to the snack bar since I didn’t have time to pack my lunch today.” That’s not entirely true. I packed it last night. Unfortunately, my unwanted roommate decided to eat it for a late night snack.
    “You don’t have to. I’ll share mine.” She gives me one of her bright smiles and I can’t resist.
    “That’s nice of you, thanks.” I sit across from her and watch as she unpacks her lunch.
    She tears a piece of string cheese in half and gives me one. “Appetizer.”
    I chuckle. I take a bite. “I forgot how good these little things are.”
    “You’re supposed to pull it apart.” She demonstrates by pulling loose little strings of cheese and letting them fall from her fingers into her mouth. Who knew eating cheese could be so damn sexy?
    “We only have a thirty minute lunch.” I tap on my watch.
    “Fine.” She takes a sandwich out of her bag. It’s cut in triangles, which makes me smile. “Here.”
    I take two small triangles from her and laugh out loud.
    “You inspire me,” she says. “To be a better teacher and to eat like an eight-year old.”
    I toss back one of my mini bites and sink my teeth into the sweet jelly and peanut butter combo. “Oh my god. Is this Goobers?”
    She nods with a wide smile spread across her lips. “Delicious, don’t you think? It’s my favorite.”
    “I love the grape.”
    “Me too,” she agrees. She licks a bit of jelly from the corner of her mouth, which sends pulses of blood rushing straight to my dick. Shit.
    My phone vibrates in my pocket and if we weren’t at school, I might be tempted to let it stay there.
    I slide my finger across the screen to see it’s a text from Summer.
    Date #2, buddy. Saturday night. I’ll text you the address. Your lady is making you dinner at her house. Lucky you.
    “Son of a bitch.” I grunt loudly. I don’t have to worry about the swell in my pants anymore.
    “What is it?” Tiffany asks, a look of concern all over her face.
    “Summer.”
    “Aha. Another date?” she asks, while arching a brow.
    “Let’s not talk about it.” Talk about awkward. I don’t want to talk to her about dating someone else. I’d rather talk to her about dating her.
    “Oh, come on. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me when it comes to other women. I’m not gonna crack and start killing your lovers. The night at the bar was a big misunderstanding. It was nothing really, so tell me about your date. I think it’s crazy that you’re still going through with it.”
    Nothing, huh? Misunderstanding? I guess so. I thought maybe she was serious about wanting to go out with me. I didn’t think it was a joke, not like these fucking dates the girls are arranging for me.
    “It’s dinner. My date is cooking for me.” I decide to share since she asked me to.
    “That doesn’t sound so bad,” she says, digging into her bag again. This time she pulls out a fruit roll-up.
    I hold up my hand with a shake of my head. “No, thank you.”
    “What? Now that you have a woman cooking for you, my gourmet lunch isn’t good enough?” she teases, a sheepish grin tugging upward on the side of her mouth.
    “I was loving your gourmet cooking until the dessert. I’m not a fan.” The sweet plastic taste just never did it for me. “But thank you. I really appreciate you sharing your lunch.”
    “And thank you for sharing about your date. You’ll have to