The minute Crystal's phone began to ring, her face turned red, and she scurried back down the hallway and into her room. Once she had her door closed and locked behind her, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the Caller ID. The call was from her friend, Serenity Jordan.
As soon as Crystal answered the phone, she began to scold her friend. "Serenity Jordan!" she hissed. "I know it's you! Could you put a little thought into your timing before you call me? You always pick the wrong time to call! Do you do this on purpose?"
Serenity: "Give your head a shake, girl. Don't be ridiculous, I have no way of knowing if it is a good time or not. Why don't you take a deep breath and tell me what happened? Did I interrupt some sort of sexual activity?"
Crystal: "As a matter of fact, you did, and not just any sort of sexual activity, but extreme sexual activity!"
Serenity: "Oh! My bad. Carry on. Next time don't answer the phone! I'll call you later."
"Wait!" Crystal exclaimed. "I'm not the one that's having sex!" She walked to the window, put on her slippers, and sat down on the windowsill.
Serenity giggled at said, "If he's not having sex with you, then who? Or is he pleasuring himself?"
Crystal: "He's having sex with Miss Ford."
Serenity: "Which 'Miss Ford?" Tiffany Ford? Our English teacher?"
Crystal said that she was the same Miss Ford and Serenity squealed, forcing Crystal to pull her phone away from her face. Crystal scowled, and when she brought the phone back to her face, she said, "Settle down, girl!"
Serenity: "Okay, okay, but you have to tell me what happened? Why is Miss Ford hooking up with Professor Davis again? I thought that ended. I wish I were there. Then I could take a picture!"
Crystal: "Are you addicted to catching people in the act?"
Serenity ignored the question. "Professor Davis is your legal husband," she said. "Please tell me that you're not thinking of divorcing him. Are you? Dang! You are, aren't you! I should have guessed. That's why you took a photo with Frank-to force Professor Davis to divorce you."
Crystal: "You've finally figured it out. It took you long enough!"
Crystal looked out the window. Outside the courtyard, a few children were picking the roses that Nathan's private landscaper had planted. A child looked around, and when he was confident that no one was looking, he tried to pick a rose and immediately withdrew his hand. He had been bitten by one of the thorns. Crystal chuckled, That's what you get, you little hoodlum!
After a minute, Serenity said, "Professor Davis is pretty good, and he's handsome, but if you're not happy, you're not happy."
"I'm not happy," Crystal admitted.
Serenity: "Well, if you divorce him, can you get half of your mother's legacy? So, there is that..."
"Where are you, anyway?" Crystal wondered. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"I'm on my way to sub in for my cousin," Serenity replied, "so let's not talk about it. I'm annoyed right now. I don't like clubhouses."
Crystal: "Maybe clubhouses don't like you either."
Serenity: "I don't care. Would I get more money if clubhouses liked me?"
Crystal: "You're such a miser! Try hard to sell more bottles of wine for your cousin tonight. If you do, you'll come to love that kind of place."
Serenity: "I suppose you're right. If I sold eight to ten bottles of 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, I would be rich! I don't know why I never thought about it before?".
Crystal: "Are you mad? A bottle of 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild is worth about one hundred thousand dollars! Get real!"
Serenity sighed gloomily and said, "Forget it.. You're right. I don't have the kind of luck it takes to be successful. I haven't even won the lottery once. Anyways, I'm at the clubhouse now. I'll talk to you later."
Crystal hung up the phone, leaned against the wall, and gradually fell asleep. When she woke up, it was completely dark outside. She stretched out and walked out of the room. She went downstairs, and when she walked into the dining room, she nearly walked into Tiffany.
Tiffany was dressed in a maid's uniform, and she was setting the table. Crystal scowled and asked her what she was doing, and she explained that she'd baked a pizza. "It will go well with the steak and pasta," she said. "It's almost time for dinner."
"Where's Susie?" Crystal asked. Whatever game Tiffany was playing, she didn't like it.
"I told her that she could go home early," Tiffany replied.
Suddenly, Crystal felt like she was the guest, and Tiffany was the hostess.
Tiffany spun around to show off her dress and asked, "Crystal, what do you think of my dress?" The wind lifted the skirt suddenly, and Crystal saw her garter stockings and lace underwear.
Crystal: "So-so."
Tiffany rolled her eyes at Crystal and said, "You should know that men like women in uniforms."
"Men prefer naked women," Crystal argued.
Tiffany laughed and said, "You've got it all wrong. Just wait and see!" A timer went off in the kitchen, and Tiffany's face lit up. "Dinner's ready!"
Tiffany called Nathan down to eat, but he didn't even look at her when he emerged from his office. Crystal was already seated at the table, and he went and sat beside her. When Tiffany saw this, she refused to let it defeat her. She smiled and said, "Professor Davis, I know that you like steak and pasta, so I cooked both especially for you. It is my first time cooking these dishes, so I hope that you'll like them. And I also made pizza!"
Nathan casually looked at the delicately set the table, and then he looked at Crystal. He put some food on his plate, cut the tender meat into small pieces, and put one into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, smiled, and said, "Not bad."
Tiffany smiled and said, "If you like it, I'll make it for you again some time."
The friendly banter between Tiffany and Nathan irritated Crystal, and she glowered at her food. She held her fork in one hand and her knife in the other, and her grip was so tight that the blue veins in her hands stood out. When she cut her streak, the pressure of the blade against the plate squealed, but Nathan didn't even seem to notice the noise.
Crystal's steak had been cooked to medium-rare, so when the blood oozed out of the grey-brown beef, it pooled on her plate like a poorly handled period. She gave Nathan a naughty look as she brought a sliver of the pink flesh to her mouth. Then, smiling, she let out the tip of her tongue, and she licked at the meat as one would lick a lollipop or in the manner that a man might taste a woman. In her mind, Crystal was as alluring and enchanting as a vampire.
When Nathan saw this, he could not pull his eyes away from her, and he stared at her seductive, blood-stained, jelly-like, pink lips. He felt the temperature of his body rise as blood rushed into his nether regions, causing his member to swell and harden.
At that moment, all he could think about was pressing Crystal against the table and entering her body as fiercely as possible.