He sat on the kitchen table, legs dangling and seductively devouring an avocado. I stood there gawking, completely and utterly amazed at how he ate it with his hands. I watched attentively as he ran his knuckles around the inside of the husk, stripping out the flesh and licking it off of his fingers slowly, causing them to be a stained, oily green color.

It was now 9pm. I was freshly shaven in all the important places—under my armpits, between my thighs and all the way up my legs. My hair is pinned up and Im dressed in one of Daisy's more fancy looking dresses. The one that was looser at the top and tighter at the bottom, with straps as thin as cotton. It was a silk Valentino dress. The dress is red, but so darkly shaded that under the light it almost comes off as black. Daisy insisted I put it on and show up unannounced at Mr. Grayson's home. As a way of, to quote her, "reminding him what he's missing"

I slumped in the doorway, balancing a bag of groceries on my hip before I lose my focus and end up accidentally dropping them onto the floor. Oh damn.

"Miss Tembo?" he says, catching site of me in the doorway

"Uh...Im sorry... I uh. I...," I ramble as I hurry to pick up the salmon and put it back in the grocery bag

He laughs at me before getting off the counter and walking up to me. "What are you doing here?"

"I... I wanted to see you", I blink, "is she home?"

"Who?" he cocks his head to the side

"Your wife", I mumble under my breath

"Oh", he sighs, "No, uh...she went out for drinks with her friends.

"I doubt that she'll be back before at least midnight"

"Oh..."

"You look lovely. If it were possible, I'd hang you on my wall and stare at you for the rest of my life"

"Thank you?" I say. It comes out as more of a question though.

"Do you want some?", he offers me his avocado and I cringe at the sight of it. I hate avocados.

"No thank you. Im not really a fan"

"More for me then", he turns the avocado skin inside out and pulls out more of the remaining flesh with his front teeth. The sight is strangely...erotic. "What's in the bag then?"

"What?", I ask, still focused on his mouth

"That bag Nailea", he points towards the groceries. "what is in it?"

"Oh...uh, I brought some groceries. Salmon and stuff. I thought I'd make you dinner. If you like of course"

"Well then let's go"

          We enter the kitchen and I start to unpack the groceries. Mr. Grayson takes out the pots and pans. Well, the pot and pan. He doesn't have a lot of kitchen stuff. Which I guess that makes sense, seeing as how his wife is hardly ever home. I proceed to wash my hands, as did he before going into the next room to put on some music. Mozart. He played Mozart.

          I pick up one of the knives, the smallest one and start to cut up the cherry tomatoes in fours. I slice perfectly, taking little breaks in between to catch tiny glimpses of Mr. Grayson ogling me from the side of my eye. It was almost like I fascinated him. That's a good thing though, Isn't it?

          I continue to slice, smiling when Mr. Grayson starts to bop his head along with the music. Suddenly I feel myself accidentally cut through my finger and I flinch. "Ah", I wince

"Ugh, why can't you be careful?", he groans. "come here"

He brings my finger to the sink and washes out the blood.

"I'm sorry. I got distracted", I apologize quickly, hoping that he won't get mad at me again.

"Mr. Grayson?" I call and he doesnt move an inch. I follow his gaze and realise that hes distracted by my bloody finger. He stares at each drop with such an intense hunger in his eyes. Almost like a vampire being awakened after a lifetime of slumber.

I stare as he shakes his head and pulls my finger to his mouth, gently biting the tip. Which I find strange but also attractive at the same time. "Sorry. I like the blood", he whispers

"Uh...can I have a band aid?", I shrug, trying desperately not to look flustered

"Stay here, I'll go get you one"

I watch him as he disappears upstairs.

          Suddenly the smell of burnt salmon overpowers my nostrils and I let out a curse word before looking through each of the cupboards for an oven mitt. I hurriedly look in all of the top cupboards with no luck. I turn my head over my shoulder and notice a little cabinet hidden in the corner of the bottom counter. I walk quickly towards it and as I open it, I'm almost suffocated by the strong, sharp and almost painful stench.

          I cover my nose with my inner elbow and start to investigate the source of the pungent odor. When I look closely, I see a bunch of panties, probably somewhere over twenty pairs, all stained with what looks like.... dry blood?

          "Oh my gosh", I mutter to myself and quickly close the cabinet. My heart is now pounding and I'm dumbfounded. What the hell did I just see? Theres no way. There is no way I just saw that. My finger is bleeding, thats it. Ive lost a lot of blood and Im starting to get loopy and hallucinate or something. That makes sense, doesnt it?

          "Miss Tembo?", I hear Mr. Grayson call out and it jolts me out of thought. I feel my nose wrinkle. Not once, but twice and my heart is now lodged all the way up my throat.

          I turn to look at him, trying desperately to hide the fact that I'm now completely terrified. "Hm? Yeah? Hi", I ramble

          "Aren't you scared?", he asks me. His voice dark and deep and sultry

          "What?", I gulp. My heart is now pounding and Im almost certain Im about to pass out

          "I said, aren't you scared that the salmon will be ruined?", he walks towards me and grabs my wrist roughly. He puts on the band aid. He locks eyes with me and there's a darkness that I never saw in this way. "You're trembling. Are you alright?"

          "I'm fine. I just, Uhm... I tried to look for an oven mitt", I manage to say with-out throwing up. I hope. Well, I think I might have thrown up a little in my mouth.

          "I don't have one", he tells me before walking past me. I watch him pick up the hot pan with his bare hands and lay it beside the stove. "I'll set the table", he smiles.

                                                   ****

          Am I overreacting? Please tell me that I'm just overreacting and that wasn't odd at all. Not even in the slightest. Or better yet, just go ahead and tell me that I didnt even see anything. Tell me that was all an illusion of some sorts. Tell me any-thing just as long as it keeps Mr. Grayson innocent.

          When I enter my room, I'm not sure how to act or what to think. The first thing I do is get a glass of water and join Daisy on her bed. I get straight to to-nights events and run through the entire night with her. I tell her absolutely every-thing that had happened. This time, I didn't leave out a single detail because I needed to know if this was as weird as it felt.

          I tell her that after finding the...well, you know what I found, I sat down for about 15 minutes before telling Mr. Grayson that I didn't feel very well and had to come back home and lay down. If there's one thing I've learnt from binge watching You on Netflix, it's that if you find something crazy in a crazy persons house, you have to act completely and utterly natural. Or else they'll probably lock you up in some weird glass box, murder you and then write a book about a false affair you had with your therapist.... or, something like that.

"Maybe they were his wife's?", Daisy suggests, "I know a surprising number of women who don't believe in tampons. It's weird but, it's true"

  "There was like fifty pairs in their Daisy. What kind of person owns 50 pairs of underwear and didn't wash them after having their period?", I sigh, "Oh...and, he bit my finger after I cut myself and then said he likes the blood. Who says that?"

"Maybe that's just his vibe. Like, some kind of kink or something? I dont know Nai...This has never happened to me"

"Why did I have to see that?" I whine, falling face first on Daisy's pillow. "Ow," I muffle into the pillow

"Look, you're the one involved with him, alright? So, if this is something that you found really weird and you cant get past it then just, ignore him"

"How will I ignore him? He's my professor!", I sit up

"Okay, then just, tell him you want to stop seeing him. Don't mention why though. Just like, say you met someone else or something. Thats how I get rid of guy Im not interested in," she tells me, "But you do know, the minute you end things its going to be back to your vanilla life. Are you ready for that?"

"Well, I'd rather my vanilla life than a life where I find bloody panties in a kitchen cabinet", I murmur

"Whatever Nai", she coos, "can I go to bed now? Please?"

"Goodnight Daisy"

          As I crawl into bed, I take out my phone and send my final message to Mr. Grayson. Hoping that after tonight, my life will go completely back to normal.

From Nailea's iPhone: I can't see you anymore. I've met someone else and I think it's best that you and I maintain a student- teacher relationship. Goodbye Mr. Grayson.