“Oh… so now we’re talking AFTER Christmas? I thought they wanted… like, beginning of January? … that’s the studio they want to use?… I thought… Okay… yeah, I guess that’ll have to work if that’s what they want…” Nick stopped, mid-shuffle when he caught sight of India- looking very… what was it? Sad? Pissed off? He wasn’t sure, but he knew it didn’t look good. “That’s fine… just call me with the details, okay? Thanks. Bye.” He hung up quickly, not wanting to argue anymore, since he knew he’d ultimately lose anyway, and wanting to know what was going on with India.
He set the phone down on the counter and walked over to her, trying to decipher her expression. “What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.
She’d been determined that she wouldn’t cry, and she hadn’t, but hearing the concern in Nick’s voice and being comfortable enough in his embrace to truly let her guard down, the tears just sprang to her eyes and began running down her cheeks. “I’m… on probation…” she finally managed to tell him after a few moments of just finally letting herself cry.
“What??” he let go of her to step back and look at her, confused.
She walked away from him, motioning for him to follow her. She went back into the great room, and flopped down onto the couch.
Nick followed her and sat beside her, reaching to pull her over into his lap. He brushed his fingers over hr cheeks to dry her tears and stroked the side of her face tenderly, then let his fingers slip through her hair, just waiting for whenever she was ready to talk to him. He had no idea what she was talking about, he associated probation with something that happened after a person got arrested.
“One of my students has a father who is a minister… this kid has apparently been taking notes on EVERYTHING I’ve ever said in class… and then reporting back to dad. He got some parents from the church together and they filed a formal complaint with the school board to have me ‘removed’.” India told him, thinking that it felt even worse for her to be telling it than when her principal had told her earlier.
“They can’t… do that… can they?” Nick asked, a little unsure of just what to do with this situation.
She nodded, “Yeah, they can. I don’t have tenure… they can fire my ass tomorrow if they want to.”
“Wait, what’s tenure?” he questioned.
“Once you’ve been teaching for six years, you’re considered to have tenure, which means they have to have a legitimate reason to fire you, and give you due process before they can fire you. I don’t have that, so they can give me the boot at any time.” India explained. “Although, even with tenure, a major complaint like this, filed by a group of parents would probably count as a legitimate reason to dump me.”
“Shit…”Nick was suddenly getting worried about her. He knew how much she loved her job and that this was probably killing her. “What exactly are they complaining about?”
“They’re saying that discuss inappropriate things with my students… I teach things that aren’t in the curriculum… I promote deviant sexual behavior… or something like that…” she said.
“Huh?”
“I have no idea… but they had quite a list going.” she sighed.
“What are you going to do?” Nick asked, as India rearranged herself and sat up.
“I don’t have a clue.” she said. “All I’ve ever wanted to do was teach… and now I’m being told that I can’t or I’m not supposed to… fuck no I’m not going to teach straight out of those text books! I love this stuff and the books bore the hell out of me! I want to make it interesting for them, so they want to learn more…” She stopped talking, feeling very weighed down by the entire situation- the more she thought about it, the worse things seemed. “They’re having a special board meeting over Christmas break… I’m supposed to go defend myself…”
“You’re a good teacher… they have to know that…” Nick didn’t really know what to tell her. He wanted to be able to do something to make things better, but he had no idea what that something would be.
“Yeah, I am… but I don’t know that that’s going to be enough.” she said, quietly, feeling increasingly helpless.
Nick slipped his arm around her and pulled her onto his lap and wrapped her in a hug. If there was nothing else he could do, at least she'd know he was there for her.
~~~
Nick drew his fingertips back and forth slowly over the small of India’s back, then switched to move slowly up and down her spine as they lay tangled together, naked and blissfully tranquil from making love. He knew she’d wanted to take her mind off everything, and he was happy to oblige her. He’d stripped his own clothes off, then undressed her slowly, letting his hands wander over her body, softly caressing every part of her, and then lay her back on the bed. He lay gently on top of her, settling between her bent knees and slid inside her, rocking his body against hers gently in smooth, easy motions- taking them both to a sensual, unhurried release.
Despite the turmoil in her mind that she couldn’t quite seem to stop, India was completely relaxed and at ease, wrapped up in Nick’s arms. She absentmindedly fingered one of his nipple rings- slipping the tiny ring back and forth. His touch was reassuring to her, light and pleasant without being ticklish. As they were making love she’d felt like they’d nearly melted into one another- an overwhelming sensation that had seeped in all the way to her bones and settled in, leaving her convinced they were truly part of one another.
Nick loved the feel of her smooth skin under his fingers, the sounds of her soft, rhythmic breathing, her skin pressed against his. “You ever feel like you’re almost… too comfortable with someone?” he asked, continuing to let his fingers roam over her.
She moved just a little, sliding up his body a little further to be able to look at his face, but not lose any of the contact of their bodies tangled up together. “I did… but I don’t anymore. I’ve moved on to scarier things…”
“Scarier things?” He cocked his eyebrow in curiosity.
“Yeah… like how right you are for me. I think I freak you out, too, because you know as well as I do how much really serious potential there is for us…” she said, making eye contact with him.
Nick was surprised – both by what she said and the feeling that ran through his body when her eyes locked with his. Apparently she could read his mind now, too. “You’re right… you scare the hell out of me…” His voice was a whisper as he said, “I never thought I’d find someone so close to my ideal.”
India raised up to look at him, another undecipherable expression on her face.
“What?”
“You’ll tell me that, but you won’t tell me you’re in love with me?” she asked.
Nick chuckled a little, relieved there hadn’t been something wrong with what he’d said. “You know I am… I was from the first tequila shot.”
“I like to think you are… but it’d be nice to hear it.” she told him.
“India, I love you.” he said, smiling.
“I love you, too.” she replied, returning his smile and leaned over to kiss him. “Thanks for being here for me.”
“I’m here… I’ll support you however I can.” he said, pulling her over on top of him.
“Yeah, until you leave to go into the studio…” she said, not attempting to hide the sulkiness in her voice.
“You heard, huh?”
She nodded, “Yeah, beginning of the year. I could be unemployed by then.”
“So then you’ll just go with me.” Nick told her, liking the idea as soon as he said it. He didn’t want her to lose a job she loved, but it WOULD be nice to have her around all the time.
“What the hell would I do while you were recording?” she asked.
“Anything you wanted to.”
“I’m not even going to think about it… I’m going to believe that I’m not going to lose my job over this.” she said, laying her head down on his shoulder.
“You’re good at what you do, India. They shouldn’t want to take that away from you.” he said, softly, knowing she was worrying again.
“The school might not want to, but a lot of pissy, conservative parents will not care about how good I am at what I do if they think that I’m polluting their children’s minds with unacceptable or immoral ideas or whatever it is that they think I’m doing.” she said.
Nick didn’t know what else to tell her, so he slipped his arms around her back, and held her tightly. “Don’t worry about it now, okay? You’re here with me and it doesn’t matter right now.”
She tried to let herself relax again and just enjoy being with him- the man she was in love with… who’d just told her he loved her, too… But she just couldn’t get it out of her mind. Even right then, right there with him. It still mattered… it was her career… everything that she’d worked so hard for… essentially her life that was on the line. It definitely still mattered.