As she sat there wringing her gloves she could feel the potency of her temper slip away with every twist, taking with it the shelter and relief she'd so quickly embraced. By the time she heard him take a seat near by she was left with nothing but growing self awareness and bafflement over just how many wrong turns she'd taken since dinner to get to this point.
It was the third time he'd said her name that night and to her ears it might have rang so similar to the last when she had braced for admonishment if it weren't for his gentle tone. She swallowed heavily and finally brought herself to look at him again. When she spoke it was with a deep, wobbling breath.
"You never asked." She may be the fool after tonight, she may never be able to face him again, but she would defend herself until then. "It's not fair to blame me when you didn't ask... you didn't come calling..." Once she began to put words to those thoughts they spilled out, one after the other, gathering speed like a train down hill. "For so long I thought you might - if I could just get past having been your student - if we could just talk and not about visions - but I realized it was foolish to hope. And accepted it was unrealistic. But then you tell me you love me. And then you say we are friends. And now tonight..." She shook her head. She couldn't even begin to think what tonight was when she was still in the thick of it. "If we are to be friends or colleagues or strangers now just say it and mean it and we will. I am too old to keep letting that old foolishness hang over my head."
It was the third time he'd said her name that night and to her ears it might have rang so similar to the last when she had braced for admonishment if it weren't for his gentle tone. She swallowed heavily and finally brought herself to look at him again. When she spoke it was with a deep, wobbling breath.
"You never asked." She may be the fool after tonight, she may never be able to face him again, but she would defend herself until then. "It's not fair to blame me when you didn't ask... you didn't come calling..." Once she began to put words to those thoughts they spilled out, one after the other, gathering speed like a train down hill. "For so long I thought you might - if I could just get past having been your student - if we could just talk and not about visions - but I realized it was foolish to hope. And accepted it was unrealistic. But then you tell me you love me. And then you say we are friends. And now tonight..." She shook her head. She couldn't even begin to think what tonight was when she was still in the thick of it. "If we are to be friends or colleagues or strangers now just say it and mean it and we will. I am too old to keep letting that old foolishness hang over my head."