Leonora raised an eyebrow as she heard the new student's order. 'Rebecca, come on, that's a dessert, not a coffee,' she mocked gently. The pair settled down at a small table. It had obviously been a busy morning in the coffee shop - it was still more than half-full, and it was nearly 11am - and the staff hadn't had time to clear the table, but it was the only one available. Leonora shoved two leftover cups, a couple of cellophane wrappers and a scattering of crumbs to the edge of the table, and nestled her venti americano.
'I had so much stuff to do this morning,' Rebecca said, relaxing as she sipped her coffee.
'I know, New York's a nightmare, isn't it,' Leonora replied. 'I'm from near Bangor in Maine. When I came here first, I made the mistake of picking a place way out in Staten Island.'
She nodded as Rebecca rattled off a list of reasons why she'd missed the class. She was enjoying the new girl's company. Her tastefully assembled outfit and meticulously dressed hair suggested to Leonora that Rebecca wasn't usually this out of sorts - the pressure of the first day could derail the most organised student. Her ears pricked up at Rebecca's mention of her internship, but Leonora held back from asking about it - she'd get to know the girl better first before asking for her help, and besides, she intended to ask Linc about it if he was in the next class.
'Tell me about it, Rebecca,' she smiled. 'I've
got to find somewhere closer to campus, you know? So you... what, live with your aunt?'
Rebecca wagged her head non-committally and asked 'How long have you lived in New York?' through a mouthful of scone. Leonora briefly regretted not getting something for breakfast herself.
'This is my second year at Cornell, so... about 18 months? I love it, but it's exhausting, you know? It's so hard to switch off, there's always something going on. Speaking of which...' Leonora glanced around, scannign the room. Damn Starbucks, never had any clocks in their stores! She dragged her phone out of her pocket.
'Damn it, I've got to run. Sorry Rebecca, I'm going to be late for another class. Looks like you're rubbing off on me already!'
With that, Leonora hurried from the coffee shop and across campus. By the time she arrived, her heart was thumping, though not from the physical excertion. As she'd crossed campus, her thoughts had turned from the pleasant distraction of Rebecca's company and back to the change in her attitude to Linc since she'd seen him at the gala ball last night.
When she'd started the job with the Blue Light agency, her godmother and madam had warned her against romantic attachments - with clients, obviously, but also outside work. It would confuse her, make her less able to work, to make clients feel they were the centre of her universe. Leonora knew it would restrict her open-minded empathy for the rich and powerful men who paid for her company and her body, and there were some clients, she knew, for whom the former was at least as important as the latter. A boyfriend, or even a brief romantic liaison, would be bound to reveal her secret life when the relationship ended, making Leonora's life on campus much more difficult, her godmother warned. 'There'll be a time for love, Nora,' she'd said, 'but now it's time for work.'
Leonora had obeyed her godmother for several months as she found her feet in her new job. She needed as few distractions as possible while she learned to balance her double life. But then she'd had a brief fling last March with a med student. Though she didn't reveal her job to him, they spent a couple of days in bed together, and Leonora had discovered another side-effect of working as an escort; it had ruined sex for her.
Well, not ruined. She still enjoyed the physical sensations, both with clients and with an occasional lover from campus. But, with clients, she had never had an orgasm, though they would never know that. Leonora prided herself in her ability to observe her clients rhythms, and changes in those rhythms and other little signs of their approaching climax, and tailor her own physical reactions appropriately, so it appeared they both came together. It was a greatly appreciated effect, making her clients feel like good lovers, but it did distract Leonora from her own pleasure. However, to her surprise and faint horror, Leonora found while making love to her med student fling, she was unable to shut off the reflex to observe and respond, and so couldn't give in to her own pleasure with the abandon required for orgasm.
She found this to be the case with one lover after another, and then gave up on them, becoming almost asexual on campus. Except for Linc. Occasional glimpses of him in class gave her twinges of deep physical attraction. Even so, she resisted, heeding the second part of her godmother's warning. Linc - or any man - would reject her if he knew of her secret life, so if she wanted him, she would have to wait. 'There'll be a time for love, Nora, but now it's time for work,' she whispered to herself as she slunk into the back of class.
Late again, Leonora kept her head down to avoid her professor's sarcastic glare, and slid into the first available seat at the back. Right next to the very man she knew she should avoid, but knew she couldn't: Lincoln Genovese.
