Thomas entered the resturaunt together with his regressed teacher. He scanned the room and spotted someone he recognised. His chemistry teacher, Mr. Grey was sitting there. Sitting with him, eating and chatting, was a middle-aged blond woman he didn't recognise. He reminded himself they were in the age resort, and looked closer at tge woman. Was she an aged up student?
Then he felt Ms. Carter grab his hand.
"Let's say hello," Ms. Carter said and pulled him towards Mr. Grey and the woman.
"Wait," Thomas protested. "Are you okay with them seeing you, and um, us the two of us together like this?" he asked.
"Of course. Why not?" she smiled. "It's going to happen sooner or later unless we stay hidden in our room the whole trip. Come on. Don't be shy."
"Okay. If you think so." Thomas followed along, and got pulled to Mr. Grey's table.
"Hey Mr. Grey," she greeted him.
The two older adults turned towards the two teens. "Oh. Hey Stephanie, and hey Thomas." Mr. Grey chuckled. He seemed to be in a good mood. Thomas noted how he'd used Ms. Carter first name Stephanie.
The woman looked at Ms. Carter. "Oh my god! You're so young. You look so cute."
"Thanks." Ms. Carter smiled. "How about you? How do you enjoy being older? Oh, and I think you look great by the way."
"Thanks, and it's fun." The woman looked towards Mr. Grey. "I feel like there's much less of a barrier between me and him."
Mr. Grey laughed.
Thomas was surprised. They were obviously flirting, and not shy about it either. He looked at the woman, and now being closer and hearing her speak, it clicked who she was, Amanda, a girl in another class. He had overheard her talk about k-dramas, beyond that, he didn't know much about her. He realized why he hadn't recognised her at first. It was obvious now seeing her face and hearing her voice, but from afar, she looked really different. This older Amanda was curvy and dressed to emphasize it with a lowcut dress, showing a lot of cleveage. He swear Amanda wasn't that busty at school. She must be a late bloomer of sorts.
The two pairs small talked for a few more minutes, and then said goodbye.
Away from the older pair, Ms. Carter asked Thomas a question, "Do you like older women?"
"What? Why are you asking that?"
"I mean, you were really staring at Amanda back there, especially at her boobs."
"No. I wasn't staring. I mean, I was just looking at how she'd changed, comparing her with how she usually is."
"So you were comparing her boobs?" Ms. Carter giggled.
Thomas wasn't sure quite what to say. "Um. I guess."
A waiter arrived to take their order, interrupting the conversation for a moment which Thomas was thankful for.
Once the waiter was gone, she looked at Thomas and said, "Your face is red. It's cute."
"What do you mean cute?" he asked.
"That I think you're cute. That I like you."
Thomas was stunned by her straightforwardness. Almost reflexively he was about to answer: "I like you too," but he stopped himself. Even if he did have a crush on Ms. Carter, he wasn't the type of person who'd admit it that easily. Even if she'd said that she liked him, he wasn't sure how much of it was genuine or teasing.