Calculative Exhaustion
Jessica was exhausted, her vision blurring as she tried to finish grading her student's tests. It wasn't her dream job, being a calculus teacher in her hometown of Green Valley, Tennessee. After graduating college, she moved back to pay off her debt before traveling the world. That had been her plan anyway.
Then her aunt, no...she was closer to Jessica than that. She died and left everything she had to her niece. Her niece...who she had kept at arms length her whole life. Jessica could leave her childhood home and go on the adventure of a lifetime, just like she had always dreamed of. She swore to finish out the year before traveling with Duane Winston though, her childhood friend turned lover.
They had grown up teasing one another, pranking each other. She had never dreamed that one day she would look into his eyes and see anything other than a childish annoyance all grown up. Now, looking back to their first encounter since she had been back, she regretted nothing. He was the one. Her one and only.
He proved it further by breaking out of his plan first, act later personality. He showed up for her and swore to travel to the end of the world, together. In his words, she was his dream and he would regret it for the rest of his life if he let her go. She blushed every time she thought of him saying such corny, sweet things to her.
The past couple of nights she had gotten minimal sleep, and even when she finally closed her eyes it was to toss and turn. The absence of her lover might be part of the problem. She had grown used to his presence, his arms warming her up in the chill of night. Coffee wasn't strong enough to help her now. No, what she needed was a good weeklong sleep.
She wouldn't be hibernating anytime soon though. She was grateful that it was Friday, the weekend calling for her to simply lay in bed and rest her eyes, but she still had work to do. Looking down at the tests she frowned.
She could grade the rest of the papers before Monday, right? One night of good sleep wouldn't hurt her deadline. She just needed a little shut-eye, that's all. Wouldn't want to give someone the wrong grade out of mental exhaustion.
With that thought she set her pen down and headed for the bedroom. Duane was out of town with Beau and Jethro for the weekend. She could sleep in tomorrow without feeling bad about not spending time with him. At least, she hoped she could sleep.
