Blog Tour+Review: Call Me by Gillian Jones
But to my friends and family, I’m simply Ellie Hughes.
A university student who’s in desperate need of money. A lot of money, and fast.I’m about to start a new job.
Three nights a week I’ll be the star in your late night fantasies, bringing your fetishes and fucked up scenarios to life.
Men will listen to my voice while they get off on their dirtiest desires.
Truth be told…this job makes me nervous. Regardless of the money, I don’t think I can do it.
But when he calls I feel an instant connection.
Over time, he becomes my regular, my friend, and my confidant.
The problem is…he seems familiar…I think I know who he is.
If I’m right, how will he react when he discovers that I’m Chanel69?
Finished.
Finito.
Fucked.
Completely fucked.
I need to get a grip.
I knew taking the job here was going be a risk; it always is when taking a job where you’re the one on faculty with the least seniority. What I didn’t expect was that there might be a risk I didn’t foresee that could end my goddamned career. And one I’d meet on the first day of school.
It’s my first year teaching at the University of Toronto. I was headhunted by the school, and finally agreed to make the move from Queen’s in Kingston to Toronto this year. Having my friends Mercer and Dylan both teaching here helped with my decision, but it was the chair offering me the two courses I loved to teach most that cinched it: Sexual Aesthetics & Representations in Film and Masters Thesis Essay in Sexual Diversity in Film. Both fascinating courses, and both with the same student enrolled who has me rethinking my decision to come here.
Three words.
Ellie Raine Hughes.
They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and my first impression of Ellie—albeit unique—is not one I’ll soon forget. I’ve never had quite the “meet cute” as I did this morning—she is adorable. I swear to Christ, I thought my dick was going to spring out of my jeans when she settled into the seat in front of me in my Sexual Aesthetics class.
First impression: not only is Ellie beautiful, she smells incredible, a mix of fruit and candy with a subtle vanilla twist, and I’ve never smelled anything quite so satisfying before. Don’t get me started on my thoughts when she took her sweater off. I’m curious to see if she’s actually a serious student or just the little jokester I saw glimpses of this morning. Not going to lie, I’m eager to find out.
I always like to sit back and observe the students as they make their way into class on the first day. I find it gives me a better sense of who’s who, provides me with good insight for the semester; it gives an outlook as to what type of class I might have on my hands. Is there a good balance of serious and non-serious students? Are they a loud crew? Is the room full of students that think this will be a bird credit? And so on. This morning, however, I noted none of that. Sitting behind Ellie and Courtney only proved to distract me from my ritual viewing as my eyes and ears didn’t make it past them. I was instead too caught up in them—in her.
As soon as I heard her honeyed voice make its way to my chair, my ears weren’t the only things that perked up to pay attention. As I sat back, I saw that Ellie’s smile was just as infectious as her laugh, and my senses zeroed in on her—and only her—during the time I was meant to be observing everyone coming in the lecture hall. Unfortunately, I honestly couldn’t tell you shit about the rest of the students, only her.
If she’s as smart as she is attractive, then she’ll definitely be somebody’s jackpot. From experience, though, it’s never the way. It’s rare that a person is ever actually blessed with the trifecta of wit, intelligence and beauty that Ellie’s “Mr. Vernon” reply indicated. I just might like holding her for detention. Either way, I’ll gladly accept the lovely view for the semester. I, myself, prefer brains with a more understated beauty. Not that it would matter if I were attracted to her anyway, teacher/student relations are a no-go.
However, listening to the two young women was quite entertaining. Entertaining to the point where I was almost late starting the class. Ms. Hughes seems to have a rebel streak, that whole “A for Asshole” joke piqued my curiosity. I’m very interested to see what type of student Ms. Hughes will be. Truth be told, I’d like to hear her thoughts about me more than I’d care to admit. Did she find me intimidating? Good looking? Does she think I’ll be some stuck up film guy, or did she like what she saw?
I have a pretty good idea where Ellie’s friend was going before I choose that as my point of entry into the conversation. Luckily, I managed to start class on time, while gaining two new model students, I presume. The look on both women’s faces was priceless, once I’d introduced myself after I stood up from the seat behind them, shocking the hell out of them. The blush over Ellie’s face was even more compelling. Now, if only I could stop trying to imagine what the rest of her would look like flushed under my perusal.
Ellie Raine Hughes could be big trouble if I’m not careful.
