“Music to my ears,” she said as she pulled out the containers and grabbed two plates. “So, I’m highly interested in this news you have to tell me, but first, how are you doing?”
She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with concern. You’d never know, but she was overly affectionate and took on the role of mom in our little group. It was annoying at times, but I loved her big heart.
“I’m good, really. I don’t want you to worry about me. I can honestly say I only had one instance where I checked my phone to see if I had gotten a text from him. It hurt, but I’ll get over it. I mean, seriously, he’s over it. There’s no reason for me to dwell on it.”
Victoria walked to me and grabbed me in an embrace. “You truly are stronger than you appear, you know that?” she told me as she pulled back with a smile. “Okay, so tell me this news you had to share.” She grabbed her plate full of food and moved out of the way so I could make mine.
I sat at the table with her after I made my plate. I didn’t know where to start, so I just blurted it out. “Mr. Sexy Eyes is my professor.”
Her eyes widened as she stopped chewing. “No freaking way,” she said with a mouth full of food.
I laughed and nodded.
“Holy shit. Seriously? That is unreal. Was it awkward? Man, it had to have been. Oh, my God. Did you tell Becky yet?” she rambled.
I chuckled at all her questions. “No, I haven’t told Becky yet and yes, it was awkward. What made it more awkward was when he called me into his office after class.”
“Oh, my God. Don’t leave me in suspense. Spit it out already!” she ordered, all giddy.
“He called me into his office and propositioned me,” I told her. I bit the inside of my cheek and waited for her to reply as she looked at me with her mouth hanging open.
“Are you serious?” she asked, finally. I nodded. “What exactly did he say?”
I looked down at my food, not being able to hide the grin as I replayed the scene in my head. He was so close to me. If I closed my eyes and thought hard enough, I could still smell him.
“Hello?” she said, annoyed.
I looked up at her and laughed. “Sorry.” I gave her a play-by-play of what happened and she looked at me with her mouth open again, but that time she had food in it. “So you can see why I wanted to talk to someone about it. He’s so… intimidating. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I mean, you’ve seen him. He’s flipping gorgeous, but I don’t want to get into trouble. And he’s trouble with a capital T.”
She finished chewing her food and set her fork down. “He said all of that to you.” I nodded. “Okay, listen to me. If I were in your shoes I’d be freaked out, too. But doing the things in life that are the most forbidden are the most exciting and adventurous. Just look at Eve. She ate the apple, she was adventurous.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “She’s also the reason we have periods,” I deadpanned.
She laughed, “Shit, you’re right. That was a bad metaphor to use. But seriously, do all the women in the world a favor and go to dinner. If he told you not to stress about it then don’t. I’m sure he doesn’t want to get caught, either. I know he’s your professor, but you can’t help who you’re attracted to. And you guys did meet before school even started.”
She had a point, but I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do. After I’d left school for the day, I’d told myself I’d just leave the building after class on Wednesday. I wouldn’t stay behind and wait to see when he wanted to meet. Avoiding problems was obviously my thing, but the professor didn’t seem like someone I could avoid.
We ate our food in silence while thoughts ran through my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about him: his unruly, sandy-blonde hair; his scruffy, chiseled chin; and his pouty lips. The way he called me ‘Ms. Blake’ in that deep tone of his was enough to give me chills of excitement.
One dinner. I can always leave after if it isn’t something I want.
“Okay,” I blurted. “You’re right. I can do something adventurous, but I just have to be careful about it. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to want anything serious, so I highly doubt it would be an ongoing thing anyway.”
Victoria smiled. “Do you have any idea how jealous Becky is going to be when she finds out?” she asked as she got up from the table. “Hang on, I’m going to call her and tell her to come over.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. It looked like I would be staying for a while.
*
I was a nervous wreck as I got ready the next morning. I felt like I was in high school again, trying to dress nice for the boys to notice me, but I had no idea what to wear. I didn’t want to overdo it, so I went with something comfortable. I put on a thin-strapped, soft pink dress. It scooped low in the front and had buttons in the middle going down to the waistline where there was a string tie to cinch it around my small waist. I figured it would be appropriate for school and for going out to dinner later that night, but only time would tell.