by Ivy Smoak
When Tyler stood up, I realized that I had been daydreaming. I had been staring at Professor Hunter and had completely tuned out everyone. When he called my name I slowly stood. I loved the feeling of his eyes on me.
"I'm majoring in marketing."
Professor Hunter seemed to sit up straighter as he listened to me.
"And mostly I love the creativity behind it." I sat down. I couldn't think of anything super exciting and interesting to enchant him with today. Hopefully I'd be able to think of something better for the actual speech.
When class was dismissed I dillydallied as usual. Before Tyler left he asked, "Meet at Grottos at 12:30?"
"Sounds good."
He smiled and walked out of the room. I went straight for Professor Hunter's desk once the class had emptied out.
"I'm surprised to hear that you're majoring in marketing, Miss Taylor."
I didn't want to be formal. I wanted him to kiss me, but I knew that he couldn't. Not here. But I could barely control myself when I looked at his lips. "Why does that surprise you?"
He stood up and pulled his satchel over his shoulder. "I'm just surprised that it's taken us this long to run into each other, since I'm a marketing professor."
I gulped. I was only taking my first marketing class this semester. Should I tell him I'm only a sophomore? No. I didn't want him to call off our date. I'd tell him soon, though.
"I guess we weren't supposed to meet until now," I replied.
"I take it you're a believer in fate then?"
I nodded. "And you?"
He took a step closer to me. "I don't know what I believe. But I know what I want."
I was about to ask him what he wanted, but I didn't need to. I stopped breathing as he stared at me with his intense brown eyes. He wanted me. Again.
He was making me so nervous. "I'm going to be late for my next class, Professor Hunter."
"I'm not stopping you."
But he was stopping me. When he looked at me like that I couldn't move. I just wanted to enjoy having his eyes on me.
"Why are you so dressed up?" I couldn't resist the temptation to ask him. He looked like he was dressed for another date with the mystery woman from his office. If he was hiding a girlfriend, I could hide my age.
"I have a work function after I'm done classes today."
"Oh?"
He lifted up his arm and looked at his watch. "You don't want to be late, Miss Taylor. And neither do I." He smiled at me, shoved his hands in his pockets, and casually strolled out the door.
He was being so secretive. I couldn't help but feel jealous of the mystery woman as I quickly tried to make it to my next class on time.
Chapter 23
Wednesday
I walked up to Grottos' entrance and found Tyler leaning against the wall outside and looking at his phone.
"Hey," I said.
He smiled up at me and shoved his phone in his pocket. He put his arm out for me. I laughed and put my arm through his, and he escorted me into the restaurant.
"Table for two," he said to the hostess.
"Right this way," she replied.
We followed her to a table and I sat down and picked up the menu.
"What kind of pizza do you like?" Tyler asked.
"I guess I really don't need to look at this," I laughed and put the menu down. "Cheese. I always order just cheese."
"Sounds good to me."
When the waitress came over I ordered a cherry Coke and Tyler ordered a Sprite and a large cheese pizza.
"So," Tyler said and scooted forward a bit on his chair. "I guess I'm going to have to figure out the answer to the question I passed on."
"Hmmm?"
"You had asked me what I want to do after I graduate. I'm going to need to figure that out for our next speech."
"Oh, right!" I smiled. "What did you say your major was again?" I should have already known the answer from class today, but I hadn't been paying attention.
"Do you always daydream during Comm?"
I laughed. "I don't daydream. If you haven't noticed, I get incredibly nervous talking in front of the whole class." It was a lie. I always seemed to be daydreaming about Professor Hunter. During Stat I hadn't even tried to make out what the heck my foreign professor was saying. I was just picturing the hunger in Professor Hunter's eyes.
"Yeah, which is incredibly cute."
I couldn't help blushing.
"I'm double majoring in finance and economics," he said.
I was a little surprised. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. You must be really smart."
He laughed. "Does that surprise you?"
"It doesn't surprise me that you're smart. It's just that you're really funny and endearing. Why such serious majors?"
"Yeah, I don't know. They just seemed like logical choices I guess. And I really don't have a clue what I want to do when I graduate."
"You'll need to do some soul searching before your speech then."
"I guess so. Anyway, this was leading me to the fact that you're going to need to answer the question that you passed on."
"What was that again?" I asked, pretending to look confused.
The waitress came over and placed our drinks on the table.
"I know you remember the question."
I took a sip of my soda and stared innocently at Tyler.
He laughed. "I asked you what the most scandalous thing you've ever done was."
When he had first asked me the question in the dining hall, I completely freaked out. Professor Hunter had just kissed me. But now it was so much more than that. A kiss didn't seem nearly as scandalous. Before I even knew what I was doing I was answering his question:
"I kissed a professor once." I tried to say it nonchalantly.
Tyler laughed. After a few seconds of silence he said, "Wait, are you serious?"
"Well, he kissed me, actually."
"Which professor was it?" I could hear a hint of jealousy in his voice.
The waitress arrived and placed the pizza down on the rack in the middle of the table. "One cheese pizza," she said with a smile. "Anything else I can get for you?"
Tyler continued to stare at me.
"No thanks," I said to her and she walked away.
"Penny? Which professor?"
Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut? It just felt so good to finally tell someone. "Yeah, I'm not going to tell you that. That's the most scandalous thing I've ever done though. Consider the question answered." I grabbed a slice of pizza and put it on my plate.
"Where did you kiss?" Tyler asked.
"Not answering that."
"How long ago was it?"
"Not answering that."
"Were you trying to get your grade changed or something?"
"No!" Kind of.
"Was it just the one kiss?"
"Tyler!"
"Fine. But for a scandalous story, you left out a lot of the scandalous details."
"I think kissing a professor counts as scandalous enough." I took a bite of the pizza. "Sooo good."
Tyler smiled at me and grabbed a slice for himself. "You are quite intriguing, Penny."
As I ate my pizza, I thought about the luau I was supposed to ask him about. I couldn't say no if he invited me, or Melissa would be suspicious of me. Would Professor Hunter be mad if I went? He couldn't be. He was probably dating other people too. And were we even dating? I was so confused. And I could always say I was sick at the last minute.
"So my roommate, Melissa, is getting along really well with your friend Josh."
"Yeah, Josh really likes her." Tyler was looking at me curiously.
"What?"
"Well. I know you're still getting over your ex. And I completely understand that that takes time. But it physically hurts me to know that someone as beautiful as you is just sitting in your dorm room every weekend. It's a sin."
I blushed. "I like staying in."
"How about you make an exception t
his Friday?"
"What did you have in mind?" Oh good, he was going to ask me. Asking him just so I could cancel later seemed horrid.
"My frat is having this luau thing. I was hoping you could come."
"As friends?"
"As my date, Penny. God you're infuriating."
That's what Professor Hunter had said to me right before our second kiss. Right before the mind blowing sex that I was sure could never be topped. Am I really that infuriating?
"I'll come as your friend," I replied.
Tyler smiled and shrugged. "It starts at 10. Did you want to meet me there?"
"Yeah, I can walk over with Melissa."
"Great." He looked pleased with himself despite my denying it was a date.
My stomach churned with guilt. Tyler was so sweet. I always laughed with him and had fun. I felt like I could always be myself around him. And he really was handsome. His crystal blue eyes always made me smile. But he deserved someone who wasn't daydreaming about their professor half the time.
When the check came I rummaged through my backpack for my share. Tyler pulled out a twenty and placed it on the table.
"I'll pay for half," I protested.
"Don't be ridiculous." He stood up and put his hand out for me to grab.
I took it and let him pull me up out of my chair.
"Thanks for lunch," I said.
"Hey, what are friends for?" he said with a smile.
Chapter 24
Friday
My new bikini was hanging in my closet. I already knew I was going to cancel, but pretending to be excited and shopping with Melissa would hopefully only help make my sudden upset stomach more believable. I didn't like deceiving her, but she could be so relentless. If she ever became suspicious of me she'd easily be able to get the truth out of me. And Melissa couldn't find out. I didn't want Professor Hunter to get in trouble. And I certainly didn't want to get in trouble.
I laid down in my bed and tucked the covers under my chin. During class earlier I had watched Professor Hunter's lips move but I couldn't seem to concentrate on the words that he spoke. Instead, I pictured him shoving everything on his desk to the ground and having sex with me right in the classroom. I pictured him pressing my naked back against the chalkboard.
I gulped. He said we could talk about it tomorrow night at dinner. But if he really was just going to end whatever it was that was going on between us, he could have done it already. He wanted to have dinner because he wanted to keep seeing me. Or start seeing me. I was already nervous just thinking about it. If he took me to a fancy restaurant he would order wine or something and wonder why I was just drinking water. I'd have to tell him I was only 19. This was going to be a disaster. I needed to see what he had to say though. Because I couldn't stop thinking about him. If Professor Hunter felt the same, maybe there was some way we could make this work.
Melissa walked in the room with a huge smile on her face. But as soon as she saw me in bed she put her hands on her hips. "Penny, what are you doing?"
"I don't feel well." I tried to make a pained expression.
"You just don't want to wear that bikini. You'll live. Get up."
"Melissa, my stomach is really upset."
"Are you throwing up?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Good. There's two hours until the party starts. Have some Tums." She tossed me a bottle from her bureau.
I unscrewed the cap and popped two in my mouth. Fortunately they were also a calcium supplement or I'd have to spit them out when she wasn't looking.
"You're probably just nervous to see Tyler. It's called butterflies. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you."
She wasn't going to let me get out of this easily. I quickly got out of bed, clutched my stomach, and ran for the door. Melissa looked up at me from her desk.
"Penny, are you..."
I didn't hear the rest of her sentence because the door had closed behind me. Keeping my hands on my stomach I walked to the bathroom. If there was one thing Melissa hated it was hearing about bodily fluids. This would make her stop bugging me. I sat in the bathroom stall for ten minutes before heading back to the room.
I groaned as I entered our room and plopped down on my bed.
"Penny?" Melissa sounded concerned.
"I really don't feel well. I just ruined a toilet," I lied.
"Oh my God, Penny. You're disgusting. Please spare me the details."
"I don't even understand how all of that was in me."
"Ew! Stop. Please, Penny. You're grossing me out."
"Sorry, I just really don't feel well."
"Okay, okay. Just stop talking." Melissa walked over to the fridge and pulled out a ginger ale. "Here, hopefully this will help." She opened up the top and placed it on the desk by my bed.
"I'm really sorry I can't come." I lifted the soda and took a small sip.
"Don't even mention it. Look, you should probably get some sleep. I'm just going to get ready there." She tossed some things in her backpack and lifted it over her shoulder. "Anything you need before I go?"
"Will you let Tyler know I'm sick? And that I'm sorry that I couldn't come?"
"Yeah of course."
"Thanks, Melissa."
She picked up the trashcan and put it next to my bed. "Just in case. Feel better, Penny!" she said with a smile and hurried out of the room.
***
Shark Tank was all I needed to be happy on a Friday night. Well, that and thoughts of Professor Hunter. I had already picked out my outfit for tomorrow night. And Melissa was right, there were butterflies in my stomach. They just weren't for Tyler. I was a little nervous to see Professor Hunter again, but mostly I was worried about dinner. I had practiced saying "I just want water" in the mirror. He couldn't know I was under 21. Not yet. Not before we had explored what this really was between us. I just hoped he wouldn't press the issue.
The sharks were starting to get irritated with each other. Just as Kevin O'Leary went on a rant about his elite wine club, my phone buzzed. I picked it up and swiped my finger across the screen.
Tyler: "Hey, I'm sorry to hear you can't come tonight."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too, Tyler," I responded. "Some other time," I added and pressed send.
Tyler: "There is something you can do to make it up to me."
I laughed. "And what might that be?"
Tyler: "Come let me in."
Me: "Wait, what?" Shit, is he here? He was supposed to spend the night having fun at the luau and meeting someone else. What was he doing here?
Tyler: "I'm standing outside Sussex. Melissa told me this was your dorm. Hopefully she didn't lie to me."
I jumped out of my bed, pulled on a pair of sweatpants over my pajama shorts, and put a bra on under my tank top. I was such a bad liar; this was going to go horribly. He would probably know I wasn't sick. I pulled a few tissues out of their box, wadded them up, and tossed them around the room.
Crap. I had an upset stomach, not a cold. I grabbed all the tissues and shoved them in the waste bin. I picked up the dirty clothes off the floor and put them into the hamper. I smoothed my hair down and looked in the mirror. This was a disaster. I quickly slid on my slippers and went to go let him in.
Tyler smiled when I opened the door. "Hey, Penny," he said.
"Hi, Tyler. I really don't feel well."
"That's why I'm here. Friends help each other feel better when they're sick." He emphasized the word "friends."
"But I don't want to get you sick."
He pretended to cough. "I haven't really been feeling very well either."
"It's my stomach," I laughed.
"Oh. Well, my stomach has been really upset too. So we can just be sick together." He walked through the door I was holding open for him. "So, where's your room?"
I laughed. "If you insist." I walked back up the stairs and he followed me. I opened the door to my room and let him in.
"So remember when I promised you that our next date would be sweat
pants, popcorn, and a movie?"
"Tyler..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. This isn't a date. But..." he rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a bag of un-popped microwave popcorn. "I figured since you were sick you might be wearing sweatpants." He looked down at my legs. "And I was correct. I made sure to wear some too." He was wearing dark gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He put the popcorn in the microwave and pulled a DVD out of his bag. "And I brought a movie."
He really was a sweet guy. "Tyler, I can't ask you to miss your party for this. Melissa made it seem like it was going to be lots of fun."
"Trust me, there is nothing I'd rather be doing." He handed me the disc. I looked down and saw that it was The Princess Bride.
"This is my favorite movie."
"Yeah. I'd be lying if I didn't confess that Melissa told me. But I already owned it, because I like it too." He smiled at me as he pulled the popcorn out of the microwave, then sat on the end of my bed.
I put the movie in and sat down next to him.
"Popcorn?" he asked and put the bag down between us.
"You're a really good friend, Tyler."
"Yeah I know." He laughed and put his arms behind his head and leaned against the wall.
"No seriously. I've never really had a guy friend that was genuinely nice just because he cared."
"Honestly, I'm just paying my dues." He winked at me. "But I like being friends with you too. And since we're just friends, I can do stuff like this and not get in trouble." He slid over and put his arm around my back.
"Is that right?"
"I'm just here to take care of you." He tapped his shoulder that was closest to me.
"So I guess since we're friends I'm supposed to rest my head on your shoulder?"
"Well, I mean if you want. I just had an itch. But I promise I won't read into it."
I leaned my head on his shoulder. In the movie, Westley was just saying goodbye to Buttercup so he could go off and find a fortune so that they could get married.
"I never understood why she was always so mean to him at first," Tyler said.
"Because she didn't realize that she loved him yet."
"Right," Tyler said. He rested his head on top of mine.