by Bee Daniels
“Let’s go,” Melanie said as she grabbed her things. They turned the lights off behind them, leaving the classroom empty as they chatted while walking out of the building together, giving the security guard their goodbyes in passing.
When they made it outside, Noah cursed, seeing the heavy rainfall slam against the pavement. He totally forgot that it would be raining tonight, but, apparently, Melanie didn’t as she took out her umbrella from her purse and opened it.
“You should really keep up with the weather,” she told him pointedly, and Noah elbowed her playfully for her sarcasm.
“I did know it was going to rain today.” She arched a brow. “But I forgot to bring my umbrella. It happens.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said dismissively. “You can use my umbrella so you can walk to your car, but drive back over here to the entrance and toss it back to me.”
“What about your car?” Noah asked with a frown, and when he looked at the parking lot, even with the heavy rain, he saw her car wasn’t there.
“I had to take it to the shop,” she said reluctantly, glancing at him suspiciously, waiting for his taunts.
Noah didn’t want to be the person she thought he was, but he couldn’t help it. “That’s what happens when you drive around in an old car like that.”
This time she elbowed him. “I like my car, you know. I’ve had it for ten years.”
“I can tell,” Noah said, and this time she elbowed him harder. He rubbed his arm and asked her, “Are you going to wait for a cab?”
She nodded as she pulled out her phone. “Yeah, I’ll probably call an Uber.”
Noah frowned as he thought about some of the recent horror stories he heard about with Uber. The thought of her getting in an Uber during this type of weather bothered him.
“I can give you a ride home.”
He said it without even thinking about it, but Noah knew the moment he said it, he couldn’t take it back. Melanie glanced at him, lifting her umbrella so she could get a better look at him as if his offer was on his face. She hesitated for a second as she looked at her phone, then the parking lot, and then back at him. And Noah wondered what was making her so hesitant. The fact that it was strange that a student was driving his professor back home, or that it was even stranger that a male student was driving his female professor back home. Or maybe she was thinking none of these things, and she simply did not want him to know where she lived.
Noah ready himself to back out of it by making some type of joke as he started to feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny of her gaze. It was not like he was trying to hit on her. He just simply wanted to offer her a ride home so she wouldn’t be stuck in this kind of weather. But before he could take it back, she nodded.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay,” he repeated.
And then he took her umbrella before walking over to his truck, and once he got himself inside, he drove around the parking lot back to the entrance and let her get inside the passenger side before he pulled off. Melanie typed her address into his GPS, and they were on their way. She lived forty minutes away, and though the idea of the forty-minute drive back and forth bothered him, at least she wouldn’t be murdered by some crazy psycho person driving Uber.
As they drove down the road with the rain still pouring heavily, Noah turned the heat on in the car to combat the cold air from the rain. Melanie looked relieved when the heat came on as she wrapped herself deeper in her coat.
To fill the awkward silence, Noah spoke.
“Thanks again for the advice you gave me,” he told her over the sound of the music playing from the radio. “I’ve been doing better now.”
“That’s good, Noah,” she said with a genuine smile, one she had been awarding Noah with recently that filled his chest with warmth. He smiled back at her, tossing her a wink that made her roll her eyes. And then she threw a nod back at him, gesturing for him to keep his eyes on the road.
“The first game of the season is coming up on Friday,” he said. “It’s a home game. Are you coming?”
“I’m not really a hockey fan,” Melanie said, and Noah’s eyes widened.
“Wait. You’re living in Massachusetts, but you’re not a hockey fan?” he asked, surprised. Everyone here was a hockey fan. How could she not be?
“First of all, I’m not from Massachusetts. I’m from New York.”
“I guess you’re one of those women who don’t like sports.”
“Actually, for your information, I like basketball,” she retorted, and Noah frowned.
“You’re a basketball fan,” he said like he had a foul taste in his mouth. Melanie shifted in her seat to look at him.
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is a bad thing,” he retorted, shaking his head. Just when she was starting to seem cool to him, she would ruin it by saying she was a basketball fan. Basketball was average at best and wasn’t even that entertaining of a game to watch. He would rather watch golf over basketball, and that was saying something.
“At least they’re actually playing a game,” she mumbled as she turned to look at the road again.
“Wait. Are you saying hockey isn’t a game?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s a fight on ice. That’s all you guys do is get on the ice and start pushing and shoving. I’m actually surprised you have all of your teeth.”
“It’s better than watching a bunch of people traveling and the two same teams playing in the finals every year. There’s no variety. It’s the same thing.”
“I would rather watch the same two teams make it to the finals every year than watching a bunch of people fighting every five minutes, making the game longer than what it needs to be.”
“Well, I would rather—”
“We’re here,” she said triumphantly. And she was right, judging by what his GPS told him. He glanced out of the window, seeing that the rain was not pouring as heavily over here as it had been back on campus and seeing a fancy apartment complex, and when he took a closer look at the neighborhood, Noah realized that he recognized this place.
“One of my friends lives around here,” Noah said. His friend used to play on the same team as him, but he recently graduated and was out job hunting, while also doing a YouTube channel that gave him lucrative money. This neighborhood was a nice one.
“Really?” she asked, in a somewhat non-interested fashion, as she grabbed her umbrella.
“Yeah, and there’s this nice club around this area. The Hoot.”
When Melanie had all of her things packed together, she turned to look at him with a smile. “Thanks for driving me home in this weather. I should have my car back soon, so you don’t have to worry about doing this again.”
“Are you sure you’re going to have that piece of—”
“If you talk badly about my car, you’re asking for a failing grade,” she said with a short smile as she stepped out of the car, making sure to slam the door shut.
Noah quickly rolled down his window. “You can’t abuse your power like that,” he called.
But she only waved him off as she stepped inside of her building. Noah chuckled at her childishness as he pulled off.
CHAPTER
14
MELANIE
A
S MELANIE FLICKED THROUGH THE TV ON HER DAY OFF, she had to listen to Abigail go on and on about the hockey game she went to last night. Melanie tried to hide her lack of interest by nodding with every exclamation that came out of her friend's mouth. There was just something about hockey that bored her to death, and nothing would change her mind on that, not even the fact that her own students were playing.
"It was amazing, Mel," Abi said as she bounced up and down on Melanie's couch, and Melanie silently cried for the dents that would soon be in her cushions. "You should have been there. They were just gliding across the ice, and the puck was going here and there, and the game was so close. But your boy cam
e across the ice and slammed that puck right into the goal, and it was over. You should have seen him on the ice, Mel. Noah Walker is something special, man. No one can touch him."
"Now you know that I don't like hockey," Melanie told her friend as she finally settled on the National Geographic channel that would surely bore Abigail, but would entertain her. And surely, the moment Melanie placed her remote down, Abigail picked it up and began to flick through the channels. This was why she didn't like it when her friend came over. Sometimes, Abigail forgot they didn't live together anymore, and Melanie was the only one paying the bills.
As Abigail continued to flip through the channels, she said, "You should really come. At least so you can see Noah play. I know you want to see your favorite student play."
Favorite student? Since when had Noah become her favorite student. Yes, she was able to get along with him now, and, sometimes, was able to joke with him, but Noah was just that, her student. Nothing more and nothing less. Besides, she didn't play favoritism when it came down to her students. That was totally unethical and unfair.
But when Melanie thought about how passionate Noah was about playing hockey, she thought to herself that maybe she wouldn't mind seeing him play once. If not only just to see what all the fuss was about.
"I'll think about it," Melanie said as she wrestled with the idea of sending Noah a text and telling him congratulations on his win. But when she thought about how she got Noah's number because he took her phone while they were eating Subway on campus, and he programmed his number there, it seemed just as unprofessional as how he placed his number in her phone. It had nothing to do with school work, which any corresponding outside of school with a student should be about. She would tell him congratulations when she saw him for tutoring on Monday.
Melanie stood on her feet, taking the remote from Abigail's hand and ignoring her friend's indignation as she turned her TV off.
"Didn't you say you had a date with someone you met on Tinder, and you didn't want to meet him too late?"
"Oh, shit! Thanks for reminding me," Abigail said as she stood up. "I totally forgot."
Abigail bounced over to the mirror on Melanie's wall and fixed her clothes as she made sure every hair was in place in her ponytail.
"You should try Tinder too, Mel," Abigail told her, and Melanie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There was no way in hell she was getting on Tinder to meet a guy. She could just feel the mortification at the idea of introducing her boyfriend and telling the story about how they met through a swipe. Nope. She wouldn't bother with it.
But it seemed that Abigail had different plans. Before Melanie could reach her cell phone, Abigail bounced across the room and grabbed it instead.
"What are you doing?" Melanie asked, exasperated by her over hyperactive friend's actions. When Abigail passed back her phone a minute later, there was a newly downloaded app on there. Tinder.
Melanie immediately went to delete it.
"No," Abigail whined. "Don't waste all of my efforts. At least try it. I know you still haven't checked off marriage on your list. So maybe this will be the best opportunity for you to find the man you're going to marry."
She wished she would have never shown Abigail her check-off list. Now, whenever her friend got the chance, she was always trying to hook her up with someone. But if Melanie ever found love, it wouldn't be on some app. She would like to think that meeting her partner would be more romantic than that.
"Whatever," Melanie said, tossing her phone in her purse without deleting the app. She'll remind herself to do it later after she finished grocery shopping. By then, Abigail would already be on her date, and if it went like any of her other Tinder dates went, she would be in bed with someone by then, forgetting all about the app that she put on her best friend's phone.
"Let's go," Melanie said as she ushered Abigail out of her apartment so she could walk over to the grocery store and place much-needed food in her refrigerator.
CHAPTER
15
NOAH
W
HEN NOAH WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING AFTER THE GAME, OR, MAYBE, it was more accurate to say the next afternoon, his limbs ached, and his body was hammered. He wasn't quite sure if it was from the elbows he had taken during the game, or from all the alcohol he had drunk last night in celebration of their first win of the season, but either way even with the slight pain, nothing could take him down from his high.
He hoped this would be the first of many wins, and they would keep up with this winning streak all the way to the finals.
"The game was a monster last night," Dale said as he scratched his neck, a slight rasp in his voice from all the partying they had done last night. After the game, they had to celebrate, and so everyone came downtown to their friend's house, who always had the best parties. Noah had been so fucked up that there was no way possible he was going to make it home, so he had stayed along with some of his other teammates, Dale being one of them.
"You guys killed it," Noah's friend and old teammate, Adam said. This was his house, along with two other friends he split the rent with. Noah thought it was a terrible idea to move forty minutes away from campus, but Adam thought it was worth it because of how nice the area was. If Noah moved off campus, it damn sure wouldn't be this far away.
"Let me use your shower," Noah said, feeling dirty as he stood off the couch he had slept on. There were people shrouded across the floor, and as he walked towards the back, he felt his stomach growl.
"Yeah, go ahead. You can put on some of my clothes if you want," Adam told him.
Noah took a hot shower, getting rid of the fog in his head. When he finished, taking his friend's offer and borrowing one of his shirts, Noah came back into the living room feeling better again. This time everyone was up, and the few stragglers who had still been there were gone.
"The game was crazy, but the party was even crazier," Dale said. "You should have seen all of the girls. They were all over me."
"Bullshit, Rivers," Dallas, Adam's roommate, said. "Even if you won the game, the girls wouldn't be all over you. Not with pretty boy here."
Noah grinned at his nickname as he bumped his fist with Dallas before he sat down.
"Oh, did you see how Julie was all over you? And did you hear her in the stands? She was going crazy for you."
Noah hadn't been paying attention too much to who was in the stands because he was way too focused on the game to pay any mind to that. But he did remember her at the party. She talked to him a few times, but to be honest, Noah was having so much fun that he wasn't paying too much attention to her.
"What? You off on Julie now?" Dale asked. "I thought you liked her."
"Now liking her is a bit of stretch," Noah said, and the guys laughed. "Don't get me wrong. She's a cool girl. But if I'm being honest, I'm not as interested as I was before."
"You hit, and now you aren't interested anymore. That's messed up, Walker." Dallas said, laughing.
"Who said I hit?" Noah asked. He didn't really talk about his sex life with anyone and hadn't told anyone what he did with Julie. He found stuff like that to be corny, and besides, he didn't want to damage someone's name by doing something like that. The next thing you know, they would be slandering Julie's name because of him, and he wasn't down with the idea of that.
Dallas grinned. "I'm fucking her roommate, and Julie told her."
Dammit, Julie. She should have kept that to herself.
"She's a cool girl, and it has nothing to do with the sex. It's just that I'm not necessarily feeling her. She's a nice girl, though."
"Yeah, she's nice, alright," Dallas said, and everyone laughed. Noah rolled his eyes as he walked over to the fridge feeling his stomach rumbling. When he opened it, he groaned.
"You don't have no food in here?" Noah asked, annoyed. He was fucking starving, and his stomach was paying for it.
Adam shrugged. "They ate it all."
Noah sighed and slippe
d his shoes on as he headed to the door.
"Where are you going?" Dale asked.
"I'm about to head to the grocery store down the street and put something to eat in this place. I'm starving."
They called out orders to him, but he ignored them all as he headed out the house and walked a few blocks down to the closest grocery store. When he stepped inside, he wondered what he would get to fill his stomach really quick. He didn't want to get anything that would require him to cook. Besides, he was positive that none of them knew how to cook either. It would be a disaster.
Noah walked over to the frozen food section, and when he passed the frozen vegetables, he stopped in his tracks and did a double-take.
"Melanie?" he said hesitantly, and when the woman he spoke to turned around, he was surprised that it was, in fact, her standing there. She looked at him with equally wide eyes before a frown formed on her face. Noah took in her appearance, and he had to admit that he was shocked. He had never seen her like this before. Usually, she was dressed up in her fancy blazers and dress suits. But right now, she was in a pair of tight leggings that showed every curve she had, along with her round ass. She wore a plain t-shirt with a deep V-neck that showed the curve of her breasts, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. It felt like he was seeing her for the first time.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, mouth still hung open as he stared at her.
"I should be asking you that," she said as she closed the fridge door and dropped a bag of frozen peas into her cart. "I live around here, remember?"
And suddenly, like a ton of bricks, he remembered the other night taking her home and how he recognized her area because she did live near Adam. He had forgotten all about it.
"Remember I told you I had a friend who lived close to you?" She nodded. "I was just at his place, but he didn't have any food in his house, so I came to pick up some things."
"Oh," she said as she shifted to the side so she could move out of the way for another person passing by with their cart.