by Bee Daniels
"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" Melanie asked as she looked at him again. And when Noah looked at her, his lips were mere inches from her own. She stared into his blue eyes, and before she knew it, they were joined as one as his lips pressed against hers. And once it happened, whatever hold they had on their sobriety was gone as they kissed each other. His lips were softer than she had expected and felt good against her own. She pressed closer to him as his tongue swept across the seam of her lips, requesting entrance, and Melanie obliged. When she felt his tongue lick her own, she quivered. Even with the hint of alcohol on his tongue, he tasted so good. She could get drunk on this.
His hands moved from her shoulders down to her lower back, setting her body on fire before he grabbed and squeezed her ass. They kissed and kissed, over and over again, their mouths becoming numb as their tongues massaged each other, and Melanie became incredibly wet, especially with Noah's hands caressing her. Oh fuck. She wanted him. And if they kept going on any longer, she would fuck him in this closet.
When Noah pushed her against the wall, they stumbled over some boxes.
"What was that?" Jeanna, Melanie's student, asked.
Noah and Melanie paused, their lips just inches from each other as they waited. And Melanie found she didn't even care about getting caught as much as she did before as she captured Noah's bottom lip and sucked on it. But Noah seemed to be in his right mind as he stopped her, and Melanie nearly whined, wanting to stamp her foot like a child. She wanted to kiss him again.
"It's nothing. Some shoes probably fell," the boy said, and soon the sounds of moans filled the room again.
"Can you kiss me again now?" Melanie whispered. Noah looked at her with hard eyes, and Melanie wondered what she did wrong before Noah picked her up, pressing her against the wall, and she could feel his hardness as he directly pressed himself against her center. Oh.
"Fuck, you're driving me crazy," Noah whispered before he kissed her deeply, grinding himself into her. And it drove Melanie crazy. She could have stayed here and kissed him all night, and maybe even have done a little more until someone else burst into the room.
"Melanie?"
Wait. Was that Abigail?
Noah slowly placed her down, and they both peered through the slats of the closet door to see Abigail.
"Don't you know how to knock?" Jeanna exclaimed, covering her chest. Though luckily, her bra was still on.
"The police are here," Abigail announced.
"Oh shit," the boy said as he pulled his pants up and buckled them. "We got to get the fuck out of here."
Quickly, they fled the room, and it was only then that Melanie noticed she left her shoes on the floor.
"Mel," Abigail called in a sing-song tone, and for some reason, Melanie didn't want to leave the closet because she felt like she was doing her own version of the walk of shame. And not the kiddy version either. The Game of Thrones version where Cersei Lannister was naked and had food thrown at her because that's how dirty she felt.
She opened the closet door, and when Abigail saw her and Noah, her eyes widened. Maybe she wouldn't know. It's not like she wore any lipstick, so it wouldn't be on his lips. Maybe they could get away with it until Abigail's eyes trailed down and Melanie suddenly remembered that Noah had lifted up her shirt, and she reached to pull down the bunched fabric before she glared at him.
"Did you both…" Abigail started before shaking her head. "We have to go. The police are here, and they're shutting down the party."
"Fuck," Noah said as he wiped his face. Abigail grabbed her heels for her and grabbed her wrist.
"Let's go, Drunk One," Abigail said. "You're so going to regret this in the morning."
Melanie stumbled after her and looked back at Noah one more time. He was watching her with a pensive stare, and Melanie didn't have long to question it before her view of him was gone.
CHAPTER
21
MELANIE
W
HEN MELANIE WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING AFTER THE GAME, she had a splitting headache that made her wish she had stayed asleep for another week before waking up. She groaned, blinking rapidly as she sat up. Big mistake. She jumped from her bed, ran into her bathroom, and hurled the contents in her stomach. This was why she never liked to get drunk. Though it was fun in the moment, it was a pain in the ass later on that made it feel like it wasn't worth it. Besides, she had never been good with her liquor. One glass of it, and it seemed like she had drunk a whole bottle of Hennessey herself.
Once she finished, Melanie cleaned up the mess she made, washed her face and brushed her teeth, and stumbled her way to the kitchen. She would make herself something good to eat that would help her stomach and nurse her headache. But to her delight and surprise, Abigail was already in the kitchen cooking.
"I love you so much," Melanie said as she hugged her friend tight. "This is why you're my friend, though I question it every now and again."
"You should be thanking me for much more than this," Abigail said pointedly as she turned the fire off on the stove and scooped the soup out of the pot, placing it in two separate bowls. Once she finished, Melanie helped her carry the food over to the dining room table, where they sat down and began to eat.
"Thank you for what?" Melanie asked, wincing from the effects of the headache she still felt. Besides the game, the rest of the night felt like a blur to her. She couldn't remember much but having a good time at the hockey game. She remembered them winning and seeing Noah on the ice, and how he shot a puck for her.
"Wait. You don't remember?" Abigail asked in disbelief as her spoon clattered against the table. Melanie placed her spoon down as she frowned deeply.
"What happened?" she asked, somewhat nervous. Had she made a fool of herself? Oh no. This was why she didn't drink. She remembered Noah and Abigail hassling her to go to some party. She remembered hiding the whole night, and she remembered drinking a cup or two and going upstairs…
"What the fuck!" Melanie uttered as she jumped from her seat. Her eyes bulged out to the point that they hurt, and it didn't help that she still had a headache. She should be sitting down. She should be eating this food before she popped a couple of aspirins and went back to sleep, but how could she do that when she now remembered what happened last night. Clips of memories played back in Melanie's head of her lying in bed with Noah while he told her she was beautiful and that he wanted to spend his night with her, how she had embarrassingly run inside of the closet, and what they did in that closet. She made out with Noah Walker. She made out with her student. And it wasn't just a peck on the lips. There was a lot of tongue, and he touched and she…
Melanie nearly screamed.
"I'm a molester," she said as her heart raced.
Abigail rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. It's not like you had sex with him. Did you? I mean your pants were kind—"
"No!" Melanie yelled before she found herself frowning. Did she? Right now, her memories were discombobulated. It wasn't like a whole memory, but instead, clippings of what happened. But they couldn't have had sex. There was no way.
"Well, if you didn't do that, then all you did was kiss him. It's not like it's the end of the world. You were drunk and you kissed him."
"I'm the adult in this situation. It's my job to be responsible. I had no right being at that party anyway." Melanie glared at Abigail, who raised her hands in a non-guilty gesture.
"How am I at fault? How was I to know you were going to sneak upstairs and start making out with him? But, then again, I saw this coming."
"You saw what coming?" Melanie asked as she paced back and forth. She didn't see any of this coming. When she first met Noah, she didn't think she would lose her job because of him. If that was the case, she would have definitely let him fail her class.
"It's so clear that you like each other. The sexual tension is there. You spend all of your time with him—"
"That's not true!"
"Bu
t you do! Every time I call you, it's 'I'm going to lunch with Noah this,' and 'I'm going to dinner with Noah that,' and 'I'm tutori—"
"It's my job to tutor him. And the reason we go to lunch and dinner is because of bets, not because of romantic stuff. We have a professor and student relationship. Nothing more."
Abigail sighed as she picked up her spoon again. "You're definitely more than professor and student. You're friends, right?"
Melanie sighed as she sat back down, and when she tried to pick up her spoon, she realized she lost her appetite. She felt dirty like she had taken advantage of Noah. He was a young, hormonal teenager. Of course, this probably meant nothing to him. But had this been the other way around, then Abigail definitely wouldn't have been so relaxed about this. Then again, maybe Abi wasn't the best one to play devil's advocate with because Melanie remembered the many times Abi had flirted with some of their professors that were deemed hot, and sometimes, Melanie suspected Abi had done something with them, but she wasn't sure.
"We are friends," Melanie admitted, and then she felt a pang in her chest as she started to mourn their friendship. To be honest, she liked Noah a lot. Not as a man but as a friend. She got along with him really well and he was hilarious. Abigail was right. She did spend a good amount of her time with him, and she didn't get tired of it either. It felt good to be around him. It felt good to laugh with him, and argue with him, and eat with him. But now, all of that would be over. She couldn't do anything with him anymore. She would probably have to cut the tutoring. Clearly, they had gotten too close.
"There's no reason to be so down about this. You were drunk, and you kissed him. You didn't have sex with him—"
"But that's the problem, Abi. I almost did."
She could remember the way she felt that night. She could remember how she wanted to remove his shirt and unbuckle his pants. If it wasn't for Abigail, she probably would have been on all fours with Noah behind her. She wanted that.
"Melanie, let this go. Talk to him and apologize. And whatever you do, please don't do your goody-two shoe thing and tell the board about what you did. I'm pretty sure Noah isn't even stressing about this. Hell, he probably doesn't remember."
"It doesn't make it right."
"Melanie, I swear if you make this bigger than what it is, I'm going to hurt you. Now, sit down and eat your food."
Melanie sighed before she shoveled a spoonful of soup in her mouth. Honestly, with the way she felt right now, she could go the rest of her life without seeing Noah Walker.
CHAPTER
22
NOAH
“N
OAH, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Coach Benson barked, his voice echoing throughout the hockey rink. Noah's blades sliced into the ice until he stopped. This was his fourth time missing the puck in a row. Usually, doing drills like this was easy for him. He had done drills like this his whole life, but right now, he couldn't concentrate at all.
"Where is your head at?" Coach Benson asked, shaking his head. "Get the hell off my ice and get yourself together."
Noah gritted his teeth before skating off the ice. A couple of his teammates slapped his back with empathy, but Noah shrugged them off. He wasn't in the mood, and to be honest, Coach Benson was right to kick him off the ice right now, even if they were just practicing. He couldn't concentrate. His mind was somewhere else, and Noah knew exactly where it was— back at Dex’s party yesterday, specifically in his parents’ bedroom closet.
That kiss…that kiss was something he hadn't expected. But then again, everything about that night was something he hadn't expected. When he won the game that night, he was on a high that he couldn't come down from. Their team had worked hard and beat one of their rivals, and while he was out on the ice, Noah saw something he thought he would never see— Melanie in the stands watching him as he played. Noah figured he would never be able to get her to come after asking her multiple times. He almost gave up on the idea. Noah didn't know why he wanted Melanie to watch him play so bad. He had many people watching him while he played on the ice— family, friends, recruiters, fans, people all over the world watching him as he played, but there was something about knowing that her brown eyes were watching him. It gave him the energy and confidence he needed to close out the game with that winning shot because he wanted to impress her.
He wanted her to see why being out on the ice meant so much to him, and she saw it. When she acknowledged him, it made him feel good, and that high he had felt, he didn't want to lose it. So, he invited her to a party because he wanted to share his win with her. But who was he fooling? He always wanted to spend his time with Melanie. She was more than just his professor. She was his friend, his partner, the person he shared his day with, the person he texted about the random stuff he saw.
But now, he realized she was something else to him.
Instead of sitting on the bench, Noah took off his skates and walked to the locker rooms. He knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate, so there was no point in staying. All he could think about was Melanie's lip, so much so, that he couldn't shoot a puck correctly. Those full, plump lips, so soft and sweet, had caressed his own. She even sucked on his lips. It was so fucking sexy. Everything about her was sexy that night. He would have never imagined that she would get so loose on one drink alone. She couldn't hold her liquor, and within minutes, she had turned into a different Melanie— a wild, impulsive Melanie, who didn't overthink.
If the other Melanie were there, the one he knew personally, she would have never let it get that far. She would have never kissed him or said half of the things she had told him. That night would have never happened. And it wasn't just because she was Melanie, an overachiever who spent way too much of her time making sure she got everything done right. It was because she was his professor.
Sometimes, it was hard to wrap his mind around it. Yeah, he went to her class. Yeah, she tutored him. But she was still just Melanie to him. When he was around her, she didn't feel like his professor. She had, at one point, in the beginning. But that was a different time. That was when she was Professor Bryant to him, the teacher he didn't like because she made his life difficult and was standing in the way of his dreams. Professor Bryant, he wasn't attracted to.
But Melanie, the Melanie that night who kissed him and rubbed against him, running her fingers through his hair and moaning in his ear, that Melanie, he was attracted to. That Melanie he wanted to fuck over and over again until she screamed his name.
But that wouldn't be able to happen, because even if she was Melanie to him now, it didn't change the fact that she was still his professor.
Damn.
Noah ripped off his gear and went to the shower hall, letting the hot water rain down on his back. When more than enough time passed by for the skin on his fingers to turn into raisins, he turned off the water and put on his clothes just as the team started filtering in. Dale walked over to his locker with a lazy stroll, clucking his teeth.
"The coach is not happy with you," Dale said in a sing-song tone, and Noah rolled his eyes. He didn't care. None of that mattered to him right now. The only thing that mattered to him was what was going to happen when Monday came around. How would Melanie react? Would she even remember? If Melanie did remember, would she talk to him? Or would she ignore him like it never happened?
The thought of her ignoring him got under his skin. He didn't like it when Melanie ignored him at all. At times, when it came down to her, he felt like a brat trying to hog all of her attention. He couldn't help it when it came to her. He wanted her to see him, to understand him, to like him.
"After Coach Benson gets in your ass, are you coming to the party tonight?"
"There's another party?" Noah asked with a groan. He was barely getting over the last one. He hadn't been that drunk on liquor, but he was definitely drunk off Melanie's lips, and he wanted another taste again.
"Of course, there's another party. And this one is going to be better than the la
st one. It's at Dallas's place." The last time Noah had been over Dallas's place was when he had gone grocery shopping with Melanie. His place was in Melanie's neighborhood.
"I'll think about it," Noah said as he grabbed his bag, preparing himself to face the music with Coach Benson.
"Come on, Noah. You have to go. All the girls always come when you're there. And guess what. Julie is going to be there too. She was asking about you."
Maybe if he had some fun tonight, it would take his mind off the impossible— being with Melanie. There was a high possibility that come Monday, everything would change. No more tutoring, no more texting, no more friendship. He might as well get drunk and not think about it anymore.
"Alright," Noah said, shrugging.
"So, all I had to say was Julie's name, and now you're coming. You must really like that girl."
Noah didn't bother to correct Dale as he slammed his locker shut. He wasn't thinking about Julie at all. He was thinking about someone else entirely.
CHAPTER
23
NOAH
T
HE NIGHT NOAH PARTIED WITH MELANIE AND HER FRIEND, ABIGAIL, NOAH HAD BEEN SLIGHTLY DRUNK, TIPSY AT BEST. He had most of his motor skills, and with a couple of bottles of water, had even been able to drive himself home. But tonight was different. He was definitely drunk, having one too many red cups that, right now, made the world tilt on its axis.
Everything was hazy, but all that mattered right now was how good he felt, and that he wasn't thinking about Monday. The party was crazy and packed to the max. People yelled and danced; a few even made use of the pool in the back. Just like what you would expect from any of Dallas's parties, it was a night to remember, and Noah was glad he came out tonight until the cops came.