I was sitting on my bed daydreaming. The T. V. was on so that Melissa wouldn’t grow suspicious of the glazed look over my eyes. She was too good at identifying my different moods. Just thinking about what had happened earlier made my heart race.
My phone buzzed. When I looked down I gulped. It was Professor Hunter. I had been hoping all day that he’d text me, and now he finally had. The message read: “I see that you’ve taken another one of my sweaters.”
I felt the smile spread over my face. I typed out, “I was a bit chilly after you left me naked and alone in your office, Professor Hunter,” and pressed send.
Professor Hunter: “I apologize for my abrupt departure. But you barged into my office at a rather inconvenient time.”
Me: “And when would be a convenient time?”
I heard Melissa’s book slam shut, and I jumped slightly.
“You should see the look on your face, Penny. Who on earth are you talking to?!” Melissa asked and flung one of the pillows off her bed and at my face.
I dodged the pillow and looked up at her, but I couldn’t get the stupid smile off my face. “No one,” I said, and quickly exited out of my message thread with Professor Hunter and slid my phone under my covers.
“Oh my God, Penny. I’ve never seen you like this. Tell me!”
“No one, Melissa. I was just looking through some old messages.” I could feel my face blushing. I was such an awful liar.
“Bullshit! If you were looking at old messages then I would have seen you acting like this whenever you got them in the first place. Give me your phone.” Melissa hoped off her bed and ran over to me.
Oh crap! I couldn’t let her see the messages that I had been sending to Professor Hunter. “Tyler!” I almost screamed. “It’s Tyler, okay.”
Melissa squealed and jumped onto my bed. “I was hoping this would happen! You and Tyler are so cute together. And this is so perfect. Since Josh and Tyler are friends, now the four of us can hang out all the time!”
I tried to hide my sigh. “Right now we’re just having fun flirting, okay? No double dates yet. Please, Melissa? I’m begging you.”
“Fine,” she rolled her eyes and hopped off my bed. “But you’ll be happy to know that Sigma Pi is having another party this Friday. So we can at least get ready together.”
“He hasn’t asked me to come,” I protested.
“Then just ask him about it.”
“But we’re taking things slow. If he hasn’t asked me, he probably doesn’t want me to come.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Penny. Just ask him then. Clearly you’re both into each other.”
“But…”
“If you don’t do it, I’ll text him for you.” She had that stubborn look on her face. She always seemed to get whatever she wanted.
This was a complete disaster. I didn’t see a way out of this one. If Melissa got my phone she’d open up my messages and see that I had been texting Professor Hunter. Game over. But wasn’t it already over? I silently wished that just this once really meant this is just the start.
“Okay, fine,” I conceded. “We’re going to lunch on Wednesday, so I’ll ask him then.” I had planned on canceling lunch after what had happened this afternoon. Now, not only was I not canceling, but I was making yet another date with Tyler. I felt awful.
Melissa seemed content with my response. “Let’s go shopping sometime this week, okay? I don’t think you have anything appropriate for the party’s theme.”
“Oh God, what is the theme?”
“Guess.”
“Conservative outfits throughout the ages?”
“Toss me that pillow back so I can throw it at you again!”
“Just tell me the theme.”
“It’s going to be a luau!”
“You mean like tiki torches and everyone running around in bathing suits?”
“Yep.” She clapped her hands together in excitement.
“Yeah, I’m not going to that.”
“I swear, Penny, you’re going to end up being a lonely cat lady if you keep acting like that. Take a risk every now and then.” Melissa sighed and sat back on her bed.
I couldn’t help but smile. If she had any idea what I had done with Professor Hunter she’d be high-fiving me instead of scolding me. I had to resist the urge to tell her.
“I’ll ask Tyler about it on Wednesday like I said. Goodnight, Melissa.” I switched off the light on my desk and pulled the covers up under my neck. Pretending to be asleep, I closed my eyes and listened to Melissa turn off her light and get in bed. When I heard her light snoring, I lifted my covers over my head and pulled out my phone.
There was a message from Professor Hunter. “It would be most convenient after you graduate in the spring.”
I held my breath. The lie of me being a senior was looming over my head. He had assumed I was a senior like everyone else in his Comm class seemed to be. And he had escorted me home one night because I was drunk. I couldn’t tell him the truth. But what would he do when he found out I was only a sophomore? Maybe he wouldn’t care. He liked me. He didn’t want it to be just a one-time thing either. He wanted to date me after I was no longer a student.
“What happened to just this once?” I replied.
A minute later I got his response. “We can discuss it over dinner. I will pick you up on Saturday at 8.”
I pulled my phone to my chest and smiled. I had a date with Professor Hunter. A date! I liked how affirmative he was. I gulped, remembering his lips on my neck.
“I’ll be waiting,” I typed back and pressed send. He was as addicted as me. I fell asleep dreaming about our tryst.