Wednesday
On Wednesday morning I was twenty minutes early for class. I drummed my fingers across my desk as I impatiently waited for Professor Hunter to come through the door. As the clock slowly ticked forward, students eventually started to arrive.
Tyler sat down next to me. “So how did you do on your first speech?” he asked.
I felt my face blushing. “Really well, actually.” It didn’t feel like a lie. Hopefully Professor Hunter would change my grade to the A it originally was.
“I knew it,” he said and nudged my shoulder playfully. “What are you feeling for lunch today?”
I had been so consumed by Professor Hunter that I had nearly forgotten about lunch. And Melissa. Oh no, the luau. “Do you want to just get pizza somewhere?”
“Pizza sounds perfect. How about Grottos?”
“I was hoping you’d say that. It’s my favorite.” I smiled.
The class drew quiet when Professor Hunter entered the room and I stopped breathing momentarily. He pulled his satchel off over his head and placed it on his desk. He was more dressed up than usual in dress pants and a button down shirt. A tie was tucked behind a vest that matched his pants.
“I only had a few people complain to me about their grades, so I’m glad that we’re all on the same page. I think we’ll all be seeing even better speeches for the next assignment. Speaking of which, have any of you read ahead in the syllabus to find out what the next speech is about?”
A girl in the front center of the classroom raised her hand.
“Yes, Miss Snyder?”
“We’re supposed to tell you about why we chose our majors.”
“Precisely. There’s usually a pretty personal reason why we choose the majors that we do. Whether it’s about who you want to become, impressing your parents, or maybe just not knowing what the heck you want to do after you graduate. I find this topic to be quite beneficial for seniors, because maybe a look inside that true reason will help you decide which jobs you should be starting to apply to. So today let’s go around and state what your majors are and one thing you love about them. Raymond, you’re up.” Professor Hunter sat down in his chair.
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.
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.”