“I don’t know, but it really is.” He took a sip from his juice box.
I started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s just… you look like a model and you’re drinking from a juice box. It’s like, the sexiest apple juice ad ever.”
“Marketing at its finest?”
“Absolutely.”
Professor Hunter laughed. “What do you want to do with our day off tomorrow?”
“It’s not really a day off. I’m supposed to just recuperate, right?”
“We’re both ditching class. So it’s kind of a day off. We can do whatever you want.”
“I think I’d like to see what a normal day is like for you. The behind the professor’s facade special.”
“You do like to watch a lot of T. V., huh?”
“I don’t think I watch an unusual amount. You’re the weird one. Who doesn’t have a T. V.?”
Professor Hunter shrugged. “Sometimes I watch stuff on my computer. Speaking of which, I need to send out that email about canceling class. I’ll be right back.”
“It really is okay if you need to go to class.”
“I don’t need to.” He kissed me and slid off the stool. He went over to the door I had never been through and disappeared behind it.
I grabbed another slice of pizza. I was glad we had ended up talking about everything. There was this calmness between us now. We had been surviving through tension and now we wouldn’t need to. It had been a long time since I had felt so relaxed.
A few minutes later my phone vibrated. I picked it up and slid my thumb across the screen. Professor Hunter had sent the email.
“Comm 212 is canceled tomorrow morning as well. I’ve had some pressing personal matters that have needed my attention. But speeches will resume as planned. Everyone with last names beginning with A through M will be going Wednesday, and everyone else will go on Friday. I will have my regular office hours on Tuesday if you have any questions. Please feel free to email me as well. I’m looking forward to hearing your speeches.”
-Professor J. Hunter
There were several unread text messages on my phone, but I decided not to read them. I put my phone back in my pocket and wandered to the door that Professor Hunter had disappeared through. I knocked lightly on the door, but there was no response. I slowly opened the door.
“Professor Hunter?” My voice echoed down a hallway. I had expected to find one room, not a hallway. There were several doors lining the right side. All along the left side were potted plants. It was like I had stepped out of an apartment and into a fancy office. I stood there for a moment, thinking about what to do. It seemed like snooping if I opened every door. But then I heard his voice at the end of the corridor. I walked toward the door at the end of the hallway. I was about to knock when I heard him talking again.
“Send the photos when you have them.”
Silence.
“That’s fine. I just need it done.”
Silence.
“By the end of the week at the latest.”
Silence.
“No, I’ll need it delivered. I don’t want a cyber footprint on this. Thanks, Max.”
What the hell is he talking about? I had heard the term cyber footprint in class before. It was like the paper trail of the internet. But why was he worried about one?
I knocked on the door. “Professor Hunter?”
I heard the shuffling of papers. A drawer opened and closed. And then Professor Hunter opened the door.
“So I’m a pressing personal matter?” I smiled up at him. He was blocking my view of the room.
“Yes.”
I glanced over my shoulder down the hallway. “Your apartment is a lot bigger than I realized.”
“Do you want me to give you a tour?” He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. He grabbed my hand to lead me down the hall, but I didn’t move.
“Well, what’s in there?” I nodded my head at the door he had just come from.
“It’s my office. Nothing fancy.”
“I’d like to see that.” I tried to give him my most innocent smile.
“It’s kind of messy.”
“Good, because the rest of your apartment is unnervingly clean.” I stood up on my tiptoes and clasped my hands behind his neck. “Please?”
“It’s really not much to see.”
“So it doesn’t matter if I see it then.”
He smiled at me. “Whatever you want.” He opened the door back up. I let go of him and walked past him into the room.
It was just as big as his bedroom. The room was long and wrapped back around to the front of the apartment so that there were windows overlooking Main Street to one side. All the furniture was modern and the room had kind of a sleek vibe to it. His desk was positioned near the window to get the best view. Two of the walls were covered in floor to ceiling bookcases. There was a whiteboard on the other wall, covered in some type of mathematical formulas, but nothing I knew how to decipher. He hadn’t been joking. The room was clean, but there was stuff everywhere. It was a lot more like what I assumed a bachelor pad would look like. There was even a dartboard and a little basketball hoop above the trash can.
“You’re kind of a hoarder,” I said as I walked farther into the room.
“I’m not a hoarder,” he laughed. “I actually use all this stuff.”
“What on earth do you need this many computers for?” There were at least a dozen throughout the room.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“And you do have T. V.’s.” There were a few mounted next to the whiteboard.
“Oh. Well, yes, but I just use them as monitors. They’re hooked up to my computers.”
I looked at the leather sofa in the corner. There was a pillow and a blanket on it. “So the rest of your apartment is immaculate because you spend all your time in here?”
“I spend most of my free time in here, yes.”