The blood drained out of my face so fast, I couldfeelits descent, and I stopped breathing entirely. Somehow, despite my middle of the room placement, the teacher’s unforgettably green eyes locked on mine.
I hadn’t kissed a hot classmate in the library—I’d kissed myteacher!
3
EVELYN
Iswore that the world just stopped spinning for the few seconds our gazes clashed. In that time, I debated if I was going to panic or vomit, and in the end, when he finally removed his intense stare from my burning face to give the rest of the class his attention, I did neither.
“You okay?” Andrew whispered as he gently nudged me, and it took me forever to find my brain to answer.
“I—Yeah. Fuck.” Okay, so maybe I didn’t exactly find my brain.
The slightest of smiles tilted up his lips. “You’ve really painted a picture for me, Eve. I feel like I was there.”
For some unknown reason, that snapped me out of my state of shock, and I pulled what was left of myself together. My therapist might have given me a laundry list for what I was going through, but he’d never once said I was a complete basket case—no matter how fucked up I acted.
The last two daysreallyhad me second-guessing his qualifications.
Ethan moved toward a screen and started to set up the firstslide, so I leaned closer and mumbled, “Sorry, it’s just been a lot. First day at a new college and all that.”
Andrew patted my hand, and I was surprised to find that the heated sweep of his fingers felt comforting, rather than weirdly invasive, even though we’d only just met. I couldn’t shake the familiarity he exuded, and I tried to place its origins.
In truth, it was nice to feel anything that wasn’t anxiety or terror. Between the kiss last night and meetingtwonew possible friends, I’d stepped way out of my comfort zone. Qualified or not, Dr. Graystone would be proud of me.
Realizing that I’d kind of checked out of the class already, I focused on the professor. Or at least on a spot just over the top of his head, so I wasn’t sucked into the depths of his eyes.
“—not going to be an easy course. If you don’t absolutely need this for your degree and you joined for an easy pass, you should walk out now and change to Professor Simmons. He’s here for the laughs.”
Economics of Crime was essential for my degree, but even so, there was a part of me tempted to walk out anyway. It’d save him failing me after my unintentional sexual assault in the library.
Was it still classified as assault when they kissed you back? Maybe more of an uninvited attack via the lips…which actually didn’t sound any better.
I doubted he’d tell anyone; he’d returned that kiss and surely he knew I was a student. We were both adults and legal, of course, but every college had rules about students and teachers fraternizing. Rules he didn’t appear to give a fuck about as he continued to let that enigmatic gaze of his rest on my face. If he didn’t stop soon, everyone in the class would be wondering what was going on.
Squirming in my seat, I sank behind my laptop to block his view, relieved when he spent the next forty minutes going over everything we’d cover in this course, without letting hisattention rest on me. He outlined the four major assignments due throughout the year, along with a ton of reading that I already planned to get ahead on this weekend.
I was a straight-A student, which I got by working my ass off. This class, I’d be giving two hundred percent. No fucking way would I let Professor Ethan Sullivan screw my future because I made one terrible mistake.
Even if it meant I needed to apologize first and explain my breakdown, so he’d hopefully dismiss it.
When the hourlong class was over, I was impressed by Ethan’s intelligence. No matter what questions students asked, he had a detailed explanationthat actually made sense. This could have been one of my favorite college classes of all time, but instead, it’d be spent in panic and silence.
After packing up quickly, I joined the mass exodus of students with the intention of avoiding a confrontation. I knew I had to apologize, but I wasn’t in the headspace for it today. I needed at least two or three weeks of sleepless nights and anxiety before I’d run over every possible scenario in my head. Only then would I be ready.
Andrew called my name as I hurried down the stairs, but I didn’t look back. No time for friendships when one had embarrassment to run from. There was another deep, familiar rumble of my name as I closed in on the exit, and I knew exactly who wanted my attention.
Acting as if I didn’t hear the professor, I made my way outside and breathed in the fresh air, sunshine warming my face.That was too fucking close.Pulling my bag to my chest, I decided to head for the dining hall and grab some food, all the while wondering how I kept getting myself into these sorts of messes.
I’d thought my greatest worry after my kiss-attack had been the possible wrath of an absolute ten of a girlfriend. Now, that didn’t even feel like a concern. Unless she was a professor ofanother one of my classes, leaving me at risk of two failures. Eeep.
“Girl, why do you look like you’re about to shit yourself?” I swung around to find Nina with a concerned look on her face as she took in my panting, sweating, panicking self. Her brows drew slowly together. “Did you confuse numbers again?”
I opened my mouth and then slammed it close. I couldn’t tell her about Ethan, not if I wanted to ensure my enrolment here remained valid. Forcing a laugh I said, “Oh, no. I met this guy named Andrew, and he was…intense.”
Poor Andrew didn’t deserve to cop the blame, but I’d blanked on any other excuse.
Nina’s expression cleared, like the sun peeking out of a stormy sky. Apparently, boy drama made perfect sense to her. “There are only three Andrews here worthy of that reaction.” She linked our arms together and leading me toward the counter to order food. “What does he look like?”
