He already had the whole spiel planned out about working two jobs and playing hockey. Hopefully, she was a fan of hockey, and she would give him make-up work instead of Fs.
“The charm, huh? I’m not sure if that’s going to work,” the girl said with a knowing smile.
“It’s working with you, isn’t it?” Noah asked as he leaned closer to her, crowding her against the door. From the little distance between them, he could smell the sweet scent of her perfume. She smelled like honey, and it made him want to put his tongue on her brown skin.
“Noah!”
He was reluctant to look away from those brown eyes that were sucking him in. There was an energy between them right now, and as his eyes flicked down to her lips, he wanted to kiss them to see if they felt as soft as they looked. But the magic of the moment was gone when she turned to look at the person who called his name. Noah bit down his disappointment as he looked to see who had called him.
His friend and teammate, Dale, who was also taking this class, jogged over to them. When he stopped in front of them, his eyes darted back and forth between them with a look of confusion.
“Hey, Noah,” Dale said slowly before giving a curt nod to the girl. The girl nodded back before entering the classroom. They both followed behind her. Noah's eyes lazily roved over the people in the room. There were about fifty students or so piled up in the lecture hall, and it seemed the professor wasn't there yet. Noah recognized some of the people there, including Julie, a girl he had met last year at a frat party. From time to time, their social circles crossed paths, and when they did, Noah would flirt with her. She was a pretty girl who had the whole good girl look with the blond hair, and blue innocence of her eyes that matched her sweet smile. It was the type of look that made a guy want to see if there was something dirty hidden beneath it.
While Julie smiled at him, the guy next to her, Josh Anderson, glared. No one would be able to tell they were teammates. But that was expected. After all, Anderson hated him.
Noah's attention went back to the girl he had just met. He watched as she took a step forward to the front of the class before he grabbed her arm. She looked at him wide-eyed, and Noah wondered what got her so startled. Then he realized that he shouldn't have touched her without her permission. He pulled his hand back.
“You should come sit in the back with me,” he suggested. Noah wanted to get to know her. Something was intriguing about this girl that captured his interest beyond just her looks. If they sat together, it would give him the opportunity to do that. But he knew he definitely wouldn't be able to talk to her if they were sitting in the front of the lecture hall. From the stories he heard about this professor, she definitely wasn't going to let that happen.
“Man, what are you doing?” Dale whispered, but Noah ignored him.
The girl eyed him, a hint of amusement in her gaze. Finally, she said, “I prefer the front."
Damn. She was a tough one.
"Okay," he said. "Maybe you'll change your mind next time."
Noah headed up the steps with Dale hot on his heels, glancing back at the girl who looked at him a little longer before shaking her head. Noah wasn't going to give up, but he could tell that she wasn't going to be an easy one to crack. These types of girls took time.
Again, Dale whispered, but harshly this time, “What the hell are you doing?”
Noah arched a brow, confused by his friend's tone. "What are you talking about?" he asked as he sat down in the second to last row. Julie sat one row ahead of him, and the moment Noah sat down, she looked back at him, giving him a shy wave. Noah winked at her, and she blushed, a huge smile on her face. Anderson looked at the smile on Julie's face with a frown before he glared at Noah again. Noah stifled a sigh. If Anderson had a crush on Julie, judging from the jealous expression on his face, he could go for it. Noah had flirted with Julie a few times here and there and had come close to hooking up with her on multiple occasions, but it wasn't like he was in love with her. She was just another girl he wouldn't mind hooking up with.
Noah turned his attention back to Dale, trying to figure out what his problem was with him flirting with that girl. Was she someone else's girl? The thought of it bothered Noah. He didn't like the idea of her belonging to someone else, especially if it was a guy who wasn't deserving of her. And even if she was taken, Noah wasn't sure if that was going to stop his pursuit. Usually, he respected people's relationships and didn't cross a line of messing with someone else's girl, but this was different. He wanted to know her, and nothing would stop him.
“I’m talking about…”
Dale's words became white noise in Noah's ears as he looked at the front of the lecture hall to see where the girl was sitting, only to notice that she was not in the front row, but at the front, more specifically, the professor's desk. She laid the papers she had out on the table, shuffling through them and putting them in order before she neatly placed them in a pile.
Everything suddenly clicked.
“…remember when I told you we had our professor changed to a new one. She—” Dale jutted a finger in the direction of where the girl, or should he say, woman, stood behind the desk— “is our professor. She’s the hard-ass who's been making all of our lives hell. Man, were you just flirting with her? You couldn’t have been. I mean, I know you chase after a lot of chicks, but it’s no way in hell that even you’ll be bold enough to shoot your shot with a professor.”
Noah could barely listen to anything his friend said as he continued to stare at the woman, his professor, behind the desk, dumbfounded. Noah looked closer, ignoring his attraction for her. And with taking a closer look, despite her young appearance, because she definitely looked young compared to all the other professors he had seen, he could see that there was a maturity to her. No wonder she was dressed in fancy clothes. No wonder she had been looking at him as if he had two heads.
Dale was right. He had been flirting with his professor. He felt like a fool, left speechless, as he remembered everything he had said to her.
Hey, beautiful.
Not even a number.
Saddled with some hard-ass
It’s working with you, isn’t it?
"Fuck," he muttered, embarrassment flush beneath his skin. No wonder she hadn't been paying attention to him, paying him as much mind as a person would pay to a fly. She knew he was her student.
“What?” Dale whispered curiously. “Did she say anything to you? She doesn’t take attendance, but that doesn’t matter because we get daily points for participation, and it’s a big ass chunk of our fucking grade, man. So pretty much, you have no choice but to attend class, and you missed a whole two weeks.”
