“Glad to see you in my class, Julie,” Melanie said, greeting her with a warm smile. Julie smiled back.
“Thanks, Professor Bryant,” she said. When Melanie noticed the way Julie buckled back and forth on the bottom of her heels, and how her eyes darted around in nowhere in particular, Melanie could tell Julie had come to her with a question.
“How may I help you, Julie? Was there something you didn’t understand on the syllabus?” Melanie asked curiously, wondering what Julie had to ask her. Luckily, unlike Melanie's other classes, there was not another class that immediately followed this one with this being her last course for the day.
“I want to ask if I can be one of your student helpers,” Julie said as she nervously played with the straps on her bag. “I really want to learn more, and I think if I’m able to work under you, I’ll be able to do that. Now that I’ve changed my major to psychology, I really want to catch up and learn as much as I possibly can.”
“So, you want to be like a Teacher’s Assistant?” Melanie asked. Usually, Teacher’s Assistants were only reserved for grad students. And Melanie wasn’t quite sure that she really needed a student helper, but seeing how eager Julie was to learn, Melanie felt bad at the thought of denying her. Julie was a smart girl who genuinely held an interest in psychology. Melanie didn't want to be the one to deter her from learning more. Besides, it never hurt to have too much help.
“Okay,” Melanie said, ignoring the nagging part of her that told her this was a bad idea; that nagging part that knew about Julie’s crush on Noah. But then again, it didn’t really matter too much. It’s not like Noah was taking one of her classes, nor could Melanie stop it if Noah and Julie were to take another course together this year. With general courses, anything was possible.
“You can help during my Developmental Psychology course on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.”
“Oh my gosh,” Julie said as she bounced on her heels. “Thank you so much, Professor Bryant. I really appreciate this.”
“Do you have a class coming up now?” Melanie asked as she grabbed her bag. Julie shook her head.
“Good. Follow me to my office so I can give you some of the things you need. The students will ask you questions, so it will be helpful that you remain ahead of them as much as you can.”
While they walked out of the building across the campus to Prince Hall, where Melanie’s office was, Melanie went over some of the things Julie would need to do. Though Melanie was glad that Julie was eager, that didn’t mean she would simply go easy on her because of it either. Julie would have to work hard if she wanted this, and Melanie would not put up with her slacking or missing days. The one thing Melanie hated most in this world were people half-assing their jobs.
When they finally made it to her office, Melanie sorted through some of her paperwork for her Developmental Psychology course while also printing out some of the necessary files Julie would need. They were barely in her office for ten minutes before there was a knock on her door, and someone stepped inside. Melanie sucked in a breath when she saw Noah. Noah gave her a warm smile, the one he always gave her in the mornings before he kissed her breathless. That smile immediately disappeared when he saw Julie. He arched a brow, confused. Melanie couldn’t blame him. It wasn't her office hours, and Melanie forgot that she told Noah this morning that around this time, they would leave campus so they could get lunch together.
“Hey, Noah,” Julie said as she stood from her chair. A deep frown appeared on her face as she looked at him curiously. “Wait. Why are you here? You aren’t a psychology major.”
Once again, Melanie found herself breathless. To say she was scared was an understatement. She was terrified. When Melanie realized she and Noah would be leaving their safe haven to go out into the real world, she knew that everything would change for them. Melanie knew she would have to worry about the judgment of others, and that they would have to keep their relationship a secret. She also knew that it was small moments like these that could escalate into something big. One small moment of someone noticing something strange could change everything. Julie could go from asking why Noah was here now to later asking why Noah was always spending time with his professor. That’s how it always started and almost always ended tragically.
Melanie tried to find some excuse to tell Julie so she would not become suspicious of their relationship. At first, it would have been easy to say that Noah was here for classwork or tutoring. But Noah wasn’t a psychology major, and he had already passed her class. There was really no reason for him being here, not one that people would believe anyway.
“I don’t take psychology courses anymore because I don’t have the time, but I really enjoyed learning it, so Mel— Professor Bryant was nice enough to keep teaching me during her spare time. I still like to learn from her. She’s a great…motivator.”
Melanie slapped on a forced smile as her eyes glared daggers at him. She had a feeling that motivator comment had a double meaning to it.
When Melanie heard her printer beep, indicating that everything had been printed, she grabbed the last of the paperwork Julie would need and handed them to her.
“Just make sure you go over all of these before you start next week,” Melanie advised her. “I’ll quiz you on it.”
“Okay,” Julie said as she grabbed the papers handed to her and carefully placed them in her bag. “Thanks so much again. I’ll be going now.”
And though Julie had said it, she wasn’t necessarily moving fast enough. It seemed she had adopted the movements of a snail as she made her way to the door. As Julie walked to the door, she kept glancing back at Noah, who had made his way further into the room, comfortably dropping his bag down and sitting in the seat Julie had once been in. When Julie grabbed the doorknob, she completely halted her movements.
“Um, Noah,” Julie started, and Noah, who had been grinning at Melanie, turned back to look at Julie. “Have you eaten lunch yet?”
It was clearly an invitation to eat lunch, and Melanie had neither the time to think about being jealous nor sad before Noah quickly replied.
“Yeah, I did,” which was clearly a rejection. When you liked someone, it didn’t matter if you ate or not, you would still go out to eat with them.
Melanie tried not to wince as she pretended like she was looking through paperwork, no longer wanting to see the disappointment on Julie's face. Melanie had been in the position before of liking someone who didn't even know she existed. It wasn't fun at all.
“Okay, see you later, then.”
When the door closed behind her, Melanie dropped the facade and glared at Noah as she placed her hands on her hips.
“What?” Noah asked as he raised his hands in mock surrender.
“That was rude,” Melanie said, empathizing with Julie. “You could have at least made up some excuse and been nice about it.”
“Most girls would be happy if their man shut another girl down.”
