“Thank you, and it’s nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too,” he replies with a smile, but his smile changes and his eyes light up slightly, as if in recognition. “So you’re the girl who’s got this miserable bastard all worked up.”
Dwight nudges him into his ribs with his elbow and shakes his head in warning, and an awkward silence falls between us. Dwight looks in every other direction avoiding meeting my eyes.
Dwight’s talked about me?
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I say shyly, trying to break the silence, feeling my cheeks begin to warm.
“Here’s your latte,” Amy says, her timing perfect. There’s nothing worse than an awkward silence. She holds my coffee out to me, and I take it. “Thanks.”
“Morning Professor.” She smiles sweetly at Dwight.
“Good morning, Miss Moore,” he replies politely.
“We better get going,” I say to Amy before I turn back to Dwight. “Thanks again,Professor.” I make sure not to call him by his name in front of Amy or his brother-in-law.
“I’ll see you both later in class,” Dwight says.
“It was nice to meet you, Logan.”
“Lovely to meet you, Quinn.” He smiles, giving me a friendly wave.
“Bye,” Amy and I say in unison as we head towards the exit.
As we reach the door, I glance back over my shoulder, and sure enough, Dwight’s eyes are focused solely on me.
Chapter 15
Dwight
“So…” Logan draws out, eyebrows raised.
“Don’t start.” I can’t deal with getting into this conversation again, especially not in a place so public, and so early in the morning.
I’ve been up since the crack ass of dawn this morning after I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. Despite waking up ridiculously early, it was one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages. My dream last night, as with many other nights, featured a girl with coal black hair and the warmest chocolate brown eyes.
“She’s your student… Interesting. I see why you left that part out of our last conversation.”
“Logan, can we not get into this?”
“I’m just saying, bro. She seems nice, go for it. Judging by the way she was looking at you, I think she likes you as well.”
“It’s never going to happen. It can’t.” I lower my voice, my eyes doing a quick scan of the room to make sure everyone is safely out of earshot. “She’s my student. Getting involved with her would be a violation to the college and an abuse of power.”
“Yeah yeah, play the off-limit card all you want, but you and I both know that you’re already involved, bro. Besides, forbidden fruit tastes so much sweeter.”
“Fuck off, man.”
“Are you sure this is about her being your student, or are you just trying to find a reason to avoid it?” He pauses for a second before continuing. “Is this about Grace?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dwight, it’s been three years. I get that you still love her and you’re still grieving, but from where I’m sitting, you have something that could be amazing right in front of you, are really gonna pass up a chance at finding happiness again? It’s been way too long, and you deserve to be happy.”
“I don’t know, alright? I don’t know what the fuck to do and it’s driving me crazy. Can we please just drop it?”
“Sure man, for now, but you can’t ignore it forever.”
