I waited for her to look up, but she didn’t, so I brought my bag up to my shoulder, picked up my books, and turned for the door. Astrid didn’t care why I was happy; she was just making friendly conversation with me. “See you later.”
“Totally,” Astrid mumbled.
I walked out and left the building, forgetting about Astrid and continuing my good mood. When I reached Newman Hall and grabbed the door handle, my heart raced and I swore there was a little ladybug in my belly doing somersaults. I opened the door and Professor Grant was standing outside the class as usual, greeting a student as they walked inside.
Heart beating faster, I stepped up to him, and he slid his eyes down to mine. “Miss Porter,” he murmured. I didn’t miss the glint in his eyes or the smirk on his lips. There was a secret message hidden in his eyes that only I could read. It was like he was telling me he was still thinking about the night before—that he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“Professor Grant.”
I smiled and entered the classroom, going to my desk. When I sat and looked toward the door, he was already looking inside—looking right at me. I blushed and busied myself by taking pens out of my tote bag.
Moments later, in he walked, and he dove straight into the lesson for the day. As always, I watched him, studied him. I loved the depth of his voice and how soothing it was to hear.
I wrote my notes as usual, doing my best to separate being in class from what had happened with him in the library, but every time I looked at him, all I could think about were those kisses.
My back against the shelf, legs wrapped around him, fingers dragging through the hair at the nape of his neck. I watched his lips as he spoke and remembered them grazing my neck, sucking, sighing. I was surprised I didn’t have a hickey, but he had been careful. We couldn’t have any evidence of what we’d done. It was already bad enough that we did anything on campus at all. There was a rule here about fraternization, and I knew it. If anyone found out, I could be expelled and possibly blacklisted from any other major college, and he would be fired.
I was so busy watching my professor that I didn’t notice Alisha getting up from her chair to sit next to me. All I heard was someone clearing their throat, and I whipped my head over to find her there. She was wearing a baby blue dress with eyeshadow to match. Her hair had been straightened and went just past her shoulders. “My friend Becca and I are trying to figure out if we have all the necessary notes for our essays. You think you could share yours with us? Maybe screenshot and email to me?”
“Um…sure. I can.”
“Okay, great. I missed last night’s study session and heard from a few people that it was super informative. If I hadn’t had practice, I would have gone for sure.” She looked me up and down in my seat. “I heard you went last night. You have a thing for Grant, don’t you?” she asked, smirking.
My tongue felt swollen and my brows pulled together in defense. “I’m sorry, what?”
“For Professor Grant,” she said, then she looked ahead at him. “You have a thing for him. You’re into him.”
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I mean, he’s so fucking hot. Who wouldn’t be into him, right?”
I didn’t say anything to her remark. There was no way I was giving my thoughts away for her satisfaction. She was fishing, and something told me she did this a lot.
“I swear, if there weren’t, like, college rules or anything, I would totally fuck him.”
I did my best not to react.
“He’d probably enjoy it.” She folded her arms and smiled then, and Professor Grant turned away from the whiteboard, looking directly at us.
“Miss Bell, is there something you want to tell the class?” he asked. I didn’t miss the way he looked between us, but mostly at me. Did he think I was telling her about what we’d done the night before?
“Nope. Not at all,” Alisha said. “I just came to Zara to see if we could match notes from your second study session since I missed it.”
Professor Grant’s jaw ticked, but he quickly settled it and said, “Well, you can do your swapping and matching of notes after class. Return to your seat, please.”
Alisha grinned and stood, winking down at me before going back to her seat, next to her friend (Becca, I assumed), who was stifling a laugh. I didn’t get what was so funny. Was she onto what we’d done? Had someone seen us together? Possibly through the windows or even when we were beneath the trees in front of my dorm? No one really walked outside that late on a weekday.