Chasing after the Professor

Ashley ran her hands over the plaid flannel covering her thighs. “I’m not proud of this. And I know I shouldn’t have done it. But…” She expelled a breath. “At the same time, I feel like I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t so…”

“What are you talking about?”

Ashley finally met her eyes. “The night we met. At the wine bar.”

Carla frowned. She’d gone there to meet a woman named Hannah. Someone she’d just started chatting to online. Yet another date she’d had little hope for.

“I knew you’d be there that night,” Ashley said, taking her away from her thoughts.

“How could you know that?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this, so… I’m just going to say it.” Ashley sucked in a breath. “I was Hannah.”

Carla shook her head, not quite grasping what Ashley was saying. She thought back, trying to remember what Hannah’s profile had said. She was a lawyer.

Carla couldn’t remember what her picture had looked like, but she was definitely a lawyer.

Carla had almost skipped over Hannah’s message because she was just thirty, ten years younger than her, but then Carla saw that she was a professional, and she thought that maybe that might make up for their age difference.

Ashley kept talking. “I created a fake profile. The photo was of me though. But obviously the rest was a lie.”

“So, you’re not a lawyer?” Carla asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

“No.” Ashley visibly swallowed. “And I’m not thirty. I’m sorry for deceiving you like that. But I was in your class and my friend mentioned that you were gay and that you’d been on a date with someone she knew. That you’d met online. And I’d just come to the realization that morning that because this was my last year… In a few months, I was never going to see you again.”

Carla slowly nodded. “So, you set me up.”

“I’m not proud of it. But I was desperate.”

“Is that why you left? The next morning?”

Ashley bit her lip. “Yeah. I was so torn up about it. Believe me, leaving was the last thing I wanted to do. But if I stayed, and we talked… I’d have to tell you that I was your student.”

“What would have happened if you hadn’t bumped into me in the hallway? Outside my office.”

Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Carla slid off her stool and went over to the coffee machine. “Do you want a cup?”

Ashley stared at her. “Wait, why aren’t you mad?”

Carla loaded a pod into the machine and rested her palms against the cool granite countertop as the aroma of coffee filled the air.

She was mad. But not enough to throw Ashley out or to end things between them.

Ashley was there when the noise from the coffee machine stopped, her hands on Carla’s forearms. “Hey…”

Carla met her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Ashley said, and Carla’s stomach dropped when she saw the tears in her eyes. “I hate that I lied to you.”

Carla held Ashley’s gaze. “Have you lied to me since that night?”

Ashley blinked. “No.” She shook her head. “No. Never.”

“Okay,” Carla said, going back to her coffee, and Ashley’s hands fell away.

Carla was going to forget about it. Leave it at that. Because that was four months ago, and there was nothing they could do about it now. But then a thought popped into her head that she couldn’t just let go.

“Why did you tell me? All these months later? You didn’t have to. I would never have known.”

Ashley opened her mouth and closed it again. “I… I’ve felt guilty about it all along, but at the beginning, it was easier to dismiss, because I wanted you, at whatever cost it seems. But now?” Ashley slowly shook her head. “Now, I had to tell you. I have no idea what you want or where this is going, but I just want to be honest with you.”

“Thank you,” Carla said softly as she searched Ashley’s eyes. “For telling me.”

Those were the real questions though.

What did she want? And where was this going?

Carla had no idea how to answer them because she knew what she wanted. She just couldn’t see it going anywhere.