Passion for the Field

And then he was there

Dr. Alexander Bennett was a huge name in the field of educational psychology. Even at the young age of 31 he had managed to become a prolific publisher of research and analysis in learning. Emma had read his CV, last she had known he was at a university on the east coast. What was he doing here? The stunned look on her face prompted Dr. Andmonsen to reply, “Alexander was a doctoral student of my life long friend and coeditor of the journal for educational psychology”. She continued “Alexander was looking for a change of scenery and with our opening due to the retirement of Dr. Steel I recruited him to join our department. Alexander will be working very closely with our lab and our project for the foreseeable future”. Dr. Andmonsen smiled, satisfied that she had sufficiently shocked Emma. Dr. Bennett still stood there clearly amused by Emma’s reaction to his presence. Emma still couldn’t believe he was standing there AND he would be working in her lab this year?! What was happening? She had just been appointed project manager over the summer. How had this not even been said as a possibility? She blinked and continued to process the bomb that just exploded in her lap. Finally she gained her composure and smiled “Its a pleasure to meet you Dr. Bennett”. Alexander returned her smile, “Please call me Alex, I am very happy to be here and working with your lab” he responded coolly. Dr. Andmonsen pulled out a chair next to Emma inviting Alex to sit with them. “Please join us and let’s get aquatinted” Dr. Andmonsen said slightly slurring her words. Alex smoothly sat in the chair and was so close to Emma that her could touch him and as much as he enticed her she shifted in her chair to be further from him lest he know that she was flustered by his presence. Calm down emma she said to herself. Hes just another faculty member. Alex positioned himself between Dr. Andmonsen, facing away from Emma leaning towards Dr. Andmonsen inorder to hear her against the loud music. Emma shifted towards the conversation and towards Dr. Bennett which made her self conscious about how close he was to her. Dr. Andmonsen seemed to be picking up her discomfort at being so close to Alex. Winking at Emma she started in about how Emma was instrumental to the project and as project manager she would have to work closely with Alex to spin him up on the experiment and the participants. Alex nodded intently oblivious to what was happening with Emma. He paused for a moment and then turned to Emma and said, “We will need to schedule a time time to review all the essential information and then get a standing meeting on the calendar”. Emma shook her head yes of course they would need to have a standing meeting as a new part of the project he would be involved as much or more as Dr. Andmonsen and he would have to guide the project with Emma. Emmas mind flashed to meeting with Dr. Bennett in his faculty office which were down the hall from the student offices. Her mind began to fantasize walking in and shutting the door and climbing into his lap and kissing him as she ran her hands down the inside of his shirt. She shook her head again and frowned trying to not let her imagination get the best of her. This time Alex noticed “is something wrong with that plan?” Snapped back to reality Emma stammered “Oh of course not! It’s essential that we meet”. Alex seemed annoyed at her response. Emma began to scold her for not staying on track. This is not the time to develop a crush! She told herself. This is a professional relationship and if you screw this up you can forget about becoming a professor or getting your doctorate so get it together Emma. With that Dr. Andmonsen’s husband appeared to her right telling her she had clearly had enough to drink and it was time to head home. The rest of the party seemed to agree with this sentiment because the crowd had noticeably thinned. Back in her present reality Emma realized she hadn’t seen Davis in awhile. She scanned the yard looking for his usual group. They were nowhere to be seen. Emma was feeling annoyed. This was very om brand for her office mate. She grabbed her phone to text him only to see that he had already texted. “Sorry but I had to leave” his text read. “Grab an uber and i owe you one” the next message said. As she finished reading she noticed Dr. Bennett was watching her. “Bad news” he asked. “I need to order an uber” she responded. “I can give you a ride if you need. I don’t know the area but if you tell me where to go I think I can manage it”. Emma slowly inhaled thinking about how to respond to his offer. Yes a ride home would be helpful but with him she didn’t need to risk letting her mind wander again and doing something that would upset him again. But she couldn’t think of a better way to rebuff him. “Ok she said slowly “if its not too much trouble “. “Not at all” he responded quickly. With that he lead the way out of the party and to his car.