Professor's Favorite Student

19

The breath got stuck on her throat as she took some seconds to proceed if what she heard was true or some trick of her imagination. He had really said that it was the easiest way to love her.

Did this mean... Was he saying that...

Daniel looked away, wondering if he had made her that uncomfortable. It had actually slipped from his mouth while he was trying to make her feel better, it wasn't in his intentions to explain his feelings to her this early, even though he was dying to do so. He wanted to have her in his arms, to have her all his. It didn't matter anymore that this was extremely inappropriate, it didn't matter at all. She was all that mattered.

For his surprise Elizabeth gave him a smile so warm that he barely contained himself from getting up and claiming her dangerously sweet lips.

"Thank you," she mumbled, not knowing what other to say. What were you supposed to say to that? They spent some more minutes eating and drinking in silence, both lost on their thoughts. "Have you ever... had a thing with one of your students?" She took the courage to ask, even though it wasn't that appropriate of a conversation. But she actually needed to know about how he felt of all this, if it was something normal or usual to him.

"Of course not," he rushed to answer, shaking his head like it was the last idea that had crossed his mind. "I have worked as a professor for only four years but I'd never see any of my student like that, it was even weird to think about it. Well, it was, until..."

She knew how this sentence ended; it was probably something like "until I met you" or "until you came", but none of them dared to finish it. It was like a silent agreement to not talk about this, at least not tonight.

"How is it possible that you became a college professor at such a young age?" She changed the subject, gaining a small smile from him.

"I graduated from this college two years earlier than the other students, as the student with the highest grades of my major, plus I took a master degree in teaching while having three books published at that age, so I guess that's it," he explained so casually that she ended up with her mouth wide open. How much was this man's IQ, again?

"I can't even publish one book," she complained and he chuckled.

"You're really talented though. It'd be a pity if you don't become a famous novelist at least in the next five years."

And with that other conversations started and they found themselves being lost in each other's words, so comfortably, being so themselves with each other, laughing and joking around like they had known each other for years.

Only when they heard the sound of a firework exploding, they realized it was already 12 a.m. They got out in his big balcony, staring at the fireworks that had magically sparked the sky. It was actually more of her observing the fireworks and more of him observing her that was smiling happily the whole time.

Until she noticed and gave him a more of a huge smile that made his knees weak.

This was it, he couldn't just stand anymore. It was too much.

So out of the sudden he grabbed her from her waist and crashed his lips on her, while she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him so sensually that he groaned for more, pushing her tighter in his body while claiming her mouth rightfully his.

They kissed passionately until they were both out of breaths, forced to pull away. He rested his forehead on her's while whispering, "Merry Christmas, love."

"Merry Christmas, Daniel," she whispered too and for his surprise, she pulled away from his body and got inside, leaving him alone wondering what was happening with her out of the sudden.

But it took her only some seconds to come back with a chocolate cake in her hands, two candles shaped in numbers 3 and 0 in it, and he blinked several times, not agreeing to believe what he was seeing.

"How did you...?" But he immediately realized she must've known it was his birthday from the book. Christmas day was also the main character's birthday, and she had remembered this detail too.

Liz smiled warmly watching him getting that surprised and emotional. "Wait, are you really thirty or not? I brought a 1 and a 2 too though, just in case."

He busted in laughing after that, making her laugh too. "What if I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine?" He asked playfully.

"Nah, you don't look that young."

"Ouch. This hurt." And they both started laughing even more.

"You should blow the candles now. Fireworks are stopping," she pointed to the cake in her hands as he approached to her more. "Close your eyes and don't forget your wish."

Daniel did as she said and his wish was for her to find happiness. She wouldn't know this though, because it wouldn't come true if she did.

He blew the candles before leaving a sudden small kiss in her lips that made her shiver.

"Happy birthday, Daniel," she whispered and this time it was her that left a warm kiss in his cheek.

"I haven't celebrated my birthday since then..." he admitted sadly. "But thank you so much Elizabeth. You're changing everything this year."

"Of course I am," she said playfully, trying to change his mood. "Now cut the cake please. I wanna try it."

And with that they both started eating her delicious cake while having other conversations, never getting bored of each other. However, they were rudely interrupted by Elizabeth's phone ringing, which she soon found out it was her brother, actually wanting to face-time her. She wanted to close the camera so they'd be able to talk only and he wouldn't find out where she was, but mistakenly, she realized she did quite the opposite when her face and her brother's face too appeared on the screen.

"Lizzieeee!" He shouted, like always, and she rolled her eyes at the nickname her brother never agreed to stop calling her, even though she had said multiply times she didn't like it. Well, deep down she did a little, but still.

Daniel chuckled after hearing it as she gave him an annoyed look.

"What is it, Tommy?"

"Merry Christmas to you too, sister," he answered and that was enough to stop her from acting mad. How could she stay mad with that crackhead for more than a minute, it was practically impossible. "That doesn't look like a dorm room to me," he pointed out and she bit her lip, trying to think of a lie. But before she was able to, Daniel approached her and found a corner to appear his face on the camera, leaving her speechless.

"My sister is getting laid and I didn't know!" Thomas shouted and that was enough for Daniel to not be able to stop laughing while Liz narrowed her eyes in shock. Could her brother be more stupid than this?

"Tommy, what the hell?!" She shouted, but to no effect.

After Daniel was able to stop himself from laughing, he appeared on the screen again. "Hello, I'm Daniel Ambrose." Couldn't he just say 'Daniel', he was a famous author for Goodness' sake. Elizabeth was glad her brother was never fond of novels, or he'd find out she was there with her professor, no doubt.

"Daniel Ambrose as the novelist Daniel Ambrose?!" A female voice echoed as she appeared on the screen and Liz immediately recognized Melissa, Thomas' girlfriend.

She gave Daniel a scolding look that didn't seem to affect him that much. "Exactly. I'm really glad you know me, Miss," he answered formally as Liz hit him in the shoulder playfully, glad that no one was making the correlation to find out who he really was.

"Nice to meet you Daniel. I had no idea Lizzie had a boyfriend though," Thomas said but she shook her head immediately.

"He's not my boyfriend! He's... my friend," she said awkwardly as Daniel gave her a known look. They could be everything else but friends.

"Only that I'm the only one I can tell when you're lying," her brother pointed out and she immediately tried to change the subject. They spoke of different things and it was enough for Elizabeth to realize Tommy really liked Daniel, differently from her ex-boyfriend. They wished each other Merry Christmas and closed up, and for the first time she was glad the call with her brother ended.

"Your brother's really nice," Daniel said and she smiled a little.

"You could've avoid the introduction though. Tommy's really protective of me sometimes," she answered and he shrugged in an apologizing way that immediately warmed her heart.

"He called you Lizzie," he pointed out after some seconds as she smiled embarrassed.

"Only he calls me like that. Grandma Liz too... well, when she was alive..." she said sadly.

"Oh, I'm really sorry," he whispered, but she shook her head, not wanting to change the mood. "You have her name."

"I do. Which I love, simply because she had it," she said, which made him move her hair from her face and brush them behind her ear. She loved when he did this every time.

Just like that, after searching for a movie for probably longer than they should have, they ended up choosing a horror one, both enjoying this genre. However, Elizabeth would jump scared from time to time, or bury her face in her hands, which would always make him chuckle.

"Can I know why you were alone at Christmas eve, though?" Daniel asked out of nowhere, since the movie had just ended and they were now silently enjoying each other's company.

She shrugged. "Because... I didn't wanna go in my hometown, and all my friends are far away."

"Including the British boy?" He couldn't stop himself from asking, and it was crystal clear to Elizabeth where Daniel wanted this conversation to go.

"Including the British boy."

"Are you..." but he couldn't finish the sentence, all this being too painfully awkward.

"...together?" She finished it for him, biting her bottom lip nervously, but still something inside her was happy at his jealousy. "No, of course not, he's just my friend."

He raised his brow suspiciously, only to gain a sheepish smile from her. "Do you really think I would..." but she stopped, not knowing how to word out all this.

"...be with me if you had a boyfriend?" He finished it for her this time and she nodded while looking away, that 'be with me' echoing in her head for some other long seconds. What were they to each other, she couldn't realize still. "It's almost three," Daniel pointed out, meaning that it was time to sleep. Only now she realized she had to sleep in the same house with him, which was... How did things went from the auditorium to this?

"Is there a guest room, or something?" Liz asked while brushing her hair behind her ear awkwardly, as he smirked amused.

"There is," he said, raising his brow in a fake-surprised way. "But my bed is big too."

She frowned. Did she hear this right? "Um... I prefer the guest room anyway. Thanks for the offer, though," she said sarcastically as he chuckled, amusement clear in his voice.

The guest room was small, but nice. He adjusted the bedsheets and everything else in the room for her, before stopping just some inches away from her.

"T-thanks," she mumbled, his nearness making her heart tremble in her chest.

He leaned forward oh-so-dangerously-slow, before leaving a small breathy kiss in her neck, making her shiver in pleasure. "Goodnight," he whispered huskily, before walking out of the room and nothing could normalize Liz's breathing now. As she wrapped herself in his bedsheets, all she could think about was her professor, his lips on her skin and his mixed smell of chocolate, smoke and red wine all around the bed was helping her imagination a lot, intoxicating all her senses, making her miss him even though they were apart for only ten minutes.

But as she was finally about to fall asleep, out of nowhere a thunderstorm started, which made her jump out of the bed, anxiety starting to alarm her body. "Why now?" She mumbled, wrapping her arms around her legs but the lightening outside the window made her scream loudly, burying her face in her legs.

She got up from her bed immediately, running towards his bedroom, but only when she opened the door room she realized what she was exactly doing.

Daniel's attention went from the book he was reading to her standing in the doorstep, the eyes behind his optic glasses — which Elizabeth found extremely sexy on him — wide open in surprise.

She bit her bottom lip frustratingly, looking everywhere else but not at him.

"Has something happened?" He asked, worried when he saw her shaking.

"Can I... take that offer?" She asked awkwardly, gaining an even more surprised gaze from him. "I- I'm kind of astraphobic," she explained nervously, feeling her forehead sweating.

 "Oh," he was able to say, "come here," he said softly, tapping the empty spot of his king-sized bed and she did as he said.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't stay alone," she whispered, laying down besides him, a little too away for his liking. But he only smiled at her, reassuring her things were okay.

"What can I do for you?" He asked, worried but still trying to contain himself from showing her he was happy there was a thunderstorm outside, because there was no other way she'd come in his room otherwise.

"Nothing," she shook her head, trying to normalize her breath. "Just don't leave."

He smiled, biting his bottom lip. "Do you really think I'd leave?" He whispered and she now felt her heartbeats weren't only caused from the storm whatsoever.

Liz buried her face in the pillow shyly as he chuckled, before closing her eyes and trying to fall asleep.

But only when she thought the thunders were coming to an end, another one hit hard and she found herself screaming and wrapping her arms around his body at the speed of light, burying her face in his chest.

Daniel felt his whole body in flames having her that near, that much his. He tightened his hold around her with one hand as he caressed her hair softly with the other, before leaving a soft kiss in the top of her head.

"It's okay love, I'm here," he whispered and she immediately felt her body calm down at his words and at his warm scent she loved that much.

Like that, he spent minutes playing with her hair, before she fell asleep in his arms, and that was enough for him to promise himself he'd never let her go from now on. Never.