Professor's Favorite Student

16

Never in her life Elizabeth would've thought she'd celebrate the Christmas eve completely alone, but this year it was happening. All her friends were gone since days ago, Mia and Amber were celebrating with Amber's family, Alex was in London even though if it'd be up to him, he'd chose to celebrate it with Liz in the blink of an eye and Jasper and Olivia were celebrating together at Olivia's place with her parents.

Elizabeth could go back to her hometown, but after she learned that Thomas, her brother, wouldn't go back this year she changed her mind in a split of second. It was better to study for her upcoming finals of the semester than be in the middle of her parents' arguings, especially now that they were planning on divorcing for real.

The past few days had been quieter and without any incident for her, fortunately. She went to Daniel Ambrose's office the next day to show how thankful she was, again, and with all his stubbornness and pleadings, he couldn't change Elizabeth's mind for not working in that bar anymore. The thing was, she needed the money and she wasn't the kind of girl to back down anyway, and he knew it.

Her studying was interrupted by the sound of her cellphone ringing and she got surprised when she saw Zed's name in the screen. She had gotten some days off from work too and it was unusual for Zed to call if it wouldn't be about shifts and all that.

"Hi Zed," she answered, but the worrying in his voice scared her;

"Liz, I need your help."

"What happened?" She rushed to ask, hoping his mother was okay after what had happened that night when he had to leave.

"Mr. Ambrose..." he said and the breath immediately got stuck in her throat. "...he's here, drunk, and he doesn't agree to leave." She narrowed her eyes surprised. She had never seen him get drunk, what had happened to him? "You know I had to close the bar around an hour ago already, my mom's waiting for me, but he's so wasted, nothing can make him leave. I didn't know who other to call," Zed explained as she tried to breathe heavily and forced every negative thought out of her head. He was just drunk, it happened, there was nothing to be worried about.

However, these weren't enough to calm her down as she found herself going for her jeans and coat in a split of seconds.

"Don't worry, I'm coming," she said before closing up, getting her colorless umbrella and rushing to the bar.

After she opened the bar door, the first thing her eyes laid on was her professor in the worst condition ever, his dark thick hair a mess from probably running his hands a million times in them, his eyes half closed, a bottle of whiskey in his hand and an empty glass in the other.

Zed gave her an I-told-you-look, shrugging his shoulders as she approached to him slowly, not sure how to talk to him. He was completely a mess. "Mr. Ambrose," she said softly, gaining his intoxicated attention.

"Eeeeelizabeth," Daniel was able to say with difficulty, a stupid grin in his face after seeing her there.

"What has gotten into you?" She asked, sitting down in the chair besides him, trying to get the bottle off his hands but he was able to avoid her quite well.

"It's— it's Christmas," he said, filling his empty glass again, leaving her completely surprised with his answer.

"Yes, it's Christmas, that's why you should celebrate instead of getting wasted in this bar," she said with her duh tone but the painful look he gave her was enough to make her shut up and wonder what was really going on. This wasn't like him at all, Mr. Ambrose wasn't the type to lose control over himself. Heck, he wouldn't even show emotions if he didn't want to, let alone be this vulnerable in front of her.

"I don't celebrate Christmas," and with that, he emptied the glass and filled it once again and she wondered how it didn't burn his throat.

It probably did, though.

"Okay, but Zed does," she said while giving him a small smile and he furrowed his brows, not getting the point. "He should close the bar now. Why don't you come home with me?" The tone of her voice was so warm, like she was scared she'd hurt him by only talking and being wasted didn't stop his heart from melting seeing her that worried.

Besides, that 'home' got stuck in his mind for quite awhile. It sounded so much like she was talking about their home, or this was what the alcohol was saying to him, but he didn't ask anyway.

Liz smiled when he left the bottle and the empty glass in the table, trying to get up, even though it was almost impossible for him to keep the balance so she helped him immediately by putting his arm in her shoulder for support, and hers around his waist. That felt good, but she tried to not think about that. He was wasted, damn it.

"It's raining," Daniel pointed out and she realized he hadn't even noticed until then, even though the sound of the heavy rain was the only thing being heard at that cold afternoon of New York. Probably, because people were already inside their houses, cooking and preparing everything for this big night.

"And I have an umbrella," she answered, making him grin just a little but it was enough to make her heart jump out of her chest.

"Are you sure you don't want my help? Do you know where his house is?" Zed asked worried, but she shook her head while smiling at him.

"It's okay, I'll find it. Merry Christmas Zed," she said before closing the door behind her, opening her umbrella and starting to walk while trying to help him still keep his balance. The small umbrella wasn't that big of a help for two people, but she kept it open anyways.

After awhile, he was able to find the direction back home, and it wasn't that far away. It was actually an expensive beautiful apartment in the 21st floor of a skyscraper and she ended up speechless at what she saw. The man was really rich, but she scolded herself at not realizing earlier. Of course, he was a professor in one of the biggest colleges in New York, and also a famous novelist most people who had a passion in reading would know if they saw him in the streets.

She immediately loved the furnishing of the living room, a mix of modern, expensiveness and artistic vibes, dark colors dominating, contrasting beautifully with the vanilla colored walls, but what she loved the most was definitely the fireplace. She had always dreamt of having a small warm house and spending the nights reading at the fireplace, covered by a warm blanket.

After a lot of trying, Liz was able to make him sit down in the sofa as he buried his face in his hands and she sighed, having no idea what he was really thinking about.

"Stay here, I'll go get you a towel and some dry clothes," she whispered, attempting to touch his shoulder in a comforting way, but she stopped herself in the last moment. She had no idea what he was going through, and she didn't want to hurt him, in any way.

She found his room and his closet quite easily, but when she turned back with the clothes in her hands, she saw the most heartbreaking view there could ever be.

Her professor had a frame in his hands and the broken look in his face while observing it would be scarred in her soul forever. He looked lost, broken, in a kind of pain no one could vanish for him.

She felt her body tremble while approaching slowly to him, like she'd scare him if she'd make any noise.

Now that she was sitting down besides him in the sofa, she could see the picture quite clearly. It was a boy, probably in his twenties with a big grin in his face, hugging a little girl who was laughing too, both in warm clothes, everything white from the snow behind them.

It didn't take more than a second for her to realize it was him some years ago, but she had never seen the girl.

"Daniel," she whispered softly, but his broken eyes never left the picture. "Who is she?"

Tears blurred his vision and she regretted immediately making that question.

"She's Emily, my little sister," he whispered and his voice was the biggest mirror of his pain. "And she's dead... because of me."