Professor's Favorite Student

7

Elizabeth did really good in Renaissance literature exam, as she expected to, but she didn't do bad in the Shakespeare one either, and she felt proud of herself, but she was mostly thankful to Alex for calming her down and even helping her in the exam. She realized she was being childish some days ago, and she had to try and stop worrying over things she didn't have control of.

Mr. Ambrose's class felt like an eternity and although she'd always find herself amused by his words, she wanted it to end so his piercing green eyes wouldn't hold her anymore, simply because they made her feel things down her stomach she didn't want to feel.

Or she was just trying to tell herself she didn't want to...

When it was finally over and she took her backpack, ready to go — again, the last one in the auditorium like always, because she'd be so focused on him and forget to take the notes in her notebook — she saw an arm closing the door in front of her, and Mr. Ambrose leaning in the already closed door with his arms and legs crossed.

Elizabeth expected the look in his face to be playful and teasing, but instead it was serious and intimidating.

She swallowed down the fact that they were completely alone and she was already feeling her knees weakening at his presence only. She slowly approached to the door handle, letting him know that she wanted to go.

Not that she wanted to.

Daniel moved a little from his spot, but not to let her go, only to approach her more as he leaned an arm to the door and found himself on her side, only a step away from her. And he had to admit, he craved for nearness more than someone could imagine. He craved for her eyes on him while filling the glasses with alcohol whenever she'd think he wasn't watching, he craved for her sarcastic comments, the way she'd act mad around him all the time or brush her hair behind her ear whenever she was nervous. And the worse part was that she didn't even know he had scanned all these details of hers in his mind.

"Is- is something wrong, Professor?" She asked, trying to hide her nervousness, but he sure could notice, realizing in the process that she had never really called him by his first name. Daniel wondered how it would sound coming out of her beautiful lips.

"Are you with him?" He found himself asking, although this wasn't what he planned on saying at all.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes surprisingly, wondering what he was trying to say. Was he talking about Alex? No, this wasn't possible. "What are you talking about?" She asked, blinking several times, but he raised his eyebrow, almost irritated.

"Come on Elizabeth, you're smart enough to realize what I'm talking about," Daniel stated, his voice sexier to her ears but she tried to shake that thought off her head. It wasn't the moment.

"Well, I still don't get it," she answered, this time being completely sure about what she just heard. This man was a literature professor and a already famous novelist but he couldn't see a friendship between a girl and a boy?

He tightened his hand in a fist, his bad temper about to come out but he tried to control himself. "The British boy. Are you with him?" He asked, and for a moment the breath got stuck in her throat, the idea that he might've been jealous for her, driving her insane and mad at the same time. He didn't have the right to ask at all, he was nothing more than her professor.

Right?

However, Liz found herself wanting to say 'no', wanting to tell him that she couldn't be with anyone else without replacing the boys' features with his, without imagining his emerald eyes instead, that could make her insides clench in need. Only her professor could make her feel like this, but he was never going to find out. This sudden thought scared Elizabeth herself.

"It's none of your business," she snapped, not breaking eye contact, not even for a second despite everything it did to her heart. "Why do you even care?"

"Just answer the damn question!" Daniel demanded, even harsher this time, the tension in the air so thick, it could be cut with a knife. How he could turn her on and mad at the same time was beyond her.

"I said, that's none of your business! It's that not enough of an answer?" Elizabeth didn't know how she could still pull on a show with her knees trembling like that, but she had to be proud of herself.

Daniel approached her more, closing almost every distance, their faces only inches apart now. Placing his lips on her ear, he whispered in a husky voice, "How bad you don't want little boys, right?" The teasing voice of his in her ear made her neck hair stand up as she closed her eyes, oh-so-ready to give in to his lips that were now really lightly brushing the skin of her cheek, wanting to find her lips.

But somehow, somewhere, Elizabeth found the power inside her body to move away from him, leaving him completely shocked as he was so sure she'd forget everything and kiss him until she was out of her breath.

But like always, she was unpredictable once again.

"How do you know what I want? You know nothing about me," she said with a scary seriousness. "I want nice people, caring people who aren't narcissists, egocentrics, with some stupid superiority complexes," she stated, before opening the door and running away, hearing as his fist hit the door behind her.

Elizabeth didn't know what to think, or how to think for that matter. 

She only knew her stupid pride had ruined everything.

And she'd probably regret this.

                                      ***  

It happened as Liz thought. She regretted it, even though she knew to a point he deserved those words. In no way he had a right to ask her personal questions, let alone to demand an answer from her as though he owned her. She'd never allow a man to behave like that even if it was her professor. Even if she felt something for him.

But deep down she knew he'd give up every little thing he was doing to get her attention and it did more than only saddened her. Elizabeth would see him in the hallways, and his eyes would be at her only for a split second before focusing elsewhere and fully ignoring her.

It felt like he had forgotten about her existence completely, and she was now one of his hundreds students. This was indeed scary.

And on top of that, she had an exam on his course in three days, and however much she'd prepare, she knew it'd be different from other exams. Besides who could assure her that he wouldn't decrease her points in purpose just to show her who had the upper hand? Deep down, despite everything she had told him, she knew he wasn't the kind of person to do that, and his job and his students were more than important to him, but the thought only made her more anxious.

Well done Liz, you ruined your future, her inner self told her, while rolling her eyes and she only sighed desperately.

The day of the exam was more stressful that she had thought, but so was the day the results were coming out. In her mind she did well, but she could expect anything from him.

But she couldn't believe her eyes when she checked the email. Ninety-seven points.

Ninety-seven points!

It was quite impossible for a student of his course to get these much points. Daniel Ambrose was known as really strict and unforgiving when it came to his exams. And Elizabeth couldn't help but smile widely after hearing her friends' congratulations, and her eyes caught a really small smile forming in his lips when he saw her smiling, but it only lasted for a second. 

However, it was enough to make Elizabeth happier.

                                      ***  

But she still missed him. She missed him more than she was willing to admit, more that she'd ever be willing to admit actually.

Elizabeth would put on her red lipstick and act confident and unbothered, but deep down she knew she was searching for his green piercing eyes everywhere. It's like they were magnetic, they had a pull within them that would attract her eyes and make them stay when she'd find them.

There were a lot of clients in the bar today, and Zed asked for her help out of her shift. She couldn't say 'no' to him, he had helped her when she had to study more times that she could count.

When she saw her professor, the one that were messing with her mind recently, walking through the glass door of the bar, dressed in a simple black jacket and blue jeans, she couldn't stop her heart from beating like crazy. Sure, suits were extremely hot on him but casual clothes made him look good too. They almost made him look like someone else, someone entirely different from her professor.

Daniel opened his eyes in surprise when he saw her. It was 21:32, hadn't she finished her turn already?

It seemed like she noticed, a bitter thing running through her head now that she realized he came here thinking she had left. It made her wonder, did her presence bother him this much?

"Good evening, Mr. Ambrose," she said when he was in front of her, behind the bar and she couldn't avoid his stare anymore.

"Good evening, Miss Brown." 

Miss Brown? This is how formal he'd be with her now, from 'love' to 'Miss Brown'?

She served him his usual vodka, before speaking again, unsure if it was the right thing, "Thank you... for the exam," she mumbled, making him smile just a little bit, finding out that this was her first sincere 'thank you' for him.

"I didn't do anything. You were just excellent in every question," he admitted, somehow with a pride in his voice, and she couldn't realize if it was only because one of his students did that well or because she was the student that did that well.

A tiny smile rose up on her lips, but her eyes were smiling more, and he liked it. Daniel used to love the fact that she'd smile with her eyes whenever she didn't want to show she was happy. 

"Still, I was surprised," Elizabeth admitted softly.

"Why?" He simply asked, but she looked away instead, not giving him an answer. "Because of what happened? Did you really think I'd stoop that low?"

"No, but—"

"I might be a narcissist, egocentric and even have superiority complexes, but I value my job, Miss Brown. And you're one of my best students."

To say she wasn't embarrassed when she heard the words she had been trying to forget she said recently, would be nothing short but a stupid lie. Even though he didn't sound angry or upset, she couldn't even look at him anymore.

Her awkward look made his mood much better, he wanted to laugh but he thought she would be offended so he only smiled a little and raised his glass in salute, to show her everything was alright.

"I think Narcissus isn't that proud of you sometimes," Elizabeth said, referring to her past words, making Daniel chuckled happily. 

After some minutes she was finally free to go and he almost found himself pleading her to stay but for his surprise, he heard her saying, "Can we have a drink together, Mr. Ambrose?" 

He raised his brow suspiciously, but she looked serious so he, without trying to hide his joy, invited her in the sit next to his.

Daniel could see her entire figure now sitting in front of him as she filled her glass with some non-alcoholic cocktail, dressed in dark red sweater with some mom jeans, and he felt himself wanting to say that red was made for her only but he stopped before embarrassing himself.

"Not drinking alcohol yet, huh?" He asked teasingly as she grinned, playing with her hair.

"Only three months away," Liz informed him, giggling while drinking the sweet cocktail, now much less tensed by his reaction.

While staring at him in silence, she realized she loved his emerald eyes on her even more than before, they were giving her that attention they used to give before what happened and she had missed it so much.

"Are you doing well in the other courses?" He asked, mostly to start another conversion.

Elizabeth nodded once. "Not as good as in yours, but pretty good. I hope I wasn't favored, by the way."

"Is it that hard to believe you deserved your points, Elizabeth?" He asked playfully, with a grin obvious in his face, that she loved much more than she was willing to admit. And the fact that he now called her by her first name made some flip flops in her stomach. Her name had never sounded like that in another else's mouth.

They started random conversations one after another, talking about college, careers, novels, writing, New York. She even told him how much she loved his books and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride hearing that, not because he didn't know he was talented, but because she, Elizabeth Brown, openly admitted it.

Liz found out Mr. Ambrose loved travelling — just like her — and they started talking about Europe, a place she dreamed visiting all her life, but never did until now. He talked affectionately about the history of those places, culture, traditions, architecture and it wasn't hard for her to figure out Europe was one of his biggest inspirations to write. However, he felt more at home in New York and he could see himself living there for at least the next five years.

"I bet you can't stand LA," she pointed out, grinning, noticing how it was her third glass already, and it was probably getting late.

"LA is overrated no doubt. Everyone there acts like some sort of celebrity, artist or influencer," he said, annoyed and she laughed at his logic. She found LA beautiful, even though in no comparison to New York whatsoever. "I'll walk you to campus," Daniel proposed when he saw her check the clock from time to time. She had no idea how time had flied talking with him but she knew she hadn't been this happy being with someone in a long time, and it was all that mattered.

The way to campus was silent as they both knew they had talked about everything other than what was really happening with them. But none of them would have the courage to say anything so they kept walking and hearing each other's breathes.

When they had to separate ways they kept staring at each other for a minute longer than they should to.

"Thank you for your time, Elizabeth," he said, his gaze fully on her as his hand reached forward and touched her front hair delicately, moving them from her face oh-so-temptingly-slowly, the sensations running through her body as she leaned her head on his hand almost instinctively.

He smirked, watching this reaction of hers to just a little touch of his, but he removed his hand, fearing he'd lose control and kiss her right there, something he craved doing even more for these past couples of days he hadn't seen her enough.

"Good night, love," he whispered huskily, before turning his back and walking away as she could do nothing but stand there and wonder what the hell she was just feeling.