11
1552 Words
Jasmine
The alarm went off again.
With a groan, I slapped my hand across the nightstand until I found my phone and silenced it. That had to be the fifteenth time I’d done that.
My entire body felt heavy as I rolled onto my side, ready to steal a few more minutes of sleep.
Then my phone pinged beside my ear.
My eyes flew open.
I grabbed it and checked the time. 7:15 AM.
“Fuck.”
Sleep disappeared from my eyes instantly.
I shot out of bed so fast I nearly tangled myself in the sheets. Class started at eight, and there was no way I was going to make it if I wasted another second standing there.
As I rushed toward the bathroom, I couldn’t help blaming Davin.
I’d stayed up ridiculously late studying for his test. The same test he insisted on giving us today. If yesterday’s session hadn’t gone on for so long, I would have had plenty of time to study before bed. Instead, I’d spent half the night with my face buried in textbooks until the words started blurring together.
Less than twenty minutes later, I hurried out of the bathroom, still drying my hair as I crossed the room toward my dresser. I pulled open the top drawer and reached for the first underwear set I saw.
Then I paused. A memory slipped into my head so suddenly that I actually froze.
The studio. His voice.
The instructions he’d given me about what to wear.
I stared down at the drawer for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.
This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous—and yet my hand moved anyway.
I closed the drawer and opened the second one instead, pulling out the purple lingerie set I’d bought because of him.
For a second, I simply stood there looking at it.
Not long ago, the thought of standing in my underwear in front of Professor Davin Jackson would have been enough to make me die from embarrassment.
Now it barely made me blink. Somewhere along the way, I’d gotten used to it.
That realization should have alarmed me more than it did. Instead, I got dressed, grabbed my bag, and tried very hard not to think about why my stomach did that strange little flip whenever I thought about going back to the studio.
The morning traffic was terrible, which only made me more anxious. By the time I reached campus, I was practically speed-walking across the grounds, checking the time every few seconds.
When I finally pushed open the lecture hall door, relief hit me immediately.
Davin wasn’t there yet.
Thank goodness.
The room was already filling up, but I spotted an empty seat beside Ari and Bella near the middle row.
Relieved, I hurried over and slid into it, dropping my bag beside my chair.
“There she is,” Bella said. “I was starting to think you’d skipped class.”
“I considered it,” I quipped.
Ari laughed. “Please tell me you’re ready for the quiz.”
I answered with a shrug as I pulled my textbook from my bag. A yawn escaped my lips before I could stop it, and I quickly covered my mouth.
Bella pointed at me immediately. “See? That’s the face of someone who actually studied.”
“Or someone who hasn’t slept,” Ari said.
“Same thing,” Bella groaned. “My roommate dragged me to a party last night. I got home at two and barely looked at my notes. I’m finished.”
“You say that before every test,” Ari muttered.
“And yet it’s always true.”
I smiled faintly and lowered my gaze to my textbook, trying to read through a few pages before class started. The words blurred together almost immediately.
Ari nudged my shoulder. “Hey.”
I looked up.
Her expression softened. “Are you okay? You look really tired.”
For a second, I thought about telling her the truth. About the studio. About Davin. About everything that had happened over the last few days.
Instead, I smiled. “I’m fine. I was just up all night studying.”
Ari didn’t look completely convinced, but before she could ask another question, a familiar laugh drifted from behind us.
My shoulders stiffened.
“Studying my ass.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
Mia.
“She was probably up all night crying over a man who’s in my DMs, begging for a little attention.”
Bella muttered something under her breath.
On my left, Ari’s entire expression changed. Her brows lowered, and she turned around so quickly that I grabbed her wrist before she could stand.
“Don’t.”
“Jasmine—”
“Seriously.” I shook my head. “She’s not worth it.”
Mia laughed. “Aw, look at that. Listen to your owner, dog.”
Ari’s jaw tightened. “You really need to shut—”
“You wouldn’t want to get punished now, would you?” Mia cut in with a smirk.
For a moment, I thought Ari was going to launch herself across the row.
I tightened my grip on her arm. “Let it go. Please.”
Ari stared at Mia for a long moment, her nostrils flaring as she fought whatever response was trying to come out.
The tension hung between them until the classroom door opened. The room went quiet almost instantly.
Ari sat back in her seat with obvious reluctance, and my eyes lifted toward the front of the room, right in time to see Davin walk in.
The ridiculous thing was that nothing special happened.
He simply entered a classroom, yet somehow half the women in the room looked up at the exact same moment.
Maybe it was the suit, the confidence he exuded—or maybe it was the way he carried himself, like he belonged wherever he happened to be.
Whatever it was, the effect was impossible to miss. To every girl in that room, it probably looked like he was moving in slow motion.
He wasn’t. But that didn’t stop half the class from staring.
“Damn,” Bella whispered.
Beside me, Ari let out a low whistle.
“That man is F-I-N-E, f**k,” she whispered.
I hated how quickly I agreed.
Because standing there in his tailored suit, he looked every bit the respected professor he was supposed to be.
He looked nothing like the man from the studio. Nothing like the man whose voice still found its way into my head at the worst possible moments.
As if sensing my stare, his gaze swept across the room. For the briefest second, it landed on me.
My breath caught.
Then he looked away and continued toward the podium as if nothing had happened—like I was just another face in the crowd.
And for some reason, his actions made my stomach tighten in disappointment. That bothered me more than it should have.
“Good morning, everyone,” he said as he set a folder on the podium before looking out at the class. “Before we begin today’s lecture, we’ll be having the second test.”
The lecture hall erupted in groans the moment the word “test” left his mouth. But he ignored every single one of them.
“Books away,” he said calmly. “The only thing on your desk should be your pen.”
More complaints followed. Again, he didn’t react.
“Miss Jessie.”
At the sound of her name, I finally noticed the woman standing quietly beside the podium. She had been there the entire time, holding a thick stack of papers against her chest.
When Davin gestured toward her, she stepped forward and handed the scripts over. He took half the pile before coming down the steps of the lecture hall.
“You have thirty minutes,” he said. “You may begin as soon as the paper reaches you.”
The room slowly quieted as he moved through the rows, placing scripts on desks one by one.
My fingers tightened around my pen.
Was it crazy that a small part of me was waiting? For a glance, a pause—for his eyes to find mine the way they did at the studio.
Yes. It was crazy, but it didn’t make me want it any less.
He started with my row first, and my pulse stumbled.
But then he dropped the paper onto my desk without so much as looking in my direction and continued walking.
Just like that. No acknowledgment.
Disappointment settled in my gut.
I scoffed quietly. What the hell was I expecting? That he would smile? Wink? Give me a big hug?
My goodness. I was losing my mind.
He was my professor.
This was a classroom.
And over a hundred students were sitting around us. Of course, he wasn’t going to acknowledge me.
That was the normal thing to do.
The professional thing.
So why did it bother me?
I tightened my grip on my pen and shook my head.
“Get a hold of yourself, Jasmine,” I muttered under my breath.
Then I took a deep breath, pulled the test paper closer, and forced myself to focus on the first question.
- Writer
