Office Hours

Nothing More

Morning basketball practice had drained every ounce of energy Ethan had.

By the time practice ended, all he wanted was to collapse into bed, but he couldn’t.

For weeks, Luca and Jamal had been begging him to make his homemade pizza, insisting there was no way it lived up to the ridiculous hype he gave it.

So instead of heading straight to his dorm, Ethan found himself in the shared kitchen, flour dusting the countertop as Luca shamelessly stole pepperoni when he thought Ethan wasn’t looking.

“Can you stop it dude it’s barely enough”

Luca looked up innocently, the slice of pepperoni already halfway to his mouth.

“Sorry?”

“You’ve stolen enough toppings to make your own pizza.”

“It’s called quantity control.”

Jamal snorted.

“No, it’s just your hungry ass.”

“I prefer food critic.”

Nearly an hour later, the three of them were sitting around the small table with empty plates and satisfied stomachs.

Luca leaned back in his chair.

“I hate admitting this…”

Ethan smirked.

“…but?”

“…this is the best pizza I’ve ever had.”

“told you.”

Jamal pointed at Ethan with the last crust in his hand.

“You better make this every week.”

“Not every week.”

Luca folded his arms.

“Alright, seriously no more jokes. I’ve been wanting to ask you. Why did you ask Miss Elara to tutor you?”

Ethan was quiet.

Jamal raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah seriously. You’ve never wanted tutoring before.”

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck.

“…This is embarrassing.”

“We’re waiting.”

He sighed.

““When she first taught my class… I kind of developed a little crush on her.”

Jamal blinked.

“…That’s what you were embarrassed about?”

Ethan frowned.

“What?”

Luca shrugged.

“Ethan, half of the guys on this campus talks about her. That’s not exactly shocking.”

“Have you seen her i********: followers, a huge chunk of them are guys from this campus”.

“Yeah,” Luca said. She doesn’t even post anything crazy.”

“It’s literally just coffee, travel vlogs and pictures of her and her cat.”

Luca shrugged.

“Trust me, you’re not weird for having a crush on someone who’s clearly attractive.”

Jamal nodded.

“She’s only twenty-five, bro. It’s not like there’s some massive age gap between you two.”

Ethan sighed.

“It’s not about that, I have a girlfriend and it just feels wrong.”

“Yh I get it, but you can’t control your feelings”Jamal said.

“Yeah, but it feels like emotional cheating. I can’t keep acting and dwelling on it. So I’ll just shut it off”.

Luca nodded “That’s definitely for that best”.

Yeah, Jamal said.

“When I was a freshman, Sophie was exactly the kind of girl I wouldn’t even dreamed of dating. And now I have her, I’m not gonna ruin it”.

Ethan continues

Anyways… “I’ll be taking Sophie to that fancy rooftop restaurant tonight.”

Jamal’s eyebrows shot up.

“The one where they play jazz?”

Ethan nodded.

“Bro…” Jamal laughed. “That’s expensive.”

“I’ve been saving up”

“And don’t you have to make reservations really early?” Luca said.

“Yeah,”Ethan said. “I booked it last week. I’m surprising her, she just thinks we’re going to see a movie.”

Luca smiled. “That’s so dope”.

“Bro’s a planner.”

Jamal grinned.

“Oh she’s going to love that.”

Ethan glanced at the clock and pushed his chair back.

“Alright, guys…”

He stretched his sore shoulders.

“I’m exhausted. I need to get some sleep.”

Luca stood as well.

“Same.”

Jamal slung his backpack over one shoulder.

“I’ve got class in an hour.”

“Later.”

Ethan reached his room.

His muscles ached.

His eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

Just twenty minutes, he thought because he had tutoring soon.

He didn’t even bother changing out of his practice clothes before collapsing onto his bed.

…

When his eyes finally opened again, sunlight had shifted across the room.

He frowned.

Something felt wrong.

He reached for his phone.

His heart dropped.

“Oh, no…”

He shot upright.

He was thirty minutes late.

Without wasting another second, Ethan grabbed his notes from his desk, shoved them under his arm, and hurried out the door.

By the time he reached, he was slightly out of breath.

Ethan hurried down the hall way. He checked the time again and winced.

Thirty-six minutes late.

As he rounded the corner, he spotted Elara standing outside her office with another female lecturer. The two women were laughing over something that had just been said.

She looked up just as Ethan approached. The other lecturer smiled politely and left.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, slightly out of breath. “Basketball practice this morning completely wiped me out. I promised my friends I’d cook for them afterwards, and… I took a nap, didn’t really think I’d sleep that long.”

“You don’t have to over explain, I was busy chatting anyway”.

“Still, don’t make it a habit, she added, “if you’re ever running late or can’t make it, you can just send me an email.”

“Oh okay I will”

They headed to the library to start.

Elara set her notebook on the desk before looking at him.

“You look exhausted.”

“I am,” Ethan admitted with a tired laugh.

“We can end a little early today if you’re too tired.”

He nodded

“Really? Yeah.

She smiled.

“Alright then.” She opened her notebook. “Did you manage to finish the assignment I gave you?”

Ethan closed his eyes for a second.

“…I forgot.”

“I had a feeling. We’ll just go through it together.”

The tension in his shoulders eased.

“Sure”

About twenty minutes into the session, Elara’s phone began to ring.

She glanced at the screen and ignored it.

A few seconds later, it rang again.

She sighed quietly and silenced it once more.

When it rang a third time, she frowned.

“Sorry, excuse me I got to take this”.

She answered.

“Hello?”

A lady’s voice came through the speaker.

“Hello ma’am, sorry I kept calling, but Nala still won’t eat.”

Elara rolled her eyes.

“Did you check the cupboard beside the pantry?”

“I did.”

“Top shelf. There’s a fresh bag of her food there”.

There was a pause.

“…Found it.”

“Yeah. She probably doesn’t want the one that’s been sitting in the fridge for days. You know how picky she is.

No, don’t force her. Just leave it in her bowl. She’ll eat when she decides she’s hungry.”

She ended the call and placed her phone back on the desk.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright, everything okay?,” Ethan asked.

Elara smiled faintly.

“That was my cat nanny, my cat won’t eat”

Ethan raised an eyebrow,”you’re a cat person?”

“Well I guess so”

“Do you have any pets?” Elara said.

Ethan hesitated for a split second.

“More like a family pet.”

“What kind?”

“A big Doberman, he looks terrifying, but he whimpers if I don’t let him climb my bed.”

She laughed, “that’s adorable”.

“He’s just spoiled”.

Ethan blinked hard, trying to keep his eyes open as he was writing.

Elara noticed the way his gaze kept drifting and quietly closed her notebook.

The soft thud pulled Ethan’s attention back to her.

“Alright,” she said with a small smile. “Let’s stop here for today.”

Ethan looked up. “You sure?”

She nodded.

“You’re literally dozing off.”

He let out a sheepish laugh, rubbing a hand over his face.

“…Maybe a little.”

“You’ve earned yourself an early finish.”

Ethan smiled as he gathered his notebook.

“Thanks.”

“Go get some sleep and try not to forgot the assignment again”.

“I won’t. See you next week, Miss Elara.”

“See you next week.”

Back in his dorm, Ethan dropped onto his bed with a tired sigh.

He still couldn’t understand it.

The smallest, most ordinary things about Miss Elara seemed to stay with him. The way she laughed. The way she talked about her cat. The patience she had shown him today.

For some reason, those little details stirred something in him he was trying to ignore.

He closed his eyes.

“It’s just a silly crush”. He said to himself.

It didn’t matter.

He’d already decided.

Those thoughts would fade eventually.

They had to.