The Professor

Chapter 19

NOAH

Should I be staring at my student spellbound during class?

No.

But I probably shouldn’t have f****d her in my office last night either.

Dalia hadn’t noticed I was staring yet – she was incredibly focused on solving the question I had written on the board – but when her friend, Tamika, whispered something in her ear, she immediately lifted her eyes to me. Then she beamed at me.

Good God.

I had to stop myself from returning it because some students might find it super weird if I did and also, the fact that Tamika had noticed me staring at her meant that I should probably stop doing that.

Yes… I should stop.

Dalia drew her lower lip between her teeth, her eyes still on mine, as she sat upright and when my gaze dropped to her chest, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the drawing of a fluffy cloud on her shirt while last night flooded my mind again. I should have acted better than a base animal – taking her on my desk without using protection – but I absolutely didn’t regret it and the sounds she made as she came for me… f**k.

I groaned at the memory before remembering where I was and clearing my throat. Get a grip, Noah. Dalia returned her attention to her book while I leaned away from the desk, remembering that I couldn’t look at the desk in my office the same way again after last night, and walked back to the whiteboard. As I picked up the marker, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a message from Dalia.

Dalia: What’s going through your mind?

The corner of my mouth tugged up and I resisted the urge to glance at her over my shoulder.

Me: I don’t think I know how to solve this equation

She replied with a row of laughing emojis before I texted her the real answer.

Me: You

I’d done quite an amount of thinking after dropping her off last night and I realized that I’d been focusing on the wrong things all this while – things like what Shane and Allison did to me and the fact that my mum would rather ruin her relationship with me than respect my wishes – so I’d decided to let go of them. That didn’t mean I had forgiven Shane. I very much still hated his guts and the thought of killing him had crossed my mind after what he did on Sunday. It just meant I wasn’t going to let what he, Allison and mum had done to prevent me from finding happiness.

It meant I was going to focus on being happy with the people that actually cared about me. Especially Dalia.

I tucked my phone back in my pocket before resuming the lecture and about thirty minutes later, the class ended. I made my way back to my office and after a very long five minutes, Dalia joined me.

I sucked in a breath and she grinned at me, closing and locking the door behind her while I quickly walked towards her. When I got to her, I didn’t hesitate to wrap my hands around her and lay one on her. Finally.

She made a muffled noise at my fast and hungry kiss as my tongue plundered her mouth and her knees buckled a little. I pressed her up against the door and she clung to my shirt collar while my hands roamed over her body.

I wanted to throw her down on the floor and make her lose herself in moans and screams again but doing that here during the day was hardly appropriate. Last night wasn’t either but there were no other lecturers on this floor when she showed up then. That wasn’t the case now.

I finally broke the kiss after a little while to let us breathe and a smile crept onto my face as I stared at her. “Hey.”

Dalia blinked up at me, her eyes dilated and sparkling in delight as she tried to catch her breath. “Hey Noah,” she replied. “I got you something.” She glanced down and I followed her line of sight to a huge gray bag in her hand before raising my brows a bit because I hadn’t noticed that when she walked in. “A birthday gift.”

My smile widened and I pressed a kiss to her neck, then her ear. “You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.”

She pulled me over to the table the same way she had last night and when she set the bag on it, a peek into it revealed that she got me a U-Turn Audio record player. A warm fuzzy feeling spread through me.

“Do you like it?” she asked, a slight waver in her voice, as I returned my attention to her.

“I love it.” I gathered her in my arms and stole another kiss from her, albeit a short one. “Thank you.”

“Really?”

I grinned at how nervous she looked because I’d have been thrilled no matter what she gave me. Even if the bag had just been filled with air. “Really.”

Her shoulder sagged as she exhaled in a rush. “That’s a relief. I was worried you were going to find it lame.”

“Why would I? It’s from you.”

She tipped her head to the side and locked her arms around my neck. “Does that mean it would be a lame gift if it wasn’t from me?” she asked and I laughed.

“No. My record player broke on Sunday.” Actually, Shane broke into my place and broke a lot of things, including my record player, but I couldn’t report him to the cops because there was no evidence. “Thanks to you, I can listen to records again.”

A slow smile spread across her gorgeous face. “I’d like to listen to them with you,” she said and I paused before asking her what I’d wanted to since that night I found out my feelings for her were mutual.

“Wanna come over? We can listen to them while I make you dinner.”

Her face immediately lit up at that and she pressed her lips together for a moment. “Are you asking me out on a date, Professor?”

“I believe I am.”

Her smile widened to the point that I thought it’d split her face and it was infectious. “I’d love to. Friday night?”

“Friday night.”

“It’s a date. I should get going now. I have differential equations,” she said and I groaned before she kissed me. “See you in an hour,” she added and I pulled her in for one last kiss.

God, I love kissing her.

“See you later.”

****

As I shut the front door behind me, I couldn’t help but scrutinize the purple bag in my hand once more – the same thing I had done constantly during my ride home.

I had stopped by the mall after leaving campus and got the perfume in the bag for Dalia because whenever I used the record player she gave me, I’d be thinking of her, so I wanted to give her something that would make her think of me too. Also, I wanted my gift to leave a trace and that was why I decided on a perfume.

I really hope she’ll like it.

Now I understood her anxiety when she gave me the record player that was in my other hand.

“Took you long enough,” a voice suddenly said, startling me, and I looked up to see Caden sitting on a stool next to the kitchen island while Taylor and Javier were standing across from him.

“Noah!” Taylor called out, her face lighting up with a smile as Javier said, “You’re back.”

I dropped the bag containing the record player outside the kitchen before walking in to meet them while Taylor came over to hug me. “I wasn’t expecting you guys.”

The last time I saw the three of them was yesterday, sometime past midnight. They came over to wish me a happy birthday but my mood had been quite sour then because of Shane and mum so I took it out on them. It had been a really shitty thing to do and I felt bad about it after they left so I had planned to drop by their places today to apologize.

“We couldn’t celebrate your birthday yesterday so we’re here to do that.”

“Deal with it,” Javier added with a frown as Taylor pulled away and my lips curved into a smile. “Don’t smile. We’re mad at you.”

“I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to do better than that.”

“Oooh, is that mine?” Taylor cut in just as she reached for the perfume bag in my hand and I quickly moved it out of her reach.

“Hands off.”

“It’s a perfume for women…” She trailed off and stopped trying to grab the bag as she narrowed her eyes. “Is it for mum?” She sounded disappointed, like she expected the answer to be ‘yes’, and I frowned.

“f**k no,” I stated and relief crossed her face before she tipped her head to the side.

“Who is it for then?”

“Not you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me but didn’t ask any more questions and I ruffled her hair with my free hand, earning a frown from her before the doorbell rang. “That should be Sasha,” she said while patting her down before walking out of the kitchen and I returned my attention to Caden and Javier.

“For Dalia?” Caden asked and the smile that crept onto my face at her name gave them my answer. I had already told them about the Friday night I gave her a ride home and told her how I felt about her so I didn’t need to elaborate.

I walked over to the island and Javier fixed me a look as I sat on the stool next to Caden. “I’m really sorry about yesterday,” I said. “I was upset and I took it out on you guys. That was a really shitty thing to do.”

Javier set his mouth in a hard line and after mumbling something under his breath, he said, “Your dad told us Shane trashed your place.”

I clicked my tongue at the memory and nodded.

“How did he find out you were staying here?”

“How do you think?” I muttered, heaving a sigh, and his face fell when he figured out that the answer was mum. I then gave them a quick summary of what happened yesterday – mum showing up with Shane at campus because she wanted me to stop ignoring her calls, wanted to throw me a dinner party, wanted Shane at the party and wanted me to forgive him – and silence settled on the kitchen for a little while.

“Your mum sucks,” Caden finally said and I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of me at how bluntly he said it.

“She does.” The mood had become somber now and it was leaving a bitter taste in my mouth so I changed the topic. “I’ll be moving out soon.”

I wasn’t comfortable with the fact that Shane now knew where I stayed, especially because of what he did on Sunday. I already changed the locks but I still didn’t want to stay here anymore. Besides, this house was way too big for one person and I had planned to eventually get a smaller place when I moved into it.

“Really?”

“When?”

“As soon as I find an apartment to move into,” I replied just as Taylor walked into the kitchen with a box in her hand.

“The cake’s here,” she announced in a cheery voice before setting it on the island. “I wanted it to have thirty two candles but Sasha said that wasn’t a good idea so I just got one instead.”

“No s**t,” I said with a smile, remembering last night again, and she pouted.

“Wow, thirty two. Noah, you’re prehistoric,” Javier laughed and I shot him a confused look.

“We’re the same age?”

That made Caden and Taylor laugh while Javier rolled his eyes but a smile played on his lips. He then walked over to the shelf holding wine glasses to grab four glasses and came back to the island while Taylor pulled a wine bottle out of a cabinet in the island.

After Taylor poured wine into each glass and all of us picked one, Javier raised his.

“Now to the most fabulous person I know– Sorry, that’s me.” He cleared his throat theatrically and I clicked my tongue while staring at him. “To the second fabulous person I know. My brother from another…” He trailed off as he drew his brows together in thought, obviously thinking of what to use to replace ‘mother’ since I was pissed at mine. “Father?”

“Maybe I should go first,” Caden cut in.

“No.” Javier cleared his throat again and returned his attention to me with a s**t-eating grin on his face. “To Noah. We’ve been friends for so long I can’t remember which one of us is the bad influence,” he continued and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling even though we both knew he was the bad influence. “And without you, my therapy bills would be outrageous. Happy birthday, bud.”

We all clinked our glasses together with smiles and as we drank from them, I couldn’t help but feel that everything was absolutely perfect.