Chapter Three
Natalie
I was surprised by how interesting Chance William managed to make macroeconomic world trends, and yet, I still couldn’t concentrate. I hadn’t expected him to be so young, or so good looking. I was glad for my seat in the front row; it gave me the opportunity to see the hints of blond in his brown hair and the flecked hazel of his eyes.
He wasn’t like many of the professors I had grown used to. He looked like he spent weekends in the gym. He was tall, at least six-one, and I could make out the hard muscle of his arms beneath the fitted long-sleeved shirt he wore.
I was extremely aware of the fact that I was objectifying my new teacher, but I couldn’t help it. I had never had such a strong reaction to a man before, and it surprised me. At some point during his lecture, his eyes met mine, and I felt my breath still for a moment.
I panicked and looked down like a twelve-year-old when his lips turned up into a smile. When I finally looked up again, he had turned his face up towards the charts projected onto the wall. I spent the entire lecture trying not to stare too hard at his hands, his shoulders, and his perfectly square jaw. I was also aware that the guy sitting next to me kept glancing in my direction from time to time and I didn’t want him to notice my preoccupation with our new professor’s body.
I loved the way he spoke, too. And, the way he moved. There was no self-doubt in his movements. There was no second-guessing himself. He was confident and in control, and I admired that. Especially considering I had strived my whole life for that kind of confidence and always found myself lacking. It wasn’t easy to achieve. Either you had it, or you didn’t.
As the last minutes of class drew to a close, Chance walked around his desk once again. “Looks like there’s no time for questions,” he said, glancing at his watch. “I expect every one of you to complete your reading before the next lecture. If not, you’re going to be lost, and I’m not slowing down for anybody. I’ll see you guys next time.”
“Geez,” the boy sitting next to me said. “What an ass, huh?”
I looked at him in surprise. “Who?”
“The professor,” the boy said, gesturing towards the front of the lecture hall. “He sounds like a complete jerk.”
I frowned uncertainly. “I thought the lecture was amazing.”
“You thought so?”
“Didn’t you?”
“He kept strutting around like he thought he was on a runway.”
On another day, I might have been amused, but I was too impressed by Professor William to find that funny. “I thought he was really good,” I said. “And, he’s obviously passionate about teaching.”
The boy smirked. He had dark eyes, dark hair, and quite a nice smile, but there was just something about him that made me uneasy. It was the way he was looking at me – it made me feel uncomfortable without really knowing why.
“Passionate?” the guy replied. “Did you not hear him tell everyone to leave because he wasn’t interested in doing his job and actually teaching us?”
“That wasn’t what he said,” I said, defending him. “He was being honest with us. This is a hard course, and he wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into. I appreciated the warning…didn’t you?”
“I just thought he was a jerk,” he said, with a shrug. “By the way, I’m Jason.” He extended his hand out to me, and I was forced to take it.
“I’m Natalie,” I introduced as I started gathering up my things.
“Well, Natalie, since we know this class is going to be a killer, how about we get together a study group?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Um...the thing is, I’ve always preferred to study alone, to be honest,” I said, as politely as I could.
“Seriously?” Jason asked as his eyebrows rose. Again, I noticed that something in his eyes that had turned me off from the beginning of our conversation.
“Yeah,” I nodded, as I rose from my seat. “Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I’ll manage on my own.”
“Aw, come on,” he insisted. “It could even be fun. Isn’t that the point of study groups?”
“I think that depends on whom you ask,” I said, trying to walk away from him without being rude.
“We don’t have to include anyone else,” he said as though that might change my mind. “It could just be the two of us.”
I gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Jason,” I said. “But I’m just not interested.”
His face changed instantly. The smile faltered for a moment before dropping completely, and his eyes turned angry. I picked up my books and started walking towards the door, but I could hear him follow close behind me.
“What’s the big deal?” Jason asked emphatically, and I noticed his tone had changed, too. “It’s just a fucking study group.”
Taken back by the unexpected hostility in his tone, I hesitated at the door and turned back to him. “I’m talking about meeting once or twice a week,” he continued. “That’s all.”
I stared at him for a moment. “Listen, Jason,” I said, taking pains to be as nice as possible. There was something about the guy that was intense – and not in a good way. “It’s a nice idea, and I would like to say yes, but the thing is, I’ve been a part of study groups before. It’s never worked for me. I’d just be wasting my time and probably yours, as well. You understand that, don’t you?”
“You’re being a baby,” he said, with indignation in his tone.
“And, you’re being rude,” I said.
I tried to walk away from him again, but he stepped in front of me, and I started to get anxious. “I’m trying to be nice,” he said emphatically. “I’m a good guy, and I just thought I’d make a helpful offer.”
“It was a helpful offer,” I said. “I’m just choosing to decline. It’s not personal.”
Jason looked like he was about to say something more, but I cut him off before he could speak. “I need to get to my next class,” I said. “Excuse me.”
I had just pushed the door open when I heard him mutter a word under his breath. It sounded a lot like “cunt” and I whipped around in shock to check if I’d heard right. But Jason had already turned his back on me and was walking towards the exit in the opposite direction.
My heart was beating a little fast at the jarring confrontation, and I made a mental note to sit as far away from him as I could at the next lecture. I was able to put Jason out of my mind during the next class, and that gave me the room to think of someone more pleasant, namely Professor William. I was still daydreaming about those beautiful hazel eyes of his when I got back to my dorm that evening.
“There you are,” Missy greeted as I walked in and threw my bag onto my bed. “I’ve been waiting all day to tell you about the cute guy I sat next to during my sociology lecture this morning.”
I laughed. “Slept with him yet?”
“Trust me, I’m working on it,” she winked. “What about you? Any cute guys catch your attention today?”
It was a standard question, one that Missy asked every semester and one that I always answered with an indifferent shrug. But this time, the moment she asked the question, I blushed.
She gasped. “There was!” she said triumphantly.
“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “No, there wasn’t.”
“Liar,” she laughed. “Tell me everything. Who was he?”
“I…just…um…”
Missy laughed as I tripped over my words. “Man, you are blushing like your face is on fire.”
I threw my hands up in the air and sighed. “Geez, I am such a loser,” I lamented.
“You’re just…inexperienced,” Missy said gently. “Which is why I keep telling you, you need to get out there. Did you speak to him? Did you sit next to him?”
“Neither,” I admitted. “He wasn’t a student.”
“Damn, girl!” Missy said, and she sounded impressed. “You have the hots for a teacher?”
“He doesn’t look like the kind of teacher I’m used to,” I admitted.
“What does he look like?”
“He’s young,” I said. “He could pass for a student himself. Except that he’s not like any of the guys I’ve ever met on campus. He’s and self-assured, confident, and intelligent. He’s a real man, you know?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t,” Missy laughed. “I have yet to meet a mature man on campus.”
“My point exactly,” I nodded. “He’s different.”
“Well, maybe you should drop by his office,” Missy suggested. “He has consultation hours, doesn’t he?”
“To do what?” I asked.
She wagged her eyebrows at me. “What do you think?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “You’re crazy.”
“What?” she asked. “Extracurriculars never hurt anyone.”
“He’s my teacher.”
“I’m aware.”
“I can’t get involved with my teacher,” I said emphatically.
“Why not?”
“There’s a rule about that,” I reminded Missy.
“Please,” she said, waving away my point. “Rules exist to be broken, especially the stupid ones. I think you should make an appointment with him and then seduce him. You can fuck him on his desk.”
“Hello, have you met me?”
She laughed. “You’re right, maybe that move is a little ambitious for you.”
“You think?”
“What’s his name?”
“Chance,” I replied. “Chance William.”
“Hmm, kind of a sexy name, too,” Missy said, as she proceeded to look him up on the university’s website. “Ah, here he is.”
I peered in over her shoulder. The picture they had provided of Chance was a simple black and white image. He was looking right at the camera with a haughty expression in his eyes. It was almost challenging and extremely sexy.
“Damn,” Missy nodded approvingly. “It’s almost worth taking the class just to see that every week.”
I laughed as I read through his biography. “Hey, he used to study here himself. He graduated with honors eight years ago.”
“That must make him around twenty-nine or thirty,” Missy nodded. “That’s perfect for you.”
“How is that perfect for me?”
“Well, it seems to me that you could benefit from a relationship with an older man,” Missy reasoned. “He has the experience that you’re lacking, which means he could educate you about the carnal delights of the body.”
I raised my eyebrows. “That sounds terrifying.”
“You scare too easy,” she said dismissively. “That’s your problem.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, closing the page and turning away from the computer. “Even if he wasn’t my teacher I wouldn’t stand a chance…ah, no pun intended.”
Missy smiled. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Guys like the quiet girls… I think there’s the assumption that they’re wild in bed.”
“That’s a pretty big assumption.”
“Hey, whatever works,” she said, with a shrug.
I fell back onto my bed and looked towards her. “I’ve been thinking about what we talked about the other day.”
“What did we talk about?”
“You know…the fact that I haven’t made the most out of my college experience…”
“Yeah?”
“You were right,” I conceded. “Now that graduation is only a few months away, I’m starting to realize how much I’ve missed out on.”
Missy looked thrilled. “We still have a semester left,” she said. “That’s enough time to turn things around.”
I smiled. “Okay then, I guess I’m game.”