It was seven in the evening and classes were finally done. My last class for the day had been marine ecology and somehow, I processed that complicated information a lot easier than basic chemistry. After a long day of studying and going to class with no time to eat, I decided to grab some food from the Student Center and chill out at my apartment. I had snagged a couple of chili dogs with the works, fries and a medium soda, since I hadn’t eaten anything else the rest of the day. Nothing wrong with rewarding yourself after a long day with some delicious junk food, right?

I took a seat at my desk and practically ripped open the bag of food, so I could chow down. I was just about to take a bite when my phone suddenly vibrated on the desk. I rolled my eyes and begrudgingly put down my hot dog to pick up my phone. It was Knight. I really wanted to keep eating, but my curiosity over why he might be calling me so soon won out over my near-starvation.

“Hello,” I answered, trapping the phone between my ear and shoulder as I wiped my hands clean of my dinner.

“Hey McKinley, what are you up to?” he asked.

“Not much really. Just hanging out at my apartment,” I told him, as I looked longingly at my food, getting colder by the minute.

“How about you hang out at my place, instead?” he offered.

“That could be fun,” I agreed, trying to seem aloof. “You can tell me how your first day of teaching went.”

“Yeah, and vice versa. I want to know how your first day went. And maybe we can do some… other things,” he threw out there.

“Is that all I’m good for?” I said jokingly as I took a sip of my soda.

“I’m wounded,” he said with a laugh. “Just head over when you can. I’m working on lesson plans.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“You do that,” he teased.

“I’ll be there in half an hour. After I eat my dinner.”

* * *

My trusty cherry red sedan barreled onto Rotterdam Avenue and made a beeline for Knight’s house. The car boomed up the inclined pavement on the side of his house, coming to a clean stop with the bumper only centimeters away from the wooden fence gate that separated the back yard from the front.

Seconds later, Knight came out through the side door to greet me.

“Hey, McKinley,” he said, his eyes lighting up instantly. “I like your ride,” he complimented, running his hand along the hood.

“Are you patronizing me, mister?” I asked jokingly through my rolled down window. “This car is a thousand years old.”

“No! This really is a cute little car.”

“Sure,” I replied, yanking my keys out of the ignition and getting out of a car that had been passed down to me by grandparents.

He chuckled. “You are a tough nut to crack, McKinley Clarke,” he said as he beckoned me toward the house, allowing me to enter first.

I wandered into Knight’s living room, relishing the scent of cinnamon and sage that filled the place. I plopped down on a large, chocolate marshmallow of a sofa, which I sank down into the minute I hit it. I could have fallen asleep if I’d been alone in the room.

“Want anything to drink?” Knight asked me, as he turned up the lights in the room, waking me up entirely.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m good,” I told him. He sat down next to me on the couch and watched me carefully, as if he were surveying me for my comfort level.

“I hate to jump right in, but I feel like we really need to sort this out. How are you feeling about everything? What’s going on between us?” he asked.

“It’s been special,” I answered, holding back without really knowing why. His gaze intensified, signaling that there was no room for diplomacy here. He wasn’t looking for me to hold back.

“That’s it?”

“Well…”

“McKinley, I had no intention of sleeping with a student the second I got here, because I know how dangerous it could be for both of us. But at the same time, I can’t picture myself giving you up. We’ve backed ourselves into a corner and I don’t see a way out.”

I reached out and instinctively squeezed his hand. “Does there have to be an out? I know there are potential problems, but it’s only one semester. Maybe we could just… put it off until the end of chemistry and come back together when the semester was over?”

“Do you really think we can stay away from each for a whole semester?” Knight asked as he picked up my hand and kissed it gently. My entire body began to tingle, and I knew he was right. There was no way we could avoid what was happening between us for three months, no matter what was at stake.

“No. I can’t stop thinking about you even though I know we shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t know if it can work. I would switch to another class, but whatever shake-up happened in the department means there is only one chemistry class this semester and I can’t put it off again with any hope of graduating. I don’t know what to do, Knight…” I felt like I was going to cry, and I didn’t want to cry in front of him. We hadn’t known each other long enough for that.

Knight seemed to anticipate my emotions even though I wasn’t expressing them, so he pulled me close, his strong muscular arm wrapping around my shoulder and making me feel safer and warmer than I had in years. “Let’s figure it out together, McKinley. There has to be a way to get through it without anyone getting hurt. But we can only figure it out together.”

Suddenly, he tilted my head up so I was looking into his beautiful eyes, and I could feel every bit of the passion that was simmering between us. Knight smiled at me as he brushed a strand of hair away from my forehead.

“But tonight, let’s not worry about it. Tonight… let’s not worry about talking. What do you say?”

I didn’t say anything; I just kissed him. And it was perfection.