That night, after classes, I find myself wandering on campus, heading toward the lab.

I don’t really know why. I feel restless and alone. Mac invited me out to some party, but the idea of getting drunk and letting annoying frat guys try to flirt with me just isn’t appealing right now.

I still feel Jason’s lips on mine. He surprised me back at the coffee shop by pushing me back into the bathroom, but I loved it. I saw something n his expression that I didn’t expect to see.

Something I’ve never seen in a man’s eyes before.

Pure desire. Real, true, genuine desire.

My head’s been spinning all day. I don’t know what I’m getting myself involved in, but I’m excited to find out.

I step in through the building’s door. And head down to the lab. The lights are off, and they come on with a slow flicker, almost like they’re groaning.

The room looks small and empty without the others in it. I head over to my computer and sit down, booting it up, biting my nails, wondering why I’m here and not out partying like a normal college kid.

Maybe I’m not a normal college kid. Or maybe I’m just starting to change.

I get to work. There’s a ton of stuff to do, and all of our tasks are set out in this flowchart-like document that Jason put together. Each of us is assigned different tasks, and if we all complete them on time, the final product will come together.

I decide to get myself a little cushion, get a little ahead of the game. I figure it can’t hurt, just in case something comes up later.

I work for maybe twenty minutes before I hear footsteps out in the hall. My head’s full of programming and I barely even notice it when the door opens and two people step inside.

I frown and look up. It’s Howard and Parker, chatting with each other. They stop when they spot me.

“Clara,” Howard spits. “What are you doing here?”

“Working,” I say.

The two boys come over to me. Howard sneers and Parker’s grinning like they were just talking about me.

I bet they were.

“Makes sense, you need the extra time,” Howard says.

“Why are you here, then?”

He shrugs. “We were bored, thought we’d come in and get some stuff finished.”

“Bored? I guess you really don’t have a life.”

I know I shouldn’t have said it. The words just tumble out of my mouth. Howard glares at me and Parker blinks, surprised.

“Don’t be a bitch, Clara,” Howard says.

“Seriously. This is why nobody likes you.”

I tense up, anger flaring through me. They started this crap, and here they are acting like I’m out of line.

This is the problem with being a woman. You either sit back and take their asshole bullshit, or you fight back and suddenly you’re a bitch. It drives me absolutely insane. It’s just another double standard I’m forced to deal with on a daily basis, and I hate it.

“Just sit down and leave me alone,” I say to them. “You guys are just big babies.”

Howard shakes his head. “Seriously, I don’t even know why you’re here. Everyone knows you suck at this stuff.”

“I don’t suck at anything,” I say.

“Except dick,” Parker adds, and the two guys laugh.

“Great one, idiot. I bet nobody’s ever touched your dick, except for maybe Howard here.”

Howard glares. “I’ve never touched his dick.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Parker adds.

I roll my eyes. “Oh my god, you guys are so insecure, it’s pathetic. Who cares if you’re gay? It’s freaking 2018.”

“I’m not gay,” Parker stutters. “Seriously, I’m not.”

“Shut up, idiot,” Howard says to him, and looks back at me. “You’re just a nasty bitch, you know that?”

“You guys came in here and started this,” I say. “You want me to roll over and take it.”

“Yeah,” Howard says dangerously, taking a step closer, “I really do.”

We stare at each other and nobody speaks. I can feel Howard’s anger, matching mine at least. Parker looks between us, uncomfortable, uncertain. He takes a step back, not sure he wants to be involved in this.

But he doesn’t have anywhere to go. The door opens again, and this time, Jason walks inside.

We all turn toward him, surprised. He looks at the three of us, frowning.

“What are you three doing here?” he asks, suspiciously looking between me and Howard.

“We, uh, came to get work done,” Parker says. “Clara was already here, so, yeah.”

“Clara?” Jason asks.

“I wanted to get ahead,” I say. “They had the same idea, I guess.”

Jason sighs. “You two, get out. Clara, save your stuff.”

Howard and Parker hesitate, but they obey. They quickly leave the room as I start to save the work I got done before they interrupted me.

Once the door shuts, Jason walks over to me. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine.”

“I could feel the tension.”

“I’m fine,” I repeat. I finish saving my work, shut down the computer, and stand. “Seriously, they’re just little boys.”

“Little, angry boys,” he corrects. “Are you sure you’re fine?”

“I’m fine,” I say again, a hint of annoyance in my voice. “What are you doing here anyway?”

He sighs and smiles. “I guess we all had the same idea. I come here most nights and get some work done.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He shrugs. “Beats sitting in my apartment alone.”

“How about we get a drink?” The words tumble from my lips before I can think about it.

He hesitates. “Okay,” he says. “I think I’d like that. Beats coding.”

“Come on.” I walk past him, grabbing his hand. He follows behind me, clearly a little bewildered.

I don’t know why I’m taking charge like this, but I’m angry. I’m sick of being treated like some inferior little girl just because I don’t have a dick.

Jason clearly doesn’t think of me that way. He’s the first man I’ve met that seems to actually take me seriously. All of my tasks are more difficult than anything the boys are doing, except for maybe Howard. They know it, too, and it drives them insane.

I hate that they found me here. It’ll only feed their belief that I’m not good enough. They’ll think I need this extra time more than I really do.

Truth is, I just wanted to lose myself in the work for an hour, and maybe feel close to Jason while doing it.

We step out onto the street. Howard and Parker are nowhere to be seen. I guess they ran off, happy to have gotten out of there in one piece.

“Where to?” Jason asks me.

“This way.” I lead him down the block, turn at the intersection, and head away from campus.

“Nice town,” he comments.

I laugh lightly. “Not much around here.”

“No, not really.” He shrugs. “Still nice.”

“I like the northeast. Lots of trees.”

“And lots of pizza places.”

“There’s one on every corner and they all make the same pizza.”

“Right? I’ve noticed that. Not much variation.”

“It’s always good, though. Philly area has the best pizza around.”

“I don’t know about that,” he says. “I’ve had pizza in Rome. And New York.”

I roll my eyes. “New York can suck it.”

He grins at that. “Okay, fine. Rome was still good, though.”

“Can’t say, I’ve never had it.”

“Maybe I’ll take you there sometime. Get you the real pizza experience.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Pizza experience?”

“Sure, we’ll do it up. Pizza all over the city.”

“Sounds great to me.”

He grins, steps closer. There aren’t many people around, and out here, off campus, we’re a little more anonymous. It’s still dangerous for him to be walking too closely to me, or really, to be walking with me at night at all, but I don’t care.

He doesn’t seem to care, either. He throws me a look, this little smirk. I know what he’s thinking. I’ve been thinking the same thing.

We duck into the first bar we find. It’s a little dive spot and pretty empty, but it’s warm and there’s beer on tap. He orders two and we grab a booth toward the back.

“So, this is the life of an undergrad,” he says, looking around.

“More or less,” I say.

“I didn’t really have this experience back in the day.”

“What was it like for you?”

He shrugs a little. “Hard work, mostly. I didn’t feel like I had time to have fun.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Guess so. I’ve had plenty of fun later on, though.” He laughs softly. “What about you? How come you’re not out partying?”

“Just doesn’t appeal right now, I guess.”

“You were hoping to run into me, weren’t you?”

His eyes sparkle with amusement.

I glare at him. “Hardly. You gave me all the difficult tasks.”

“You can handle it.”

“Probably, but I’ll have to work my ass off.”

“Good. I can’t play favorites, even if you are my favorite.”

I hesitate, not sure how to take it. “Well, whatever, that’s why I was there.”

“You should go out and party.”

I wave that away, sipping my drink. “I don’t need to party anymore.”

“You sound so old.”

“I’m very mature.”

He smirks slightly. “I know you are.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean, Professor Turner?”

He grins. “You know damn well what it means.” He leans closer to me. “I keep thinking about you, up on that desk, legs spread…”

I bite my lip and shake my head. “Don’t get started.”

“You don’t want to hear it?”

“I really want to hear it, but we’re in public. Someone might hear.”

“I don’t mind.”

“You should, you dirty old man.”

He laughs softly at that. “Not so old, you know.”

“Please. You can’t keep up with me.”

“I could outdrink you any day.”

“Prove it.” I grin at him, eyes gleaming.

He considers it for a second, but shakes his head. “Another night, little Clara.” His eyes drift over my shoulder and he sighs. “Looks like our time together is getting cut a little short.”

I frown, cock my head. “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry,” he says, standing. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay?” I frown as he quickly walks away, heading back toward the bar.

I turn and watch as he approaches a man I don’t recognize. They smile, shake hands, and Jason sits down next to him.

It takes me a second to recognize the Dean of Monray, Roman Flores.

I sink down into my seat. Holy shit. What the hell is he doing in a dump like this?

I wait a few minutes before getting up. I head back to the bathrooms and luckily there’s an emergency exit. I pray that an alarm won’t go off as I shove through it, walking out into an alley.

No alarm goes off. I leave the bar and head back to campus.

That was close. Jason handled it nicely, really calm, and that kept me from freaking out. But still, that was really close. We could’ve been caught together, and there’s no mistaking what we were doing.

Every second I spend with him outside of class is dangerous. I need to keep that in mind going forward.

But that danger… it’s what keeps me coming back.

And the way he makes me feel.