The next day in class, all Scott could think about was Charlie.
Obviously, about Charlie sucking his cock, rolling his tongue around, moaning, closing his eyes, and all the rest of it, but…
Not just that. He also couldn’t stop thinking of Charlie after, of the way he’d curled up next to him, of both of them eating quietly, clinging to each other. They hadn’t broken contact until Scott had announced that he really needed to get to bed if he was going to be up on time in the morning.
It was nice. More than nice. Scott had never felt so close to someone after sex, and that had been rushed, desperate, totally surprise sex that only one of them had gotten off on.
He owed Charlie one. And while he knew Charlie wouldn’t pressure him… he kind of wanted to repay that debt. As soon as possible.
Even their goodnight kiss lingered in his mind, soft and sweet outside the library, after Charlie had finally locked up for the night. He’d been sleepy by then, his eyelids heavy, his lips gentle, just barely brushing against Scott’s.
It made him feel like a teenager all over again, discovering girls for the first time. Except this time, he was discovering boys.
Or maybe just Charlie.
He hadn’t really figured that part out yet, but right now, he didn’t need to. The one boy he wanted seemed to want him back.
Was it too soon to text him? It felt a little too soon, like if he seemed too eager Charlie might get bored of him, but he really wanted to. He regretted not asking Charlie to come home with him.
Maybe after class.
Scott looked down at his notes when everyone started packing up around him and only realized then that he hadn’t written any. It had mostly been about the next assignment, which was all information he already had, but still.
Charlie was obviously a big deal to him if he was daydreaming instead of paying attention.
“Hey, Scott, can we talk?” Professor Malik asked as he walked past her desk.
Scott paused, moving out of the way of the other students, his stomach knotting up. He looked up to the professor. This might have been a small town community college, but she’d had an impressive career.
Maybe not impressive in the usual way, but impressive to Scott. She’d done a lot of conservation work all over the world, and while Scott just wanted a quiet life, he liked the idea of taking a working holiday or two that involved taking care of elephants or dolphins or tigers or something.
He should have been paying attention. Then maybe he’d have some idea of what to say.
“Are you okay?” she asked once everyone else had left, adjusting one of the pins on her headscarf.
“Uh, yeah.” Scott scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I kinda zoned out today. I, uh… I was just thinking about some personal stuff.”
That made him sound like he was in the middle of some kind of crisis, which wasn’t at all what he’d intended.
“Nothing serious, I hope?”
Scott shook his head. It was serious, but it wasn’t bad serious. It definitely wasn’t something he wanted to tell the professor.
“Well, good. I actually wanted to talk to you about your last assignment.”
Scott’s stomach sank again. Had he screwed it up? Accidentally plagiarized something?
He didn’t think there’d been anything wrong with it, but a hundred different scenarios were suddenly running through his head.
“Hey, relax,” Professor Malik put a hand on his arm. She was tiny compared to him, a full ten inches or so shorter. She was so smart and so accomplished that she’d seemed a lot bigger. “It was good. You showed a lot of insight I don’t usually expect from first-year students.”
“Oh.” Scott blushed, feeling stupid now for worrying.
“I just wanted to congratulate you and encourage you to stick with this. You’ll breeze through it.” She smiled at him. “You love dogs, huh?”
Scott nodded. He knew how he’d given that away. All his examples were about dogs.
He knew them, so it seemed like the obvious thing.
“I grew up with them,” he explained. “And I foster shelter dogs, so I’ve always got a few around. I actually just adopted a puppy.”
Scott knew he was babbling, but people didn’t normally take an interest in him. At least, they hadn’t until he moved to Hope Springs. Now, suddenly, he felt as though everyone cared.
Maybe that explained Charlie. Charlie was just part of the whole process of self-discovery he’d had going on for the last six months or so, when he’d first decided to apply for college here.
He was still surprised anyone wanted him. Academically or otherwise.
“That explains it. Horses are my weakness,” Professor Malik said. “I’ve had a couple of rescue horses myself. Ponies that were bought for birthdays before mom and dad realized how much work they were and what the ongoing expenses are like.”
“That’s sad,” Scott said, imagining what it must have been like for a horse to be so loved to begin with and then slowly neglected. He’d seen a lot of dogs like that. Pets weren’t for everyone, and he really wished people thought about whether or not they wanted the responsibility before they got them.
“Most of them went to nice places eventually. I only have one now,” Professor Malik said. “But I’m getting off track, and I bet you have better things to do than talk to me about horses all day. What I wanted to say was, I know you’re doing this part time and I know how hard that can be when you’re not seeing progress as fast as you might like. But you should stick with it. The fact that you care shines through, and I want to see people who care graduating.”
Scott blushed, his face heating up so quickly it felt like a furnace had been opened in front of it. Professor Malik seemed to have faith in him, faith he wasn’t sure he’d earned yet.
“I mean it,” she continued. “I want this for you. I wanna see you standing up and crossing that stage, when you’re ready.”
“T-thank you,” Scott stammered, not sure what else he could say.
Professor Malik smiled at him. “Go do whatever it is kids do when they’re not in class. And come to me if you need help or more time on an assignment or anything like that. Anytime. My door is always open, I check my emails all the time.”
“Thanks,” Scott repeated, more confident this time. He never expected support. Not like this. He’d only been in Professor Malik’s class for a handful of weeks.
It was nice, though. He finally felt like he was finding his place in Hope Springs.
He waved goodbye to the professor and headed out into the sunshine. With the leaves turning and the air starting to cool, he had to make the most of it while it lasted. Fall was well and truly here, and that meant winter was just around the corner.
Scott took his phone out of his pocket before he could change his mind, opening up a new text to Charlie. He’d gotten his number last week in a surge of confidence, but he’d never used it before now.
Hey, it’s Scott, he started, since he wasn’t sure Charlie had ever gotten his number in exchange. Just wanted to say good morning. I know it’s almost afternoon, before you say anything. I was in class.
He sent it before he could re-read it and start editing it to death, nerves making his stomach tight. This would tell him how serious Charlie was about him, and hopefully make a lot of things clearer.
Good morning to you, Charlie sent back.
Scott grinned down at his phone. Maybe Charlie was serious after all.