“So how was that Cardiology lecture April? I heard Dr. Gray’s a real toughie but pretty damn hot. That true?” Judy nosily probed as she chewed on her granola bar while we walked home from UCLA.

“It was umm…interesting. That whole thing about the quizzes is true by the way. He gave us one.” It would probably be a good idea to deflect from Judy’s comments about Paul Gray. The truth was, I did find him ‘pretty damn hot’.

He was tall, tanned and tantalizing. Stubble that grazed his firm cheekbones lightly and a smile that could make any girl in the world lose her inhibitions. Broad shoulder and firm toned arms you could only see from the silhouette of his tailored button up. He had bright blue eyes and short tapered hair with fine little hints of gray in them. I would be totally lying if I said I wasn’t glad to have a huge piece of eye candy to stare at every day in class.

And I didn’t feel bad about it either.

“So yeah, that’s pretty much how my first day went.” We walked in the darkness underneath the street lights.

“Wow, seems like Professor Gray is gonna make you work your ass off for that ‘A’ huh April?” Judy asked, sounding a bit sorry for me.

“Yeah, seems that way. I’m not worried about it though.”

Judy sighed and chuckled a bit. It almost felt like she knew what I was thinking at the sound of it. I guess best friends just always seemed to have that effect.

But I really hoped she didn’t know what I was thinking.

We got back to our apartment and slammed our bags and books to the ground. I had a ton of work to do but of course, like any good medical student, I was not going to do it now. I took out my phone and scrolled through my emails. My hand hovered over one that was sent by Dr. Gray. I didn’t read it. My eyes just glazed over his name for what seemed like the longest time. And my heart felt like it was about to pounce out of my chest. Judy must have noticed and placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Are you okay April? You look like you just overdrew your bank account.”

I shrugged it off, “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just checking some emails and might’ve gotten a little dazed. That usually means it’s time for bed.” Shoving my phone in my bag on the floor, I plopped on the couch in our living room.

“Time for bed already? Are you crazy? It’s only eight pm. Are you a five-year-old or something?” Judy grabbed a pillow and tapped it against my leg. It’s not that I wanted to go to bed, I just wanted to get my mind off of Paul Gray. Anything that would help me do that sounded like a good idea to me.

“Well I’m not tired but we both have class tomorrow. And I’m really not looking forward to yanking myself out of the bed at six.” I rolled over and stared at the ceiling, finding myself counting all of the little dots of stucco on top.

“Eh, I guess I understand. On that note, I’m gonna go take a shower. You enjoy your new bed.” Laughing sarcastically, Judy left the room.

I don’t remember when in my life I decided I wanted to be a doctor. The path just always was thrown in front of me and I took it with tunnel vision. Actually thinking back on it, I never even gave much time for relationships. Unless you considered make out sessions at house parties to be “relationships”.

To put it bluntly, Dr. Paul Gray was the first guy I’ve daydreamed about fucking in a very long time. And I wasn’t sure that was necessarily a good thing.

I reached over to the side of the couch and grabbed my phone. Clicking on the email that Paul sent, I read it slowly.

There was only one sentence.

“OFFICE HOURS: M-F 3:30PM -5PM”

Wild thoughts suddenly came to my mind about seeing him in his office…alone. My body began to heat up as I thought about how fun it could be to keep my thoughts about him secret while looking right in his face.

My lids were feeling heavy.

What the hell was I thinking? Must just be really tired…You’re a future doctor first and foremost April. Get your shit together.

On that note, I locked my phone and rose up from the sofa, heading to my room.

* * *

The Next Day

The lecture hall was empty when I got there at eight in the morning. It was so quiet I could hear the subtle sound of my humming against the gray walls. I took my seat in front of Dr. Gray’s desk and tapped my fingers idly against my desk.

That jittery, fluttery feeling of my heart racing crept back to the forefront of my mind. I wasn’t nervous yesterday, why on earth was I so nervous now? Just as I scolded myself for worrying over nothing, Dr. Paul Gray walked through the door on the right side of the room. His eyebrow raised and I swore those crystal blues shimmered when he saw me sitting in the front of the room.

“You’re here bright and early April. Good to see you.” Maybe it was just me, but every word he said made me feel like the whole room was shaking. His deep voice smoothly bounced off of my eardrums and stole my attention in an instant.

“Hey there Professor Gray. Thought I should get here early so I could catch a good seat across from you.” He looked even better today than he did yesterday and I didn’t think that was possible at all.

“Are you trying to distract me or something?” The sly smirk that crept up his face made my face turn red. I wasn’t trying to distract him but if I just so happened to that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

“I’m just trying to get as much out of the lecture as possible. You know, be a good med student and all?” I perked my shoulders upwards and widened my eyes trying to give my best “innocent” look. He laughed and shook his head like he didn’t believe me.

“You know, I’ve heard that one a lot.” He walked towards my desk and knelt down in front of it. His eyes were leveled with mine and he was close enough that I could smell the cool spice of his cologne.

Trying my hardest not to look like a smitten fool, I leaned in slightly closer to him and smiled. “It’s the first time you’re hearing it from me.” My eyes focused pointedly on his lips and I could see them quivering slightly as his lips parted gently. The heat from his body smothered me. It was crazy how it didn’t take him any effort to send my mind racing. Those few moments of him gazing into my eyes seemed like forever until he rose up and walked back over to his desk.

Just like that, I was snapped out of a trance.

I peeked over to the door to see if anyone was coming in. I didn’t want them to. I wanted to continue this. To continue being wrapped under Paul’s unfair spell.

Damn that group of chuckling overachievers that just walked in.

“Good morning Professor Gray!” They all took hands shaking his hand and walking to their respective spots next to me in the front row. I was a little irritated but relieved that I wasn’t alone to say anything stupid to Paul. Soon after, tons of students passed through the doors and my thoughts became a tiny blip in the back of my mind.

Usually, I’d speed through my notes and be the first one out the door.

Not this time.

I found myself tilting my head as Paul spoke, with the same vacant expression on my face that everyone else had. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what he was saying. Well, that was sort of why. But the truth was, I really couldn’t stop following his hands, his eyes, his mouth while he walked around the front of the lecture room.

I was mesmerized.

And before I knew it, class was up.