She chuckles. “Indeed. I would love to get to know that side of you. I was thinking it would be nice to have dinner later? I’m always talking about work. What about a non-work-related get-together? Just the two of us. That way you could get to know me too.” Thick black lashes frame her large brown eyes that flutter toward me, beckoning me to say yes.
Fucking hell.I don’t need this, not now. I’m exhausted from last night and I just want to see Paige.
Nancy is looking at me with anticipation, her hand moves lightly over my chest like we’re lovers stealing a secret moment. I hate being a prick to any woman and when I give my answer I know it’s going to go against me. That’s something, however, I can’t worry about.
“Nancy… that sounds like a date,” I point out.
“Um… yeah, well, it is.”
While I bite the inside of my lip, she stares back at me like she wants me to rip her clothes off and bang her right here in front of everybody. That’s what she’d be expecting from a date with me.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think we should date. I don’t tend to get involved with people I work with.” Lies, but it’s the kind of excuse I hope will keep her at bay and stop her in her tracks.
Embarrassment flushes her cheeks. She genuinely looks like she thought I’d agree to go out with her.
“Oh… that’s a real shame. Well, okay, then. I guess I’ll see you around,” she answers.
Thank fuck. I don’t like being a prick, so I’d rather be the liar and let her down gently.
She leaves before I can answer with that plastic smile on her face. Fake to conceal her embarrassment. At least she’ll hopefully leave me alone from now on.
I pull in a deep sigh and my worries return to Paige. I wish like fuck I didn’t have the class and I could just speak to her.
I get to the classroom, and there are already students filling up the hall.
There’s the group of sorority girls to the back left who I heard were betting on which one of them could sleep with me before Christmas, and the group of drama club girls who think they can bed me before. There’s the cluster of jocks who are my least favorite who don’t like their women looking at me, and especially not when I take off my blazer and roll my sleeves up my arms, revealing some of my tats. They’ve never seen those before.
I don’t care. I’m not doing it for show. It’s fucking hot, and anxiety is getting the better of me.
Where’s Paige?More students come in and more follow, but she’s not part of them.
This is what happened last time.
We had that talk, I told her I couldn’t get involved with her, and the next class was like this. It was after that I got the memo that she’d transferred. Kevin had conveniently forgotten to tell me.
At the time he took every chance to take a dig at me, so me looking out for one of my best students he knew wasn’t going to show up was a good one.
She can’t transfer out of my class this term. I’m the guy who’s teaching company law, and she wants in on that.
The last batch of students come in from the back door, and I see her. She notices me looking too, and we have that moment of awkwardness I can feel from here.
It’s not one of regret though. It’s fear.
I might look obvious as I look at her for far too long and she stares back at me, but I want to at least try and guess what she’s thinking.
My mind wanders, conjuring up all sorts of shit. The one thing I don’t want is regret.
I imagined that she probably waited outside with the rest of the students to come in at the last minute so she wouldn’t have to talk to me.
She sits in the back row and pulls out her notebook from her purse, breaking eye contact. That’s when I get into my lesson.
I teach very aware of her presence. I teach on autopilot, speaking words but not quite thinking about what I’m saying.
People ask questions, and I answer. Thankfully, I give the right answers, and anyone who looks at me can be easily fooled by the mask of the professional professor I wear.
In my head, though, I’m still dancing with my girl at the club.
She’s still got her arms wrapped around me, I’m still buried deep inside her, and I’m still playing the game.