Literature, lust and love - Professor Romanoff

ONE

"Desdemona Dunn?"

"Here."

"Hell yeah, DOUBLE D!" Troy shouted across the lecture hall as he high-fived one of his frat friends.

"Troy, shut it." Her voice rang clear across the hall.

Troy shuffled back down into his seat as I glanced appreciatively at our lecturer.

"Miss Dunn, can you stay back after class, please?"

I simply nodded at the woman before settling back behind my laptop.

English Lit - First Year

Professor Romanoff

Our first class was simply an introductory lesson as our teacher explained how the year would work, and gave us our reading list. I smiled as I saw that one of our novels was 'Wuthering Heights', a firm favourite of mine, and I was suddenly excited to see how our lecturer tackled it. I can imagine Troy rolling his eyes seeing this on the list, he and his friends believed romance novels to be sappy and were only taking English Lit so they could have enough credits to transfer to Business next year. I, on the other hand, was taking Lit because I loved the way books made me feel, the breathlessness you could experience after the climax or the empty feeling after finishing a brilliant book.

I held back at the end of the class, packing away my books slowly so that when I approached Professor Romanoff's desk, I was the only one left. She held up her hand at me signalling me to wait until she finished writing down her notes. I took my time to admire her beauty, her red hair cascading behind her back, and the way her eyebrows moved expressively even if the rest of her face didn't. When she looked back up at me I was instantly drawn to her eyes. The emerald green pools were entrancing and I had to force myself to pull away before I was sucked into them. I gave her a small smile trying to mask the confusion I felt as to why I was here. I think she sensed my confusion and anxiety, so she nodded to a seat next to her desk and I took it gratefully, letting my shaking legs relax. Professor Romanoff placed her hand on my bouncing knee, causing me to abruptly stop, shocked at the contact.

"Relax, Miss Dunn, you're not in trouble." I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding as I traced my eyes up to her body and into her eyes. This time she gave me a small smile, the sides of her lips twitching upwards as her eyes sparkled.

"Without trying to sound rude, why am I here Professor?" I tried to sound as nice as possible so that she didn't take my words the wrong way.

"You can call me Miss Romanoff, I don't like Professor it makes me feel old."

I let a giggle slip out before slamming my hand on my mouth in embarrassment. The hand that was on my knee reached up to pull my arm down, revealing my smile, to which she returned, flashing her white teeth in my direction.

"It's okay, Miss Dunn, I didn't take offense."

"Okay, cool. Thanks, Miss Romanoff."

"The reason I called you back is really because I firstly wanted to apologise for Troy's behaviour, and I wanted to get to know my top student more."

"Top student? This was my first class, how could I even -"

"Believe me, Miss Dunn, I know them when I see them."

"Oh, well then, I hope I don't disappoint you."

"You won't." I couldn't help but believe her as her eyes were speaking so loudly to me.

"Oh, and don't worry about Troy, he's my brother, so I get it a lot."

"Your brother? The frat boy Troy? The boy who can barely spell orange is related to you?" I giggled once more at her, but this time I didn't hide it.

"He's my half brother, my mom had him before she met my dad, and he spends much more time with his dad than with my parents, so he's kinda estranged. He acts like he doesn't know me in public, but he can be quite nice to me sometimes." I shrugged, looking down at my lap, surprised that I revealed so much to my teacher already.

"It's kind of ironic isn't it?"

I look back up at her with my eyebrows raised in a question.

"You're an English Literature student and you're name is Desdemona Dunn," she continued, smiling slightly, finding it hilarious.

"Oh, right, yeah. Someone up there has a divine sense of irony."

"Are your parents Literature graduates?"

"Oh no, one is a scientist and the other is an accountant, but they both shared a love of literature in college. That's where they met, actually, in a book group." I smiled as I thought of them, missing them terribly.

"That's sweet."

"Yeah, they're great people. I miss them a lot, actually."

"You're not from Rhode Island?"

"No, California, that's where they are."

Miss Romanoff gave me a sympathetic smile as she stroked her thumb over my hand that she was still holding. The gentle contact made me shiver, and she smirked at this before speaking.

"I get how you feel. My sister lives in Hungary, so I miss her a lot."

"Hungary? That's such a cool place to be!"

"Yeah, her work took her there, to Budapest, and I haven't been able to get over there between college and starting work."

"You just graduated?!" I asked, sounding more shocked than I should have.

"From my teaching degree, yeah. But do I really look that old? I'm only 24, Miss Dunn."

"I'm so sorry, I guess I just assumed that you were older, but looking at you, well..."

"Well what, Miss Dunn?"

"I can't say, Miss Romanoff."

"Why not?"

"It's not appropriate," I whispered, but she heard me. Her eyebrows shot up and she turned her whole body to face me.

"Say it."

"But-"

"Just say it."

"You look incredible. Beautiful, honestly." I felt my whole face redden as I sat under her appraising gaze.

"What's inappropriate about that, Miss Dunn?"

"I guess, nothing, I suppose. I'm so sorry, but I should go." I stood up, dropping her hand before running out of her classroom.

"You really fucked that up Desi," I scolded myself as I ran to my dorm room, burying myself under my duvet, my mind flashing with images of my literature professor. 

A/N: New story, helloooo!