Literature, lust and love - Professor Romanoff

SEVENTEEN

 Turning away from the crowd, I started towards the forest, which was tucked at the back of the sports centre, up the stairs towards the dance rooms. Before I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was stopped by a man crossing my path.

"Professor Rogers?"

"Oh! Miss Dunn. Hello." He curtly nodded at me, and I gave him a small smile back.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had a teacher's meeting?"

"It ended, and some of the staff thought we'd stop by, just to see what it's like." I looked around the room and saw a few of my other teachers wandering through the students, chatting to everyone. "How did you know about the meeting, Miss Dunn?"

I blushed, suddenly aware of the mistake I made. "Miss Romanoff mentioned it yesterday in our Russian lesson. She said that otherwise she would have come along for the fun."

He smiled at my reply. "Of course. I think she's gone home tonight else you'd probably be with her no doubt! Your lessons were actually a topic of conversation today."

I stared at him as I swallowed my nerves away. "They were?"

"Natasha, if you don't me calling her that to you," I shook my head at him, "Natasha was talking about how great you were and how she wished more students were as attentive and on board with their studying as you are. She really couldn't stop talking about how much she enjoyed your lessons, how they let her explore another side of her." I giggled silently as I thought of the side I was bringing out of my professor, one that the teacher in front of me would, hopefully, never expect.

"Oh, that's nice." I was really blushing now, but I was fairly sure that Professor Rogers couldn't see the redness in the dim light.

"I think you have great success in your future, Miss Dunn."

"Thanks, Professor."

"Have a night, I'll see you in class next week." With that, he walked away and I was left feeling flustered and slightly confused at the amount of words Professor Rogers had just said to me. Even still, I had somewhere to be and I wasn't going to stop until I got there.

I felt the need to text Natasha, knowing she was home alone, and let her know I was okay before heading up the stairs.

Hey, baby. It's me. I'm just letting you know that everything is going well and that I can't wait to see you later tonight ;) <3

Knowing that she probably wouldn't respond for a bit, I tucked my phone away and started walking towards the back stairs, accidentally stumbling into someone, and I apologised profusely as I walked quickly away, not wanting to waste any more time. It was rather daunting walking through a crowd of people I could not recognise, everyone's faces being disguised by a variety of masquerade masks. Mine was still firmly tied around my head, and while I enjoyed the freedom that came with the anonymity, I felt almost claustrophobic.

I tentatively walked up the steps towards the magical forest, clutching the end of my dress as I stumbled through the fake trees. The area was honestly quite beautiful and if it were not for my nerves, I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more. String lights were wrapped around the tree branches whilst white snowflakes hung as leaves. It shouldn't have worked so well together but the effect was magical. I wandered through the trees, following no particular course when I heard the overhead speaker announcing that the live band was back and ready to perform again at 10 pm. The few people that were in the magical forest with me left, and I was on my own again. I waited a few seconds before heading deeper into the forest, stopping in front of a fallen log on the floor.

I felt a presence behind me and I slowly turned around, my mouth dropping open as it did. It took me a second to figure who was underneath the mask, but when I did, my stomach dropped.

"Desi? Are you okay?"

"James? It was you all along?" I stared at him dumbfounded, looking up and down at the man standing sheepishly in front of me.

"It was me what?" James peered at me through furrowed brows, the confusion settling heavily on both of us.

"Wait, what are you doing here?"

James took a cautious step towards me, "I saw you come in here alone and I wanted to make sure you were alright. You seemed pretty shaken up last night on the floor, and I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you but I had to meet my girlfriend."

I let a shaky breath of relief as I gave him a small smile. "I'm fine, James, really, I just wanted to get away from the crowd."

"Oh, I get that. It's cool in here, isn't it! Can't believe that people put this together." We both chuckled, the awkwardness gone, and looked around until a familiar cream colour caught my eye. I made my excuses to James, and he promptly left me, joining the crowd again. Finally, I was alone and no one was going to interrupt me until I found out who it was. I tiptoed up to where the card was pinned to and tore it down from the tree. Holding it in my shaking hands, I felt the excitement form again and I squinted through the darkness to read the words.

Love starts as a feeling, but to continue is a choice. And I find myself choosing you, more and more every day.

Desi, I love you.

"Bending The Universe, Justin Wetch. Maybe not as good as what I can say, but he puts into words quite nicely how I feel about you."

The voice behind me sent shivers through my spine, but against my instant reaction to turn around, I stood stock still, shaking my head gently as I looked down at the words, my vision blurring with tears. I heard the click of their shoes as they walked towards me, the hair standing on the back of my neck as they stood behind me. Still unrelenting, I did not turn around, forcing them to do something. A hand was placed on my waist, grounding me both to the floor and to them, and their hand trailed up and down my bare arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Their scent was overpowering me and I had to close my eyes to combat the rush of emotions I was feeling. I felt their hand on the back of my head as my mask was removed, the sound of it hitting the floor echoing throughout the room. My breaths were quicking by the second as I could feel their breath on my neck, just below my ear as they whispered.

"It's been me all along. Please, look at me."