Paint Me, Professor - The Sequel | Student-Professor Erotic Novel | 18+

Chapter 23 - Nightmare

Alison
***

Who would've known the confidence a rock on your finger could give you. I had never been one to dream about being engaged, much less about the material things that came with that status, but now it was the only thing on my mind: how much more confident it made me look and feel, how much more at ease I felt.

I was absolutely loving the attention I was getting, especially at work. People were probably sucking up to me to be invited to the wedding, but still, I enjoyed the "oh"s and "ah"s when getting compliments on the ring. I also couldn't get enough of retelling the story of the proposal. All that attention just made me feel so special.

It also made my appreciation for Chris grow more and more. I was obsessed with making it up to him, to show him through actions that I was on cloud nine. Whenever I could I cooked for him, spoiled him with massages and late night quiz shows, made spontaneous plans like picnics at the park or cinema dates.

However, there was one thing that I still hadn't done, a surprise I had been planning in my mind for a while. On a rare day when I found myself with one hour of lunchtime, I decided to take a stroll to Evergreen and surprise Chris by waiting for him outside his lecture hall. I knew it was the obvious next step for us, to come clean about our relationship at Evergreen, so when I had the window of opportunity I took it.

The October sun was surprisingly warm, especially when walking at a fast pace with a heavy shoulder bag. I took long strides, finding a pleasing rhythm with my heels, and admired the autumn trees, the intense red and yellow of the falling leaves. Those streets were impossible to forget as they brought me back to the time where I would walk to Evergreen every day, secretly hoping I'd bump into Dr Damon on the sidewalk or as I approached the building so we could speak before class, away from prying eyes.

That was when I heard my name. At first I didn't stop walking, thinking I had misheard it, but the second time I knew it wasn't a figment of my imagination. I stopped, looked around, and sure enough I saw Maddie a few feet away from me. She was with someone, a guy I realized, and they were holding hands. I put two and two together and thought it must've been Jay, so I happily detoured and walked in their direction.

As I walked closer and closer though, I knew something wasn't right. For whatever reason, my body decided to stop walking before my mind did, and once they were close enough for me to make out their faces, blood drained from my face.

No.

This isn't possible.

No no no.

That face. That smile.

Please god, no.

"Hi Ali! So unexpected to see you here! Jay and I decided to have lunch out since the weather is so nice. Oh, how rude of me, let me introduce you. Jay, this is Ali, my friend from Evergreen."

No words registered as Maddie spoke. I was petrified, frozen in place, as a wave of oppression, suffocation, and panic crashed onto me. As my eyes met his, my very soul shuddered.

This couldn't be possible.

"Ali, I've heard great things about you," he said, leaning forward and getting close to me. My skin crawled as his figure approached mine. I couldn't run, I was trapped.