The Professor

Chapter Fifteen

I'm jittery the rest of the day. I can't think straight and it's a miracle I can walk my legs are so shaky. I try to relax in the dorm but nothing seems to help. Endless amount of questions are burning in my mind like: why does he want to meet me? Should I even go? What's the purpose of this? It's crazy that i'm even considering this but I am. There's just something about him that has intrigued me since the first time I laid eyes on him and I want to figure out what it is no matter how risky this may be.

I start to get ready around seven and start by looking through the clothes in my closet. I pick out several different shirts and put them back unsatisfied. I start to do this for ten minutes and I grow frustrated at my clothes. This is why I would much rather be in athletic clothes; I can't find anything that looks cute. I start to stress over it and decide to take a break and sit on my bed to calm my nerves, i'm glad Jess isn't here. She texted me after class and told me she was going to one of the flag football intramural games with Chelsea to watch Connor and-

Oh no...

Collin.

I frantically search my bed for my phone and when I press the button to light up the screen, I see several missed texts and two missed calls from him. I open his text messages and write a reply rather than calling him. I'm not a good liar as it is and with me being as nervous as I am right now, he would be able to pick up the fact that i'm lying to him.

"Hey, I am SO sorry I didn't answer your calls or texts. I had a headache and decided to sleep it off when I got back and just now woke up. I'm just going to stay here tonight since i'm not feeling too well. I'm sorry! :(" I reply.

He replies almost instantly:

"It's okay! You just had me worried. It's a good thing I hadn't started dinner yet haha. I hope you feel better. See you Wednesday."

I turn the screen off and sit my phone on my desk. I feel bad for lying but that only lasts a few minutes.

I go back to the closet and force myself to find something to wear; cute or not.

I finally pick an outfit that satisfies me slightly more than the rest. After sliding on my high waisted shorts with the holes in them, I throw on a flowy white tank top and my brown sandals. I straighten my hair but give it a little tease to make me look somewhat edgy and apply makeup as best as I can. I really don't know what i'm dressing for. I have no idea what this little arrangement is for so I don't know if i'm dressed properly.

What if he tries to take my clothes off- no, no, i'm not going here again.

When it gets closer to eight fifteen, I start to walk to my car. I'm lucky to be one of the few freshman that was able to swing a parking pass even though it's a very far walk. Our parking lot is on the other side of campus and walking to it from my dorm takes about twenty minutes. One of the things my mother warned me about before I left for college was the danger that could come from walking alone at night on campus. She told me that I could be put in a situation for being kidnapped or raped and if I ever were to walk to my car alone at night, I need to bring a friend and some sort of protection like pepper spray. I don't have a friend right now but I do have the spray. Nicholas gave that to me a month before I left. We had a brother-sister day and he told me the story about a girl he met freshman year who was raped on her way to one of her night classes. It's sad that this is a big possibility now-a-day's and i'm on my all time alert right now.

I finally make it to my car and hurry to get inside, locking the doors as I climb in. It was a little creepy to walk by myself but I feel much safer now that i'm in my car. I plug in the address Professor Underwood gave me with shaky hands and follow the directions it gives me. 

I'm so nervous. Now that I know i'm thirty minutes away from seeing him, my nerves are out of control. 

But... this is also a rush. It's a mixture of anxiety and nerves. I find myself excited to see him and maybe that's what's causing the nerves? I don't know.

I have the radio on as I drive to meet him and even though I hear the music, I don't hear what they're singing. I'm so caught up in my thought that i'm blocking out everything else. 

My heart starts to race when the gps tells me i've arrived at my destination. I look up at the apartment building that looks like a skyscraper. The outside of the building looks pristine and expensive and I gulp. I'm at his apartment.

I drive around until I find the parking deck and park my car. When I turn the car off, I grip the steering wheel firmly and take a deep breath. It dawns on me that I don't know his room number. How am I supposed to meet him? I guess I can ask the person at the front desk but I also don't know his first name. Ugh. I don't know what to do.

The time is nine o'clock on the dot and before I can think of a plan, my feet are stepping on the ground out of my car and I start walking to the main entrance of the building. When I walk into the lobby, my eyes scan the room for the front desk but they land on him, Professor Underwood. He's sitting on one of the couches in the center of the room facing me and when I walk in, his eyes find me. It gives me chills and I feel frozen in place. This man is beautiful.

He looks even more relaxed outside of the classroom. He's in a white t-shirt and jeans again but something about the atmosphere we're in makes his simplicity look incredibly sexy. 

For the first time, I see a trace of a smirk spread on the right side of his face and his eyes somehow grow darker. Holy shit. He stands up when I walk closer to him and I swallow the lump in my throat, I feel like i'm going to pass out. The closer I get to him, the more I feel like turning around and leaving but hearing his smooth, deep voice say, "Miss Holbrook," makes me want to stay. 

"Professor Underwood." I say with a tiny smirk of my own. 

"Please, it's Dean out of the classroom." He turns around and starts walking to the elevators and I follow him.

Dean. Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean. Even that name is hot, just like him.

I stand beside him as we wait for the elevator and when a car opens up on the lobby floor, we both step in. I watch him press the button for the seventh floor and he stand me silent. We're both silent the whole way up and I wonder if he can pick up on my nervousness. This silence is a little awkward.

He steps out of the elevator car when we reach the seventh floor and doesn't say a word as we walk down the hall. He stops abruptly at what must be his room and I stumble backwards at the sudden stop. This must be his room...

Dean opens the door and holds it out for me while giving me a look and saying, "After you."