My Professor's Secret

11|

eleven

"Check your syllabus for next week's assignment. It's a lengthy essay that I recommend getting ahead of before it's too late," Professor Thornton announced to the class. "With that being said, you're dismissed."

I gathered my things a little quicker than everyone else, hoping to slip out before Professor Thornton had the chance to stop me.

The last real conversation we had was the night he invited me over to his house.

And I walked out.

During the entire lecture he avoided looking in my direction completely, which might have been nothing more than professional courtesy, but pretending it didn't bother me required more effort than I cared to admit. Even when I tried to focus on the lecture, the memory of that night lingered in the back of my mind.

A stack of ungraded assignments on his desk caught his attention as he finished erasing the chalkboard. He shoved the pile of papers into his satchel without looking up.

Screw the idea of other people having places to be, right?" Terrance mutters beside me, nudging my shoulder as he gestures toward the small group of girls blocking the stairs leading out of the lecture hall.

His outburst yanked me from the daze Professor Thornton's gracefulness sucked me in. Once he notices the way I jerk slightly from the sudden interruption, he laughs.

"Sorry," he adds quickly. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine," I tell him.

"Finally," he mutters once the crowd begins to thin and the staircase opens again. "You heading home?"

"Thankfully. My bed has been calling my name since about halfway through that lecture."

The laugh he lets out earns a few curious glances from the girls in front of us before they turn and continue down the stairs. Terrance turns to me with his nose scrunched and top lip pinned to it as if he smelled something horridly foul.

"Ms. Castillo, can I see you in my office please? I need to discuss a few details regarding the assignment you turned in."

"Jesus, Castillo, in trouble already?"

"Whatever," I laugh, nudging him in the arm. "Wait for me?"

He nods and we continue down the stairs. Professor Thornton greets Terrance as we approach the door leading out of the lecture hall, and the three of us head in the direction of his office.

The corridor was vacant once the remaining students from Professor's class emptied—us being his last class of the day. Terrance's ringtone fills the hall with music until he declines the call, though it rings again. He pulls his phone from his pocket, violently tapping on the screen to reply to a message he'd just received. Brows furrowed, stiff-lipped, and nostrils flared, his entire demeanor shifted from what it once was before we left the classroom.

"Hey, everything okay?"

Professor Thornton turns around, eying us both before coming to a halt in front of a locked door. Terrance glances from his screen while a half smile sticks in the crook of his mouth, desperately trying to hide the uneasiness creeping upon him.

"Actually, no," he sighs. "I have to run. Something's going on with one of my friends right now. Sorry, I can't stay back. Will you be okay?"

"Of course. I completely understand. I hope everything is okay."

Terrance nods before saying goodbye to Professor and me. I trail him all the way down the corridor until he finally jogs out of view.

Professor Thornton invites me into his office after flicking on the light. He places his satchel on top of his desk before gesturing toward the sofa on the opposite side of the room, encouraging me to sit. The office smells faintly like old books and coffee, the kind of scent that seems permanently soaked into the walls of every academic building on campus.