Love Flavored Latte

Chapter 3 - First Class

"Guys, I swear I'm not like that!"

"Oh, don't try to deny it." Eve let out a chuckle. "You don't just like that guy. You're in love with him."

Chloe was just as amused as Eve. "Yeah, you're so in love that you ignored us last night. Heck, Ethan had to practically shake you, remember?"

"I told you, it's, it's—" Matt was still trying to confirm what he had been trying to confirm the whole time. "It's called 'getting lost in your thoughts'!"

"Yeah, right." Ethan chuckled sarcastically. "Say what you want to say, buddy, but you're not convincing us anytime soon."

"You guys are impossible."

Matt mumbled and the other three laughed out loud as they walked out of their room, locking it afterward. It was the nineteenth of August, the beginning of their second semester, and the four of them was on their way to class together, but clearly, Matt wasn't having a good time. Not because the weather was bad. Not because he got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. But because his friends just would not stop teasing about how he was so busy thinking about his new crush that he didn't care about anything else in the world.

Luckily, they were soon in front of Winterford University's gate, and Matt took in a deep breath. The weather was very nice today with clear sky and cool breeze, perfect for the first day of the semester. The school was extra crowded today with lots of students. It was the start of the new semester, after all, so it made sense that there would be so many people here. And even though it was still pretty early, there were already a lot of people in the classroom when Matt and his friends entered it. He guessed that they were also afraid of arriving late on the first day.

"You sitting with me, Matt?"

"Obviously, dude." Matt took a seat next to Ethan at the sixth row while the girls sat at the fifth one, with Chloe in front of Ethan and Eve in front of Matt. They had sat near each other ever since the first class they took together in the first year, so they were used to it by now.

Plus, it made things easier when they wanted to cheat off from one another.

After about ten minutes, the bell rang loudly, signaling that it was time for class. More people had come in and were now sitting in their seats, waiting for their professor to arrive. Matt fiddled with his fingers, eager to see his professor but also worrying about making a good first impression. Last year, he was able to make himself a good student in Mr. Black's eyes, so he was confident that he would be able to make his new professor like him too, or at least not hate him.

"Hey, hey, it's our new prof!"

"Where? Where?"

Matt whipped his head back and forth only to see no one but a very amused Ethan, who was trying his best to hold in his laughter so that he wouldn't burst out laughing and draw unwanted attention to himself.

"Got you!" Ethan said with a big grin. "Oh my god, I wish you could've had a look at your face. It was priceless!"

Matt was silent as he stared at Ethan with an unimpressed expression.

"I hate you."

He sighed when he saw that the two girls in front of him were giggling as well, but then a clear, deep voice spoke up, and it was a voice that didn't belong to anyone currently in the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone."

Matt's friends stopped laughing to straighten up their posture as everyone silenced their small talk down. But as soon as they saw a man walking into the classroom, small gasps were heard from the other students, mostly from the girls.

Matt almost gasped too, but not because their professor looked attractive as hell.

It was because it was him who was walking towards the podium.

Matt kept alternating between accepting the reality and denying it. Matt was in disbelief. He didn't want to believe it, but this looked too real to be a dream. It was him, literally him, the customer whose image had been lingering in Matt's mind ever since the he first saw him. Same brown hair, same blue eyes,… Same everything. Was Matt imagining things? Had Matt been thinking of him so much that he was seeing his new professor as him?

Matt rubbed his eyes, trying to calm down and clear his mind.

He was just seeing things.

Or at least that was what he kept convincing himself to believe, until he opened his eyes again and caught that smile on the man's face, that familiar but breathtaking smile that was capable of making Matt forget about everything else around him.

Yep.

That was him alright.

The customer he was attracted to was his new professor.

…

This was bad.