Funny How Love Is (Maylor AU)

Chapter 18

It was difficult for Brian to focus on his lesson. Now that the exam was over and done with, there was no time to waste in starting the second half of his curriculum, yet all the professor wanted to do was sit at his desk and analyze the morning he had. He just wanted to know what had happened over the past weekend that made Roger so on edge; so spastic.

The professor was half-tempted to skip out on his class and sit in on a psychology lecture instead, hoping he'd learn something and be able to apply it to his colleague's situation, but he had an obligation to himself, to his students, and to the school. He'd work so hard to get to where he was, and he couldn't risk losing all of that because of some music instructor who'd burrowed his way inside his head.

Brian paced back and forth with the mug of coffee in his hands, looking out at the hall of students who were engaged in various conversations, waiting for their teacher to silence them and get on with the lecture. After all, class was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago, and he hadn't even introduced the next topic. He was too entranced by the open seat that had caught his eye, the same seat that John took every day. Today, however, it was vacant; void of the awkward, almost worrisomely invested student who'd never missed a day before.

"Hey, has anyone seen John?" Brian called out, the thought slipping past his lips and manifesting itself without the professor realizing it.

The scattered conversations immediately died down, still lingering in a few spots though.

"Who's John?" someone called out, eliciting a few laughs and snickers from the class and encouraging others to speak up.

"Wait, are we talking about the person who usually sits in the back?"

"Hold up, I thought that was a girl."

"There's a girl named John in this class?"

"No, we're talking about the guy who always wears platform boots, which is really weird because he's already super tall. Like, who does that?"

"He also eats cheese on toast with a glass of milk. Has anyone else seen him do that? Because it's not like he's eating grilled cheese; it's literally just a slice of cheese on toast. I mean, who even likes dairy that much?"

Brian sighed in annoyance and set his coffee down on his desk, right over the burn mark that Roger had left behind the first day they'd met. "That's enough, class," he scolded them without much conviction, turning towards them and placing his hands on his hips, "I just wanted to know if anyone knew where he was."

"What about your boy toy, Mr. May? Do you know where he is?" Debbie—one of the more pompous students in Brian's class—asked, the corner of her lip curling up into a smirk as the students around her congratulated her for the "burn" and gave her high-fives.

"Oh, shut up, Debbie," Anita—another one of the more pretentious but better liked students taking Astrophysics—responded, turning around in her seat to face the girl she addressed, "We all know you just want to get his number so you can fuck him into giving you a spot on the Dean's list."

Brian scoffed in disbelief at the conversation that was unraveling before him, all because of a simple question. The conversation wasn't even pertaining to the student he'd asked about anymore, somehow shifting to Roger, or as Debbie so ineptly referred to him as, his "boy toy."

"That's enough!" the professor repeated himself, this time with more assertion, "You shouldn't talk about a professor like that. It's not appropriate."

"Sounds a bit hypocritical coming from the professor who's shagging Headmistress Mullen," Debbie sneered, crossing her arms over her chest and sending the class into a chorus of gasps and excited shouts.

Brian's heart started to pound against his chest and his hands clenched into fists as the room began to rise in temperature, the deafening chatter of the classroom growing louder and louder with each second. "ALRIGHT!" the professor screamed, silencing everyone almost instantly. He shot a finger at the door and demanded sternly, "Debbie, get out. Now."

The student scoffed and gathered her belongings, strutting down the steps that led to the back of the classroom and making her way towards the door. As she passed by her aggravated professor, she muttered, "It's not like I was learning anything anyways." She slammed the door on her way out, silencing her classmates completely and bringing Brian's hand to his forehead.

After a few moments, one student, Veronica—a shy, reserved girl who sat in the front with Anita and kept to herself most of the time—raised her hand. Brian noticed this and nodded his head in permissive acknowledgement, the girl clearing her throat and revealing in a soft, quiet voice that Brian could barely hear standing a few feet away from her, "I saw him this morning, Mr. May. We...We had breakfast together." Her cheeks grew a faint shade of pink as she tilted her head down in avoidance of the attention she'd attracted from her fellow classmates. "He was—"

Just then, the classroom door burst open and, as if on cue, John stumbled in. "I'm so sorry, Professor May," he apologized, panting, "I-I was just with another teacher. I promise it won't happen again."

"It-It's fine, John," Brian stammered, dropping his head and running a hand through his hair, "Just take your seat, please."

He nodded his head and scurried up the lecture hall's steps to his seat in the back, Veronica's eyes following him the entire way. In fact, everyone's eyes followed him, looks of guilt appearing on some of his classmates' faces while others turned their heads and continued to mock him and his habits under their breaths. Meanwhile, the professor walked back over to his desk and plopped down in his chair, dragging the coffee saucer across the flat surface and picking up the mug with a sigh.

What am I going to do?