Funny How Love Is (Maylor AU)

Chapter 52

It was an odd sight, Brian and Chrissie walking down the hallways together after the lunch rush died down and the students and professors fled to their respective classes. Chrissie was all smiles, waving at the faculty the two of them passed by and shooting them a quick "How are you doing?" or "I'm doing great, thanks!"

Brian, on the other hand, kept his head hung low, much like he did when he first started teaching—too insecure about his age and credibility that he couldn't make eye contact with any of his colleagues. This time around, though, he was insecure about the stories they might've heard, feeling as though all eyes were on him; judging him for being with the headmistress while she was married, for becoming attracted to a man while in said relationship, and for considering leaving her for him even though he knew it wasn't possible. Of course, the latter suspicion was more improbable than the former, with no one knowing about his feelings towards the music instructor other than the music instructor's best friend, and most likely his boyfriend too. He must've known. Why else would he have hurt Roger so badly?

"I really liked eating lunch with you today," the headmistress blurted out, yanking the professor out of his own headspace and bringing him back to reality where they stood in front of his classroom. Chrissie's hands rested on Brian's chest, and there was virtually no distance separating them as she looked up at him with lustful eyes and a shameless smirk. "It seems like forever since we last shared a meal."

"Yeah," he replied, failing to feign interest in the topic as he bit his lip and wrapped his hands around hers, removing them from his chest and bringing them back down to her sides. "It was nice," he tacked on, the corners of his lips perking up ever so slightly as he gently pushed her away.

The headmistress sensed the professor's discomfort, but being persistent in trying to make up for upsetting him so much, she dismissed the hints he dropped about wanting to be left alone and offered cheerfully, "Maybe we can share another one tonight?"

"I don't know, Chrissie, I-I have tests to grade," he mumbled, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants and staring down at his shoes in avoidance of her pleading gaze.

She sighed and folded her arms over her chest, the optimism she was trying her hardest to maintain wavering. "You can't push them off for another day?"

"It's their midterms," Brian explained, his eyes still locked on his feet, "My students have been asking me about them almost every day; I-I really don't think I can't push it off any longer." They actually hadn't asked him anything. The only student he spoke with was John, and even he didn't seem too pressed about his grade.

Chrissie couldn't hide the disappointment that washed over her. She hated to admit it, but Brian was right—everything had changed. The pair always knew this day would come sooner or later, when everything would be different, but she wasn't prepared for this kind of different.

She always imagined that the change would come from their colleagues finding out about them, or from her leaving her deadbeat, lying, cheating husband once and for all to be with the man who restored her faith in the male population. Brian was the perfect gentleman—boring enough to blend in anywhere he went, but deep down, insanely caring and passionate about the things and people he loved. He was everything her husband wasn't, and she knew it was wrong to pursue him with the ring around her finger, but she couldn't help herself.

Chrissie fell for Brian harder and harder every day, and when she walked in on her husband and Roger, she knew it was over. There would be no more of her internal "will I/won't I" debate. She wanted Brian, and lucky for her, she had him.

She had him the minute he walked into the conference room for his interview, and the day she took him on a tour of the school even though he already knew it like the back of his hand. She had him when she spontaneously kissed him on the lips after one of their many conversations, and when she gave him a copy of her key to the elevator and lured him into the custodian's closet in the basement, lights off. She had him the night she told him she loved him and invited him over while her husband was out of town, and she had him the morning after when they lied in bed together—the sheets draped across their bare backs—and considered calling in sick.

The professor had been all hers up until that point, but now, the headmistress felt as though she'd lost him, like there was some great big sea separating them and she didn't have a working boat to cross the water to get to him. She could try swimming or catching a ride on another person's boat, but she doubted any efforts she put forth would bring her back to him or vice versa. There was something—someone—blocking the way.

"When are you going to forgive me for lying to you?" she begged to know, believing it was her deceit that was tearing them apart.

Brian heaved a frustrated sigh. "Chrissie, I don't know what you want me to do."

"Forgive me!" she screamed, her voice echoing down the empty hall and bringing an embarrassing shade of red to her cheeks as she uncomfortably folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head down out of shame. "Goddammit, Brian, I just...I know I fucked up, okay?" Her voice was but a whisper as her eyes traveled back up to his, glistening with remorse. "But when you meet the person you're meant to be with, you just know it, and...and you do everything you can to be with them. So, yes, I lied to you, but there's no more secrets between us, I promise."

The professor frowned at his girlfriend's confession. Had things been different, he would've been absolutely elated in the fact that she thought they were meant to be together, because before Brian met Roger, he thought that too. However, that feeling wasn't as strong anymore. In fact, he wondered if that sentiment applied to him and Roger. Maybe that's why he felt so divided about the whole situation.

"Brian, please, can we put this behind us and just go back to the way things were?" she pleaded, shortening the distance between the two of them and running her hands up his flat chest. "You know, like when we first started fooling around?" She pressed her lips together and leaned her body against his. The friction between them was undeniable, and Brian began to panic, a thousand alarms going off in his head. His mind screamed at him to stop; that they were at the university and that anyone could turn the corner and catch them, that this was irresponsible and wrong because he liked Roger.

Yet, at the same time, it felt...so...right.