Obsessed

12

Brendon sat at his desk after the final bell, grading essay after essay, when a knock at the door pulled him from his trance of focus.

"Come in!" He yelled.

The door opened, revealing the student he overly favored. She was slightly anxious.

"Hey, Eleanor." He smiled.

"I know you don't have office hours today, but I have some pressing questions about the speech."

"Oh, it's no bother. Have a seat."

Mr. Urie gladly set the papers aside as Eleanor sat in her normal seat.

"How're you doing?" He asked, walking over to her.

"Pretty well." She smiled. "I was just wondering -"

Eleanor cut herself off when a strange feeling of human contact overcame. Mr. Urie was touching the strands of her short, brown hair. Twirling and unraveling it all around his fingers. A little bewildered, Eleanor tilted her head just enough where he couldn't reach her anymore.

She let out a nervous laugh. "So... the speech."

Mr. Urie pulled up a nearby chair.

"I was wondering under what circumstances would it be appropriate to..."

He had completely tuned out her voice to muffled nuances. He was hypnotized by her body: Eyes and lips, to her chest where the black shirt she donned, was inconspicuously bunched in the front. Her thighs were the perfect size and he couldn't help but visualize his lips on her neck. Eleanor moaning as he-

"Mr. Urie? Mr. Urie?"

He blinked hard and sat up. "Yes?"

"Um, I want to include this sentence in my speech but, I don't know where I should."

Brendon took the paper. "What's your topic?"

"Rape culture."

"Woah. That's extreme."

Eleanor shrugged. "It's something I felt passionate about for the sake of the assignment."

He scanned it. "I think you're third paragraph would be perfect. Somewhere there."

"Okay. Also in this sentence, would it be 'over' or 'from'?"

" 'From.' Never end an article with a preposition."

Eleanor noted that on the paper.

"Wanna know the key to a good speech?"

"What is it?"

"Word simplicity."

"What's that?"

"You know, write how you'd speak. It's not an essay."

"I still don't understand."

"Here, for instance, you'd never say, 'In view of the fact that' if we were just speaking casually, right?"

"No. It's too wordy."

"Exactly, so instead you'd say..."

"Because."

"Yes!"

She annotated. "This is great. Thank you so much."

"Always." He smiled.

"Uh, may I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He laughed.

"You don't... give me special treatment, do you?"