The Professor Read Online Free Page B

girl. We'll do it next weekend then."
    A light of hope crept into me, but was dashed quickly.
    "I don't know if I'll be able to," I lamented. "I'm going to be busy the rest of the semester."
    "Ya, the end of the semesters are always difficult. Finals are a bitch," she said. There was a long pause. "Hey how'd the meeting go yesterday?"
    My heart skipped a beat at the thought of the Professor. Images of that gorgeous smile flashed through my head again.
    "It went… alright," I said. The hesitation in my voice was obvious. Dana and I had known each other for so long she could practically read my mind anyway. There was a long pause again, then the background noise lessened considerably; it was just the two of us now.
    "Something you want to talk about?" she asked, her voice grave.
    "It's nothing," I said. I wanted to tell her more, to tell her what had happened between Ethan and I, but I couldn't. It's not that I cared what she might think about me - she was my best friend and I could tell her anything; but I didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing. "We spent the day going over some of the research I'll be working on."
    "You met him today too?" she pressed, her voice sounding overly concerned.
    My voice caught up for a moment. She didn't know that I was going to be working with Ethan more than normal - probably more than she had worked with him a year ago.
    "He didn't want to give me any extra credit at first. I had to beg him to get the chance," I said.
    "I see," she said, but something sounded different. "So you're going to be spending your weekends with him?"
    "Working on his research," I clarified. "It's an amazing opportunity, really. He's so smart and I'm already learning a ton from him."
    Something told me to cut myself off - to stop talking - or I would be opening a can of worms I wasn't prepared to deal with. It was a gut feeling, nothing I could have verbalized.
    "OK. Well, good luck with that, I guess. Let me know if you have time for me."
    It was very obvious now that something was wrong. Dana never sounded that distant from me. We were a team; we did everything together.
    "Did I say something wrong?" I asked.
    "I have to go, I'm being rude," she said curtly, and hung up the phone.
    I looked down at my phone, confused. What just happened?

    * * * * *

    Ethan arrived to the lecture hall later than usual. Usually he arrived early, enjoying the extra time to mentally prepare for the lecture. More often than not he tried to get ahead on some of the massive amounts of reading he was subjected to. His life was all about finding those little moments when he could get more done. Minutes here and there added up over the course of a month. It was how he had accomplished so much at such a young age.
    Today was different, however. He had dreaded the impending lecture all morning - he would have to confront Kayla. She would be there like she always was, sitting in the third row off to the left. Why was he so nervous to see her again? It was a rhetorical question - he knew the answer. He just wasn't ready to admit it to himself.
    Kayla was an anomaly; she was unlike any other woman in his life. But, more importantly, she was a student. She was off limits - there could be no slip-ups again. He had been down that road once before, and it hadn't ended well.
    Ethan stacked a few papers on the tiny podium at the front of the classroom. He forced his thoughts clear before addressing everyone. They were continuing their discussion on the market impact of expected earnings versus actual earnings. To him, it was a wildly riveting discussion, and much of his research was centered on the very topic. His students, however, usually struggled to stay awake through the lectures.
    He looked up and scanned the room. He tried with all of his being to avoid looking directly at Kayla, but it was impossible. She was in her usual spot, looking as beautiful as ever. His heart caught in his chest when he saw her, and his eyes lingered on her for