by Jamie Knight
He was trying to be stern, but that was only because he had gotten a reputation with the students of being a softie.
“It’s okay,” I said, smiling cheerfully in Izzy’s direction. “What matters most is that you are here now, and we can go ahead and get this show on the road.”
“And hopefully it’s a show that goes well,” said Trent, winking and smiling at her.
He laughed, and I began to wonder if this was his attempt at flirting. I had never seen him act like this and would be shocked if he meant this as some off colored joke. Maybe he was just nervous because she was so smoking hot. I tried to ignore it and move on. I definitely was not amused.
“Now, I’m glad that you decided to do this internship, because it will give you an idea of how organic chemistry can be used in the real world,” I began explaining to Izzy. “Sometimes, a lot can be lost in boring lectures and books with words that just seem to swim all over the page. Speaking of swimming, our first project will be to help make the aquatic home for many animals a better place. We will be synthesizing and improving a bacteria that eats plastic.”
“Why is that a good thing?” asked Izzy, who was visibly confused.
Before I had a chance to answer, Trent slithered up next to her.
“Because it can help our environment,” he said. “ I, for one, am sick of how wildlife is being destroyed because aquatic animals are being overrun by plastic garbage being thrown into the lakes and oceans. Don’t you want to save the wittle sea creatures, Izzy?”
Trent made a silly face, puckering his lips and putting his hands next to his face like he was a fish. Izzy laughed.
“Well, I guess that does make sense,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
Trent rubbed his hand across Izzy’s back and she bristled as if she ha been burned with fire. I felt the heat rushing through me, too.
What was it? It couldn’t have been jealousy. I barely knew her, and she was a student at that. Either way, I knew that I was going to have to talk to Trent about flirting with the students or else he could land himself, the school, and me in a world of trouble.
“Trent, may I have a word with you in the hallway?” I asked, heading toward the door and holding it open, waiting for Trent to follow me.
“Sure,” said Trent, walking toward the door slowly, a look of confusion on his face.
Once we had both stepped into the hallway, I closed the door gently behind us.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice a raspy whisper.
“What do you mean?” asked Trent, scratching his head, dumbfounded.
“I mean with all the flirting!” I hissed. “It’s embarrassing and could be seen as sexual harassment, the way you are laying it on so thick. That’s not what we’re here for at all. We’re here to teach a student how to synthesize and improve a bacteria, not for Trent’s love connection. If you want to pick up girls, do it on your own time. Not now.”
He still looked confused, so I elaborated. “What happens if this girl mentions to the dean that you were all grabby hands with her in here? What do you think that they will do to you? To me? Can we just focus on the project so that we can all get out of here and on with our lives?”
“She didn’t seem like she really cared,” said Trent, almost under his breath.
“It doesn’t matter,” came my icy reply. “We are here to do our job. Let’s just stick to that and leave all the funny business out of it, okay?”
Trent looked at me for a moment as if he were trying to read my mind.
“Sure thing, boss,” he finally said after a while, in his best attempt at a Southern accent.
His European accent threw it off, though, but I could hear his sarcasm as clear as day. I ignored it, opened the door, and motioned for him to walk through it. I followed closely behind him, listening to our footsteps echoing across the floor of the mostly empty classroom.
“Trent’s going to show you the next step in the process while I get a test set up,” I said, walking toward the desk at the front of the room where the Petri dishes and slides had been set up.
Trent moved methodically and robotically, his lips pressed in a tight line. Izzy stood next him, carefully watching his every move. She kept looking at him as if she expected him to explain what he was doing. When no explanation came, she contented herself with just looking on.
He handed her equipment from time to time as he moved things around, setting up slides and squirting dye solution on them so that they could be seen better. They worked peacefully like that for about an hour.
I had gotten so preoccupied with setting up the test and being sure to record data in real time that I didn’t even notice that our time was up before I had the chance to finish the test.
“Welp, that’s our time,” said Trent, heading towards the door.
“Wait. You aren’t going to help clean up?” I asked Trent, surprised to see him leaving so quickly.
Usually, it was the other way around, with me hurrying to leave and me having to drag an excited Trent out of the lab. This time, I was met with a self-satisfied smirk on Trent’s face. He didn’t even glance in my direction as he hurriedly gathered his belongings, sidestepping anything that might have been part of the experiment that we were working on.
“I wish that I could,” he said. “Tonight is a big night for me. I have been planning this for ages. I have some friends leaving to go back to Europe tomorrow, so we planned a huge send off celebration and it’s happening tonight. And besides, I want to get to my life so that I don’t run the risk of being brought up on charges or something.”
His last statement made my eyes widen with surprise. I had never seen this side of Trent and I hoped that it wouldn’t be a side that I saw of him very often again. I rather enjoyed our paraprofessional relationship, where we locked arms and worked together in the class and had somewhat of a friendly relationship outside of the classroom.
We weren’t exactly best friend, but we were friendly enough that he could obviously drag me out on double dates, and what we did have in common made it so that I got more joy out of my work. My shoulders slumped at the thought that one conversation in which I asked him to get a grip on his hormones could potentially ruin all of that. But I decided to just play it cool.
“That’s okay, Trent. I understand. You two have done some great work here tonight. You can go ahead and enjoy your night. I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”
“Okay,” said Trent, disappearing out the door without so much as a glance back.
Izzy stood waiting, like she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“You can go ahead and take off, too,” I said, pretending to be preoccupied with the experiment.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stay and help you,” she said, her sweet voice sounding like music to my ears.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, stunned by her suggestion. The thought of being near her again made me happy that I had thought to offer her an application for the internship. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite, after having just chastised Trent for being too friendly with a student.
But this is different, I couldn’t help but think. She and I were just going to be working on an experiment together.
“Okay,” I said, stepping to the side so that she could stand next to me in front of the long black lab table.
I could smell her shampoo. It was fruity and wonderful.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked, turning her round, eager face toward me, her pearly white smile beaming at me.
I had to keep telling myself not to stare, but she was really beautiful. Now that we weren’t standing in a dark club and I could actually see her face, I could see how much more beautiful she was in the broad daylight – or at least lab lights of the classroom. It made me wonder how the rest of her looked…
She stood there, waiting for me to say something. Honestly, there wasn’t much left to do other than to clean up, but I wanted to make this moment last forever. Plus, I wanted to s
how her how great of a professor that I was, so that she could see that we both shared academic excellence.
“Well, the first thing we need to do is to mix this solution with the bacteria itself at regular intervals. Why don’t you try doing that?” I asked her, deciding to start over what I had already been doing.
I handed her a vial with a light blue solution that would help to create more bacteria. She took the vial and began slowly pouring it into the Petri dish.
“Like that?” she asked, her voice taking on a deep, throaty texture.
I had to swallow a lump that was climbing up in my throat. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to be suggestive or if this was just how she was naturally.
Whatever the case, right now, she was fucking turning me on.
I almost felt guilty, considering I had just chewed out Trent for this very same thing not moments ago. But I couldn’t help myself. She was just so damn seductive that I was drawn to her.
I was deep in thought as I turned to grab another vial of solution and spilled it on myself.
“Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Here, let me help you,” she exclaimed.
Before I knew what was happening, she had grabbed a cloth that had been sitting on the table and started dabbing at my crotch, where most of the solution had pooled. She put the cloth on me over and over again, making contact with my cock. I could feel myself starting to grow hard and I knew that I would be in trouble if she kept on doing it.
So, I reacted without thinking. I pushed her hand away from me quickly. She looked at me as if she were stunned, almost like I had hit her. Then, she had the saddest look on her face, as if her feelings had been hurt. I thought she was going to cry for a minute, until she looked down at my crotch, then looked up at me, smiling.
I looked down to see why she was smiling, and I spotted it.
My penis was standing at full attention, pointing straight at her.
I angled my body away from her, embarrassed, but knowing that it was too late. She had already seen me. She covered her mouth like she was trying to stifle laughter.
“Uh… you know… we really don’t have to keep doing this,” I told her. “The experiment is pretty much done at this point. I’ve recorded all the data that we need. Feel free to go ahead and call it a night.”
I hoped that jumping back into professor mode would distract her from the raging boner that I was trying to hide from her. She didn’t move. She tilted her head and stared at me like she was amused.
“Well, I can’t leave now,” she said. “I’m really curious about a few things.”
“Like?” I asked.
“For starters, what made you pick me for this internship?” she asked, leaning in closer to me as she waited for my answer.
“Well, I thought that that would be pretty self explanatory. You are a very bright girl. Your transcripts speak loudly of that. You should really be proud of yourself.”
She smiled sweetly, staring down at the table.
“Thank you,” she said. “I have always loved learning and try to apply myself as best I can.”
I nodded.
“I know. More than you know. Actually, I have seen only one other student who has had the same amount of promise, focus, and dedication that you have.”
“Oh, yeah? Who’s that?”
“Me.”
She blinked a few times, like she was surprised at my answer. I chuckled.
“Don’t let my old boring professor persona fool you,” I told her. “I was just like you at one point: overachieving in every academic area. That’s how I even got offered a job here, being a professor. And it wasn’t easy. I remember feeling so much different from my older peers. But, most of them weren’t as focused or dedicated as I was, coupled with the fact that most of them were into the party scene or dating all the time. Can you relate to that?”
She nodded slowly, a faraway look in her eyes. I knew that she was probably thinking about some of the few experiences that she had had already.
“I can certainly relate to everyone going out and partying while I’m inside studying. But I guess I just figured that this was what college was like,” she said, shrugging. “I really didn’t even think that I was going to be able to go to college, so I am just grateful to be here, and trying to deal with all of it.”
“And I know that you are doing well and will continue to do well. But I remember that one of the best things that happened to me that helped me to adjust was having someone reach out to me and take me under their wing. It was a professor here. I cannot tell you how valuable it was having him. I truly believe that I would not be standing here today if it weren’t for him.”
“Wow,” she said, nodding slowly as if she was trying to process what I was saying.
“The thing is… you will get it, with or without my help. The fact that you have made it this far proves that. But I want to help you to compress time frames, so to speak. I want to help you to adjust sooner rather than later. That way, as you go through school, you can find more balance sooner. And that will help you to do more even quicker, if that makes any sense.”
“It does,” she said unsteadily, glancing off in the distance.
I had hoped that I had answered her question, but she looked like she was disappointed for some reason. I started to wonder if I hadn’t messed things up already. I would have hated for her to quit on this internship before we had a chance to even really get started.
“Well, it’s getting kind of late and I really should get back to my dorm before it gets completely dark outside,” she said, gathering up her belongings and heading toward the door. “Thank you for your help and for this opportunity. I really appreciate it.”
I wished that we could talk some more, maybe find out what it was that she was looking for or hoping to get out of the internship, but considering the way that the night had gone, I was just glad that she wasn’t running out of the room like the building was on fire or something. I decided not to push the issue.
“Well, I’m glad that you decided to take the internship,” I said, walking with her to the door.
I pulled out one of my business cards and pressed it into her hand, telling her to text me when she made it back to the dorm. I wanted to make sure she got back safely.
“Okay, thanks,” she said dismissively, not looking at me.
“I would walk you back, but I can’t leave this stuff here like this,” I said, motioning to the huge mess behind me.
“I can stay and help if you want…” she began.
“No need,” I said, putting my hand up.
I didn’t want to risk another disaster happening. I already didn’t know what was going to happen moving forward. For all I knew, I would look up to find that she had dropped my class completely. I thanked her again and went back to the table.
Once she was gone, I tried finishing up the experiment, but I couldn’t get my mind to focus on anything other than her sexy smile and intoxicating smell. My dick began to harden again as I thought about kissing her sweet, plump lips.
Fucking snap out of it, Jace, I told myself, shaking my head as if I was trying to shake out the thoughts of Izzy that I had been having.
I knew that I was treading on dangerous ground and I was struggling to want to fight it.
I sighed dejectedly as I tossed aside the remnants of the experiment. I had lied about not being able to leave the experiment. I could always come back and clean it up in the morning before class started.
I just didn’t want to tell Izzy that. I knew that it would be weird to have a professor walking a student back to the dorms. I didn’t want people talking about us.
But that didn’t stop me from being worried about her getting back to her dorm.
I decided to leave the classroom and head home. I held my breath, waiting for her text to come through, telling me that she had made it home safely.
Or maybe I was just breathless waiting to hear from her again at all. She seemed to have that affect on me, no matter how m
uch I tried to deny it to myself.
Chapter 6
Izzy
“Hello?” yelled Layla, snapping her fingers in my face. “Where are you today? I tell ya, take a girl out for one night of partying and she loses half her brain!”
Layla cackled loudly, making everyone in the store at the mall turn toward us. Earlier, Layla had asked me to come shopping with her and I figured that it might be good to get out of the dorm and out of my head.
So many questions were rolling around in my mind and I was conflicted in so many ways about Dr. Rivers. But even with my best efforts to distract myself by going out with a friend, I still struggled to keep my mind from wandering and thinking about him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out and putting my hands on Layla’s shoulders. “I just have had a strange couple of days and I’m trying to make sense of it in my head.”
“Why? What happened?” asked Layla, holding a pink and white striped crop top up to her chest and admiring herself in the mirror.
I debated telling her but decided I would just die if I couldn’t share the news with someone. And it wasn’t as if I could bring it up during one of my daily chats with my parents. They were the only people I talked to regularly, other than Layla.
“You are never going to believe who my Organic Chemistry professor is,” I told her, still hardly able to believe it myself.
“Who?” screeched Layla, gripping my arms so hard I thought that she was going to leave a red mark. She could tell this was going to be juicy information.
“Remember that bimbo from the club, who I spilled my drink on?”
“Yeah? Don’t tell me it’s her? She didn’t look like she even knows what organic chemistry is, let alone being able to teach it.”
“Not quite,” I said. “It’s the guy who she was with.”
“You mean the dreamsicle with all the muscles,” she asked.
I laughed.
“Yep. That’s him.”
I lowered my head and smiled.
“Uh oh,” said Layla, taking a step away from me.
