Professor Rice

Chapter 3

Veronica's POV

Jo had been very busy last week and couldn't come to any of my classes to see "Professor hottie" as she liked to call Professor Rice, so here she was, walking with me to his office to try to see him.

"You got changed" she smirked.

"What? Of course I did, I felt gross after so many hours in class."

"Sure. And you're also wearing perfume. My perfume. The one you wear for parties and dates."

"Shut up!"

When we got to his office, I knocked on the door and waited until he opened it.

"Hi... hi! Um... I only know who one of you is" he laughed.

"Hi, Professor. I'm Josephine, Veronica's best friend. I have to talk to one of my teachers, so we walked here together. I'll leave you alone now. Have fun!" Fun?

"Bye Jo, see you later" I said before I turned to meet my professor's blue eyes. "Hi, should I come in?"

"Please."

As I sat down, I was very aware of how small this office was. But he still managed to fit a sofa in here? Odd.

"So, what did you want to talk about with me, Professor?" I said.

"Please, call me Declan."

"Are you Irish?" Why don't I think before talking? What kind of question is that? "Sorry, part of my family comes from Ireland and I have an uncle called Declan. So I was wondering..."

He chuckled at my comment. "Yeah, my grandparents are Irish. Good to have something in common with you."

Huh? Why would it be good to have something in common with me?

"Anyways," he continued. "Let's talk about the course so you can leave soon. It's Friday, you should be having fun with your friends, not stuck here with me."

The way he smiled at me made it feel like being stuck with him actually was the best plan I could have for any day but... I just smiled politely and nodded. My Irish grandma would be proud.

After twenty minutes, which felt like only five, we heard a knock at the door. Declan got up to open it, and a young man walked in.

"Sorry Veronica, my friend is early. Mason, this is my student Veronica. Veronica, this is my best friend Mason."

"Are you Mason Mount?" I asked.

"I am. Do you like football?" he grinned.

"Well, no. But my best friend's boyfriend is a huge Chelsea fan and I might have been forced to watch your matches once or twice... or twenty times."

"I'll take it" Mason chuckled, turning to talk to his friend. "I can leave you two alone if you are not done."

"No, it's fine" Declan answered. And yes, it disappointed me. "We're done. See you on Monday, Veronica?"

"Of course. See you then. Nice to meet you, Mason."

"Nice to meet you too. We might see each other again soon, yeah?" he said with a wink. Did he just wink at me?

"Sure, we might. Bye, have a good weekend."

I looked back and noticed Declan was looking at me. When our eyes met again, I swear my heart skipped a beat.

This is not going to end well...

Declan's POV

"Sooo" Mason said. "That was Veronica. You told me she was cute, but she's actually gorgeous."

"Mase..."

"Did you fail her on purpose just to have some alone time with her?" he joked.

"Mason..."

"I mean, I can't blame you, really. Do you think she liked me?"

"Shut up, Mason." He was starting to annoy me. Which is exactly what he was trying to achieve.

"Come on, Dec. I'm just teasing. I'd never steal your girl."

"She's not my girl! She's my student! I shouldn't even think about her in any other way." I hated him sometimes. "And I saw you winking at her."

"That wink meant nothing to her."

"Sure" I sighed. "A wink from a super successful footballer means nothing to a twenty-year-old. Sure."

And now I was the one who hit a nerve. I could tell by the way Mason's jaw clenched.

"You're so stupid sometimes, man".

"What? It's true. I can't compete with you."

That was, probably, the only way to shut Mason up. And it was cruel of me to bring it up, but I just couldn't think clearly after being alone with Veronica for twenty minutes.

When I was eighteen, I got a career-ending injury. It was the hardest moment of my life and I know it was hard for Mason too. All of our hopes of playing together at the highest level were gone in the ten seconds it took for my knee to break. He stayed by my side the whole time, unlike many other "friends".

And it was all going well until Mason started to win trophies. I couldn't be happier for him, of course, but there was a bitterness inside of me that I couldn't hide from my best friend. He confronted me about it and he ended up telling me not to compare myself to him. Because it wasn't fair. It wasn't that I wasn't good enough to make it. I was unlucky and got injured. He was right and I tried not to bring it up again... unless I wanted to annoy him.

"Sorry, bro. I just... I don't know. It's been a long week" I said as I sat next to him on the sofa.

"I know. And I'm happy for you. This is great, Dec. A shitty office, yeah. But a good job."

"Thanks."

"And about Veronica..."

I put my hands in my face and groaned. "I should have never mentioned it. But who else was I supposed to talk about it with?" Only I could be stupid enough to have a crush on one of my students. On my second week at the job.

"So, here's the plan" Mason said. "This course goes on for five months. Wait until it's over and ask her out."

I could only stare at him. "That's your plan?"

"Yup."

"That's not even a plan, Mason. And I don't want to ask her out, I want to get her out of my head so I can do my job properly."

"Right, that's why she was here" he said with a smirk that was not good news. "How many students have you asked to come to your office to give them advice, Declan?"

He knew the answer to that. "Just her."

"Shocker!" he laughed.

Yes, my intentions were not completely selfless. Of course, I wanted to help her. I could see she was struggling. But... But I also wanted to be able to be with her, to look at her, without another hundred students around us.

I guess you could say I haven't been very lucky when it comes to love. A couple of not so great relationships followed by some instances in which I was only used by people who wanted to get to Mason, haven't done wonders for my self-esteem when it comes to love issues.

I actually hoped I could meet someone at this job. Maybe another professor. Definitely not a student.

"Let's go have a drink" I said to Mason.

Have a drink, meet someone and forget about the student I shouldn't be thinking about.