Mutual Fondness [the professor & mary ann] ✔️

four- storm

Storm

     Mary Ann grabbed her shoulders, covering her chest with her arms. She shuddered and tried reaching for the blanket, but only felt cold air. Her eyes fluttered opened and she noticed the blanket crumpled on the ground beneath her feet. That's when Mary Ann remembered falling asleep in front of the fire last night next to the Professor. She stretched her arms out, yawning, then turned her head towards him. His eyes were still shut and his mouth almost curved upwards into a small smile. He's adorable. Especially when sleeping.

Mary Ann carefully swung her legs off the chair and stepped onto the deck. She stood beside the Professor in his chair, peering over him. Although he looked peaceful, it was quite chilly and she wanted to get inside as soon as possible.

"Professor?" Mary Ann said softly to not startle him. "It's morning now." She lightly shook his shoulder.

It was then in the moments when she waited for him to wake up, Mary Ann noticed it was the first time she known the Professor without wearing his blue button up and khakis. He wore a grey sweater with a halfway zipper that had a collar and blue light-washed jeans. Though, he still wore his navy canvas shoes. It felt surreal being with him in a different setting then the island because had she not won the contest, she wouldn't have known him; she wouldn't have known any of the castaways. And how close they'd gotten over the past three years, she was actually thankful for the storm that hit the Minnow. When the Professor's eye opened, Mary Ann felt the need to back up because at this point she was towering over him.

"Good morning Professor," said Mary Ann, standing with hands behind her back.

"Morning Mary Ann," Professor said. He took his eyes off her, eyeing the fire pit and blanket that had fallen. "Did we really fall asleep out here?"

"I thought the same thing. I guess we were too tired to care."

Professor climbed out of his chair. "Were you okay? It wasn't too cold for you or anything?"

"It was actually kind of nice," Mary Ann described. "Not too cold, and the fire kept me warm."

"Are you sure?" Professor walked up to her and touched her shoulders with both hands. Mary Ann guessed it was to check if they were cold. She had to smile at the effort he always took making sure she was okay. It was like that a lot on the island. The Professor was almost always the first person to jump and protect her when something would explode or the castaways were in danger. Of course she was old enough to take care of herself, but when it was someone she had romantic feelings towards, she didn't mind it at all.

The reason Mary Ann took the last minute trip to Ohio was so she could express her feelings to the Professor verbally. But on the day she arrived there wasn't a good opportunity to do so. She planned on doing it later, when the right chance came up. They had to be alone of course, and she didn't want Rose in the area. She didn't even want her name to come up in conversation. By the end of the day, the Professor would know what she'd been keeping inside for over a year.

"Shall we get going inside?" the Professor startled Mary Ann out of thought.

"After you," Mary Ann said, gesturing to the back door.

She followed the Professor inside the house to where his parents sat around the kitchen table with cups of coffee.

"Did you sleep well last night ?" Mrs. Hinkley said to her husband.

"Yeah, what about you?"

Mrs. Hinkley sipped her coffee. "I slept excellent." She turned her head to the Professor and Mary Ann. "How about you two?"