My Professor's Secret

47 |

Immediately my mind raced to my father. If she weren't there with him, he was alone. Not only that but if she had finally decided not to be there with him, did it mean she'd given up hope as my brother had and how I was slowly beginning to?

This was the last thing I needed.

We're given a twenty-minute intermission once we've performed more than half of the play, but instead of making my way out to converse with Taylor or my brother and his guests, I stay behind the curtain, searching for Wyatt though it was as if he'd vanished from the face of the earth. I intended to completely avoid my professor, yet I seemingly couldn't stay out of his sight. As I walked toward the dressing room, he'd been making his way from the opposite direction toward me. I intended to smile at him and continue my search for Wyatt, but once we've approached one another, his hand grasps hold of my wrist and he pulls me into the empty dressing room, and toward a stall in the back.

"You should consider making this your major. This and writing of course. You're a natural on the stage. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you," he says, caressing the silhouette of my body.

It's impossible to suppress the current that courses through me every time his skin touches mine, but I knew this time had to be different because his fate lay in my ability to convince Wyatt against going to the dean and against pursuing the allegations against him. Not only that, but it would've been a good time as any to develop a shred of self-control when it came to being in the same room as him.

"Thank you, Professor. I should be making my way back though. My dad's girlfriend and her daughter made a surprise visit to see me perform. They're waiting for me and most likely have news about my dad."

It's me that unintentionally plants a peck on his lips before I turn to leave the dressing room. I've almost made it out unscathed when his voice comes to life, encouraging me to give him at least a few minutes of my time.

"We're okay, right?" he asks, brows furrowed with worry—planting me in place.

Is there a proper way of answering that question? Especially when we weren't okay. Not even in the slightest bit. I'd been cheating on my boyfriend and having sex with my teacher who was hours away from possibly being terminated because of our actions. I want to tell him yes—to pretend that everything was okay, but they weren't, and lying wouldn't make the issue go away any quicker than the truth would. Although we were the only ones in the dressing room stall and we still had a little over fifteen minutes left of intermission, our location was compromising because had anyone stumbled inside, they'd hear our every word.

His hand is cold once I lock our fingers together and pull us toward the dressing room office. It wasn't much better than being in the dressing room considering it had a large sheet of glass overlooking the entire space, but at least we could go inside and shut the door for an ounce of privacy.

By the time the door has latched shut and I'm able to get a good look at Trevor's face again, It's apparent he knows something is off now. I instruct him to take a seat on the bench against the wall before removing my hand from his to pace the floor. My heart was beating over a hundred times a minute it felt like. Granted we hadn't taken all the right precautionary measures to avoid this predicament, but that didn't make the reality of it any less terrifying. As absurd as it may have sounded, I cared for Trevor. Maybe enough to wholeheartedly say I was in love with him, but who were we kidding?

"It was Wyatt we heard earlier," I spit, trying to take down what little saliva I had remaining in my mouth. Before I've even had a chance to continue, he's already on his feet again, pacing the floor just as I had. "He saw us together and assumed that you were taking advantage of me. He's intent on going to the Dean's. He said he's already sent him an email and he wants to go to his office to see if he was there to tell him in person. I don't know what to do."