Harry
Grabbing Niall from the hall by his collar, I pull him back into my office and slam the door shut, pushing him up against it. "Shut up." I mutter through gritted teeth.
He looks alarmed at my sudden outburst, "Harry-"
"No. Stop calling after her, let her go."
Shaking his head in disbelief, he stays leaning against the door as I finally let him go. His eyes study my face, not sure what to say. I walk back to my desk, running my hand over my mouth as I move shit around in my desk to find my phone. The second I find it I'm messaging Maude, trying to get her to call me.
"Harry, please tell me I'm having a nightmare or I got drugged and I'm on some weird ass trip and I didn't just walk in on you and Maude Sterling. Tell me I didn't just see what I saw."
I glance over at him for a second but focus back on my phone, unable to tell him what he wants to hear. Because he did walk in on Maude and I, and now I might have lost her for good. Why didn't we lock the fucking door?
"Fine. Then tell me you're not giving her good grades because you're sleeping with her. Tell me you're not sleeping with her, that she forced you to do that because her last name is Sterling."
Biting my lips, I look up at him again, waiting for any little response from Maude but I know she's not going to text me back right now. "I'm not giving her good grades because I'm sleeping with her. And she's not like that, Niall."
He scoffs, "I think she's exactly like that. She's a Sterling, need I remind you what her brother fucking did to you? Or did Gia not remind you enough?"
"Niall, you don't know anything about this so just leave it alone, forget you saw anything and move on."
"Forget I saw you with a student on your desk? Absolutely not. Did you give her the answers to the finals, too?"
It takes everything in me not to punch him for insinuating Maude is anything like her brother. "You know nothing about Maude, leave it alone. She doesn't have the answers to any final and she's never asked for them, not that she would. She's a good student."
"A good student that helps you get off in your office?"
I cross the room, pushing him against the door again as I'm unable to hold back my anger. "Don't fucking talk about her like that!"
"Fuck man, what's your fucking problem?" He raises his voice, looking at me in disbelief. Then I can see it all click for him. "No. Don't tell me it's true, H. Don't fucking tell me she's the one you've been seeing."
My heart pounds as he puts the pieces together in his head. This day just has to be some nightmare that I'm stuck in. I'll wake up from it and Maude and I will be back in Maine and everything will be okay again. She'll love me, we'll be happy, nothing will be wrong.
"The Sterling gala, taking trips out of state, not telling anyone you're dating, you wouldn't let us meet her. Fuck, H, does Mitch know you're fucking the Sterlings' daughter? You're such a fucking idiot!" He shoves me back, shaking his head.
I shove him, "You don't control me, you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do and who I can and can't see-"
"Does she have something on you? And are you fucking forgetting the rules set by the university that say relationships between students and their professors are strictly prohibited? So yeah, I think they can tell you what you can and can't do!"
Shaking my head, I pace back to my desk, checking my phone again and leaving another message for her. "Fucking answe me, Maude..." I mumble under my breath, groaning when I see the text doesn't even go through anymore.
"That's it, you're going fucking crazy or something. I'm going to the Dean, this is for your own good, Harry."
"Niall, no!" I can't have him go to the Dean about this. He pauses before he could open the door, but doesn't look back at me. "Please just hear me out. I promise it's not like how you're seeing it. Just listen to me."
I just need the chance to get to Maude before he can expose our relationship. I need him to hear me out and see that this isn't a bad thing. I love Maude with all my heart.
He sighs loudly before locking the door again. We sit at my desk, my leg bouncing in place out of nervousness. He sits back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Talk."
After taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I start from the beginning. "It was me. We met before the semester started and I flirted first. I kissed her first. We kept running into each other and there was just a mutual attraction. But Niall, you have to believe me that the second I found out who she was and that she was my student I ended it immediately. Again, it was mutual, neither of us wanted this to happen."
He rolls his eyes, but I continue. "I didn't like that she was a Sterling and I was fucking embarrassed that I flirted with a student so I was mean to her. I think I wanted her to hate me so that it was easier for us to move on. But then she came to my office to ask me to stop being rude and we tried to leave things professionally but we just couldn't."
"You didn't want to."
"No, Niall. We couldn't. We didn't want this, any of this, it just happened."
"Things don't just happen, Harry. You made the deliberate choice to start a relationship with a student. She wasn't going to tell you no because you had the authority-"
"For fucks sake, Niall, think for a second. Her father is Lance Sterling. They hate me in that family. Don't you think that if she didn't want to have a relationship with me, she wouldn't just go to them and get me fired? She's threatened it before in the beginning and she wasn't just joking around." I remind him, and he looks down at his lap as he realizes I'm right.
"She's not blackmailing me, she's not holding things over my head, she's not getting answers or good grades because of it. Her grades are earned. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine, I understand. But I love her."
We're both quiet for a second but I break it. "I love her, Niall. There will never be a day where I don't love her. If that means I have to give all this up, the teaching, the trial, I'll do it. I'm not being dramatic, I'm not exaggerating. So if you want to report us, I can't stop you, I can just ask that you give me time to tell Maude. But just know that I've accepted what's to come if you do."
Niall shakes his head, looking down at his hands as he takes his all in. It's definitely a lot to comprehend, and I know at the end of the day what Maude and I did by starting this relationship is wrong. Niall, Gia, even Will, they're all well within their rights to report us to the Dean. We've admitted to it countless times at this point.
"Gia. She was just here?" He asks, surprising me a bit.
"I- uh, yeah. Gia came by... tried to get me to get back together with her but I told her no."
"Because you don't want to be with her or because of Maude?"
I sigh, shaking my head. "Niall, of course I don't want to be with Gia because of how things ended, but also I'm happy with Maude."
"I'm assuming Gia saw you with Maude since I didn't see Maude in the hallway..."
"Yes she did. So if you don't report us, there's a good chance she already has." I look down at my hands, feeling like such an idiot for thinking we could make it through this. "I was going to tell you guys... Once the semester was over and everything settled from the holidays..."
Niall rubs his jaw, shaking his head slightly. "Harry... Is she why you're not teaching next semester?"
"Not exactly. The trial is going to take up a lot of my time once it starts and I need to be focused on it." Deep down I know that he's right though. If I'm technically not a professor anymore, nobody can say anything about us being together.
"This just isn't like you, H. You've made it such a point not to entangle yourself with a student. And now not only are you with one, she's a Sterling. How are you certain she's not using you for information with the case? How do you know she's not going to blackmail you at the end of the semester when grades are in? If this gets out it'll ruin you, Harry."
His words give me some hope that this will stay between us. "Niall, Maude and I have been together since October. Since that night in that bar when I drove her home. We have talked about this stuff and shit has happened between us and I trust her. So please trust me. She's not like that."
He presses his lips together as his eyes search mine. "Who else knows about this besides Gia and me?"
"Mitch and Sarah know she's my student but not that she's a Sterling. And Will Anderson, he's her friend, he's been very understanding and helpful."
Niall nods, biting his lip as he thinks. My heart pounds as I wait for him to respond, the fate of my relationship, of my future, resting in his hands. Whatever he decides though, I have to be okay with it. I knew what I was getting myself into with Maude, and I can't be surprised that the consequences came back to bite me in the ass.
"Harry..." He sighs, shaking his head. "The semester's almost over. And even though I should report this to the Dean because this could have affected grading and given her privilege... I'm not going to-"
I let out a shaky breath, putting my head in my hands in relief. "Oh thank god."
"I'm not done talking." He calls my attention again and I look at him, just so relieved that he's not going to expose this. "I'm not going to report this. But I'm also not going to be complicit in this either. You made a mistake, you got involved with the wrong person. It was your first relationship back on the horse since Gia, so I understand how you screwed this up. It was a bad move on your part."
I want to interrupt him, but I stay quiet for now.
"Tonight. You are going to end this. You don't want me to report this to the Dean? Fine, I won't. But this is over. That's the only way I'll forget this ever happened."
My heart sinks and my jaw drops open slightly. Furrowing my brows, I shake my head. "Niall-"
"Harry, if you don't, I'll have to go. I don't want to do this to you, so please don't make me do it this close to the semester being over."
The semester is almost over. Once the semester is over, I'm not her professor anymore. I'll be on my break from teaching, which means I won't be anyone's professor anymore. Then we can be together.
Nodding slowly, my jaw clenches slightly. "Fine. It's over. Just don't tell anyone. Not for my sake because I can handle what comes my way, but she can't."
He leans back, pursing his lips. "I won't. But that's something you should have thought about before dragging her into this."
Maude and I can handle a few more weeks of laying low. She'll be busy with finals, I have jury selection coming up. It'll keep us away enough where we can convince Niall at least that we're broken up.
We'll survive this. I know we will.
***
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