"Okay, that was not how I imagined starting my college year" I caught my breath as I got off Sam's desk and grabbed my pants from the floor.
"You shouldn't have come in my office two hours earlier, then. In both senses" she shrugged, putting her blazer back on and leaning back in her chair.
"I didn't say I didn't like it" I laughed. "Your hair is all ruffled, you look so hot"
"Shit, I need to fix it. I have a class in ten minutes" she groaned.
"But you look-"
'I am not going to teach one hundred students looking like I just ate someone out"
"That's what you just did, though" I said, sitting on her lap.
"Yeah, whatever" she rolled her eyes at me. "Do you have any breaks between classes?"
"Yeah, but I think I'll be with Mei during them. We haven't seen each other in a long time"
"Oh, fair enough. I finish at seven, if you want to stop by later. We can go home together"
"Sure" I smiled, wrapping my arms over her shoulders and kissing her.
"I can't believe it's almost been a whole year since we started all of... this" she said.
"I first sneaked in here in December, like three months after you started to teach my class. You had me waiting" I joked.
"Our situation wasn't exactly easy and you know it" she hit my arm with a laugh.
"I know, I was kidding" I said. "I need to go now"
"Enjoy your new classes" she kissed me again. "I love you"
"I love you too" I said as I got up. "You also enjoy your classes" I added, walking out of the office.
Being back in that corridor felt weird, it had only been a little more than two months since I'd last been there but it felt like way more for some reason. Overall, I was happy to be starting classes again. I'd kind of missed the routine of it all and feeling like I was studying something I genuinely enjoyed.
And I was also happy to see Mei, since we hadn't seen each other since July when I was back home, and I wasn't really in the best of conditions. We'd texted and called a few times, but seeing each other in person was different.
I didn't even need to pretend I didn't just walk out of the professor's side of the building, or made up excuses for it, which felt very good. One less cause of stress.
I immediately spotted Mei waiting for me at our usual spot, wearing her signature ripped jeans and a beige flannel.
"Hi!" I said as soon as I was near enough.
"El! Hi!" she hugged me. "How are you? It's so good to see you"
"I know, I'm really happy too" I smiled. "I'm good. You?"
"I'm good too" she just said, looking at me like she was both trying to figure something out and trying not to laugh.
"What's wrong?" I laughed.
"You have a lipstick stain on your neck. And your shirt is buttoned up the wrong way. And your face is weirdly flushed"
"What?" I said, almost choking on my saliva and looking down to see that my shirt was indeed buttoned up the wrong way.
"Miss Collins is making good use of her office, I see" she winked.
"Don't call her that" I hit her arm.
"Well, I don't know her well enough to start calling her Samantha, or Sam" she shrugged. "Why does your wrist look like some animal just clawed your skin? She must have long ass nails. How does she-"
"None of your business" I cut her off, not wanting to know the rest of the question.
"No need to get so defensive" she laughed. "Good for you for getting some action"
"Okay, thanks Mei" I shook my head, feeling close to mortified. "Let's get to class" I added, changing the topic of the conversation.
Our first class of the year was creative writing, which I was really excited to do. I enjoyed learning history and theory about literature, but I was happy to finally do something that required my own word in it.
Me and Mei sat in the same row of seats we'd always sit in in every classroom we were in, and once we settled down I suddenly had a feeling of gratitude, being reminded of how lucky I was to actually be there, doing what I'd dreamed of doing for years.
My thoughts were interrupted once I saw the professor enter the room, and I immediately recognized him. He was the professor whose office was in front of Sam's one, and who'd told me he could tell what was going on between us during one of my last days the previous year.
"You okay El? You look like when we had our first class with Collins last year" Mei said.
"What? You remember that?"
"I could never forget. I thought you were seriously ill or something. Turns out you were just extremely attracted to her"
"I wasn't- Okay, I was, but- Whatever. I'm okay though, it's just that...the professor's office is in front of Sam's"
"Oh, shit. Did he see you coming out of her office looking like you'd just had sex?"
"Mei!" I groaned. "He didn't see me today, I think at least. But during our last week back in June he told me something like he knew what was going on with me and Sam"
"What? Oh my god. But like, he doesn't have any evidence, right?"
"No...I guess not. He just saw me walking in and out of her office a lot, which doesn't prove much"
"Exactly, he doesn't have proof. I wouldn't stress about it, El"
"Yeah, he really doesn't. He probably doesn't even recognize me" I said, trying to convince myself more than anyone else.
Luckily, his class was actually interesting and he was good at capturing people's attention, which made me forget about all of that for the following two hours.
But as soon as me and Mei walked out of the room, I noticed he looked at me with an expression similar to both a smirk and disapproval. Which was weird. Very weird. Although, Mei reassured me that he didn't even look at me multiple times, during the next four hours of class that day, so maybe it was really just all in my head.
Regardless of it all, I wanted to be cautious for that one day and skip going to Sam's office after I was done with classes.
you: hi babe, i'm not gonna be stopping by your office today, see you at home later?
sam<3: Sure. You alright?
you: yeah, i'll explain later. love you
sam<3: Love you too baby
It still felt kind of surreal that I could just get into the apartment with my own set of keys and see all my stuff inside it. But it was actually my new home. I had to keep reminding myself I actually was living with Sam.
I really didn't mean to scare Sam when I told her I wouldn't be stopping by, I honestly didn't even think she'd got worried. But once she got home she looked much more distraught than I wanted her to be.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she stormed into the bedroom, without even saying anything else before.
"Yeah. All good. I told you not to worry" I sat up on the bed, putting my phone down.
"Well, you did worry me. Hi, by the way" she leaned down and kissed me.
"Hi" I giggled.
"What happened then?" she asked, taking her blazer off and kicking her heels off so she could sit next to me.
"Nothing terrible. Uhm, you know that professor whose office is next to yours, the one who said he knew what was going on between us?"
"Oh shit, yeah. He's your professor now, isn't he?"
"Exactly"
"Fuck. I forgot about that. I didn't make the connection"
"Yeah, me neither. I remember you'd told me months ago when he came into your office and I was there that one time, but I completely forgot"
"Same" she sighed. "He didn't tell you anything weird, right?"
"No. I'm convinced he looked at me in a weird way, but Mei told me I just imagined it. I don't know, maybe we should be careful until I have a class with him, at least"
"Yeah, I agree. Although I'd hate not spending time at work with you anymore"
"We don't need to not ever see each other on campus grounds again, but maybe I should avoid coming to you so often...And I'm saying this for you, I would never want you to get into trouble because of me"
"Yeah. I guess you're right. I mean, he literally doesn't have any evidence of us being together if not seeing us together in my office a lot. He can't report me or anything. But yeah, maybe we shouldn't fuel his suspicions. As much as I hate that" she said, suddenly looking saddened.
"We're living together now, we have plenty of time together" I reassured her. "And this doesn't mean I can never come see you again. I'll find his timetable so I know when he's busy teaching and I'm free to come"
"Okay" she chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. I really hate that man though. He's been weird with me ever since I arrived at the university. I still can't figure out if he's like that with everyone or just me"
"Maybe he's jealous of me" I shrugged with a laugh.
"I don't completely rule that out. He's always so weird, I swear" she said. "But yeah, we'll be fine. We'll just be careful"
"Exactly. No big deal" I smiled. "Oh, uhm, also. I wouldn't probably have been able to spend time with you after classes anyway" I added, figuring I also needed to talk to her about something else that had been on my mind.
"Why?"
"Because I'm gonna start working again. You know, my parents not giving me any kind of help and all"
"Right. You're going back to the cafè?"
"Actually...about that. I decided to change jobs" I said. I'd only really casually mentioned that back in London before I could think about the implications of it, but I was going to have to talk about it at some point.
"Oh. I'm sorry if you felt the need to change because of-"
"No, don't worry about that" I was quick to say. "I feel like I needed to change my environment anyway. And I found a job in a bookshop in this neighborhood, which is much more convenient than next to campus because I can come back home before work instead of staying out all day"
"You did? Why didn't you tell me anything? That's great!"
"Yeah, well, I've got the interview tomorrow but I doubt there's that much competition, so I'm hoping it goes well. And the pay is higher too. I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure I was gonna change until a few days ago"
"That's good. You could have told me anyway"
"Well, I'm telling you now"
"Okay, then. I'm happy for you" she smiled.
"Thanks" I smiled back.
Sam's pov
I definitely needed to stop overthinking about Ellie's decision to change jobs. She said she didn't mind and that she felt it'd be good for her. And it was a more convenient location for her. And the pay was better.
If anything about it was bothering her she would have told me, because we were in a healthy and happy relationship where we both communicated properly. So there was really no need for me to still be thinking about it the morning after she'd told me while walking to my office. Especially, thinking about it so intensely that I didn't notice I was seconds away from bumping into someone.
"Careful there" I suddenly heard a masculine voice.
"Shit...I mean, uh, sorry" I mumbled, before realizing who I was facing. "Oh. Hi Ben" I forced myself to say, ready to just go on with my day.
"Hi Sam" he smiled. "Lost in your thoughts?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. Have a good da-"
"I saw that your favorite student is in my class this semester" he said before I could even finish my sentence.
"Great" I just said, really trying my best to not insult him.
"I haven't seen her here in these days"
"Well, lessons started yesterday. And she's not my student anymore. Can I go now?"
"Why so defensive?" he chuckled.
"Because you're annoying me" I turned the other way round and unlocked my office's door.
"I just asked a question. You know, you're really lucky I don't have any evidence of what was, or is, going on with her" he went on.
"And you're lucky I'm not petty enough to go and ask the administration to have your office moved because you're harassing me" I politely smiled at him.
"I can potentially get you fired for going against the university's code of conduct" he shrugged.
"Well, good luck with that" I rolled my eyes at him as I walked in the room and closed the door behind me.
Fuck.
I really thought that it'd all get easier once Ellie wasn't my student anymore. But that turned out to be wrong.
We were going to need to be really careful, especially around that annoying man. As much as I hated to admit it, I could have gotten into serious trouble if someone happened to find out about me and Ellie. And the last thing I wanted was to be sent back to London.
But I was sure we could do it. We'd been through worse, and we were always able to solve all of it. Just being more careful wouldn't be a big deal for us.
a/n: i've been writing ahead and i can now officially say this book will have 90 chapters in total :')