The meeting with Professor Oakley went far better than I thought it would. But even still, I will keep my distance and tell Evie it flopped. I need time to process everything that has transpired. I'm not even sure I believe it myself.
In order to make tutoring successful, I need to come with an outline of questions prepped and ready to go. Evie's memorized my class schedule. I am not sure what to tell her about tutoring before world history. I'm sure I will come up with some reason to be gone.Evie comes waltzing in. Her coffee has stained her notebook. Her face looks frazzled from college life."Well, how did it go this morning with a certain older gentleman?" Of course she jumps right into her interrogation mode, as predicted."Well, it didn't go as well as I had hoped.""Is he married or something?" I honestly hadn't thought to investigate his relationship status. But it's a good enough excuse to get her off my back."Yeah, there was a picture of him and some female on his desk. He has a ring on his finger. I didn't feel like prying. But it appears he's unavailable."I pretend to act sad. Maybe I should be sad. What if he really is married or engaged? What will I do then?"I'm sorry, Cora. I know how much you wanted that to work out? Well maybe it's for the best. I've already found a cute boy for you to hang with just in case something happened. Here's his number and check out his I*******m. His name is Dante Meijers. He's not related to the family who has that large chain of stores. He made a point in telling me so."Typical Evie with her back up plan for my life. I mine as well check this Dante guy out. Professor Oakley made it pretty clear that he is my professor and nothing more. He can deny it all he wants, but Professor Oakley did hit on me. And it must be hard for him to be as young as he is and to teach such young students."Sure, I'd like to meet him. Either way I want to lose my v-card this year and finally get over Spencer and his stupid comments about my body.""Yeah, get it girl. You'll be getting laid in no time with that attitude. And don't worry I'm sure it will be just as special as you want it to be."I know Evie is trying to help but it can be invasive at times. But since she's gone out of her way. I will try to keep an open mind. If she thinks he's a nice guy, I'm sure he is."Thanks. I don't want to rush into anything. When can I meet Dante?""Today. Maybe we could have dinner with him. And I have a confession to make. I am no longer a strong independent woman like I claimed. Benjamin asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. Maybe we have been in love this whole time. But at least he asked me in the end."My jaw drops and I hug her. I've been hoping this would happen for the longest time."Congrats Evie! That's amazing news. I've been waiting to hear you tell me that for so long. Can we have a double date with Dante and Benjamin tonight?"Evie claps her hands and hugs me again. The idea of going on our first college double date has her turning into a girly squealing mess.Evie arranges the whole date. Dante is Benjamin's new roommate. They live adjacent to us on the campus and Dante drives us. I have the honor of sitting next to him in his car. Dante is half Italian by the looks of it."Hi, Dante. It's nice to meet you. So tell me about yourself.""Well, I'm in a band. We're playing this coming weekend if you'd like to come. Our back is the Black Sparrows. It's not a fancy name. Our lead guitarist Jeff Goldstein was drunk when he came up with the name. We didn't dare challenge him on the matter. I'm a photography major. I'm hoping to take senior pictures, wedding photos, and such when I'm done here. If that doesn't work out I will change my major to music. I'm in a band so at least I have that going for me. How about you?"I hate it when people ask about me. I never know what to say. I'm not that interesting."Well, I'm friends with Evie. I love drawing. I'm an amateur artist. I can show you my drawings on I*******m. And sure I would love to go to your Black Sparrow's concert. Sorry if I'm a little awkward. I have not been on a date since my ex boyfriend dumped me."Dante pulls into the pizza joint and looks at me before he gets out."It's alright. Cora told me about Spencer. I just broke up with my girlfriend of three years, Tammy. I understand what you're going through. We don't have to jump the gun just yet. Let's just see how it goes tonight. No rush on my end."We spend the evening talking about Black Sparrows and the origins of his band. And all the while I'm thinking maybe I could move on from Spencer and forget that I ever had a little crush on my college professor.The double date ends with Dante kissing my cheek and giving me his phone number. I agree to go on another date with him and he'll take me to his Black Sparrow's concert. He plays the drums. He'll remind me of my little brother, Corbin back home. Growing up Corbin always played the drums in the afternoon. He died of cancer when he was twelve. I sure miss him.Evie leads us back to our dorm room. My phone buzzes. I ignore it."Well, what did you think of the date? Did you enjoy it or was it plain?"Truth be told it was nice. Dante's interesting enough as far as male prospects go and he did spend the majority of the night staring at my chest every other glance. Which is more than Spencer ever gave me."I enjoyed it. I like him. You're right. I need to get a boyfriend. Maybe Dante's the right guy for me. Come to think of it I think Dante's in my world history class with Professor Oakley. I should try sitting next to him on Monday."Evie agrees and starts getting ready for bed. Her rituals
Date night is here! Evie is excited to get down and dirty with Benjamin in the aftermath of our double date. Me on the other hand, I have no plans to fuck Dante. That would be too soon and I want losing my v-card to mean something. Or at least a little something. If I am to sleep with Dante I want to get to know him first or even fall for him a little before hand. I'm not asking too much. It took me two months to fall for Spencer, I am sure I could repeat the process if need be.I spent the entire world history class period avoiding eye contact with Professor Oakley. I sat by Dante who doodled guitars all over his notes. At least we have drawing in common. It was a nice discovery prior to our date night. It allowed me to have enough time to sketch a large guitar for Dante.I pull the guitar drawing out of my sketch book and roll it up for Dante. I slip it into my purse. Evie is ready for me to become a woman. I wear a nice tightly fitting black dress and don't feel like myself one bit
Professor Oakley drives a black Silverado. He doesn't strike me as the type to drive a truck. But I hardly know anything about him.I sit still in the car and listen to the quiet jazz music playing softly in the background. My heart's a mess but it shouldn't be. Students are not supposed to be attracted to their professors. He's made so many passes at me, it's hard not to remember them all by name.Professor Oakley wasn't planning on having me ride in his car tonight. We didn't know we would run into each other. It was a meeting by chance. I'm not sure where Professor Oakley is planning on taking me, it either needs to be far away or we need to go to his house.The idea of going to Professor Oakley's house and being alone with him makes me want to panic. The way I feel right now is how I used to feel when I dated Spencer. In a word, Giddy. My phone buzzed earlier and I still haven't checked it. I check it now in the silence of the car. It's Spencer checking in on me to see how colleg
Did last night really happen? It's getting hard to distinguish fact from fiction. It's all a blur now. I wake up early and find an impatient Evie waiting for me at the end of my bed."What the hell happened last night? Where did you go? How did you get back here?" Evie taps her fingers on my desk with her bright nail polish.Now what am I supposed to do? I did text Dante that I wasn't feeling well. I could just roll with that story and be done with it."I got sick. I think some one spiked my drink and I got a ride home with a girl from my English class. It's fine. I text Dante. I feel bad about it. But my stomach was fire and you and Benjamin were enjoying each other's faces too much. I didn't want to bother you."I'm not a habitual liar or a pathological one, but lying to Evie is getting easier. I don't want to make a habit of lying to her, but until I know how I feel about Blake and if it's worth it my lips need to remain shut. He and I have an understanding about that.This is a ne
Professor Oakley has me grinning from ear to ear. If I'm not careful Evie will catch on. I never thought a college professor would notice the likes of me. But he has and now what do I do? Maybe if we agree to only see each other a few times a month then it would be easier to keep it a secret. Our texts to each other tell another story. We flirt a lot, and he wants to push it further.He wants me to go to his house this weekend around the same time as my next forced double date with Dante. Ugh. Dante still wants that study coffee date. I don't think Blake would appreciate me partnering up with another man who also has an attraction toward me. But I do need to study and his tests aren't exactly the easiest to master.So I guess I'm just going to have to partner up with Dante anyway and study. Dante isn't exactly the sexiest man on this campus. Not sure how to keep Evie out of my romance life. She's so nosy and at some point I'm sure she'll brownnose this out of me. Evie wants to be a jo
I bring my sketch book to my date. Dante doesn't have anything fancy planned. But still hanging out with him is better than being broken by Spencer or having my heart crushed by a tall blonde woman waltzing into my professor's office. I shouldn't even care who my teacher fraternizes with and yet I do."Is something wrong? You seem distracted?" Dante asks as he holds a pair of drum sticks in his hands and begins striking the table loudly. His drumming annoys the coffee shop staff enough they come over and tell him to put them away or he will need to leave."I am distracted. That darn history test. I won't pass. And I'm annoyed with Professor Oakley."Fuck that last part was not supposed to slip. My mouth has run away with me again."What did he do? Make us study? Maybe college isn't your thing."Maybe Dante is to preoccupied with his drumming to notice. I almost want to talk about history so I can be mad at Blake. We aren't dating, but why did he rub me in places no one else has. Am I
"Oh my God, Cora. Oh my God. Why didn't you tell me?" Evie says as she slurps her water loudly while returning from her run. I hate it when she exercises. My best friend smells like a rancid goat when she gets back from her morning runs. I don't understand why people run, it hurts my knees and makes my ankles ache."What are you talking about?" I really hope this isn't about Dante I'm not in the mood."Benjamin told me that you drew another sketch for Dante. And that Dante put it up on his wall. At this rate you both will be dating and your v-card issue will be solved."It's not Evie's fault that she doesn't know I find Dante unattractive. It's not her fault that I don't want to actually date him. I just keep him around just in case things with Professor Oakley don't work out. They probably won't because of that blonde woman, his Helen of Troy, will claim his heart."Yeah, it's great we are hanging out." That much is true. I do appreciate Dante as a friend, but I never plan to date h
Professor Oakley rescheduled the test. I skip anyway. I can't study after being called Stacey. I can't sit next to Dante and have him cheat off me, cause he thinks I know all the answers.I don't eat. I don't drink. How do I breathe again? Even that feels like a chore these days. It's time I do the only sensible thing there is left to do, I pack up my shit and prepare to leave my dorm room. Hopefully undetected by Evie. I need to go home for a few days and skipping classes for the rest of the week is worth it if it gets me away from him... Professor Blake Oakley.Evie comes into the room with the same flavor of coffee she drinks every fall. Pumpkin spice something from Biggby or Star Bucks."What are you doing? It's almost midterms. You can't just bail on me. Why is your suitcase packed? Did you fight with Dante? I can have Ben talk to him if you'd like. There are no guarantees of course that it will help. Here let me text, Ben."She gets out her large pink phone case and sets it in h