Authors note:
My first submission, let me know what you think!
This is a work of fiction and Everyone in the story is over 18
More chapters to come ;)
***
"Do you need a baggie?"
Alex jumped, too focused on the massive shit his dog was taking to see the woman approach. Young with pretty eyes hidden behind petit glasses, she was holding out a poop bag to him. Sniffing beside her was a medium sized mutt.
"Uh, yeah thanks." He responded and took the bag.
As his dog finished up, he leaned over to clean up the mess.
"Your dog is a pit mix, right? He's handsome like his owner."
Alex looked up and to find the woman surprised by her own words and blushing heavily. He decided to save her with a response.
"Yeah, they get a bad rep but she's is an absolute sweetheart. Her name is Leela."
Thankfully, the woman recovered. "Leela? That's a pretty name. I'm sure she's very sweet."
The girl leaned over, her loose shirt exposing her bra, and let Leela sniff her hand.
"May I?" she asked.
"Of course." Alex said, quickly focusing his eyes on Leela.
The woman pet Leela for a few seconds before her own dog approached. She stood back up as the dogs sniffed each other.
"She seems to socialize well too." The woman said smiling.
"Yup, she always wants to make new friends. What breed is yours?" he wondered.
"I think he's got some Border Collie and Blue Heeler in him, but I never did a DNA test after adopting him. His name is Darcy."
Alex remembered that to be the name of the male protagonist in
Pride and Prejudice
but he'd never read the book, only having been forced to watch the movie by his sister.
"He seems to get along well with my Leela. I'm Alex, by the way." He started extending his hand before realizing he was still holding the now full poop bag.
The woman laughed, "I'm Dani, it's nice to meet you but we can shake hands another time."
Alex chuckled, "That's fair, thanks for the baggie."
"No problem, do you live in these apartments?"
"I just moved in. I was happy to see they had a dog park."
"It's wonderful isn't it? Makes life so much easier for Darcy and I. Isn't that right?" she said leaning down to pet her dog.
Alex had to force his eyes away from her exposed breasts. Maybe he'd ask her out another day, but he had to go home and prepare for tomorrow.
"It really is, well I better be off. Nice to meet you and Darcy."
"You too!" Dani said smiling.
And with that they went their separate ways.
***
Dani was running late for her last class, but it was only the first day of spring semester, so she didn't rush too much. She was sure others would have trouble finding the obscure technology building.
She opened the door and stopped walking. Class hadn't started yet but there were only around 30 people in the room, and most turned to look at her.
Fuck.
Dani was the only girl. She slumped in her seat and pulled out her laptop, attempting to hide behind the screen.
The professor walked in from the back of the room and cleared his throat.
"Sorry students, I'm still getting used to campus. I'm Mr. Taylor and I'll be teaching Computer Science 1401. Do not call me professor, as I am still in the process of getting my Master's degree."
Dani peeked over her computer screen.
Oh my god.
She recognized him from the dog park. It was Alex; the guy she gave a poop bag to, the guy who she barely had the nerve to approach, the guy she called handsome, the guy she hadn't stopped thinking about since,
the guy.
And he was her teacher.
"I'm sure you know the drill. Today we will just be going over the syllabus information. So you can put away your computers."
Crap.
Realizing she was the only person with a laptop out, Dani hesitantly followed his instruction. When his eyes met hers, they went wide for a split second before he looked away and cleared his throat again.
"I'm giving you all a copy of it now, but there is also one available on the class page. There is a clause about using your own coding work that you will have to sign and return to me on Wednesday."
Dani avoided his eyes for the rest of class, but listened to every word he said while fiddling with her pencil.
"That's all the time we have for today. Download those programs and be ready to start into coding on Wednesday. Thank you!"
Dani stood and collected her things quickly. She glanced at Alex...
Mr. Taylor
... one more time and found his eyes on hers. She turned and speed walked out of the classroom.
When she got back to her apartment complex, she looked around before getting out of her car and practically ran inside.
"What's with you?" her sister, Lauren, asked as Dani slammed the door behind her breathing heavily.
"Oh nothing," Dani responded, the sarcasm almost unnoticeable between her rapid breaths, "I just have the worst luck in the world."
Lauren looked up from her computer, "What happened?"
"You remember the dog guy? The one I openly called handsome? Well, he's my coding teacher."
Lauren laughed for a good few minutes before finally saying, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry."
Dani collapsed on the couch. "Me too, you're going to have to walk Darcy for the foreseeable future."
"Oh, c'mon. It's not that bad. If he looks like you say he does, then I'm sure he gets it all the time. Just be glad you scared him away before you said something worse." Lauren said, still smiling at her sister's expense.
"Why do I always end up in situations like this? I endlessly put my foot in my mouth." Dani lamented.
"True, at least it's not as bad as when you told Mrs. Baker how beautiful her daughter was." Lauren remarked, chuckling.
"It was a baby! How was I supposed to know it was a boy?"
"It was wearing a blue baseball onesie, Dani."
"You know I hate gender stereotypes, why can't a girl wear blue?"
Lauren rolled her eyes and asked, "Why don't you just drop the class if you're that embarrassed?"
"It's the
only
beginning coding class and I really want to try my hand at it. Do you know how much programmers make?"
"Okay then, suck it up and never compliment him again. Actually just avoid speaking in that class, who knows what you'll say?"