8:00PM.
Archie stared at the clock on the classroom wall as he watched the seconds tick by, every movement of the longer hand moving in short, painful beats, marking each moment of his time wasted, yet he continued to pointlessly distract himself from his work by watching, waiting for the hand to create a perfect circle until-
8:01PM. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
The classroom was packed with computers lining along the sides of two of the room's walls, completely devoid of human interaction with the exception or Archie, who sat at the front of the room – the lecturer's desk, which sat before the start of a large window that took up half of the front wall, partly an architectural design, but mostly a convenience for those he helped to teach where sunlight wasn't a common occurrence to them.
He stayed behind to finish off some work that he had been tasked; Archie wasn't exactly new to the trade, but his employment as a junior tutor meant that he had to watch alongside one of the main lecturers who taught at the campus.
Back then, he was mistaken to be a student himself, and caught the attention of quite a few people as he walked through the corridors, but it seemed lately that people had just gotten used to his style – the bright hair and bright eyes; his way of talking and the style of his clothes, which usually consisted of a similarly bright shirt with a waistcoat, trousers and shoes to match. The 'big deal', one of the other part-timers noted during the early stages. But Archie thought little of it, more that it would make him stand out a little more in his work.
But of all the days – 'Michaela's birthday,' he thought – of all the days he had to be asked to stay behind and go through student coursework, the lecturer decided it had to be this one. Archie stared miserably at a pile of papers on the desk. It wasn't the fact that it was thin, or reasonably small, and could easily be dealt with – it was, simply, that it HAD been dealt with, and if he looked away he would be staring at the significantly bigger and thicker pile on his other side. He groaned every time he did, and leant back in his chair with a pathetic flail of his arms at either side, imitating some sort of sea-mammal stranded on the beach with no hope in sight unless it was thrown back.
He lay like that for a short while; staring up at the ceiling, he pondered how he ever got to be so lazy. Here was a chance for him to work his way up in the job he'd tried so hard for to begin with, and all he could think about was finding a way to get home – and with good reason, too, for he knew too well that Michaela would be upset with him even after he'd called her to let her know he wasn't coming home for the usual time. Her response showed great displeasure, and Archie sighed once more as he rattled his brain for ways to make it up to her.
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Then, from out of nowhere, there came a knocking. Archie bolted upright and looked towards the door at the back of the room – a girl stood there, a small smirk creeping across her face. 'Damnit, she must have thought I was asleep!' Archie pondered. He wasn't too shocked – in fact, he was actually quite pleased to see another human still in the building. But still, it perplexed him, for the girl at the door was in fact one of the students in the class he helped to teach. "You're here late, Erin."
"I was in the library," She replied. "But I was kind of hoping you or Mark would still be around."
Erin was roughly a few years younger than Archie, which meant that she had a more relaxed tone when the two of them spoke. Her face was slightly rounded, but she was very pretty, and her somewhat plump body complimented her equally so.
She was, however, one of the first whose eye Archie caught, though he hadn't realised it until a few months in; he noticed on a few occasions that she'd give him a quick glance, usually followed by a longer one if he noticed, her small mouth teasing a grin as he would quickly turn back to the rest of the class, trying to hide his embarrassment.
It was never just the two of them alone, however. Never was there an opportunity, nor a need for the two to be in each other's presence without the rest of the class and Mark, the main lecturer, being there also. Archie had to shift a little in his seat – he knew it would be dangerous if the young lady tried anything more than what, unfavourably, had worked before...but it also wasn't tactful to ask her to leave. He was looking to become a junior tutor, after all – it was only right that he help the students where he could.
"Well, you couldn't have timed it better I guess." Archie smiled politely. "I'll probably get more done this way than by staring at all of this coursework." Erin giggled, and Archie followed with a soft chuckle, feeling a little more comfortable as he rose from his chair. "Might as well come in, then – see what I can do."
"Yeah, that was the hope." She entered the classroom and closed the door behind her – her remark produced yet another smirk, and Archie continued to smile awkwardly. He wondered if the majority of her facial expressions consisted of smirking – that, and boredom whenever she was in class. He often wondered why she bothered to come in most days – she didn't normally seem the slightest bit interested in what Mark had to say when it came to the course.
Erin placed her bag onto one of the desk and turned, sitting against it with an innocent smile back to the unsure male, who remained in place until he shook himself free of the apparent hold she'd already started having on him. "S-So, uh, what do you need help with?"
"Well," she started. "Mark mentioned something about one of the methods to work out our cash flow forecasts, but he said...something, about Excel which I didn't understand a fucking word of." Her as-it-is attitude caught Archie by surprise a little, and whilst he maintained his overall composure he couldn't help but crack a small grin from the corner of his mouth. "So, yeah, I was just hoping one of you could show me the method again."
"Sure, that shouldn't be a problem." The male smiled at her as he moved back to the front desk, taking the mouse in hand as he cycled through some folders on the screen, before pulling up the study template they had been using earlier in the day. "Juuuust need to put it up on there, now." He glanced up as he said it – the projector hung securely from the ceiling and faced the left wall, which was the only section of the room that was vacant enough to allow projected images onto it. He walked back towards the door and raised his finger to a set of switches on the wall beside it.
Time seemed to slow down in that instant; as Archie's finger pressed against the cold plastic switch for the projector, his eyes glanced over the door and recognised that the small knob below the door handle had been switched to the 'locked' position. 'Did she do that?' He thought, and the soft whirring of the projector rang out.
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No sooner had Archie flipped the switch when he felt a presence close behind him – it took shape, as far as he could see, of an outstretched arm, whose hand quickly palmed the coupled light switches for the room, drowning them in darkness.
The young male stood still for a few moments, unsure whether moving would be safe, but the phantom arm withdrew from his side and he slowly turned back towards the front of the room. With only the dim lamp-light peeking in through the blinds from outside, Archie looked around quickly in panic. It didn't take him long to make out a shadowy presence to his right, but he had little time to think before the being made its way up to him. As they came face-to-face, he recognised Erin, and released a short exhalation of relief. "Why did you turn the light-" Her finger pressed against his mouth.
"Shhhh." She whispered softly, her body pressing against him.
Archie's body softly shivered – his mind was clear on the 'very small, very important point' that he was already in a relationship, but his body tried to betray him as he felt her against him; she wore a loose, black shirt, which could easily have been a man's styled into women's dress wear, and black skinny jeans and boots to match, but in the darkness, all Archie could focus on was the weighty force of her breasts as they pressed into his chest. They felt as big as they had looked, whenever he found he had glanced too long at her during one of the classes. Her thick hips pressed close against his, and were swaying slowly from left to right. "You come off as being so sweet, but you're just another prick, aren't you?" Her words were soft, and unflattering, but her movements never faltered. Archie grit his teeth behind his lips, casting a glare to her masked by the darkness.
