I'm a 45 year old divorced college professor. I'm tenured, and have been teaching for nearly forever. I teach history. It's a subject that most of my students take because they must. They consider it the lesser of evils. We once had a history major, but it got canceled when the president realized that we were only graduating two or three people each year. That's also when they got rid of the other full time history professor.
I actually enjoy my job. It's boring at times, but I can more or less do what I want. I don't have to spend a lot of energy preparing for class. History doesn't change very much and neither do the interpretations that we bring to the lower level courses. I try to stay well read and interested, but it's entirely for my own benefit. Mostly my days are quite routine and predictable.
My wife left me almost ten years ago. I foolishly had an affair with a woman I met at a conference. I deceived myself into believing we would live happily ever after. Alas, it turned out that she was married too. It was really rather pathetic.
When I'm not teaching or reading in the library, I enjoy concerts, gardening, photography, and hiking. I try to keep myself in good shape with regular work outs. I use the college's gym, much to the amusement of my students. They kid me about my gut or my legs but the truth is that I'm in better shape than many of them.
This particular semester started more or less like any other. I greeted the students in my usual, routine way, and handed out all the usual, routine paperwork. Everything unfolded exactly as it has before. I've taught my classes so many times that I could probably do it in my sleep.
It was about four weeks into the semester when I got an email message from one of my freshman American History students named Alice. "I could use a little help with the reading assignment," she wrote. "I have some questions about it." I often get email from students so there was nothing particularly odd about Alice's message. I wondered what kind of questions she had. I replied with an invitation to stop by my office later that afternoon.
Alice arrived right on schedule. She was dressed very smartly, but conservatively. She had on a light blouse with dark pants and a dark jacket. The color of her jacket contrasted strikingly with her long, blond hair. I indicated a chair, and as she sat down she took out her glasses and her notes.
Alice's work was steady, but not exceptional. She wasn't sure about some of the questions at the end of the reading, but she seemed to understand my explanations well enough. "I'm glad you came by," I said and she seemed pleased. "It's good to try and get these issues cleared up before class. It will make the discussion in class easier to follow and you'll get more out of it."
She smiled. "I just wanted to come by and see your office anyway. I figured you'd have a very nice office."
I laughed. "Well," I said with a wave of my arm. "What do you think?"
"I like your pictures," she said getting up to take a closer look at them. "Did you take them?"
"Yes, I did," I replied, feeling a bit of pride coming into my voice.
We ended up spending a good fifteen minutes talking about photography. It turned out that she had done a little modeling and that she knew something about the technical side of that business too.
"You'd make a lovely model," I told her. She smiled warmly.
The next day, I received an email message from Alice thanking me for helping her and for spending time showing her my pictures. I replied saying that no thanks were necessary and that she should feel free to stop by my office any time.
A couple of days later, while I was in the gym working out, I saw Alice running on one of the treadmills. She waved when she saw me and I returned her gesture before heading over to the weight machines. I was a little surprised to see her there since I had never seen her working out before. Yet people are always coming and going in the gym. There was nothing particularly unusual about that.
As I worked out, I found myself stealing glances her way. She was extremely sexy in her skin tight leotard. She had a thin, lithe body with pert, teenage breasts. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail to expose well toned shoulders and arms. She had the treadmill up fairly high and was moving along at a rather good clip. I could see the sweat glistening on her brow. I could also see her erect nipples clearly outlined against the fabric of her leotard. I hadn't realized what a great body she had, and I found myself wondering what she looked like without that leotard.
Later in class, I lectured on the political situation in the American colonies. I tried to relate the historic events to the current activities around the world. The discussion was fairly lively and I felt pleased. I also felt distracted by Alice in the back row. She didn't say anything but for some reason the image of her tight leotard stretched over her hard nipples kept coming to my mind. That night, at home in my bed, I masturbated to that image.
The next day I found a message from Alice waiting for me in my electronic mailbox. "I noticed you watching me in the gym yesterday," was all it said.
"Damn," I thought. I composed a careful reply. I didn't want to deny what was obviously true, but I also didn't want to get myself into trouble. I knew of faculty members who routinely preyed on their students for sexual favors, and that practice disgusted me. Besides, tenure or no, sexual harassment was taken very seriously by the college administration.
"You are a very striking woman," I wrote after much deliberation, "and I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't notice you. However, I don't want you to think that I was trying to act inappropriately. I'm sorry if you felt uncomfortable, and I hope you will not feel uncomfortable with me in the future."
Around noon that day, I got a reply from her that said, "I wasn't uncomfortable at all. Actually, I liked it. I noticed you too. You're a sexy man."
Was she coming on to me there? After a a minute of reflection, I dragged her message to the trash can and forgot about it. But that night I thought again about her firm breasts bouncing suggestively as she jogged on the treadmill machine.
The next day Alice wasn't in class. That struck me as a bit unusual. Hadn't she always been there before? I couldn't remember. I wondered what she might have been doing. Late that afternoon I got an email message from her. "I'm sorry I wasn't in class," she said. "I don't like missing your classes, but something came up. Can I stop by your office and find out what I missed?" I felt my hands shaking slightly as I composed my reply. "Calm down," I told myself.
When she came to my office I gave her the reading assignment and a copy of my notes. I was very professional. "Thanks," she said as she packed the material into her notebook. Then, just as she was about to leave she added, "I want you to know, by the way, that I wasn't uncomfortable the other day in the gym."
"I'm glad," I muttered with a nod.
She looked at me for a long moment. "I like it when guys look at my body."
"You have a nice body," I said without thinking.
She smiled. "Maybe I'll see you in the gym again sometime!"
"Maybe." I said.
The next day I could hardly think straight. Part of me hoped that I would see her again in the gym. Part of me was just plain scared shitless by the idea. By the time I actually went for my workout, I felt as nervous as a teenager on his first date.
When I didn't see her right away, I felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. Then I saw her. She was on one of the bench press machines on the other side of the room. She was wearing a different leotard; a black leotard that contrasted in an intensely sexy way with her blond hair and fair skin. My palms broke into a sweat but I tried to be casual and pretend that I didn't really see her.
After she had done her sets on the bench press machine, she noticed me and waved. I smiled briefly in return, but my heart was pounding. Why was this woman having such a strong effect on me?
As I worked out I watched Alice now and then out of the corner of my eye. Her leotard seemed to hug her sleek body like a second skin. I could see every contour of her breasts, buttocks, and hips clearly outlined. Once Alice caught me looking at her. She winked and I smiled before I discretely turned my attention back to my work. Then I noticed that Alice seemed to be going out of her way to position herself in my view. Sometimes she worked on the machine next to mine and sometimes she worked on the machine across the room. In every case I could see her just by looking up in a very natural and inconspicuous way.
While I was working on the bicep machine, Alice decided to work on the bench press machine. She lay down on the bench and spread her legs slightly so that she could put her feet on the floor. From my vantage point, I got a clear view of her legs and crotch. I fancied that I could even see the slit between her legs outlined by her tight leotard. I decided to do an extra set on the bicep machine and when I got up I caught another wink from Alice.
The next morning I found an email message in my mailbox from her.
"Did you like looking at me?" she asked. "Are you going to come and look at me again?"
"You were teasing me," I typed my reply. "And you are an exhibitionist! But yes, I will probably come and look at you again. Especially since you seem to enjoy it so much. I just need to be discrete."