This story, like all my stories, is a work of fiction. All characters are age 18 or older. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person is unintentional and coincidental. As always, your comments are welcome.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I remember my reaction when I first read the email from the university president. "Dear faculty," the email said. "All courses for the remainder of the semester will be taught online."
"Great," I thought to myself. "How the hell am I going to figure out how to do this?" I was frustrated, irritated, and disappointed. I was a new professor. I completed my PhD right after undergrad, and this was my first semester teaching. I was in my mid-twenties, but technology was not exactly my forte.
I figured it would only mean more work for me with no upside. Little did I realize just how wrong I was.
As a literature professor at the state university, I teach students from all over the country. This semester, I have a big introduction to literature course filled mostly with freshmen. It's not my favorite class to teach, as a lot of kids take it just to satisfy a general university requirement and aren't particularly interested in the content. But, everyone in the department has to teach it at some point, and this happened to be my year.
It was the first Monday back to class after spring break. Between the fact that the students didn't want spring break to be over and the reality of adjusting to online classes, no one seemed particularly excited to be in class that Monday afternoon.
I waited until the scheduled 4:00 start time and began my lecture.
"Okay everyone," I said to the students whose faces appeared in small boxes on my computer screen. "Welcome back. I hope everyone is doing well during this challenging time. As always, if you have any individual concerns, feel free to reach out to me, and we can set up some time to talk."
The students stared back at me blankly. "This is going to be fun," I thought.
"I'm sure you all read the assigned novel while sipping Mai Tais on the beach during spring break," I continued. That got a few chuckles from the class.
"Open to page twelve, and let's get started."
I worked my way through my lecture, with students interjecting here and there to ask or answer a question. It went more smoothly than I expected, but it was pretty apparent that my students just wanted class to be over. I couldn't blame them. A late afternoon class on a Monday was difficult enough to begin with. Under these remote learning circumstances, forget it.
I decided to call it a day at 4:50. "Thanks everyone," I said. "See you all on Wednesday."
One by one, the students left the virtual lecture. I turned off my webcam and left my home office. I went outside to get my mail, threw most of it away, and tidied up my kitchen.
I made myself a much-needed gin and tonic after what was a mediocre first day of classes. I took a sip, swallowed, and felt the gin warm my stomach as the liquid settled.
I took my drink and went back to my office to start preparing for Wednesday's class. When I got back, I realized I had never officially ended the lecture. Frankly, I couldn't remember how to do it. It was probably buried somewhere in the fifty pages of instructions the university sent us.
I began to poke around the screen to figure out how to close it when I saw there was one student who hadn't left the lecture. "Must not have been paying attention," I figured. "Probably was checked out and didn't realize I ended the lecture early."
I looked closer and read the name at the bottom of the screen. "Jenny Williams," it read. I tried to match the name with a face from memory. If I recalled correctly, she was a small, thin freshman girl with light skin and blonde hair. She was a member of the track team and always wore athletic clothes when we had in-person classes.
The video on the screen showed only an empty room. "Must've gone for a run or something," I thought. That's about all you can do outside these days anyway.
I took another sip of my drink and gathered my notes for the next class, completely forgetting to close the lecture once again. I pulled up a new document and started outlining my presentation.
All of a sudden, I heard the sound of a door slamming shut come through my speakers.
"What the hell was that?" I thought.
I looked at the open programs on my computer screen-a slideshow, my outline document, and the lecture. Concluding it had to be the virtual lecture, I switched back to it.
Jenny had reappeared, and the door to her room was now shut. I figured that was the sound I had heard.
True to form, Jenny was in workout clothes, but she had on a little less than what she would wear to class. She had on grey yoga pants and a bright green sports bra, but she either decided to go without a shirt for her run today or had already taken it off upon returning home. Like usual, her shoulder-length blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail.
Jenny moved around her room and finished her post-workout stretches. Clearly, she had no idea she was still "in class," so to speak. I wondered if she had left for her run as soon as class had started. I felt a little insulted that she didn't care about my class, but I decided not to jump to conclusions since I apparently didn't even notice when she left class. I decided to keep watching.
Jenny finished a bottle of water and bent down out of the video frame. I figured she was untying her shoes. When she lifted them up and moved them by her bedroom door, she confirmed my suspicion.
Standing a foot or two away from her computer, she turned toward her closet, leaving her back to the screen. She tugged at her yoga pants and pulled them down, past her ass, then past her thighs, and finally past her calves and out of the frame. I marveled at her toned butt that had undoubtedly benefited from her daily workouts.
Jenny wore a pair of skimpy light grey panties that did little to cover her bottom. It was hard to tell from a distance if it was a thong or if her panties simply ended up in her crack. Either way, I got a nearly unobstructed view of her cheeks - two tight, round globes that were much lighter in color than the rest of her skin. She must have spent some time on the beach during spring break.