"What is she doing?"
I looked up from my Psychology notebook to see what my friend Alison was talking about. I followed her eyeline to look at our lecturer, Elena, climbing onto a chair with a rolled up poster in her hand.
"Dunno," I shrugged. "Probably another political poster, they made her take the last one down because it offended someone who actually liked Nigel Farage." After letting my gaze linger on Elena's hourglass figure for a second I looked back down and continued writing, thinking no more of it.
Suddenly, Elena's voice rang out through the classroom. "Can I have everyone's attention for a second?" I looked up, and glanced at the poster to find that it was not about politics OR attractive American actors. That made a change. It showed a middle-aged blonde with her face half-hidden behind a fluffy toy tiger, and lots of writing I could not make out.
Elena gestured to the poster. "This lady here is Dr. Diana Sarkissian. Has anyone here heard of her work?"
The reply was a definitive silence.
"Diana was my lecturer at university," she explained.
"She must be ancient," snorted an obnoxious guy near the back of the class.
"Kayden, that's enough," snapped Elena. "Diana and I are more or less the same age, anyway. I pursued my passion for psychology later than I'd have liked. I'm 55, as most of you know, so Diana must be approaching 60 now." Kayden wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Anyway, Diana has since resigned from lecturing and gone on to do her own thing, giving talks and shows around the country, and she's asked me to put up this poster and let all of you know that she'll be giving a... well, technically a lecture, but she's promised it will be very entertaining, about the psychology of fear and anxiety on the 5th of next month. All of the details are on this poster. I love Diana, I'd really recommend going if you're interested in psychology."
I squinted my eyes to look closer at the poster. "Tickets Β£10" jumped out at me from the page. I mean, I could afford it, but was it worth it?
"I wonder if Elena's going? That would make it worth it no matter what," I pondered out loud. Alison sniggered.
"You've got it bad for her, don't you?" she giggled.
"Well, she's hot," I reasoned, gesturing to the lecturer with her flowing black hair, emerald green eyes and voluptuous hips while Ali shook her head and pretended to make herself throw up.
"Elena? Aubrielle would like to know if you're going," she called out suddenly. I felt my face flush from porcelain to crimson.
Elena turned her head and walked over to our table, red wine coloured lips pursed in a slight wry smile. "Well, Aubrielle, if it gives you any incentive to go β or not to go for that matter β I can confirm that yes, I will be there."
I smiled without looking up from the table. "Thanks, Elena. I was just wondering... I'll buy a ticket as soon as I can."
Her hand rested on my shoulder, sending electric shocks through my body. "That's what I like to hear! Perhaps I'll see you there," she smiled, then walked back to the front of the room to continue her lecture.
True to my word, straight after class I copied the web address from the poster into my laptop and bought a ticket. By the time the night of the show rolled around two weeks later, I was starting to look forward to it not because of Elena, but because I'd researched Dr. Sarkissian and her work sounded fascinating. That didn't mean I didn't take Elena into consideration though. As I looked at myself in the mirror before I left, I admired how my dark auburn hair cascaded around my full breasts , and my midnight blue strapless dress accentuated every curve and contour of my body. I slipped on a pair of heels and smiled. "If I ever sleep with Elena, it'll be tonight," I thought, before mentally scolding myself for the idea. Of course she wouldn't be interested! She was a married woman, and my lecturer, for goodness' sake. But if I caught her eye, if she struggled to get me out of her mind for even one second tonight, I'd be the luckiest girl alive anyway.
I got a taxi there, gave my name to the skinny guy at the door whose lingering eyes told me my look had the desired effect, and walked into the auditorium. I glanced around the room, hoping to spot a thick wave of black hair hanging over the back of a seat, or hear a loud brash laugh that somehow never lost its femininity, any sign of Elena. I soon gave up and realised she wasn't there yet, and settled down into my seat to wait for the lecture/show/whatever this beautiful woman had talked me into coming to, to start.
Soon enough, Dr. Sarkissian took to the stage. She started talking, and I had to remind myself to breathe. Elena hadn't mentioned she was American, and it took me aback for a second. Her Southern belle accent was simply beautiful and as she stood in front of this small theatre in Scotland she had all the presence of every diva to ever have graced Wembley. Suddenly, she said something that struck me. She was scared. Terrified, in fact. "Tonight is about taking risks... if you take anything away from tonight, be it that I want every one of you to take a risk, do something that scares you!"
Elena crossed my mind. I imagined embracing her as she walked through the door, kissing her... but she never did. And as Diana continued talking, Elena slowly faded from mind. "I came here hoping to leave with the wrong psychology lecturer," I slowly realised somewhere in my spinning mind.
Then it was time to applaud Diana and leave for an intermission. I walked out to the wine bar and ordered a big glass of white wine. "Enjoying it so far?" a sweet Southern accent asked behind me. It couldn't be. I turned around and came face to face with Diana, who was even more beautiful up close. Her blue eyes sparkled, and she had a light dusting of freckles across her face. Her blonde hair was actually a mix of different shades of brown, copper and blonde, teased into an impossible curly style that on some level reminded me of Margaret Thatcher... that or Marilyn Monroe, but my first impressions and tastes never have been conventional.
"Are you okay?" I thanked what higher will inspired someone to invent make-up as I felt my face flush; I'd stared a moment too long.
"Yes β yes I'm fine," I stammered. "I just didn't expect to bump into you... you're brilliant, everything has been brilliant so far!"
Diana smiled, true happiness visible in her eyes. "I'm glad. I have to go, but thank you!"
And she was gone.
A man I recognised as one of Diana's team approached me with a slip of paper. "In the next half Dr. Sarkissian will be answering some questions. If you have anything to ask or say, write it here and it may be randomly picked. Nothing dumb, it just won't be read. Got it?"
I stared at him. "Got it," I said in a deadpan voice as I took the paper from his hand.
I don't know what possessed me to do what I did next. Maybe I didn't think it would actually get picked. Surely even if it did, they wouldn't actually read it. But it did get picked, and yep, they read it.
The MC picked a pink slip of paper, identical to every other, out of the box. There was no way of telling, but somehow I knew. Partly instinct, I think, but mainly the look on his face as he visibly tried to decide if to read it out or not.
He closed his eyes and cleared his throat, then read.
"Dr. Sarkissian. I'm so, so sorry about this but you told us to take risks and this is me, taking a risk and doing something I'd never have considered even earlier today. I want to tell you that you're one of the most attractive women I've ever seen. You leave me breathless. A." He gestured to the paper. "It's just.. just signed with an A."