Hi! :)
This is the first story I publish here, after being an avid, anonymous reader! Hope you like it!
All characters in this story are over 18.
Feel free to comment, like, rate and favorite. :)
*****
As I sat on the front row of the small lecture room, I prepare myself for a (rather long) lecture on organic chemistry. This week, our usual teacher couldn't teach the lesson, so she arranged to have an assistant step in for the week. Our teacher was one certain Spaniard woman, that went by the name Maya Gomez. We'd never heard of her, so no one in my class knew what to expect. Was she younger than our usual teacher, that was in her sixties? Was she nice? Did she only speak Spanish, or would she be teaching in English? All of us thirty-something students in the room were silently asking ourselves these questions as we awaited our lecturer's arrival.
Something draws me away from my thoughts. The lights go on, and artificial lighting is added to the sunlight that entered the windows. We hear the intimidating thuds of heels on the floor, and I think no one dared to look back at the door. At least I know I didn't.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow approach the desk at the front of the room. My eyes slowly creep up.
First, I see a pair of black heeled ankle boots. Then, come a pair of toned, thin legs, clad in a pair of blue jeans. At her thin waist, a black belt with studs helps secure a chic white blouse.
Finally, I look up at her face, and I study her face as she gets out her materials for the lesson. She has to be in her early thirties, no older than 34. She has the most beautiful olive skin I had ever seen, dark brown hair cut in a bob, and piercing dark eyes. Her ears were adorned with a few classy piercings, and she sported light make up.
Her smile lights up her face as she says, with a slight, very unnoticeable, Spanish accent, "Hello everyone, my name is Maya Gomez, and I'll be your teacher for the next couple of lessons. As you may know, I work closely with your teacher, Ms. Adams, and she has asked me to replace her for the three lessons we have this week, as she is feeling a bit sick."
The rest of the class starts whispering, as she wasn't supposed to teach more than today's lesson, and I dozed off a little. She clears her throat and continues.
"... From now on, I hope that I have your undivided attention, because we have a lot of exercises to go over in the next hour. Please ask away any questions you have. You can't let yourself stay behind in this course, there's a lot you need to learn, so our lesson will be moving quick! That being said, let's jump into exercise number 2 on your sheet."
The first problem seemed rather simple. Ms Gomez wrote the equations on the white board, and then must've solved the entire problem, but I wouldn't know. I was too busy admiring her. When I came back to planet earth and looked up, she was already solving the fourth problem, and soon enough the class was over.
I hear "That's it for today, bye!" in her magical accent. Is the lesson over already? Crap, my notebook page is not even half full - I haven't written much and remember less than half of that. As I'm finishing packing up my notebook and book, I feel a pair of eyes on me. The room is silent, all I can hear is my breathing (that all of the sudden seemed much louder and all over the place). Why am I nervous?
I glance around me, as the last group of friends exits the room. I look up to the desk in front of me. Ms Gomez is standing, looking down and tidying her stuff up. You could see a hint of cleavage through the top of her shirt, and my mouth waters.
She raises her eyes and meets mine. A smirk appears on her lips. My cheeks heat up - shit, I've been caught!
I'm suddenly very self-conscious of my nerdy appearance. I'm not thin, nor on the fat side for that matter, but I don't go to the gym, so I have amassed a thin layer of fat on my belly. I also don't have a spot-on posture, but I've learned to live with it, as it doesn't bring pain into my day-to-day life. It usually doesn't bother me that I don't have the 'perfect', model-like body, but in this moment, I am a bit ashamed. I adjust my glasses and give her a small, timid smile, hoping to avoid an awkward conversation. I need to pack my things and get out of here before this gets any worse.
Yet she doesn't seem to think the same way, and speaks before I even have the chance to stand up.
"So, did you find this lesson hard?" Ms Gomez asks.
"N-No, it was okay," I manage to softly reply, as I get up. The professor leans on her desk and comments, "I saw you didn't take a lot of notes and kept quiet. Is there anything else on your mind?"
How am I supposed to answer that? "Oh yes, I was daydreaming about you" seems to be the only thing on my mind, but it is the least acceptable answer. So instead, I choose to stammer a shy "No, Miss."
She smirks again. Is it that obvious that I'm lying?
"Well then." A small pause, then she glances back. "Do you have any questions about the calculations we did?"
"No, I-I'm fine, thank you though," I whisper. The room was becoming hotter and hotter by the second, and I don't know why. Gosh, I just hope I'm not blushing uncontrollably!
"Well, if you change your mind, you can always come and find me, either at my office or the lab. And you can always email me, of course."
I smile, "Thank you, Miss!"
"How are you enjoying your classes this year? ... I-I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name."
"I'm Eleanor, Miss. But everyone calls me Ellie. And I am enjoying my classes, thanks," I answer.
"Eleanor's a lovely name. And it suits you quite well," Ms Gomez replies, with a smile.
In a burst of boldness, I carry on, "Maya also fits you perfectly, Miss. It's a pretty name, like you."
She doesn't reply immediately, and tears well up in my eyes. The professor opens her mouth to answer, but hesitates, and I quickly jump in, realizing I've messed up. What have I done? I'll probably be kicked out of college, or have a lawsuit filed against me, why did I say that out loud? Can't I be normal for once? Oh god...
"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I-I'm sorry, I should just g-g-go, I'm sorry." I mumble. I am about to hyperventilate. I go to grab my bag and leave as quickly as I can, but as I turn around, I see everything move and shrink away from me. Great, just what I needed. A panic attack.
I lean on the wall and feel its coldness against my arm. I start to shiver and fall to my knees as tears fall down my cheeks. I hear the sound of heels on the classroom floor. Suddenly I feel a soft grip on my shoulder, and a pair of arms hugs me. A gentle hand goes up to my hair, and caresses my head, and a soft voice whispers "Shh, it's all okay... You're okay...". I feel myself being rocked, and slowly calm down.
When I finally take a deep breath, I smell apples, a feminine, discrete perfume, and a subtle hint of smoke. I look up to see Ms Gomez holding me, kneeling on the floor next to me. I sniffle and notice that her shirt is tear stained. I go to apologize but she places a finger on my lips. My skin tingles where she touches. She smiles shyly and says, "I was going to thank you for your compliment, silly girl. I just wanted to find the right words. Are you feeling better now?"
Still crying, I nod. She removes my glasses, wipes my tears with her hand and removes a couple of strands of my hair from my face.
Ms. Gomez grabs my chin between her thumb and index finger, and her hand softly strokes my cheek, and I feel myself coming back down to reality. What have I done?
"I'm sorry, I sh-shouldn't have said that... And you must think I'm a baby for breaking down for nothing." I apologize.
"Shh, no need to apologize sweetheart, you're okay." She murmurs, gets up and holds out a hand for me. I smile at the nickname, I could get used to that.
"Eleanor, do you wanna come with me to my office? I'd feel better if I talked a bit with you." My professor asks me in an assertive voice. It was more a statement than a question. I still try to get my way around it, but she has made up her mind that we'll be talking in her office about my meltdown (yay. - please note the sarcasm), so with her I go.
She picks up her bags, and motions me to do the same. We leave the classroom and exit the building, going to the office building, with me a few steps behind her. She checks a couple of times behind her shoulder to see if I'm still following her, and smiles when she sees I am.
When I realize, we are waiting for the small elevator to come down. An awkward silence fills the air. Once we're at the 4th floor, we turn left. Ms Gomez unlocks the door to her office and holds the door for me, as she gestures me to come through.
The small cubicle has bookshelves on two walls, a desk on the third wall, facing a window. Against the fourth wall, by the door, is a small couch. She motions me to sit on the couch, sets her things by the desk then comes to sit next to me, on the couch.
"So, Ellie- " she interrupts herself, "I'm sorry, do you mind me calling you Ellie?"
"No, Miss... It's fine." I reply. I like the way my nickname rolls off her tongue, with her lovely accent.
She smiles at my answer. "Well then, Ellie, do you want to go over the exercises we did in class? Considering you have a test coming up, I believe it'd be best for you to have something about how to solve these problems."
"If you don't mind, Miss, I'd appreciate it very much! But I don't want to impose, Miss..."
"You're fine, I wouldn't have invited you if it weren't okay."
I get out my pencil case, notebook and calculator and we start solving the exercises. At one moment, my tutor's hand rested on my shoulder, and I shuddered. By the time we ended the practise questions, almost two hours later, I was practically leaning up against my professor's body. The moment I realize this, I scoot away from her, and I can almost see a look of... sadness cross her eyes? She clears her throat and speaks.
"So, Ellie, I'm going to be quite straight-forward now. I'm a little worried about today. Has anything been bothering you? Has something been distracting you?"
"N-No, Miss. It's all been great, though some classes just require more work."
"No boyfriend issues? I know those can impact one's studies if things aren't going smoothly..."
"Nope, no boyfriend... or girlfriend for that matter. I'm single as a pringle since I was born!" I half-heartedly joke, trying to make the situation a bit less awkward. She hums at my answer, not fully believing me. "But, in all seriousness, you don't have to worry about me, Miss."
"Nonsense! I worry about you- I mean, all my students, especially if I see them struggling, in some way or another, and so does Miss Adams. But if you say everything's alright, I have to take your word for it. Just know that I'm always available if you need to talk, okay Ellie?"
