Professor Donne was stuffing papers in his briefcase, getting ready to leave, when someone rapped on the jamb of the open office door.
"Got a moment?"
He latched the briefcase and looked up. She was an attractive coed of medium height, but her height was the only "medium" thing about her. She was wearing a pair of white Daisy Duke cut-offs and a pink tank-top with spaghetti straps that clung to her well-toned mid-section and firm breasts like saran wrap. From the front, her broad shoulders and narrow hips gave her an athletic, almost boyish appearance that was belied when she turned by the jut of her full breasts and round bottom. Her blond hair hung straight to her shoulders and was cut in bangs across her forehead over wide-set green eyes that regarded him coolly while a hint of a smile played over her generous mouth. She didn't wear much makeup, just a hint of eyeliner and some lip gloss, but she didn't need it. She looked vaguely familiar to him, but he was fairly certain she wasn't in any of his classes. He would have remembered.
"I'm sorry, are you one of mine?" he asked, settling back into his chair.
"One of yours?"
"My students. I'm Jim Donne. My office mate, Professor Owens, has already gone for the day."
"No, I'm not, but I did come to see you, Professor Donne. I hope I'm not too late." She came over to stand beside his desk. Jim tried not to stare at the outline of a nipple ring in her left breast.
"Not at all," he shook her hand. Her grip was warm and dry and lingered maybe a second longer than normal.
"I'm Kathy Bonney. It's about this paper." She set her backpack on his desk and took out the essay.
"The Ambilivance of Othello. Yes, I remember this, but it's not yours."
"Dwayne's my boyfriend," she explained. "Don't you think that grade is a bit harsh? It's a well-researched paper. I can't see there's anything wrong with the writing. I just don't understand."
"Kathy, I'm sorry, but don't you think it would be more appropriate for me to discuss this with Dwayne?"
"He had football practice. Anyway, we, ah, worked on it together. Please."
Jim sighed. "Make yourself comfortable," he said, gesturing to the chair in front of the desk. It was a straight-backed chair with a hard wooden seat so as not to encourage students to linger during office hours. She perched erect on the edge of the seat, her brow furrowed, and crossed her arms which threw flawless breasts into prominence.
"When I said that paper was not yours, I meant it was neither yours nor Dwayne Studemeyer's. That paper was written in 1998 by a graduate student named Michael Eiger. The original title was "Othello's Indecision," and it's been floating around on the web since then as a popular download. Since your boyfriend submitted it as own work, he could be brought before the Dean and expelled for plagiarism. And you acknowledged being involved as well. I'm really doing you both a favor by just giving him an F."
Jim spoke matter-of-factly, but he wasn't beyond taking some pleasure in making her squirm a little and--who knew--more than once this sort of thing had led to a mutually beneficial exchange of favors. If a beautiful girl walks into your office dressed--or rather half-undressed--like that, that would be the obvious implication.
She pushed out her lower lip in a pout that he would have loved to sink his teeth into. "You don't understand. With an F, Dwayne won't be eligible to play. He may as well be expelled." She stifled a sob and a couple tears traced down her cheeks. It was, to give her credit, better than average acting.
Jim came around to perch on the front of the desk. He offered her a tissue. "Perhaps we could work something out. A makeup."
"It's really all my fault, Professor Donne, please don't make him suffer for it." She fixed those big moist green eyes on him. It was like an galvanic shock being delivered directly to his scrotum. "Dwayne's never going to learn Shakespeare. I told him I'd help him out, and I intended to, but I just ran out of time."
"What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
"Lady MacBeth had it easy," she snorted.
"So you do know some Shakespeare?"
She shrugged. "A little bit. I had drama in high school. We never staged the Scottish play, but I read it on my own. I was a bit of a Goth back then. Witches, you know." She waved her hands in the air over an imaginary cauldron. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through fog and filthy air."
"You surprise me."
"Don't judge me on my looks, Professor."
"It's rather hard not to. Please call me Jim."
"You know, I've been at this school for four years." There was an edge to her voice. "Teachers that don't know me, they think I'm not too bright, or I just don't care. Really, they don't get it. People spend their teens and twenties trying so hard to grow up, and then, when they hit thirty, they suddenly realize that the happiest years of their lives are already behind them. And what was the hurry? Then they spend the rest of their lives trying to recapture something they just carelessly threw away."
He nodded. "We spend the first part of our lives regretting the things we've done wrong. We spend the last half regretting the things we never took the chance to do. We always seem to be looking back or looking forward. It's not easy to live in the moment."
"Yeah," she said. "Well, I enjoy being me."
"Kathy, I don't make the curriculum, and I'm not unaware of the folly and futility of trying to teach Shakespeare to football players. But if I can manage to interest at least one student, I'll take what I can get. If you will write me a paper, I'll pass Dwayne."
"Really? Thank you so much." She smiled at him and it was like someone had turned on the light in the room. "I won't disappoint you." She stood up to go.
"And Kathy?"
She turned in the doorway.
"I'm not doing this because you're a remarkably attractive girl, though you certainly are. I really would like to encourage your love of literature."
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, my shoe lace is coming undone," she said, and turning her back, she bent down--way down--to tie it. Her shorts hiked up over that sculpted ass and the crotch pulled tight to reveal the line of a pair of pink panties underneath.
She took her time retying her shoes, then she turned to face him again. "Don't pretend you don't want it, Professor. If I'd really wanted to seduce you, your pants would be down around your ankles by now." She pinned him to his seat with a look. A smile played on her lips, but those big unblinking eyes weren't smiling. There was a glint of something like anger there. "But like I said, what's the hurry?"
On Friday evening, Jim was out running at dusk when a low-slung red hatchback with IROC lettered on the side purred up alongside, pacing him along the dusty road on the edge of town. The passenger window rolled down and he saw her sitting at the wheel.
"Hey, Professor, I thought I recognized you. Can I give you a lift?"
"I'm running."
"Well, I can see that. Come on, I won't bite."
He slowed a walk, reluctantly. "I read your paper, Kathy, and I found it to be quite adequate. In fact, it was surprisingly good. I've given Dwayne credit for a 'B' in the course. If you'd like to stop by my office some time, I'd be glad to go over it with you."
"Thanks, but it wasn't that. I just thought you might like to go for a spin, that's all." She favored him with another one of those five hundred watt grins. "Living in the moment?"
He couldn't help but grin back, even though he didn't like having his run interrupted. But Carmen was out of town and Katie was spending the night at a friend's so he didn't have any pressing need to get home. "I'm all sweaty."
"O.K. by me." She reached across and unlatched the passenger door. As he settled into the seat she accelerated smoothly down the road, the throaty rumble of the exhaust swirling with the dust in their wake.
"You know, sometimes it's just nice to talk with an older guy. Boys my age only have one thing on their mind."
"And what makes you think older guys like me don't?"
She laughed. "Oh, I know you do. I'm just saying that's not the only thing on your mind."
Jim trailed his arm out the window enjoying the cool evening breeze. While she concentrated on the road, he let his eyes roam over her. In contrast to the other day, she was dressed in conservatively in a loose embroidered cotton blouse and matching skirt that ended at mid calf, open-toe sandals. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, accentuating the angles of her face. She wore some blush, mascara and coral lipstick. The makeup put a few years on her and gave her an air of maturity. Before, she could have passed for eighteen. Now she looked more like thirty.
"Nice car."
"It's my brother's, actually. I've got it on a sort of permanent loan."
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
She laughed. "Well, we could talk about cheerleading, or lit-ter-a-chur. . . You're not really into small talk, are you?""
"I'm not particularly good at it."