Page 5 of Forbidden Professor

“Or not. Never mind. You don’t seem to really want anything to do with me… have a good day.”

Instead of waiting around to be rejected, I walked into the makeshift office. This was so embarrassing. Yet, he was still standing in the same spot. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

“Easton, are you okay?”

6

Easton

Easton

The room was spinning and just like that I remembered the lack of food I had eaten today. My blood sugar was crashing. How could I be so careless? Black spots took place in my vision and my heart was beating fast.

“You’re scaring me!” Isla said, running over to me as I eased myself to the ground. “What can I do?”

The energy was drained from my body and even lifting up my arm seemed like a daunting task. “Sugar. I need something to eat.” My breathing was slowing, and I was on the brink of passing out.

My head slumped but her shoes clacked against the floor as she raced back into the office and grabbed something out of her purse.

“This is all I have.” She said, unwrapping it and sticking it near my mouth. “Come on. Take a bite.”

As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, here I was, letting Isla feed me like a toddler. Why, universe, why?

Once the bar was gone, I waited a few minutes to let some energy come back into my body and my vision to clear up a bit before trying to get back on my feet. Isla stretched out her hand to help.

“I see you are still forgetting to eat lunch?” Isla asked, crossing her arms. “You should really break that habit. We aren’t getting any younger, you know.”

Okay, so maybe there was a couple of times where I got lightheaded in college. Final exams were stressful and I would get sucked into studying and hours would go by without so much as taking a sip, let alone to eat something.

“Thank you.” I said, rubbing my hand on the back of my neck. That could have been much worse if she wasn’t right there to help me.

“So, what about dinner? I did just possibly save your life, you know?” A smile took over her face and I reciprocated from muscle memory alone.

Now, this was a dilemma. Was it ethical for me to go to dinner? She was determining who project was going to get cut and I didn’t want it look like I was getting favoritism from anyone else because of our past.

Isla was always the one that got away. She broke up with me in college and I never quite recovered. Now, here she was, standing in my office building, all these years later. I’d be an idiot to say no. Plus, the last thing I needed to do was offend her right now.

“Sure. That would be wonderful.”

I tried to keep my facial expressions under wraps because she doesn’t need to know that I still loved her. That sometimes she still invaded my dreams. Tonight, it wasn’t about getting a second chance, but instead doing the right thing and catching up and then going our separate ways. That was all it could be. Ethically, we couldn’t rekindle anything especially while she was working for the same company as me.

“I’ll see you in the lobby and we can discuss where to go.”

I walked away from her makeshift office wishing that this could be under different circumstances but the universe had a funny way of bringing us together. Another time, maybe, things could be different.

Isla

Some things never changed. As I watched him walk away, my mind went back to all those late nights in college where we would order in take-out and study into the wee hours of the morning. Even then, I had to remind him to eat. He knew it was dangerous, but when he was focused, his mind didn’t think about anything else.

We met because I needed help with my Biology class and they assigned Easton to be my tutor. Of course, I didn’t expect him to be so cute and intelligent. At first it was strictly tutoring, but after a couple of sessions, we started talking about stuff other than classes, and then I passed my final exam. He asked me out to celebrate and then we stayed together for over a year until he was set to graduate. That was when everything changed.

It left me wondering what to do. Easton was an amazing guy and I could see a future with him, but we had our whole life ahead of us. The possibility that he would turn down a good job opportunity to stay close to me had me rethinking our relationship. As much as I loved him, he shouldn’t give up his dream for me. So, I broke up with him and we never talked again.

I wanted to call him, but didn’t. He deserved to go out into the world and do everything he had dreamed of without taking me into consideration. Easton was a smart man, and he was going to cure something one day. Who was I to stand in his way?

7

Easton

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