Page 15 of After Class

"Are you . . ." a slow smile spread over her face. "Are youin loveCassandra?"

"No!" I said quickly. For some reason the question made me feel anxious. It wasn't about love. It was just about sex. Mutual pleasure. Fun. That was all I wanted from Adrian.

Right?

"You've met him before, but you might not remember," I snickered. "The guy from the bar, Adrian. We just really hit it off and have been . . . spending time together." I shrugged, just to show how cool and detached I really was.

"Ooo, yeah, I could totally tell he was your type," Maya said. "He has that weird, sexy librarian thing going on."

Oh girl, you have no idea.

"Well that's sweet, Cass, I'm proud of you," she smiled, extremely pleased with herself for finally getting the information she wanted. "Already getting back out there. You should bring him out with us sometime-"

"It's not really that serious," I said, stuttering in my rush to convince her that it really, seriously, wasn't that serious. "We're not dating really, it's more of a friends with benefits thing."

Maya paused, giving me a little frown. "Oh. Okay. That's different for you." She tried to mask her confusion with another smile. "I always took you for the long-haul commitment type. But I mean, taking a break from relationships after a break-up is good for you! And you still have to get dick somehow right?" I laughed along with her, and though I had managed to convince her, I felt a hell of a lot less convinced myself.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ihadn't realized just how difficult it would be to try to concentrate on actually learning in Adrian's class. I had hoped that after being so satisfied our last night together, it would tame some of the raging hormones that he seemed to illicit just by being near me. I could not have been more wrong. Waiting for him to walk into class was torturous. I felt almost like I was back on his bed, tied up and waiting for him to touch me. Feeling like that, of course, led to even more problems.

"Good morning, class. Hope you all had a good weekend. Let's jump right in with Robert Frost, hopefully you all had a chance to do the reading over the weekend. If not, you may have a bit of trouble this morning." Adrian sat his briefcase down on the desk and regarded the class with that sly, cruel smile all professors seemed to get before they did something they knew would make their students groan. "Get out a piece of paper, phones away for a few minutes." There came the expected moaning and shuffling of paper. I slowly took out my notebook and pencil. Robert Frost had been the one reading Ihadn'tgotten to the previous week.

"Make sure you write down the usual, your name and the date," Kahaln began to pace, as if he was thinking over what hewas about to ask only now. His eyes flickered over mine and I gave him a small, hopeful smile. It didn't seem he was going to have any pity. Strolling to the whiteboard, he picked up a marker and wrote across the board. "In no more than a paragraph, answer this question: What is the "sound of sense?" I'll give you ten minutes for this little exercise, plenty of time. Start now."

I stared at the paper in front of me blankly. What kind of English major was I that I had never read Frost? I tapped my pencil nervously and glanced up, only to see Adrian looking at me from over his glasses. He was seated at his desk, holding our textbook open on his lap, the lap I was certainly going to be over for not knowing this. He raised his eyebrows, and I mouthed silently, "Sorry."

I couldn't be absolutely certain, but it looked like he mouthed back the words "bad girl" at me. I cringed in my seat. Running out of time, I scribbled quickly on my paper,

The sound of sense is the sound of me declining to go over your knee next time.

I folded the paper before slipping it into the pile that was passed down around the room. I really did try to pay attention for the rest of the class, but Adrian kept doing little things with his mouth and hands that set me off on long daydreams about things that were not at all appropriate for a classroom. When class was finally over, I made to bolt for the door before he could discover my shameful answer.

"Miss Cassandra!" I stopped halfway up the stairs. Adrian was currently occupied with a small group of students, but he had paused in the middle of their discussion to call me. "If you would wait for just a few minutes I would like to discuss something with you."

I considered completely defying him and leaving anyway. I lingered on the steps, not coming down but not going any further up either. My face was burning at the thought of mystupid answer tucked in their amongst the others. What kind of student did that make me look like? Sure I was sleeping with him, but he was still my professor too. My grades depended on him.

When the other students cleared out, Adrian sat back down at his desk and looked up at me, dawdling sheepishly on the stairs. He crooked his finger. "Come here, Cassandra."

I really took my time getting down to him. "Yes, professor?" I was still a good six feet away from his desk. Plenty of space to run.

"Shall I grade your essay question now?" he said, already rifling through the stack of papers. "You seemed to be having a bit of trouble with it."

"No," I said quickly. "You should actually really wait. Until I'm gone. Far away. In another class."

He chuckled. "Do you think that will save your ass from me?"

Nope. Probably not.I smiled nervously, watching as he pulled out my folded piece of paper and laid it flat on the desk. It seemed like he stared at it a long time before he looked up at me. When he did, he was struggling to keep a serious face.

"Miss Cassandra," he said, mouth twitching. "I think you know this is not an acceptable answer."

My bottom twitched in anticipation. It still stung from Saturday, dammit! "I know, sir."

"Did you not have a chance to do the reading? I thought Robert Frost would be someone you would enjoy. That's why I chose him for this week. It had originally been Herman Melville."

"Oh. You did?" I was taken by surprise.

"Yes.Acquainted with the Nightis particularly beautiful, one of my favorites." For a brief moment, he looked sincerely disappointed.

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