Page 11 of Baby for the Professor
Monica seemed contrite for what she had done. “Don’t mean to curb your enthusiasm. Just take my advice. Don’t expect too much from them. Give them extra-credit assignments if you don’t want to fail too many.”
I didn’t like what I heard but responded politely, “Thanks for the tip. I should get going.”
“Are we still going to meet on Saturday?” she asked before I turned to leave.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll see you at the tennis center at ten.”
“What about lunch afterward?”
I hesitated for a moment but nodded. “Sure.”
“Great. I would like to take you to the Italian restaurant on Wilshire. They have fantastic seafood lasagna, and the setting is so romantic,” she said coquettishly.
“Great. Can’t wait to try it,” I said and hurried away, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
Monica had been a good friend and I didn’t want any funny business between us. Even though she and John were no longer together, the possibility of dating her still felt weird. Besides, I didn’t feel any chemistry between us. Although I had a logical mind, I was a hopeless romantic deep down. I believed in love at first sight. Sure, you could learn to love someone, but it couldn’t be as thrilling as an instant attraction. It only happened to me once in my life so far. Five years ago. One night only, but I relished that even to this day. Over the years, I had met a few women I liked but had never felt that kind of attraction again.
On my way to the classroom in the econ building, which was quite a distance from the business department, I immersed myself in the evening breeze. The campus hadn't changed much, except perhaps a few buildings under construction. I recalled my student days and felt nostalgic. It had been such a long time ago, yet it felt like yesterday. When I was last walking on campus toward the same building, I was still a Ph.D. student and a teaching assistant for my professor, but now, I had become a professor.
I glanced around at the students gathering around me, speaking about their classes and professors and laughing. My eyes searched unintentionally among them for someone that had occupied my memory for all those years. Sabrina. The name popped into my mind easily. The girl I had a one-night-stand with. Was she still around? Had she finished her graduate study in English, and was she already teaching? Would I see her again?
That girl was like a fantom who haunted me for all those years. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. She was the reason I was still single and barely dated. How was it possible to forget her? She was perfect. Poetic. Passionate. Whimsical. Sometimes I wondered whether I had made her up, but the earring I’d kept in my wallet proved I hadn't conjured her up.
I had meant to look for Sabrina the day after we met but postponed it to help a professor proofread his to-be-published book. When I got to Sabrina's dorm two days later, she had already moved out.
I hated myself for that. I had never forgiven myself for not looking for her sooner.
Still, I waited for her to show up in my apartment, hoping she would miss our night together as much as I did. I even postponed moving out of my apartment a week later than planned. But no luck. Clearly, she didn't want anything more to do with me. Hell, she might have gotten back with her ex.
So, I let go and moved on. Or so I had hoped.
But now, back to LA, close to the location of our encounter, I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Suddenly my surroundings faded out, and I saw her shimmering eyes begging me seductively. “Come on in, Dr. Hot ‘n Healthy!” Her sultry voice rang in my head and my boner twitched. Shit.Get a grip on yourself.I chided silently as I reached my destination building.
Before I entered the lecture hall, I took a deep breath to push all my personal thoughts aside.
Chapter 7
Sabrina
"Sabrina, are you done with last month’s budget report?" Anna, my supervisor, asked.
"Oh, I haven't, but I’ll get to it in just a second.”
"Why can't you do it now? I'm waiting for it so I can do the budget analysis for tomorrow’s meeting."
Because I'm in the middle of ordering office supplies,I wanted to say but decided to save my breath because she would just tell me to put it off.
"Sure, I’ll do it now," I said and paused my task at hand.
“Okay. I’m leaving for the day, but it needs to be on my desk when I come in tomorrow morning.”
“Yes ma’am. I’ll have it done today.”
After Anna left, I opened the template for the budget report that she had shown me how to use. Damn it. I should remind Anna that I was an administrative assistant, not an accountant assistant and that generating financial reports wasn't even within my duties. But I reminded myself that these job duties would be useful when I applied for a better job in the future, and I swallowed back my complaints. Once I got my MBA, I could tell Anna to go to hell, but not yet.
Speaking of MBA, today would be the first day of my econ class. It would start at six, and I would take about thirty minutes to get to campus. I became anxious right away and could hardly focus on the damn report. It had been five years since I had graduated from college. I didn't go on for a graduate degree in English literature as planned because of the unexpected pregnancy. Instead, I stayed with what was intended to be a temporary job for five years. Needless to say, I was also living with my parents.
