Page 21 of Overeager
6
Noah
The lecture had been …
Well, honestly, Noah had no idea how the lecture had been. All his concentration had been spent keeping his wayward pheromones in check.
Because there had been Eli—hisEli—right in front of him, and Noah had wanted nothing more than to run up to that teaching podium, shove his head in the crook of Eli’s neck, and scent mark him like nobody’s fucking business.
But that would have been uncool to the millionth degree—for more than one reason—so Noah had been forced to just sit there, watching Eli but not being able to touch or scent or speak to him, and it had made something primal in Noah … frustrated, to say the least.
Chase had cast him more than a few concerned glances, but Noah had only shaken his head at his friend, forcing a smile to let him know it wasn’t anything dire. Noah would definitely have to rely on Chase’s notes later because he hadn’t exactly been soaking in all the info Eli had given them.
Eli. Professor Miller.
Noah knew Eli had seen him. He’d watched the blatant shock appear on Eli’s face, had made brief but electric eye contact with those warm brown eyes before Eli had recovered his composure and started looking everywhere elsebutNoah.
But now the other students were gone—fucking finally—and it was just them. Noah and Eli.
It would have been perfect, if not for the completely panicked look on Eli’s face, the one that had appeared the second Noah had asked him for a moment together.
“Noah,” Eli squeaked, his voice coming out about an octave higher than usual. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, no more words coming out, and right when Noah was about to speak, he finally whisper-yelled (even though no one else was in there, and the lecture hall door was closed), “You said you were a grad student!”
“Um …” Noah scratched at his jaw, taken aback. “No, I didn’t. I said I was taking business classes. And I am. It’s my major. Myundergradmajor.”
He gave Eli a reassuring smile, since the omega seemed to be freaking out. Or he thought he did, but Eli’s panic didn’t seem to be lessening, his tasty omega scent taking on a bitter, distressed note. “And you don’t, um, teach middle school, I take it.”
“Middle school?” Eli said it like it was the most preposterous thing he’d ever heard. “I would never. They’d eat me alive.” He stared at Noah for another long moment, then scrubbed at his face with his hands. “Oh my god, I slept with a fetus.”
Noah wrinkled his nose. Gross. And a little offensive. He wasn’t achild.But Eli was going through it—clearly—so Noah let it slide, pressing on through the awkwardness. “I should have known you were a total brainiac,” he said, pride welling up in him at the thought. “You have a PhD, don’t you?”
“I—what?” Eli took a moment out of his panic to frown at Noah, as if he was offended by the implication that he might not. “Yes, of course I do.”
“Awesome.”
Eli seemed to register the no doubt adoring look on Noah’s face, and even more of his panic receded, suspicion taking over the shell-shocked cast to his features. “Why aren’t you freaking out right now?” he asked warily.
Noah shrugged, unable to contain his grin. “I was starting to think I’d never hear from you. And I had no way to find you. But now you’re here.”
He was. And he looked so fucking good too. Even all dressed up for lecture, there was still something warm and approachable about Eli. He was probably a fucking fantastic teacher. Look at how well he’d taught the class, even with the shock of Noah’s presence. Calm under pressure for sure.
“I’m here as your professor,” Eli said slowly, like Noah might not have caught that bit, never mind that he’d already called him “Professor Miller.”
But Noah didn’t want to get into all that right now. Not when they’d just found each other again. He hiked his backpack up higher on his shoulder. “Why didn’t you use my number?” he asked, trying not to let the insecurity of the past few days come through in his voice. “You did get my note, right?”
“I—” Eli gaped at him. “You’re mystudent.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t know that at the time.” Noah leaned in, lowering his voice. “I missed you.”
Eli flushed at the admission, his eyes dropping to Noah’s lips. Finally, maybe they were getting somewhere. Noah stepped a little closer, not afraid to press his advantage. It wasn’t nearly as close as he wanted to be, but despite his selective deafness re: their student/teacher status, Noahwasaware Eli was majorlyfreaking out. He wasn’t going to jump the gun and add to that panic.
And, yeah, maybe Noah should have been freaking out, too, but he was just so fucking happy to see Eli. He’d been dealing with this steady, simmering despair at the thought that he’d let the best thing to happen to him in forever slip away, but now he knew he hadn’t.
Eli was right there, and that had to be like … fucking fate, right?
And now that Eliwasin front of him, Noah was surer than ever that the connection between them had been real. He hadn’t imagined it, hadn’t exaggerated it in his head. Sure, Eli might have been stressed as hell at the moment, but he wasn’t indifferent to Noah.Thatwould have been unbearable—indifference. But a case of nerves?
Noah could deal with that. Easy.
