Page 24 of Your Only Fan
What is going on?
“I wanted to talk to you about your paper. I read the first draft over the weekend,” I tell him and take it in my hand.
“O-okay,” he says. “Is it that bad?”
I look down at his title and smile.
“‘Green Wing and Commedia Dell’Arte: British Comedy and Stock Characters.’ It’s a great first draft. It’s ingenious actually.”
He cracks a smile at that, and it’s like the sun comes out of his eyes. His chest freezes for a moment and then puffs out as he exhales. I feel the impact of his breath on my skin. It gives me goosebumps.
“Really? Oh thank fu—Thank God. Sorry.”
I’m in shock. I can’t believe Ezra Dixon is being so… insecure. It’s another side of him I haven’t seen before, but maybe that’s my fault for not giving him more attention in class. Maybe Linc was right. Maybe I’ve been so obsessed with porn star Ezra Dixon that I haven’t paid attention to my student Ezra Anderson.
That is very unprofessional of me. I need to rectify that. Stat.
“It’s fine, Mr. Anderson. You can swear. We’re not in Catholic school.”
He cracks a smile at that.
“C-call me Ezra,” he says.
His shy demeanor is a big surprise. I still can’t believe it’s happening right in front of me. It makes me…
It makes me want to take his hand, caress his cheek, put my arms around him and hold him there until the end of time.
“Okay. Ezra,” I say. “As I was saying, it’s ingenious.”
He blinks, and his grey eyes make me shiver.
“I-I wasn’t sure if it’d count,” he mumbles.
“Why wouldn’t it?”
He shrugs. “It’s a bit out there.”
“That’s what makes it a great paper. How did you come up with that?”
He seems to arch his back and relax his shoulders, and damn it if seeing him gain more confidence doesn’t make me harder. At least the paper is providing adequate cover for the boner pulsing in my pants.
“I love British sitcoms. And when you were teaching us about Commedia, I thought it all sounded so familiar, so I thought I’d test the theory and… it turns out the characters are quite similar to the stock characters from Commedia,” he says.
I’ve graded enough of his papers to know he’s smart, but there’s something about showing off his wit in front of me that makes me hot and sweaty.
Brawn and brains is a combo that gets me more than excited. But I’ve never had a need to talk to him about his work, so I haven’t witnessed it first hand. It’s so sexy.
“I had to check out the show after reading your essay, and I have to agree. It’s a fantastic observation. I had some thoughts, though,” I say.
I turn the page to the first and point out some of my corrections in red pen.
Ezra moves beside me, and I have to remind myself to breathe. He’s still not touching me. But it’s like he is. I can feel his body heat as if he were. And I can hear his heartbeat as if his chest were right by my ear.
“Don’t…” I start, and I fake a cough to mask my breathlessness. “Don’t let the red scare you. I was just correcting some grammar. I do feel like you need more sources however.”
I feel him nod beside me, but I’m too scared to turn and look at him for fear of what I might do.
“I could give some suggestions, but I think it might benefit you if you try and find some on your own first. Is that okay?”
