Page 31 of Academically Yours

She narrowed her eyes. “Not. The. Point.”

I sighed. “Okay. Let me have it.”

Hazel glanced around, making sure that there were no girls around when she pulled me into the chair next to hers behind the desk. “Professor Harper?!” She exclaimed.

I shrugged.

“Noelle. He literally carried you home last night, and all you’re giving me is a shrug?? What happened?”

“Well…” Fuck. I had to tell her the whole story, didn’t I? “I may have drunk more than I should have last night.” I rubbed my temple as if it was still throbbing. “And Matthew just happened to be at the bar, and he kind of… swooped in and helped me. And then I wasn’t feeling too great, so he offered to bring me home.” I knew I was blushing, but I trudged on anyway. “I sort of fell asleep in his car, hence why he carried me inside.” I buried my face in my hands. “Oh, Hazel, I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be,” she laughed. “You’ve done the impossible.”

“What?” I jerked my head up, looking at her. “What impossible?”

“You’ve broken Matthew Harper’s icy reputation.”

I raised an eyebrow. “He’s always been nice to me—”

“Exactly. But do you know how he is around other people?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t seen it, had I?

“Cold. Distant. Grumpy.”

“Oh. Well, I knew the last one. Sometimes it takes a bit to get him to smile.” But it hadn’t been as hard lately…

“He hasn’t dated a single woman since he started teaching here, Noelle. Seriously, he’s never shown interest in anyone.” Hazel smirked at me, and I had the urge to tug on one of her tight curls. “Not till you.”

“Oh my god. Nothing is going on, seriously. We’re just friends. We’ve just been running into each other a lot around campus, I promise.”

“Is that all you want to be, though? Just friends?”

I nodded. “Yeah.” It was, wasn’t it?

“Okay,” she said, but it was clear she didn’t believe me.

“What?”

“It’s just… I saw you two at that mixer. There were literal sparks. I think you should give him a shot.”

I made a face. “I don’t even know that he’s interested.”

“Oh, believe me,” she grinned, her whole face lighting up with a mischievous expression. “He’s interested.”

“Well.” I shrugged, pretending I wasn’t feeling anything out of the ordinary.

“When are you seeing him next?”

“Oh. Um. I’m not sure. We didn’t really talk about it. I don’t even have his number.”

Hazel just gave me a look. “Please, please tell me you’re going to do something about that.”

“I—maybe. I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far yet, Haze. I’m still freaking out over him finding me feeling like crap in the library today.”

“Oh my god,” she squealed, “he what?!”

I proceeded to explain to her exactly what happened earlier in the day, and she couldn’t stop grinning.