Page 94 of Academically Yours

Noelle stuck her tongue out at me.

I got her a boat of fresh seasoned fries, and she glared as I stole one.

I smirked, dropping a kiss on her nose. “I can buy you more, you know.”

She was appeased at that and popped another fry in my mouth, feeding me. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks just from the action. How intimate it was.

“You know,” she said as I chewed on the fry. “I don’t share food with anyone.”

“No?” I asked, wondering why she thought this would surprise me.

“Anyone,” she repeated. “Ever.” I watched her look thoughtfully into her fries. “Until you.”

“Well.” I couldn’t help the satisfaction flowing through my veins. “I hope I get to share a lot of things with you, Noelle Hastings.”

“As long as you keep me fed, Matthew Harper.”

I grinned. “I can do that.”

Noelle ate another fry before we polished off the rest of them and then we were back, bopping from stall to stall. It was incredible how many different types of products there were here. Produce, of course, and then there were the cheeses, baked goods, and wines, but also there were so many homemade goods. Soaps, jewelry, stained glass, carved wooden items, and so much more. Even if we didn’t buy anything, it was fun just looking at what people had taken their time to make.

And it was also fun to point things out that we thought the other would like. When Noelle wasn’t looking, I purchased some rose-scented bath stuff for her as well as a little fox figurine that reminded me of her.

As we were strolling, I looked over and saw a young family—mom, dad, and their two kids, smiling and laughing as they sampled honey from one of the stalls. The dad lifted one of the kids on his shoulders, and I could see it.

I could see us, coming here. Blissfully happy, kids in tow. It was something I had only let myself dream about in the deepest parts of my heart—a family. I had hardly let myself think about it, scared that even just the idea of it would be taken from me. But here, now? I imagined what it would be like.

To live a life with Noelle. A life full of laughter, of teasing each other. Of morning sex, shower sex, and sleeping in late. Of diapers, pancakes, and kids’ art projects. I imagined watching her dote on our kids with red curly hair and blue eyes.

It was so lovely, the scene that unfolded before me. I was watching them, but it was us in my mind’s eye, as Noelle sampled bread and hugged our daughter.

“Matthew?” Noelle’s voice shattered the illusion, bringing me back to the moment. This moment… This was our moment. I smiled at her. I couldn’t get ahead of myself, because I still very much wanted to enjoy all of this, here and now.

“What were you looking at?” She seemed to track my eyesight and then frowned at the family who had walked away.

I just shook my head, placing a kiss on her forehead. “It was nothing. Just thinking, that’s all.”

“Okay.” Noelle gave me a little eyebrow raise before turning back to the stall with the honey. “You sure you’re fine?”

I nodded, not saying anything else. I couldn’t tell her I’d been thinking about our future children. We hadn’t even talked about kids. Did she even want them? I wasn’t sure. I certainly wasn’t going to bring it up now. It was way too soon for talks about marriage or children or anything. We had just decided that we were together together this week.

“Noelle!” A female voice shouted, and when I looked back up from the table, two college students were pummeling her with hugs.

My RAs, Noelle mouthed. I realized they were the two who had gone on the zoo trip with her. I tried to rack my brain for their names.

“What are you guys doing here?” Noelle asked. “I didn’t know you were spending spring break in town.”

The two girls looked at each other and then blushed. They took each other’s hands, and then I remembered their names—finally. Rachel and Jessica.

“We’re—well…” The dark-skinned one, Rachel, fumbled for words, but Jessica, the little preppy blonde, just shook her head. “I invited Rach to spend the break with my family.” She gave the other girl a look like they were trying to decide how much information to reveal to their boss.

I didn’t say anything, but I tried to step a little bit away from Noelle, to give her privacy with her staff. I didn’t know if she wanted to tell anyone what we were, especially not her resident assistants.

That was when they finally realized I was there.

“Oh! Hello Professor Harper.” Jessica grinned at me, and I gave a little sheepish smile in return. Why did it feel like we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t? We were both adults, after all, and Noelle was almost five years older than these two.

“Hi,” I mumbled, and Noelle’s hand reached back, clasping mine. I looked at Noelle, leaving it up to her whether or not to tell what we were to each other.