Page 38 of The Love Interest

“Yes. I’m glad she’s doing better.”

She nods once. We stare at each other, wordlessly, for a moment. Or rather, she glares at me and I stare at her pretty, tense face and try not to imagine what it would look like if we were hate-fucking right now.

I clear my throat and keep my voice low and steady. “My father told me about this position later that day, after the last time I saw you. I made a decision as to how to handle it, and I’m sorry if it upset you and I’m sorry if I blew it.”

She steps a bit closer to me so we can talk even more quietly, but now I can smell her again and it’s infuriating. “I don’t know what you think ‘it’ is, but yes, you blew it. And no, you didn’t handle it correctly.”

“I didn’t want to turn this into a big thing.”

“Right. Well,thiswasn’t a big thing, was it?” She shrugs, but she’s feigning indifference, it’s very clear. “It was just a few hours.”

“Right. To further explain my decision-making process, I want you to know that after I texted you, I requested to read the material you had submitted to the department to join the master’s program. The short stories you wrote were very good.”

She blinks again, shifts back and forth between feet again, recrosses her arms. “Oh. Thank you.”

“That was why I checked about the other fiction workshop. I was going to recommend that you transfer to the other class.”

“Wait. What? Why?”

“Because I have to teach this class for one year, and I can’t date my students. Even after this semester is over.”

“That’s a rule?”

“It’s a policy. Consensual relationships are discouraged, and teachers can be sanctioned if found to be in violation of the policy.”

“Oh. Well, that sucks.”

“I agree.”

“I’m still mad at you. I probably shouldn’t tell you that since you’re my teacher, but I will also tell you that Iwillget over it.”

“I hope so. But like I said—if you were to convince a student who’s enrolled in Professor Morgenstern’s class to switch with you…” I wait for some sign of recognition and understanding in her eyes, but I don’t see it. “I think it would be less of a violation of the policy…”

Her eyes widen.

There it is.

“Oh.” She raises her chin a little and tries to refrain from smiling, and it’s so fucking cute I want to kiss her. “I see. Well, I will look into this.”

“Do that. Do it soon. And obviously don’t discuss this or any of our interactions with anyone here.”

She glares at me again. “I’m not an idiot.”

“I don’t think you are, Miss Walker. Far from it.”

She balls up her hands into fists and rests them on her hips. I want to rest my hands on her hips. I want to massage those hips and make her moan the way she did on that park bench.

But I won’t.

Not now.

“Just to be clear,” she whispers, leaning in a little, “if I were to successfully switch to the other workshop, are you saying that you would want to…pick up where we left off?”

“Yes. But don’t contact me on my cell phone until you’ve done that.”

“Got it… Will that be all?”

“Yes. Have a good week.”