#professorlock

“Miss Hooper!”

Molly jumped at the sound of her professor’s voice. She’d been looking at him, of course. Couldn’t tear her eyes away. And listening to the low, rumbling tones of his words. But she had no idea what he’d been saying.

“Y-yes, Professor Holmes?”

“Chirality, Miss Hooper. I’ve placed a list of molecules on the board and I asked you to say which were chiral. Twice.”

Molly squinted at the chalkboard in front of her. Chirality. She’d read the chapter on it in her organic chemistry textbook last night, but now, with her cheeks  burning and her heart racing, she couldn’t remember a word of it. It also probably would have been helpful if she’d been paying attention to the lesson instead of contemplating what her professor would be like in bed.

“I..I’m sorry, I don’t know,” she finally murmured, staring at the surface of her desk.

“I see. I suggest you keep up with the reading, Miss Hooper, or else you will find this course exceedingly difficult to pass. Please see me after class to discuss your study methods. Miss Adler? Can you identify the chiral molecules?”

The other girl rattled off the answers in quick succession. Now that she didn’t have those penetrating blue-green eyes staring at her, Molly could see that Irene was right. Irene was always right. And always put together, her make up and hair perfectly done for class. Molly was lucky if she got her hair into a sloppy ponytail.

“Well done, as usual, Miss Adler.”

Molly felt a twinge of jealousy that she knew she had no right to feel. He may be her lover in her dreams, but in reality he was just her chemistry professor.

After class, Professor Holmes had a line of three or four students waiting to ask him questions. Molly packed up her things but remained seated in her desk, pretending to be busy texting someone on her phone.

Finally the last student drained out and they were alone. Molly expected Professor Holmes to speak but he didn’t. Just remained at his desk shuffling papers.

Eventually she approached him. “Uhm, Professor Holmes, you wanted to see me?”

He looked up. “Do I bore you, Miss Hooper?”

“What?”

“This class. Am I boring you? You perform well on my exams and in laboratory, but in class your eyes glaze over and you seem to not pay any attention at all. Have you already received this material in another course?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“No! No…I haven’t.” Molly didn’t know what else to say.

“So it’s just my teaching style then?” he pressed.

“No. No! There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect. I mean your teaching style is perfect.” Molly felt herself blush and looked down.

Professor Holmes reached across the desk and pulled her face up with a hand under her chin.

“Don’t flatter me. I may seem cold and impassive, but I’m paid to teach and I want to be of use to my students. However, my most successful student doesn’t seem to paying a bit of attention in class. It’s not much of a testament to my skills as an instructor. And I thought perhaps, since the material is obviously not too challenging for you, as it is for many of the others, you might be able to tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

Molly bit her lip. “I can’t. You’re not doing anything wrong.” What was she supposed to say? You’re just so damn attractive, it’s distracting?

He sighed. “Very well, I can see you’re not going to tell me. You may go, Miss Hooper.”

But she couldn’t go. Not with him looking so upset and thinking he was an awful teacher.

“Really,” Molly started, “It isn’t you. Not your teaching style. I’m just distracted by other things when I’m here. I can’t seem to stop thinking about other things.”

“Like what?”

“Just…personal things.”

His eyes narrowed. “Oh. A man. I see. Yes that can be very distracting.”

Molly kept her eyes glued to her feet. “Yes.”

“You said it happens when you’re here. A boy in this class then. Would you like to be transferred to another session?”

“No. That won’t help.” Molly’s voice was barely audible in the large, empty lecture hall.

There was a long silence. Molly heard Professor Holmes come around to stand beside her. Could see his body in her peripheral vision, but she refused to look.

“Molly, are you sexually attracted to me?”

Her heart stopped. She was pretty sure her heart stopped. It was physically impossible for her to still be alive, but her heart definitely stopped.

She couldn’t bring herself to answer, but it didn’t matter. It was the kind of question where a lack of denial was answer enough.

It wasn’t until hours later, alone in bed, that she’d realize that for the first time, he’d called her Molly.

He started to laugh and she turned to go before the tears started falling, but he caught her by both arms and she had no choice but to look up at him.

“No, no,” He tried to hold back his laughter. “It’s not that! It’s just such a relief! To know that the desire is reciprocated. Excellent.”

“What?!”

“Of course, I’m not a fool either. Tonight at 7?” He ripped a post it note off and jotted something down on it before handing it to her.

“Professor Holmes-“