Page 43 of After Hours Lectures
But I couldn’t stay away.
I hit send on the email and then jumped into the shower to start my day. Luckily, the class I’d had to cancel the week before had little I needed to lecture on. In the email I’d sent to the students, I had instructed them to pick three shooting scenarios from a list and photograph them with a self-critique of the images. The list included press conferences, political events, sporting events, food photography, sensitive or intimate settings, protests and demonstrations, street photography, and portraits. Each student emailed me their photos with their write ups and then I replied with my assessment and grade. Except, my email to Tyler also asked him to see me in my office instead.
Some students had taken portraits of their friends, pictures of a meal, and photos of people in the streets around town. Fallon, since his dad was a U.S. senator representing Massachusetts had covered a press conference he spoke at. He’d also taken a portrait of his father in his office and captured one of Tyler taking a photo.
My heart had skipped a beat when I’d scrolled down and saw a photo of my boyfriend in Fallon’s email because not only was it of Tyler, but he was sitting on the ledge of a building, taking pictures of the street below. The photographer in me had to give him props for creativity, but the boyfriend in me hated to see him in what might be a dangerous situation. The kicker was, none of the photos Tyler had submitted were of what he had been shooting from the rooftop. They were of his food (it seemed the entire class loved taking pictures of their food), a guy reading, and a street photograph of a painter leaning against a building, smoking a cigarette and surrounded by paint buckets and rollers.
All three photos were almost captured perfectly, and I’d given him a 98% on the assignment. Since he wasn’t justanystudent of mine, I wanted to go over his work in person. Plus, I wanted some one-on-one time with him.
It was a risk to be alone with him in my office, but I couldn’t resist.
Once I got to school, I made my way to Miller Hall. As I expected, Isabelle was at her desk.
“Good morning,” I sang. “Have a good weekend?”
“I did. You?”
Would have been better if I hadn’t been alone at home.“Covered a Celtics game, but yeah, it was good. Sorry about last week. Hopefully, you slept in.” I set my bags down on my desk.
“I did. It was awesome.” She smiled. “But everything is okay with you?”
“Yeah.” I took out my laptop. “I got caught in a snowstorm and the roads weren’t cleared until Monday morning.”
“Oh wow. You went skiing?”
“No. Just some R&R.” Technically, there was very little rest, seeing as Tyler and I hadn’t slept a lot because we were busy doingotherthings. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the one person I couldn’t stop thinking about approaching. “But that was last week and this morning, I could use more coffee. Would you mind grabbing us each a cup and then meeting me in the classroom?”
“Sure.” She stood.
I grabbed my wallet from my back pocket and pulled out some cash. “Get something to eat too if you’d like.”
“Thanks, Professor Foster.”
“No, thank you.” I looked toward the door. “Mr. Statler.”
“You wanted to see me?” Tyler asked.
“Yes. Please come in.” I gestured toward the chairs in front of my desk.
Isabelle grabbed her stuff and left. Once she walked out of the department and I could no longer see her, I closed the door. Without a word, I pulled Tyler to me and crushed my lips to his.
“Whoa, Professor Foster.” Tyler lightly pushed at my chest once we broke apart. “This is inappropriate.”
“Shut up.” I pecked his smirking lips and stepped back. “Have a good weekend?”
“Would have been better if I’d been with you.”
“I feel the same way.” I smiled.
He moved in again, our mouths connecting once more. I felt as though we were trying to make up for the last seven days, and I suppose we were. At least, I was. How had Tyler Statler gotten embedded so far into my soul that I craved him this much?
For a week now, I’d been thinking obsessively about what would happen after graduation. In a perfect world, we would be free to go public with our relationship. That, finally, after all my thirty-three years, I could be out in the open with a boyfriend. That I would not have to hide because someone had a problem with the person I was dating. Or if someone did, I wouldn’t care because no one could tell me I couldn’t be with him. No sports stigma would be floating over our heads and no dean would be ready to fire me for dating a student. It would be me and him and … California.
That was the other issue.
Tyler had mentioned that after he graduated, he was probably going back home. If he did, the move would put three thousand miles between us, and with my already busy schedule, how could we make that work? Would he want to make it work? Would I?
Maybe he was the one I needed in my life now to make me realize I didn’t need to guard my heart anymore. That it was okay finally to let someone in after Jonah. To feel love and pleasure and the yearning to be with someone every waking minute.
