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44
Taylor
I was shocked to see him standing at the back of my classroom, above the terraced rows of seats. But as soon as the shock wore off, relief rushed in to replace it. His presence here, in the same room as me, was like cold water being poured over a burn.
Even though he was wearing a sweatshirt, the hood was down, exposing his face. His very recognizable face. Students began nudging each other and whispering. Many twisted to look back at who was disrupting the class.
That’s when I felt annoyed by his appearance here. He could have seen me at any time in the past few days, and he chose to show up here and now. Disrupting my class. Word would certainly get back to the Dean. My career was being interfered with again.
“We can meet after class, in my office,” I said professionally.
Even from across the room, I could see Brody’s warm grin. “Can’t do that, Foxy.” He gave a start. “Shoot. I mean, uh, Professor Fox. Y’all can’t call her Foxy, all right? Pretend I didn’t say anything.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
He took a step toward the stairs leading down to the stage. “What do you think I want?”
“To disrupt my class.”
“Naw, not that.” He shook his head. “I want you, Taylor. All I’ve ever wanted is you. And I won’t take no for an answer.”
It was the wrong thing at the wrong time. Even though his words rushed into my heart like air into a balloon, too much had happened in the past week. Too much damage was done to my careers, both on the cheer team and as a professor. He couldn’t fix it by walking down here and telling me he liked me.
“You’re embarrassing me,” I said curtly.
“Fine. I’ll embarrass myself to even it out.” He paused halfway down the stairs and turned in a circle to address the class. “I used to think dinosaurs and humans were alive at the same time. Like in The Flintstones. Sliding down Brontosaurus backs and whatnot.”
“That’s not embarrassing,” one student said. “That’s just a lack of information.”
“All right, well try this on for size,” Brody said. “When I was nine, I wet the bed at Matt Parker’s birthday party sleepover. They caught me tryin’ to shove the whole sleeping bag in the trash at four in the morning.”
The class chuckled at this. A few students pulled out their phones and started recording.
“Brody,” I said, “you don’t need to do this.”
He ignored me. “I’ve read all the Harry Potter books. Once when I was growing up, and then I re-read them a few years back. I’m House Hufflepuff, y’all. I even named my dog after Luna Lovegood.”
“You read all of Harry Potter?” one girl asked.
“Damn right I did!” he replied. “You don’t have to be a nerd to like that kind of stuff. There were jocks at Hogwarts, too.”
The class was totally derailed at this point, and half the students were standing up to get a better look at Brody as he made his way down the stairs. He trained his charming grin on me again.
“There. Now we’re even, and I can go back to embarrassing you again. I care about you, Taylor. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me—and I’ve been pretty damn lucky in my life, too. The last two months have been the happiest of my life. But the last week has been the worst. Thinking about our fight, and wondering if we would survive this…”
He shook his head and stepped onto the stage.
“I can’t go on without you, and I’m sick of pretending like I can.” For a moment, the immovable look in his eyes trembled with vulnerability. “I love you, Taylor. I really do. I love you, and that’s the only thing that matters.”
Joy blossomed in my chest like fireworks, bright and hot. I could tell he wasn’t just saying this to make amends—he truly meant it. I found my soul leaning towards him, wanting to say it back. Wanting to leap into his arms and let him carry me out of the lecture hall and never look back, students be damned.
But reality was still breathing over my shoulder, keeping the dream at bay.
“It’s not that simple,” I said softly. “There are complications…”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I worked through all of those.”
“You… what?”
