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He climbs to his feet, glaring at me. I don't give a shit, not right now.
"Fuck you." Danny spits at my feet and then walks away, getting into his car and pulling out of the lot without looking back.
"Yeah, fuck you too," I mutter, rubbing my hand and wincing.
Danny's face is red and starting to swell where I hit him, and he'll have a black eye. Good. He should have kept his mouth shut. I know the kind of girl Noelle is, and he's a damn fool for letting her go.
* * *
It's Thursday,my last English 101 class and the day before break. Storms have been gathering in the sky all day, low rumbles of thunder echoing through the campus as the clouds roll in from the sea. There's a sense of dread that comes with weather like this, but I didn't feel it at all this morning as I prepared for my lecture. I was seeing Noelle today, and no amount of storms could dampen the anticipation.
Last night all of the final essays that hadn't been turned in early to Gray before he was injured started rolling into my email. For the students with high enough grades that the final essay was negligible, I forwarded their essays to Gray's assistant to look over. The others I had started on last night, but still had plenty to grade, including Noelle's. I had opened it first because when it comes to her, I have no self-control, but there were no special notes for me or anything else of the sort.
Despite how inappropriate it is, I couldn't resist opening her student file and getting the number out of it. Thankfully, I had the forethought to throw the number, which had an unfamiliar area code, into Google before calling it because it came up as her mother's house phone in Seattle. I've been disappointed that she didn't reach out to me over email, but it makes sense. The college monitors all correspondences, and I don't want to give them any reason to suspect her and me of some sort of misconduct. Not this close to break and my temporary stead here nearly being over.
I expect it to be a sparse class today, with nothing to go over except make-up work. I've seated myself at Gray's desk on the lecture floor, keeping myself busy while I wait for Noelle to enter. There's tension at the base of my spine just at the thought of seeing her, even knowing that we can't give off any hints of our true closeness here in the middle of class. Just to see her face, though, will be one hell of a relief.
So when it's been fifteen minutes since the bell rang and she's way past late, I feel like punching my fist through the fucking desk in frustration. She isn't here. She isn't coming.
I know this shouldn't be the end of the world, that she doesn't really need to come to the class grade-wise. Maybe she already left to go home for the holidays...except I have no idea what her plans are. I hate thinking about how little I know about her, considering how I've convinced myself that she belongs to me already.
All the times I've ever wanted to smash something are nothing compared to the urge I have now. I can't help thinking that I fucked up, that somehow her absence means she hates me.
The class is mostly empty, but the few students who are still lingering are starting to stare at me. They can sense my distress.
"Class dismissed," I bark, and the three students scramble for the door.
"But sir, we still have twenty minutes left," one of them protests.
I don't even have it in me to give a sarcastic comment or glare. "Out," is all I say.
They take me seriously and leave the lecture hall as fast as possible. As the doors swing shut behind them, I let my head fall into my hands, the tension in my shoulders almost making a headache seem inevitable. Once I've gotten control of myself to a point, I pull my laptop out of my bag and open my school email account. There, sitting unread in my inbox is an email from Noelle that came in just five minutes before class started.
Professor Nolan-
I won't be in class today. I switched my flight home to Washington to an earlier one to try and avoid the bad weather. I sent in my final essay last night. Happy Holidays.
-Noelle Henry
There's not a single word in the whole email that hints at our encounter, and I can't fault her for it. It's exactly what she should have done, and yet, her cold, professional tone has a chill running through me. She's acting like it didn't even happen.
I can't believe she's already gone.
I know she can't have an open, obvious relationship with me here, but if she had just said a couple more words, I would have felt less like a dirty old man. Now she's leaving the state, and it's my last day here, and I have no way to get in contact with Noelle. This information goes against everything I've been telling myself for the past two days—that Noelle is mine, that we'll be together now that school is out.
I only know one person who knows Noelle, and hell will freeze over before I ask Danny how to contact her.
Hours pass in a sort of blur. I head back to Gray's office, nursing the slim hope that she might come to the office to see me before leaving for Washington. I know it's a long shot, but I can't bring myself to leave while there’s still a chance.
I do a lot of paper shuffling before finally settling into grade essays to pass the time. The storm kicks up into high gear outside, stronger and more violent than any of the weather reports made it seem. The rain comes down in heavy sheets, and the thunder is furious, interspersed with flashes of fierce lightning.
Noelle never comes. My phone chirps again and again with weather warnings, flood warnings, and even a rare tornado watch, but I ignore it all. Finally, I'm done with my actual work and check the time. Christ. It's almost 10 PM. I'm probably the last person left on campus, and I'm not even a permanent employee.
I have a new plan to contact Noelle—calling the phone company and getting the call records from Danny's phone, which I'm still paying for of course. It might take weeks to sort through it all, but I refuse to leave things the way they are. I must have hurt her more than I thought, leaving her dorm that night. This can't be the end.
My stomach shakes me out of my thoughts with a loud rumble, and I sigh, standing to gather my things to head home. I drove the Wagoneer this morning instead of the Porsche, which should serve me well since it sounds like the world is ending outside.
Pissed beyond measure that I fucked things up so badly with the one perfect girl for me on the entire planet, I open the door to the building only to have the wind jerk it out of my hands and slam it against the brick. At the same time, a deluge of rain hits me in the face, and I hiss in annoyance. Damn. This weather is no joke.
