Chapter Three
Monday morning comes too soon. The alarm blares, jolting me awake from a peaceful dream.
A dream where I was in a field much like the ones I drove around and saw on Friday, and maybe again on Sunday when I didn't have anything to do.
I drove for over an hour, just enjoying the warm air and lack of tall buildings.
I make a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast before grabbing my coffee thermos and heading out the door.
The drive to the college isn't long, maybe fifteen minutes on the main road.
The college still feels empty, but there are a couple of people walking around now, some with backpacks and others with nothing but an iced coffee in their hand.
We have half an hour before class is supposed to start so it's no surprise that no one is waiting for me to unlock the door. I flip the light on and drop my things at the desk. The room is one of the smaller ones on campus. It has the long tables that allow two people at each one.
I double check that the papers are still where I left them Friday and start walking around the room to distribute them for each student.
It's an outline for the next eight weeks, each date of the quizzes and tests.
Office hours are listed at the bottom. Just as I'm starting on the last row, the door opens.
I glance up, then pause with my hand halfway to the table.
"Can I help you?" I ask. The man has to be at least ten years older than me. He's taller, too. I can tell that even across the room. I'm not sure if he's staff or another teacher.
"Um, this is the eight A.M. business class, right?" His voice is deep, and that southern drawl has my knees going weak. He looks down at a paper in his hand. "With Professor Murray?"
The guy looks back up at me as he moves further into the room. I finish laying down the last syllabus and nod. "That's me. Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to show up before the eight o'clock mark."
I also wasn't expecting a student… well, like him. We meet in front of my desk. I hold out my hand. "I'm Professor Murray, but please just call me Bennett."
"Bennett." The guy shakes my hand and fuck me, I want to melt right then and there.
He says my name slowly, with a hint of a southern accent.
We don't live too far south, Kentucky, but it's enough of a difference from what I grew up with in Chicago.
His grip is firm, too, and calloused. Like he does something physical for work.
"It's nice to meet you. Um, sorry if I sent too many emails to you last week. "
"Ah, you must be Nelson, then?"
"Was it that bad you already know my name?" He avoids my eyes. "I'm sorry. I haven't—"
"It's okay," I interrupt him. "Honestly, I thought you were going to be one of those students that tried to play teacher's pet or coast by. So this," I raise a hand between us, motioning to all of him, "is a nice surprise."
"A nice surprise?" His eyebrows raise and I realize how that sounded. It's my turn to avoid his eyes. Thankfully, the door opens then and we both turn to see a young girl walk in. She pauses for a moment before turning and picking one of the seats in the back row. "I guess I should sit down, then."
I turn to the chalk board behind my desk and write my name at the top left hand corner.
We'll be using the projector for most of the class this summer, but for the introductions I'll keep it old school.
Students come in one or two at a time. Half of them look half asleep, one even comes in in a hoodie and sweats.
I don't blame them, but they'll hate the policy for business casual on presentation days.
There's only two of those days, but still.
Dressing appropriately will count toward their overall grade.
At 8:10, I get everyone's attention and officially start the first class. We're here until eleven, so we have plenty of time to do introductions and go over the rules and expectations.
"Welcome to Business 101," I start. I sweep my eyes over the students, taking in each of them.
Some already have notebooks open, others are sitting with nothing but the syllabus in front of them.
They're all fresh from high school, no older than twenty at the most. Except Nelson.
He's taken the seat on the far left of me.
"We're on a tight schedule. We'll be doing one chapter a day, with a quiz on Thursdays.
Make sure to show up on time, because you will have 40 minutes to complete the quiz and then we move on to the next chapter.
You'll see everything outlined in the syllabus as well.
There will be a test for every five chapters.
Two presentations will be presented, one as a group that I will form for you and the other is individual work. "
I see some look at each other, most likely friends that are taking the class together.
My eyes glance to Nelson once again. He's looking right at me and I glance away quickly before I loose my train of thought.
His eyes are a shocking green, beautiful.
I am not going to crush on a student. Even if he is older, he's still a student.
"Let's start with introductions," I say. I point to the guy on the far right. "We'll start here. Give your name, the degree you're working toward, and… The last thing you ate."
There are a few snickers around the room at that. I always hated the deeper intro questions. This way they get talking but they don't have to think or reveal anything too personal to strangers.
"I'm Joey, going for an Accounting degree, and the last thing I ate was pizza."
"Dinner last night or breakfast this morning?" I ask, half curious and also because I can see three other guys nod their heads. They're all sitting together, so I'm assuming they're friends.
"Both." The section of the class laughs. We move on to the girl sitting beside him.
"Winnie. Business degree. I had a smoothie for breakfast."
"Health nut," Joey coughs out. Again, half the class laughs. Winnie punches his arm playfully.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you know each other?"
"Irish twins," Joey says. "Someone had to go and graduate a year early because she'd miss her big bro."
"It's not my fault I got all the brains."
I can tell I'll have my hands full with those two, but I do love that they seem to have a strong family bond. It makes me miss my older brother and younger sister a little bit.
The next several students go. Tyler, Breanna, Xavier, Yvonne, and Rebel.
There are a range of degrees taking this class too, which surprises me but it's also fun.
We're only learning the basics in this class, enough for certifications or to take the higher level classes.
When it gets to Nelson, the class goes quiet.
"I'm Nelson." His voice is deep, but I can tell he's nervous. He doesn't take his eyes off me. "I'm taking this class for a certification on a job. I had some fresh eggs from the farm."
"You live on a farm?" I ask. Tractor Guy immediately pops into my mind. The flash of his face pops into my mind and crap. Nelson is Tractor Guy. I'm ninety percent sure of it.
"Born and raised. Been working on it since I was seven." He sounds proud of that fact. I'm not sure why he's here then. You don't need certification to work on a family-owned farm. I don't say that. Instead I just nod.
"Fresh eggs sound amazing. Especially in this economy."
The class laughs at my joke and despite wanting to ask so many follow up questions to keep Nelson talking, I change the subject.
I get the projector going and pull up the first slide.
I've been teaching this class at night for the last two years, working at one of the two local high schools during the day.
I pretty much have all of this memorized by now, so I can talk to them instead of just reading.
I see Nelson taking notes in a notebook throughout the whole class.
His head barely lifts. Some are typing on laptops.
Others are just sitting and listening. I walk back and forth, clicking through slides and making sure the students stay somewhat engaged.
I ask a few questions throughout, wanting to make sure that they are listening.
I call on a few, my way of testing myself to remember their names.
When I call on Nelson for the final question, I notice a girl and guy at one of the back tables that roll their eyes when he takes a second to answer.
We finish up ten minutes early and I ask if there are any questions.
No one raises a hand or speaks up for a few seconds, so I dismiss them for the day, reminding them there will be a quiz Thursday morning.
All but Nelson are out of the classroom within sixty seconds.
He glances at me, and I only see it because I'm already looking at him. I can see… something.
"Did you have a question about what we went over?"
"No, I think I got it all in my notes. The quizzes, though, are they going to be on paper or online? I'm only asking because I ordered a laptop, but it won't be here for a few more days and… I'm not the best with technology."
"They're paper," I say. I see the relief in the way his shoulders slump. He nods twice. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He honestly looks adorable with the backpack on, both straps over his shoulders. I need to get this little crush in check. I'm not about to go after one of my students, even if he is everything I dream about. I don't even know if he swings the same way or not.
"You wouldn't happen to live on the farm off Ruthers Road, do you?"
His eyes widen with surprise. "I do. How do you know that?"
"I thought you looked familiar. I saw you on the tractor Friday evening." I definitely ogled your arms in that black shirt and drove by more than once Sunday hoping to catch another glance. Not creepy or stalker-ish at all, Bennett.
"Wow, didn't think people paid that much attention to the person driving, but yeah, that was probably me."
I hear a faint vibration and watch as Nelson pulls his phone off a clip on his hip.
I smile and look down to shuffle some papers to hide my amusement.
No one my age or younger would be caught dead with a hip clip.
He mouths an apology and walks out of the room, saying hi to someone named Joyce.
My inappropriate crush deflates; it's probably his wife or girlfriend, since I didn't clock a ring.
I gather the rest of my things and head out to my car.
I only have the one class this summer, which will be easy on grading at least. My own phone starts ringing as I make it to my car.
It's my Mom. I groan and debate for a few seconds if I should answer it or not.
In the end, I know she's just going to call again in a few hours if I don't answer now.
"Hey, Mom." I connect the phone to my car stereo and start to pull out of the parking space.
"Hey, Ben." I cringe at the name. I hate it, my name is Bennett. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you and Dad?" I don't make it a habit to talk about myself a lot with any of my family.
"Dad is off to some meeting at the Cali office this week," she says. "I just came from brunch with the ladies and they were asking how you're doing."
"I'm doing good," I repeat. "Still in the same apartment, driving the same car, working at the same job.
" I haven't told anyone in my family that I quit the high school job and gone full time with the college, but it doesn't matter.
They made it clear that they didn't care what I did once I turned down the business.
There is silence between us as I drive onto the main road.
"Your brother is getting engaged next month," Mom says out of the blue. That is actual news. I'm surprised that he's actually going through with it. Veronica isn't his type, at least in my opinion. "We were going to plan an engagement dinner. Could you make it home?"
"I can't," I say without hesitation. Mom scoffs.
"You don't even know when we were thinking of doing it."
"I'm teaching a summer class, so I won't have time to take off.
" I turn down one more road and enter my neighborhood.
I love that none of the houses look the same here.
There are some yards that are trimmed and look magazine ready, while their neighbor has toys and bicycles thrown about haphazardly.
I love those yards, knowing that there are happy kids around.
My sister just had her second kid and I miss my niblings so much.
The apartments are on the far end of the neighborhood, so I pass by these yards almost every day and everyday it makes me wonder if I'll have a family of my own one day.
"I'm just getting home, Mom. I'll talk to you later, okay? I'll text Finnigan."
Yes, my parents named us Finnigan and Bennett, Finn and Ben for short our whole lives.
"Okay. Stay safe, Ben."
I end the call and pull into my parking spot. I try to keep conversations short, otherwise Mom has a way of saying things that put emotional burdens on me. Even from states away, the manipulation is there. Dad does it, too.
I reheat leftovers from yesterday's dinner and head to the bedroom. I have a TV in there. I've always needed the noise and light of a TV to go to sleep. I've tried the white noises and dim lights, but they don't help. I love my sitcoms most.
I do text Finnigan and tell him that Mom called me.
I don't congratulate him, though, in case Veronica is around or snoops through his phone.
I really didn't see them making it to the engagement stage.
Veronica comes from a wealthy family as well and she's very materialistic.
Taking lavish vacations, designer everything.
Finnigan definitely enjoys the finer things in life as well, but he's smart with his money.
He's a contract lawyer, a good one, despite the nature of his job.
I admire his work, but not the way he's sold his ethics to our Dad.
It's twenty minutes later that I get a response from the text. Finnigan doesn't say much, only one word. Thanks. Nothing else. I assume that Veronica is around or he's busy so I don't respond. Instead, I head to the bathroom and turn the water on for a shower.
As I strip out of my clothes, my thoughts wrongfully turn to today.
I know I shouldn't, but that deep drawl and those green eyes pop up when I close my eyes.
I've been single for way too long, haven't had sex in months.
I'm chalking this up to frustration. The warm spray of the shower relaxes my muscles.
I know I'm sporting a boner, but I ignore it.
I'm not going to get off to my student. I can find a video to watch when I get out. Maybe I'll hit up the apps on Friday.