"Is anyone missing?"

Renee's head shot up at the professor's question. Of course someone was missing. It was always the same person: that blond guy that sat in front of her

He rarely made an effort to come to their French classes in the morning, and when he did, she would never have the guts to talk to him. Even though he was ruggedly handsome, with his light stubble and clear blue eyes, he also looked pretty menacing. He was scarily tall and buff, always wore hefty black leather jackets and never smiled. He gave off an air of total confidence in himself and appeared to have a no-bullshit-tolerance policy. That's why nobody messed with him, even though he was a freshman, just like Renee.

"Ambrose, sir", someone from the back of the class said. Those words were interrupted by three heavy knocks on the door, making the professor glance towards it.

"Come in."

The door opened and there stood Ambrose, sporting his usual scowl and his trademark leather jacket. Renee's heart skipped a beat and in that moment she realized something utterly blood-chilling.

She had a fucking crush on him.

"Sorry I'm late, professor", he grumbled in a raspy morning voice. Renee bit her lip at the sound of his voice. It was maybe the second or the third time she had heard him talk and it always made her insides flutter. It was clear as a day that he had just rolled out of bed. His longish hair was shaggier than usual and clearly left untouched by the hairbrush, and his eyes were half-lidded.

"Have a seat, Mr. Ambrose", the professor nodded towards his desk. Ambrose didn't say a word more while he was walking over to his seat. Renee had to bite back a smile when she saw him squinting at the intense sunlight that was coming out of the windows and illuminating the part of the classroom where they sat. He wrinkled his nose when a ray of light hit him right in the face and quickly slumped on the chair. He propped up his elbows on the desk, rubbing his temples with his fingers. Renee wanted to tousle his light curls even more. He was just so unusually cute.

She sighed and finally regained enough courage to say a word to him.

"You okay?" she whispered, leaning forth. He turned around in surprise, albeit a bit slowly.

"Ça va", he shrugged, looking at her with those pretty eyes. Which were bleary and not very pretty today, Renee noticed.

"Hungover?"

"Yeah." He looked at her with more interest now. "My roommate kicked me out of the bed, son of a bitch."

"Really?"

"He says he's gonna kick me out of it every morning until I stop being lazy."

Renee smiled. "He seems like a disciplined guy."

"More than me. But maybe it's a good thing he did that."

"Well, skipping so many classes is not gonna do you a lot of favors."

He seemed amused by that comment. "No, not because of that. If I hadn't come here this morning looking like crap, you wouldn't have talked to me."

"Well…" Renee felt her heart bounce and she looked at her feet, smiling a bit and blushing. A smirk spread across his face.

"Renee, right?"

"Yep", she said in a small voice, adjusting her glasses. "And you're Dean."

He nodded. "Wanna grab a coffee later?"

She wanted to tell him that she'd even gladly skip whatever classes she had that day, but she just said: "A beer is fine with me too. Hair of the dog, you know."

Dean raised his eyebrows, flashing her a wide, genuine smile, one of those he hadn't shared with others in a while. "I think we'll get along well, Renee."