Chapter 2:
"The Lecture"
"Hello everyone and thank you for allowing me to speak to you." She watched as the young man sauntered up behind the podium. His slender fingers wrapped around the sides of the wooden podium and she saw him look up - directly at her. She quickly made sure her mouth was not hanging open, to avoid looking much like a cod fish. His eyes left her face and not only was she relieved, but almost a little disappointed.
Her thoughts went a mile a minute and she tried to slow them down, but they just kept going. Why did she not know he was so young? How can such a youth be so intelligent? Why did she not realize he was the infamous doctor? Why had he not introduced himself? How old was he really? Where was he from?
And why, oh why, did he have to be so damned beautiful?
The blush crept up her chest, to her neck, and into her face. She ducked her head down to collect herself and avoid being looked at again. She breathed in and out slowly and looked back up to try to continue listening to the lecture. But every word seemed to just run into the other and she found it even harder to concentrate when she looked at him, so she resorted back to staring at her notebook and pretending to take notes. She glanced around and her eyes fell on her flat mate, Lara. Good! She would just copy notes from her.
Lara looked up from across the classroom and gave a smile. Lillian smiled back and gave a small wave, which Lara returned. From beside Lara, Lara's boyfriend Charlie gave a wave and a wink. Lillian's smile faltered some, but she still smiled back at him. Her head turned and went back to her notebook and she scribbled the word "LIAR" in all capitals. Smart, good-looking, slimy Charlie. Oh yes, he was a catch. And she had caught him once before.
She remembered first arriving at university, fresh off of the airplane, bags still in hand when he offered to carry them for her to her flat on the school's property. Yes, he was charming and polite. He was every parents dream. He had even been her's at one point. They had dated for a while. He was her first real boyfriend, besides Bobby James when she was twelve, of course. But he didn't count. He didn't count, because Charlie was her first real adult relationship. With real dates and real kisses. They had dated for the first three months of her freshman year of college. Just long enough for him to take her virginity and then leave her for the next new girl. Lillian had found them in his bed when she came to surprise him with a cake for his birthday. The caked looked good all over his ugly face.
She shook the memories out of her head. Maybe he had changed. It had been a year and some people can change quickly. Once Lara came to school, she was the new fresh meat and Charlie had set his eyes on his prize. Charlie and Lillian had to meet face to face for the first time in nine months since the break up and it was more than difficult, especially considering the delicate circumstances. Lillian had not muttered a bad thing to Lara about Charlie and Charlie had never mentioned to Lara about he and Lillian. It was a silent understanding that the past was the past and it needed to stay there. Charlie had once tried to talk to Lillian about it when Lara had run to the store one night, but Lillian played the lady scorned and had locked herself in her room and played her Etta James records over and over, drowning out whatever he was trying to say.
Since then, they hadn't said more than a "hello". She regretted it had been him she had slept with, but she figured it was far better than any boy back home.
She was knocked out of her reverie by a hand on her shoulder. Lillian glanced up and saw Lara by her side. The noises of people hopping out of chairs and grabbing books and bags, yelling which pub they were going to, and laughing finally hit her. The lecture was over and she had missed every moment of it. Just because of stupid memories of stupid Charlie.
"Hey, love! You look exhausted. Long night?" Lara's pretty songbird voice crept over everyone else's.
"Yeah. Luckily I got my work done before coming here tonight, so I can go in and fall asleep for once. And also, let me copy your notes...I totally spaced out." Lillian yawned the last part and put her sweater back on. Lara pouted her sympathies and stroked Lillian's hair.
"Poor girl! Of course you can! Here!" Lara handed her notebook to Lillian. "Charlie and I are going to grab something to eat at Grenda's...you want to come along?"
Lillian felt her stomach rumble in response to the question. Despite feeling the need to avoid Charlie, due to the fact that it might make her so sick that she would just vomit back the food she had just eaten, she reluctantly agreed because her body told her so. She saw Charlie in the corner speaking to some girl she didn't recognize and her stomach dropped. She knew it was happening. And happening right under Lara's nose.
"Ok, well, good. We'll see you there in a bit." Lara bobbed her head and headed towards Charlie. "Oi! Charlie! Lil's comin' with us to Grenda's for a bite!"
Charlie gave Lillian a grin and she gulped. She felt his eyes follow down her body to her legs and she thought she was going to be sick. She ignored his smile and bent down to gather her books and notebooks. She shoved them into her bag in somewhat of a violent manner. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she began her way towards the door.
"Lillian Warner." She stopped in her tracks and turned to the voice of her smiling professor, standing there beside Dr. Lecter. She turned and headed back towards her teacher, ignoring the scrutiny of the doctor. It was making her nervous, but she could not detect whether it was a good nervous or the bad kind.
"Dr. Lecter, I would like you to meet one of my favorite students, Lillian Warner. She is very intelligent and eager to learn."
Lillian smiled humbly at her teacher as she turned to the voice of Dr. Lecter.
"Yes, we met earlier, but I hadn't the pleasure of catching your name." His hand reached out for hers and she put hers in his for a quick shake. She felt his soft fingertips caress the inside of her wrist and she repressed a shiver. His eyes held hers and she only hoped the flush was not coming back into her cheeks. He was a perfect gentleman, but there was still something so animalistic about him. She had never met someone who fascinated her this much. Perhaps it was just that she had fallen in love with his manuscripts, and to meet him now was almost embarassing. What was she to say? That she had many a night where she brought his writings to bed with her and fallen asleep with them still in her hand? She supposed he had been in her bed already, without even being aware of it.
"It's a pleasure, Doctor Lecter. I'm an admirer of your manuscripts." She said brightly. Maybe he would not be able to tell she was slightly unnerved by him. She was first to remove her hand from his soft grasp.
He nodded a thank you as two girls and a boy pushed past Lillian and proceeded to pummel the doctor with questions. She gave her professor a small wave and once again made her way to the door. This time she made it out and made her way towards Grenda's - the local pub and restaurant most frequented by the college kids. Her tummy rumbled again at the thought of some nice soup and bread. How very appetizing it sounded.
