Sydney's POV

While walking to my 2pm class with Mr. I'm-the-sexiest-Professor/Asshole-ever I realized that eating that 2 day old mexican food for breakfast and then drinking cocaine strong coffee probably wasn't the best idea. It felt like my throat was on fire.

On top of that, I was really scared that I might get some spontaneous gas in the middle of class and like release a fart that might cause the room to have to be evacuated.

Yeah, I think about some weird shit. I know.

Honestly, I almost didn't bother going to class on that particular day. I had a bad feeling about the day all together. It was just not a good day for me to be a functioning part of society. But against my better judgment, I still went on with it.

As I was walking into the Philosophy building I heard a loud rumble and looked up to see what looked like a fucking apocalypse cloud beginning to take over the sky. Great. I was wearing flip flops. It is so much fun to walk home in the rain wearing flip flops.

I was 15 minutes early. I made it a point to be at least 10 minutes early for Professor Howell's class whenever possible. There was no way I was going to give him the pleasure of getting to fly at me about something so easily.

Truthfully I loved going back and forth with him. He didn't take my shit. Most of the time people backed down from me when I got sassy with them but not Professor Howell. He was even worse than me though I would never let him know it.

I walked into his room to see that he was already at his desk but I didn't speak to him because he was looking down at a piece of paper writing. As I sat down, I noticed for the first time that he was left handed. Interesting.

I pulled out my notebook and flipped to the notes from the last class we had before leaning back in my desk and picking up my coffee to sip from it while watching him shamelessly. Did he really have to be so beautiful? I mean this guy was grade A masturbation material. At that point I had named my detachable showerhead Dan.

"So, how's that fleshlight treating you?" I spoke up as I looked down at my notebook and turned a page so it wouldn't look like I had been gawking at him.

"Wonderfully, thanks," he answered. I looked up to see that he was still looking down at the paper, however after a couple of seconds he glanced up from it to me. "Did you sell your laptop for money to buy alcohol?" he asked me, gesturing towards my notebook with his pen.

I looked down at my notebook and for the first time since I met that man I found myself actually feeling offended by something he said. I know. Weird, right? It was an off day.

"I don't really drink," I said as I looked down at my coffee cup. I didn't want to look at him for some reason. I didn't even want to respond. I actually found myself wanting to walk out of the room. I knew I should have stayed in bed. I finally managed to look up at him and noticed that he was wearing a white button down that he looked fucking delicious in. Regardless, he had just gotten on my bad side for the day so I had to say something. "Did you sell your dignity for that shirt?"

He looked down at himself then back at me, smirking. "No, I bought it with money, which is this crazy stuff you get when you work," he answered. "It's all complex, you probably wouldn't understand it. Maybe you should ask your parents to explain it to you sometime," he offered.

Of all the things he could have said, he had to say that. Poor guy. He really had no idea how bad the door of crazy he just opened was.

I stared at him with a blank expression for about five seconds before standing up from my desk, taking two steps and then thrusting my coffee cup towards him which, of course, caused it to splash all over his shirt he sold his dignity for. "You are a completely heartless piece of shit," I told him before throwing the cup towards my left. It hit something but I wasn't paying attention to what it was because I was already turning around to grab my bag and notebook.

"You fucking cunt!" He said loudly. I could only imagine the look on his face. "Are you insane?" I heard footsteps shuffling behind me before I felt him move around me to block my exit. "What the hell is your problem? Did you forget to take your fucking meds this morning?"

Even though I was in rage mode, I couldn't help but notice just how tall he was now that I was standing face to face with him. He almost had a foot of height on me.

I jerked back from him and adjusted my bag on my shoulder. "You know, I've been telling myself that these fun little conversations we have shooting shit back and forth to each other were just us being smartasses together but now I know what it really is. You actually think that I'm some trashy little girl from the south who has come up north to party it up and fuck everything that walks my way, don't you?" I yelled, not even noticing that people were starting to walk into the room. "You have sat there and judged me from day one when you don't know a goddamn thing about what I've been through or how fucking hard I have worked to get where I am."

My voice was shaking because I was so pissed off I was on the verge of tears but I could not shut my mouth. It was like the worst word vomit ever. "You've got all these little hipster cuntbags running around in here not having laptops but I don't see you making snotty little comments to them about selling their laptops for pot or some fucking indie cds or some bullshit. No. Just me. The one who is working every night until 6 am just to be able to afford to take a fucking class where I apparently am not really welcome. You feel like because you're some upper class, British fuckwad that you can judge me. Well, guess what? You can't anymore. I'm done with this shit."

I turned to walk away and pushed past the people who had paused by the door to watch the soap opera moment we were having. "By the way, my parents are dead so I don't think asking them anything would be beneficial at all. Sort of like taking this shitty class."

I left him standing there covered in coffee and just gawking at me, mouth open, like he was in complete shock. I barely made it down the steps outside before I just lost my shit and started crying. Thankfully it was raining so no one was really witnessing my emo moment.

It took me for fucking ever to get back to the apartment because like I said earlier, it was really hard to walk in flip flops when it was raining plus I knew that Brighton would be there and I did not want to have to explain why I was crying. I was already going to have to explain why I was home so early.

Once I was in our building I took off my shoes to walk up the steps to our apartment. I unlocked the door and pushed it open expecting to find Brighton sitting on the couch but instead I was greeted with her standing in the kitchen with a look of complete shock on her face.

"What the actual fuck?" I said as I took in the complete sight before me. Our entire counter space plus some of the floor was covered by bags and bags and bags of groceries. "Did you rob a fucking bank?" I asked, laughing as I shut the door behind myself.

She was laughing too but the look of shock was still on her face as she shook her head at me. "No... I was about to ask you the same thing. I have absolutely no idea what the hell happened," she told me as she flung her arms out. "I was about to start on some homework and there was a knock at the door so I opened it and it was a delivery guy who said he had our groceries. I told him that he had the wrong apartment because we can't afford bologna, let alone this much stuff, but he said that the delivery was for Brighton Kennedy.. I started freaking out because I didn't have the money to pay for any of it but he said I didn't have to worry about it, that it had been paid for already... When I asked who bought all of it, he told me that he couldn't give me that information."

"Whaaaat?" I asked in a high pitched voice as I walked into the kitchen to peek into the bags. "I feel like it's like that scene from A Christmas Carol when Scrooge sends over the giant goose. Do we have any sort of feathered creature as well?" I laughed.

"It looks like we have everything! Seriously, I've never seen so many groceries before in my entire life... I'm sorry to disappoint, though. Whoever sent these didn't bring us any Ramen."

Even though I had just gotten into one of the biggest fights or bitch fits I ever had in my life, I was fucking excited. I was confused but I was excited. We hadn't been able to buy decent groceries since right before tuition was due and that was quite a few weeks ago. I know both of us had lost at least 5 pounds each. "Dude, there's stuff to make burritos in here!" I gasped as I pulled some things out of a bag. "Holy tits on a tree." I'm pretty sure B would suck a dick for a burrito. That's how much she loved those things.

Okay, she wouldn't suck a dick for one but she loved them a lot.

I got all of the items out of the bag and was about to crumple it up but I saw a piece of paper in the bottom of it. I reached in and pulled it out because I knew it couldn't be a receipt. It was way too big.

I opened it and saw that it was a note. "I hope your hips enjoy my treat. xx P.L." I read the note aloud and looked over at her with a confused expression. "Who the balls is P.L.?"

Brighton's eyes got big and she snatched the note out of my hand to read it herself. She looked even more shocked now than she had when I'd first gotten there. "No one," she quickly started folding the note up to stuff it away in her pant pocket.

She turned away from me and started pulling more things out of one of the bags on the counter. She stopped then slowly turned to face me and I saw that she was holding a coffee mug. "You shouldn't reuse cups. You'll catch a plague. xx Massive Ass?" She flashed the side of the cup around that had a piece of paper taped to it with a note that said what she'd just read.

My heart fell out of my asshole. I know that the look of total devastation was probably written all over my face.

No! This wasn't right. He was an asshole. I was sure of it when I flipped my shit on him half an hour ago. He was a total and complete piece of shit.

Who sent me a coffee mug that probably cost more than the entire contents of our refrigerator before we got all of those groceries. It was even blue which was my favorite color. How the fuck did he know that?

"You've gotta be kidding me," I sighed as I brought my hands up to rub my temples. "If you think about it, you'll know exactly who that is," I told B as I began going through another bag of groceries and pulling them out to put them away. "Me knowing who sent that note lets me know who sent you yours if you need a hint."
"I was so confused for a second," she sat the coffee mug down so she could start helping me get the rest of the groceries out of the bags. "I thought Phil was saying something about my ass being massive because I never would have thought that his brother would do this. I never thought he would do something like this.. It's," she sighed and shook her head, obviously speechless.

"A total mindfuck. A very sweet mindfuck but a mindfuck nonetheless," I replied. "Dude," I laughed and shook my head, "I just got into like a fucking massive fight with Dan. Well, I can't say it was a fight because I did all of the yelling but it was bad. Like, beyond any rage you have ever seen from me bad."

"Uh oh," she grimaced as she looked over at me. "What happened?"

I sighed as I leaned against the counter. I didn't want to relive it but I mean she worked with his brother and she even had encounters with him. I had to tell her. Plus, she was like my best friend.

"Today is just a really bad day," I began, rolling my eyes at myself. "And I knew I shouldn't have gone to class or anything but I did anyway. We started fucking with each other like usual and then he asked me if I sold my laptop for alcohol money which really bothered me and should have made me just walk away and not let it escalate but I'm stupid and I stayed and made a smart ass comment about his shirt. Then he said something about how he worked for the money to buy it and that I should ask my parents about that. He acts like I don't know what it's like to work for money and for some reason it just clicked with me that like, I am messing with him when I say things but he actually thinks these horrible things he says about me. Like to him I am some dumbass girl running around fucking up my life or something. I don't know. I just lost it. I threw my coffee on him and flipped the fuck out. I can't even remember everything I said but trust me when I say that it was bad. Way bad."

"Damn," she folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the counter to look at me. "That sounds intense... But, I don't know. I don't think that he really thinks anything bad about you. It sounds like he just gets a kick out of messing with you.. At least that's how his brother makes it sound, not that it's an excuse for rudeness, but from what I've heard, he's basically met his match with you. Plus, I'm not sure he would have helped with all of this if he actually thought so badly of you."
It shocked the hell out of me that he had actually spoke of me enough to his brother for her to know anything about what he thought of me. It also shocked me to realize something was definitely up with B and Professor Lester.

"Wait, can we back up and change subjects for a sec?" I asked as I folded my arms and tilted my head. "What is going down with you and that incredibly cute Professor Lester? Are you doing more than work study when you go to his office? He's gorgeous. Why are they both so fucking gorgeous? Dammit."

Unfolding her arms, Brighton sighed loudly and threw them out like she was frustrated. "I know! They're both ridiculously good looking and funny and smart, and obviously sweet because of what they did and their accents-" she trailed off and rubbed her hands against her face.

"We don't even do work-study," she let her hands fall and folded her arms again. "We shoot the shit and make jokes and flirty comments to each other. Wednesday he ordered us dinner. That's where all of that Mexican food came from that I brought home, by the way... I don't know.. It's just- he's so cool, and he makes it incredibly hard not to like him even though I know that I shouldn't."

I couldn't stop myself from grinning like an idiot. The idea of them sitting together being all cute and flirty instead of working was enough to even make my cold heart feel a bit warmer.

Wow. Emo Sydney alert.

"Awwww! You like each other!" I responded. "There's nothing wrong with that. Y'all are both grown ups. It's not like we're in high school and he's your teacher or something. You're both in your twenties and he's not even your teacher so hey, he's free game." I laughed an evil sort of laugh. "And I don't know of any female who has never had a fantasy of having a hot boss they got to fuck on a desk or something."

"I know, I know... Trust me, I could write a book on the things I've thought about doing to him on his desk," she laughed then sighed. "But he is my boss and he does teach at my school. It might be legal but that's got to be against some rule in the student-faculty handbook."

"Fuck the rules," I threw my hands in the air. "Love is some serious shit. I mean, not saying that you love him but what if you could? What if he's your prince charming and all that romantic bullshit, ya know? Plus, no one has to know. The only people who would know would be me and Professor Asshole Sexypants."

"You have a point. It's not like it's something I would go around telling everyone," she shrugged. "It's just weird, you know? Like, everyone has that fantasy at some point in their life, being with an authority figure.. but I never thought it would be anything more than just that. A fantasy," she picked up the jug of milk and walked to the refrigerator to put it away. "But he asked me out to coffee, and we were talking about kissing.. so either he's just naturally really inappropriate and flirty, or he's actually being serious. Either way, I cannot stop thinking about that man's lips."

I gasped because I honestly didn't have a clue that it had gone that far. "Okay, you two talked about kissing? He's totally into you. He wants the B vage," I laughed. "I've seen him in passing because my dance class is in the same building as his classroom and he's always so sweet and says hi. I think he must know I'm your bff or something. I definitely approve. He's really hot and he's not some shithead college boy or anything so that's a plus."

I was so glad that we had some serious business in B's life to discuss because I did not want to think of my own. The more I thought about the way I flipped out on Dan the worse I felt. I could not believe I did that. I felt like such a girl. Since when did I let my uterus show like that? I was starting to wonder about myself a bit. Ever since I walked into that man's classroom I was a bit off from my normal self.

"He's seen pictures," Brighton informed me while putting cans into the cabinet over the counter. "He asks lots of questions about me.. I'm not used to it. It's like he's genuinely interested in my life and wants to know as much as he can. He's even asked to read some of the stories and things that I've written. It's weird, but in a good way," she explained. I noticed she had the cutest little grin on her face while she talked about him. "I've never really been able to just sit and talk to anyone for hours and hours. I almost feel like I'm fifteen again or something. It's ridiculous."

I hadn't known B for very long but we were alike in a lot of ways and one of those ways happened to be that we were sort of hardened when it came to matters of the heart. Neither of us had ever even discussed the chance of meeting someone when school started because it wasn't on our minds so to see that she obviously found someone and clicked with them was a really good thing to me. I didn't know Phil but he seemed like such a great guy.

"I think that's amazing. That's rare to find. He sounds like the kind of dude who would be like old school about the romance, ya know? None of this, oh yeah let's go to the bar and get shitfaced and then go fuck and I might call you in a week when I need a booty call. He seems like the type that would send you love letters that would make you melt. Like Wilde style love letters. And he would probably cook for you and tell you you're beautiful and laugh with you and be sweet and-" I trailed off and realized that I was rambling and that I probably sounded more like an actual female in that moment than I ever had to her. "You get me," I laughed.

"Yeah, I do," she laughed with me. "You know I'm not one of those girls who feels like she has to have a relationship or even a love interest.. I'm actually one of those girls who would probably rather not have one, but I am such a sap, Sydney, and I want all of that," she sighed and looked like she was swooning. "And I feel like he could be one of those guys, and that he could actually appreciate that I'm like that too... I think we're both pmsing or something. We never talk like this."

"I know," I laughed. "It's pretty crazy that we've had so many lengthy conversations and never managed to admit that we're closet sappy saps. You're not alone in that. I just don't trust anyone enough to even find a guy who is like that. I'm a ball of issues. But, I hope you have found your guy. I have a good feeling about him." I grinned at her and threw a bag of tortilla chips to her. "Now, let's cook some burritos so I can get entirely too full before work."

"That sounds perfect," she grinned and basically hugged the bag of chips. She sat them down on the counter and picked her phone up, which started vibrating a second after. "That was weird," she laughed, looking down at the screen as she slid her finger across it to unlock it. A few seconds and a big grin later and looked up at me. "Actually, that was Phil asking me if I could come in early. Are you okay with feasting on burritos alone?"

"Awww. Of course. Go. Have fun with your sexy Professor man," I told her as I walked over to the fridge to put a bottle of apple juice in it. To be honest, I didn't want to be alone but in all actuality it didn't matter anyway because I would have to take a power nap soon after I ate so I wouldn't actually stab anyone at work instead of just wanting to stab them. "Give him a kiss on those pretty lips for me," I told her before leaning towards her and making annoying kissing noises with my lips puckered.

She left a few minutes after that and I was left alone in a kitchen that was like the land of grocery bags since we put everything away. I managed to get them all balled up together and thrown away before I started to get ready to make some burritos.

Then it hit me that I wasn't even really hungry. Of course when we get tons of food, I have no urge to eat. All I really wanted to do was go crawl in my bed and sleep away the sinking feeling in my stomach. It was that feeling you get when you just know that you've lost something super important to you.

"Ugh. I am pathetic," I groaned as I shuffled out of the kitchen and walked towards my room in hopes that I would be able to pass the fuck out quickly.

Brighton's pov

Thankfully the rain had let up and there was only a light sprinkle falling from the sky when I left my apartment. I didn't want to have to waste any money on taking a taxi somewhere that I could easily walk.

The walk to campus excited me a bit. I honestly couldn't wait to see Phil again. I'm not sure what it was about him that had me so enthralled... I don't want to say that I'm a generally careless person, because I'm not, but when it came to liking someone so much on this kind of level, well, it just wasn't something that happened very often for me.

Especially after only knowing the person for a week. It felt like I'd known him much longer than that, though I knew that there was still so much to learn about him.

I managed to make it to Columbia in fifteen minutes instead of the usual twenty. I think I might have been power walking because I wanted to get there as fast as I could, not only to see him, but just in case the rain decided to pick up again and become more than my cheap umbrella could handle.

I stepped under the shelter of the top of Dodge Hall and closed my umbrella, shaking away as much of the wetness as I could before I made my way inside of the building.

Since it was still early and many classes were still going on, it wasn't as deserted as it had been the last time I'd met him here for work-study.

Again, his message said to meet him in his office so I was mentally preparing myself for my imagination to start running wild with the idea of shoving everything off of his desk and laying across it naked.

His office door was open but I knocked on it anyways as I stepped inside. He was sitting behind his desk looking more gorgeous than ever. He had on a baby blue button down and a black vest that covered it. Both of which brought out his eyes, but no more than the fact that he didn't have his glasses on. He also hadn't shaved and there was stubble covering his jawline.

"Good afternoon," I smiled at him and tugged the strap of my purse further up my arm. "You look very handsome in that shirt. It brings out your eyes," I informed him without stopping to think that it might be inappropriate to say.

Thank you for the pep talk, Sydney.

He looked shocked and glanced down at himself before looking up at me again with the cutest grin. "Thank you very much. You look gorgeous, as always." He closed his laptop and stood up from his chair. "I have a confession. I lured you here with my boss powers," he laughed. "I actually have no work for you to do today. We are going to go have that coffee and doughnuts we talked about."

"Aw, man!" I pretended to be upset. "How dare you lure me all this way in the rain for coffee and doughnuts? I was looking forward to being distracted from attempting to do productive things!"

"Nope. No productivity at all today, Ms. Kennedy," he said as he slid his laptop into his bag. He put it on his shoulder and picked up his umbrella which looked huge and made mine look like an umbrella for Barbie. "Come on, beautiful. Adventures await," he said as he opened the door and gestured for me to walk through first.

I stepped into the hallway and looked around as I waited for him to lock his office up. I'm sure my face was a little red because it felt very hot due to his compliments.

Across the hall I noticed that an older professor was leaning back in his chair watching us and I brought my hand up to wave at him. Apparently he got the hint that I was being a smartass and decided to turn his attention elsewhere and I turned mine back to Phil.

"Did you have a good day today, sir?" I asked him as we both started down the corridor.

"It was alright," he answered, glancing over at me. "Not very eventful. I nearly fell asleep during my third class. Had I not almost fallen out of my chair I would have completely passed out," he laughed as he reached out to push the door open for me to exit the building first again. I was reminded of Sydney's comment about old school romance. I had never had a guy refuse to let me even open a door for myself.

"Is it bad that I wish I could have seen that?" I asked, grinning as I stepped ahead. "Maybe I should become a film major?" I offered, holding my hands up to make a box with my thumbs and index fingers. "Oh yes, this overcast is perfect. That's a wrap," I mumbled then started to pull my tiny umbrella out of my purse and out of its case.

"Brilliant!" he laughed and then he reached out and his fingers wrapped around my wrist. "Mine is big enough for the both of us. I'm talking about the umbrella but you can take that in any way you'd like." He laughed at himself while he opened his umbrella and stepped a bit closer to me so I would be covered by it.

We made our way down the steps that were in front of the building and I could feel his hand just barely touching the small of my back as we walked down together. It was like it was in his nature to be protective or something which I found to be bizarre but refreshing at the same time.

It also seemed as though he didn't care very much about what people on campus would think of us walking together so closely. Although, he was very young looking and could easily be mistaken for a student.

"It's only a couple of blocks away from campus," he told me as we began walking down the sidewalk. "I usually stop at this place instead of Starbucks. The coffee is so good but they have tea as well if you want something like that."

For some reason, the mention of tea reminded me of what he and his brother had so kindly done for Sydney and I. I grinned to myself at the thought of it and turned towards him a bit as we walked. "This is kind of off topic, but my hips told me to tell you thanks for what you did," I reached behind myself and slipped my hand between his and my back so that our palms were touching. "It was very kind of you to do that," I told him, wrapping my fingers around his hand to give it a little squeeze.

As simple of a touch as it might have been, it gave me butterflies.

He moved our hands so that they were at our sides and slipped his fingers between mine before raising our hands to his lips and kissing my knuckles the way he had in his office before. "I just wanted to give you two something I felt you deserved. You work hard at distracting me." He gave my hand a squeeze and continued holding it even though we'd barely gotten away from the campus.

"Well I'm glad you noticed my effort," I smiled up at him. "Sydney thought I robbed a bank or something," I started laughing, remembering the look on her face when she saw all of the bags. "We were also very surprised to see that your brother had contributed to that." Though, I don't think I was as surprised as Sydney had been. I had seen one side of him, the nice side, while only hearing about the side Sydney got to see.

"I'm very glad that we managed to surprise you both. I was hoping you wouldn't throw away the bags and not find the notes. Then I was paranoid that you would think I was weird for sending a fuckload of groceries to your house," he laughed. "The Dan thing," he widened his eyes and shook his head. "Well, I don't know what to think about that. Especially after today."

"I didn't think it was weird, although, I might have had a slight panic attack when I thought I was going to have to pay for all of it," I chuckled then sighed quietly. "Yeah, Syd told me about what happened in class today. She feels pretty bad about it."

So she hadn't outright said it, but anyone with a conscience would feel bad for flipping out on someone after finding out they did something very nice for them.

"I'll only talk about this now because this is our little coffee shop adventure and it will be about us but I still want to say it. I just want you to know that she's got it all wrong. I think Dan actually finds himself drawn to her. But apparently he overstepped a boundary today and she snapped. He said he nearly shat his pants when she informed him that her parents are dead."

"That's exactly what I told her, because she's convinced that he thinks she's this screw up or something and he treats her badly because he actually thinks badly of her... I mean, I don't know him that well, but he seems like a very good person. He's also funny, so I know he isn't as uptight as she thinks he is. I think they just clash. Like they met someone who won't take the other's crap, and it frustrates both of them."

"Well, too bad they can't be like us, yeah?" he grinned at me and gave my hand a squeeze again. "All we can do is be there for the both of them and be supportive. I just hope they can work things out. I think it'd be fun for the 4 of us to hang out, you know?"

He stopped walking and I looked over to see a small coffee shop that honestly reminded me of some place you would see in England. I had never spotted it before. It looked warm and inviting and there weren't tons of people there. "And this is where our part of the night begins so we shall only talk about good things," he told me while we walked up to the door. He let go of my hand, sadly, to close the umbrella and then pushed open the door for me to walk through. "Order whatever you want, by the way. I'm paying. They have amazing doughnuts and pie and everything," he laughed.

We both ordered espressos and Phil ordered us a variety of a dozen doughnuts before we took our seats at a cozy little table in the corner of the room, the furthest away from the door and the windows.

"So, I never got to ask," I began, sitting my coffee cup down on the table, "Are you liking the city so far? Or America in general?"

"I've really been enjoying it, actually," he replied after taking a sip of his coffee. "It's so busy and fast paced. It's almost impossible to see everything it has to offer. I love teaching. Oh and I have this work study person who works with me and she happens to brighten my days quite a lot."

"Is that so?" I tilted my head and bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from looking like the Cheshire Cat because of the smile attempting to unveil itself. "You and I must be two of the luckiest people in the city, then. My work-study boss is wonderful and he has the cutest crooked grin... Kind of like yours, actually. Only better."

"I have a cute grin?" he asked while giving me the exact grin I was talking about. "You just reminded me of something." He sat his coffee cup down and reached over to take the doughnut I was bringing to my lips away from me. He scooted closer to me and brought his hand up to the side of my face. I swear it felt like my heart was going to explode. His eyes were so intense as he looked down at me.

And then it finally happened. His lips pressed softly against mine and he lingered there, his thumb rubbing softly over my cheek before he pulled away and smiled down at me. "I told you I would kiss you first."

I grinned at him but instead of responding with words, I grabbed his tie and pulled him towards me. Putting my hand on his cheek, I leaned in and kissed him, making sure to let my hand smooth into his hair and my lips linger before I slowly leaned back. "And I told you I would do that," I straightened his collar. "I see we both keep our word."

His eyes were wide and it was obvious that I had shocked him which made kissing him like that even more satisfying. He cleared his throat and chuckled as he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. "Well, Ms. Kennedy, I do love to find a woman who can keep her word and also has lips as soft as yours."

I smiled and picked up the doughnut he had stopped me from eating before saying anything. "I'm a woman of many talents," I stated then took a bite of my pastry. "Mmmm. So good. I haven't had an actual doughnut in months," I laughed. "You're spoiling me, Mr. Lester."

Those 75 cent packs of Little Debbies don't count. Those aren't real doughnuts.

He reached over and wiped the corner of my mouth with his thumb and instead of using a napkin to wipe his finger off, he sucked the icing off of his own finger. "You think this is spoiling you?" he laughed. "I'm simply treating you the way you should be treated. You're an incredible woman and should be treated as such."

I could feel the warm and fuzzies in my stomach along with the butterflies that hadn't gone away since I touched his hand on the way to the shop.

Perfect time to be a bit pessimistic. "So what's the catch?" I asked, re-crossing my legs. "You're funny, smart, sweet, handsome, and charming... Basically perfect, which leads me to believe that you may like to drown kittens or skin people in your spare time."

He looked genuinely devastated. "Drown kittens? That's devastating. Awwww!" He poked his bottom lip out then laughed. "I don't know," he shrugged. "I mean, everyone has flaws. I have quite a few. I'm sure they'll show up as you get to know me. There's a lot about me you don't know and there's a lot about you that I don't know. That's what this is about," he pointed between the two of us. "Us hanging out and talking like this. We're learning about each other and we're lucky enough to have it going incredibly well so quickly. I hope it's a foreshadowing for the future."

He was right. I think the thing that really, not bothered me, but made me even think badly, was that things had never gone this well with anyone. Not even with anyone I'd been in a relationship with, and this was just us taking.

"Fair enough," I pushed my hair behind my ear and picked up my coffee, grinning at him over the cup before I took a drink of it. "So do you miss your family being so far away from them?" I asked as I sat my cup back down.

His eyes seemed to get a little sad and he looked off to the side for a second before bringing his gaze back to me. "I miss them a lot, honestly. It was quite hard to leave my parents to be honest but it was for the best. Dan being along with me helps a lot though. We've lived together since we were kids so he makes it not seem like I'm so far away. What about you? Are you close with your family?"

"Aww," I pouted. "I'm very close with my family, yes. Leaving my parents was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But I think it was the best thing for me to do. I needed the independence I have here, you know?" I sighed. "I miss them so much, though. I haven't seen them since last Christmas. Luckily I stay pretty busy so missing them isn't as hard to deal with."

"I can't imagine going almost a year without seeing my parents. That's heartbreaking." He reached out for my hand and took it in his. "Perhaps if we can get Dan and Sydney to stop being crazy towards each other we can create our own little group to keep us from getting all sad from missing our Mums," he laughed. "So, let's get some basics. Hmmmm. What's your favorite color, book, author, and who is your favorite work study boss?"

"Periwinkle. The Hobbit. Oscar Wilde. And..." I tilted my head like I was thinking then slowly started to lean in towards him, "you," I whispered against his lips before kissing them softly.

I felt him smile against my lips and he shocked me by slipping his tongue past my lips only to touch mine briefly before kissing me again. He pulled back and grinned at me. "I just wanted to have a little taste."

"Have another," I grinned, leaning in to kiss him again, my fingers gripping at his tie, but I halted when I felt a vibration coming from his direction.

He groaned and let out a little sigh as he pulled away and reached into his pocket to get his phone. He had a look of frustration on his face when he answered. "Hello?"

We were sitting so closely I could hear that the voice on the other end of the line was female but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
"You're absolutely sure? Well, I'm just wondering. This wouldn't be the first time you got all over dr-" he paused and rubbed his hand down his face. "Right. Okay, I'll be right there. Everything will be fine." He hung up the call and stared straight ahead for a second with a blank expression on his face.

He finally looked over at me and gave me a sad smile. "I'm so, so incredibly sorry but I have to cut this short. I've got a bit of an emergency." He reached into his pocket again and pulled something out of it before slipping it into my hand. I was about to look down at it but he grabbed my attention again by cupping my cheeks with his hands and kissing me again.

This time it was a different kind of kiss. He didn't hesitate in deepening it. His tongue moved against mine slowly and softly. He tasted like coffee and doughnuts and something I'd never tasted before.

I'm pretty sure I was instantly addicted.

"I'll see you soon," he whispered against my lips before standing up to leave.

I sat there in a bit of a daze and watched him leave before looking down at my hands to see what he'd given me.

It was a 20 dollar bill.

Why did he give me money? And who was that woman on the phone? Why did he just up and leave?

I was trying to collect my thoughts as well as the box of doughnuts he had left me when I felt my phone vibrate against my thigh.

I pulled it out to see a text from him.

Again, I'm so sorry for leaving. I promise I'll make it up to you.

No sooner than I read that one, another came through.

The money I left was for cab fare. I had a great time, by the way.

I didn't text him back right then because I was trying to get my things so I could leave. Since he was treating me to a cab ride, I could thank him on the way home.

I got to the door just as it was opening and I gasped because I wasn't expecting to see the person who was walking in.

It was Mr. Howell, his hair damp from the rain and his white button down stained brown from the coffee Sydney had thrown at him earlier.

"Brighton, wow, I wasn't expecting to see you here," he smiled weakly. "My brother loves this place.. Ah, is he still here?" He offered what looked like a proud smirk as he folded his arms across his chest.

"He just left, actually," I responded, stepping to the side so he could move towards the counter. I had planned on leaving, but I had a few reasons to stay now. "Some woman called and he said it was an emergency and had to go."

Don't judge me.

"Oh? Ohhh," he nodded like there was something I wasn't catching onto. "Yeah, it was probably our super. Something's been going on with the pipes in our flat. The place probably flooded. She called me but I didn't answer," he explained then smirked. "Don't worry, he's not seeing anyone else or anything, if that's what you were thinking."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't respond because he was ordering himself a cup of coffee.

"You can join me if you'd like," he spoke up, gesturing towards a table as he picked up his coffee cup.

"I'd love to, Professor Howell," I responded and followed behind him.

He gave me a dirty look. "You really don't have to call me that, you know. I'm not your professor. You can call me Dan."

"But what if I am at some point?" I asked as I sat down. "Can I still call you Dan?"

"I don't know. Can you?" He asked then rolled his eyes at himself. "You can call me whatever you want, as I'm sure it won't be worse than what I was called today," he told me before taking a sip of his coffee.

I knew exactly what he was talking about and I took that as an opening to delve further into that topic.

"You know, she feels awful about that," I informed him. "But today is a weird day for her. It's the anniversary of her parents' death and I think that along with everything else just kind of made her snap."

He slowly lowered the coffee to the table and I saw the saddest look in his eyes before he lowered his head and stared at his cup.

"She knows what you did for her.. for us," I went on, "I speak for both of us when I say that it was very kind of you and your brother... Sydney just, she's not had it as easy as you think, and even if you are teasing her, which I think you are, today was just a day where she couldn't handle it and she lashed out at you because she thinks that you mean the things you say to her."

"I don't mean any of it," he looked up from the table. "Okay, maybe the first day I had the wrong impression but she definitely proved herself... She's just, fun, I think. I could make comments to her and she could make them back and it entertained me. I never meant to actually hurt her feelings. Ninety percent of the things I say shouldn't be taken seriously and I guess she didn't know that."

"Just like you didn't know about her parents," I said, tilting my head. "I can tell that you feel bad, but she knows that you didn't know, and that if you did, you wouldn't have said whatever you said that upset her so badly, right?"

"Of course. I might be a twat but I'm not a cunt."

"There's a difference?" I laughed which caused him to laugh too.

"Well if there's not, let's pretend there is, yeah?" He raised his cup again and took a drink. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked and I nodded. "Where does she work? She says she's always up late because she works night shift."

I shrugged. "Some fancy place on the upper east side. It's a restaurant and bar that has a lot of social things going on all night. I've never asked the name because I know I'll never end up going there," I laughed. "Why, you thinking about stopping by and apologizing?"

"Out of fear of having something else thrown at me, no," he shook his head. "I think I'll just talk to her about it on Monday. She emailed me her essay so I don't think she's dropping my class."

"She wouldn't let you win that easily," I smirked.

"That's what I like about her," he said before taking a drink of his coffee. "She reminds me of me."

"Your brother has said the same thing," I commented as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I decided to text Phil then, because it didn't look like I was going home anytime soon. "From what I know, I have to say that I agree. She's a very determined person."

"I've gathered that much. I mean, at first I brushed her off as some slacker, which is why I was so harsh. This makes me the biggest hypocrite, because I am probably the laziest person ever, but I can't stand when people don't apply themselves. When they just bounce through life not trying for anything and just letting it pass them by... It just bothers me, especially when I can see all of this potential in them and there's nothing I can do to get them to see it."

I had a feeling that he was talking more about Sydney and less about the general population.

"So you give them tough love?" I offered, sitting my phone down on the table.

He nodded. "Yeah. I think that, especially in this situation, if you challenge someone enough, they'll want to show you what they're capable of, just to prove themselves.. and eventually they'll realize, wow, I can do more than I ever thought and it'll help them out in the long run."

"Is that what you tried to do with Sydney?" I asked, already knowing the answer, even though it looked like he was only then realizing it himself.

"Actually, yeah. I don't know, there's just something about her... Honestly, I think it's because I see so much of myself in her. Like, when I was her age, maybe a little younger, I felt lost, kind of. Like I had no direction in my life whatsoever. I was in school and everything but it was an internal struggle I had, trying to find my place or something," he shrugged. "I was lucky enough to have a bit of guidance from my brother, but even he couldn't really understand it. He's always had a good head on his shoulders and a very clear direction... Anyways, I found mine and I guess I just want to help her. Save her from herself, if you will."

"You know, if you acted this way around her she wouldn't think that you meant all the things you say to her when you mess with her," I told him, letting my cheek rest against my palm.

"I know. To be honest I didn't think I was even being that hard on her today," he held a hand up to silence me because I was about to respond. "I know it was a bad day for her but we were going back and forth like we usually do and it wasn't even that horrible, so I was actually being a bit nicer but she-"

"Snapped," I finished for him. "I know. She may have a temper but much like you, she also has the ability to know when she's misjudged someone... You'll see her on Monday, though. Just talk to her. I know she'll listen."

Dan nodded while tapping his finger against the side of his coffee cup before sitting it down. "You'll see Phil on Monday," he gave me a cute crooked grin.

"I will indeed," I agreed, not caring to show how happy knowing that made me.

"Aw, you like him, don't you?" He asked, but didn't give me much of a chance to reply. "He likes you too.. Which is kind of odd."

I raised an eyebrow at him and he held his hands up defensively. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," he laughed. "I meant that him liking anyone is odd. He's very picky when it comes to women. Of course he has reasons to be that way. If I were in his situation, I'm not sure I'd really trust anyone enough to try dating them."

"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up a bit.

He got a weird look on his face that I couldn't read and remained quiet for a few seconds before speaking. "About three years ago he got out of a pretty bad relationship. It was really complicated and still is."

My face fell just as my heart did and Dan's hands shot up again, defensively.

"Oh God, I should stop talking. I didn't mean- they aren't complicated. Trust me, they are completely over.. but the relationship kind of took a toll on him.. I'm sure he'll talk to you about it when he's ready. Please, don't have doubts because of anything I said. He really likes you and it was supposed to be a compliment to you, because he hasn't really been interested in anyone since. He must think you're very special."

After his explanation I did feel a bit better about what he had said in the beginning but I couldn't help but wonder what had happened with his old relationship...

I managed to sit and chat with Dan for over an hour after without poking at the subject, even though I kinda wanted to. But he was right. Phil would tell me when he was ready to tell me.

I mean, was I ready to talk about my failed experiences with love? Not entirely. Plus, we'd only had one date, that might not even count as an actual date. This was new for both of us and it was supposed to be fun; not something you dissect and obsess over.

Despite how pessimistic I wanted to be about the situation, I decided to remain optimistic and not think about the things I did not know.

Because what I did know was that I liked him.

I liked talking to him about nothing but about everything at the same time. I liked hearing his flirty comments, his silly jokes, his voice in general. I liked the way he looked at me I liked the way his hand felt against mine, the softness of his lips and the sweet taste that lingered on them.

I mean, I really, really liked him.