"Wow. What does he do there?"
"Nothing as far as I know. He's been taking time off to travel."
"Well that's fun." Professor Hunter looked so uncomfortable. He must not have been close with his brother. I decided to change the subject. "And your parents?"
"What about them?" His voice was so tense. He clearly did not want to talk about his family. But I wanted to know more.
"Well, where are they?"
"I'm not close with my parents."
"That's a shame."
He laughed. "No, it's not." He shifted in his chair. "And what about your family, Penny?"
I was about to ask why he was fighting with his parents, but he had avoided my next question with a question of his own. "I'man only child. Growing up, I was really close with my parents. But not as much since I started college."
"And why is that?"
Now I was the one who felt uncomfortable. "I don't know. I feel like some of the best things about college are just things you don't really talk about with your parents."
"You mean like me?"
"Yeah," I laughed. "I mean, I can't exactly tell them about you. I don't even like to imagine how upset they'd be with me."
"So you're ashamed that you're fucking your Comm professor?"
It wasn't just the words that he used, but the way that he said it that made me uncomfortable. "That's not really the way that I think about it. I'm definitely not ashamed. I really like you, Professor Hunter."
His expression stayed the same. What the hell was his problem?
"If that's the way that you think of me, then I guess you've gotten all that you want from me." I felt hurt. He made me think it was more. I wished I wasn't wearing just his t-shirt. I folded my arms across my chest and looked down at the table.
"I knew I wanted you since I first ran into you in that coffee shop. But I wasn't going to pursue you because you're a student. When you showed up in my class it complicated things, though. Every time I saw you, every answer you gave for the daily assignments, and every time we spoke made it impossible for me to get you out of my head. I knew I wanted you. I thought if I let myself give in to the temptation I could move on."
I felt so cheap. He just wanted me for my body. He was just like Austin. No, he was worse. I stood up. I had to get away from him. I didn't want him to see me cry.
"Penny, sit down."
I didn't move.
"Sit down, or I'll make you sit down."
I gulped. His words had such a power over me. What the hell was happening to me? I sat back down in my chair and looked at him.
"I don't understand why you're upset. We've already talked about all of this. Everything is different now. I couldn't move on. I don't want to move on. You’re all that I think about." He rubbed his face in his hands. "Geez, you have this way of crawling under my skin."
"Why, because I want to know more about you? That's what people that are dating do! I don't know why you always get upset when we try to talk."
"Because I don't want you to know what kind of man I am."
"I think that you're exactly the kind of man that I want." I swallowed hard. I grabbed my glass and took another sip of champagne. "Can you please just try to answer a few more questions without exploding?"
"I'm sorry." He took a deep breath.
"Are your parents wealthy?" I didn't want to antagonize him, but I needed him to answer my questions.
He sighed. "Yes. But everything I have is because of the choices I've made. I don't want a cent from them."
