Page 64 of The Scientist
Yep, definitely over my head.
But he was so magnetic up there that I, along with everyone else, had trouble looking away. It was as if he were the center of gravity, and we all couldn’t help but be pulled in.
I thought it was probably best if I didn’t lurk by the door and possibly disturb the lesson. Common sense told me the best thing to do would be to leave, so naturally, I waited for him to turn and write something on the board before I dashed to one of the few open seats along the aisle. He seemed to be none the wiser as he turned and continued his lecture.
I felt a slow smile spread across my face as I watched him. He was completely in his element, and I had to admit I was a little jealous. He was just as new to teaching as I was and yet here he was doing it so naturally and with such conviction. It was like he’d been doing it all his life.
I’m not sure how I captured his attention since I was sitting as low in the seat as possible in such a large crowd, but eventually, his gaze inexplicably found me, and we locked eyes. I smiled, knowing I was busted. He raised an eyebrow questioningly but didn’t miss a beat as he continued on with his lecture, pacing from one side of the room to the other.
Every time he turned to my side of the room, his eyes always found their way back to me. After a while, he stopped the back-and-forth pattern and stood directly in the center of the room. We were locking eyes so often that the rest of the room began to blur, leaving the two of us caught in a quiet exchange that made the crowded room seem distant and unimportant.
His voice carried a rich timbre, the kind you could sink into like a warm bath, soothing and all-encompassing. His face remained an enigma, a mask concealing every trace of his thoughts. But his eyes—those whiskey eyes—told stories his lips never would, and I clung to every single word.
The intensity of his gaze held me captive, making it impossible to tear my eyes away. He continued speaking but never turned his attention away from me. Eventually, I became distracted by the fullness of his mouth.My eyes lowered to those sumptuous lips as I watched them forming words but didn’t hear a sound. I thought of everything he might be able to do with those lips. How perfectly soft they would feel brushing across my skin. How much I wanted to feel them pressed against my own. My mouth suddenly went dry, and I felt a warm flush creeping up my neck. Holy crap, was I actually getting turned on… in a room full of students?
I pressed my legs together and realized yes… yes, I was. I still didn’t look away, though. I continued to picture his mouth on mine… fingers threaded in my hair… our bodies pressed together...
“Alright, that’ll be all for today, guys,” I heard him say, snapping me back to reality.
I slowly let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. As the crowd of students started to make their way out, I thought I might be able to slip out without being seen. That is, until I heard my name being called.
“Ms. Olivier, can I see you after class, please?”
Well, there went that brilliant plan.
I hoped he wasn’t angry with me for sitting in on his lecture. I waited until most of the students had left before I made my way to the front where he was still talking with a few stragglers.
Once everyone had departed, I asked, “You wanted to see me, sir?” I was trying to be funny, but it sounded more like a line from a bad porno.
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on my bad joke or even question what I was doing there.He simply asked, “Are you busy right now?”
Just picturing us rolling around in bed together like a couple of rotisserie chickens… but besides that, no.
I cleared my throat. “No, why?”
“I’d like to show you something.”
“Okay,” I agreed, feeling curious.
He gathered his things, and I followed him up the stairs to the second floor. We headed down a side hallway, passing a few offices, when I noticed one withDr. Alexsander Strovinskilabeled on the door. It looked to be about twice the size of all the others.
When we got to the end of the hallway, Lex flicked on the lights of a completely vacant laboratory. There were several long tables in the center of the room with microscopes, beakers, and other lab equipment scattered across them. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with far too many books to count as well as different models of the brain.
“Take a seat right here,” he said, pulling out a stool that had a microscope sitting on the table directly in front of it.
“Is this your lab?” I asked, looking around.
“I wouldn’t call itmylab,” he said, smiling. “But it’s the one Stanford is letting me use for my research for the time being.”
I rolled my eyes. “Semantics.”
I took a seat on the stool, swinging my legs back and forth. “So what is it you wanted to show me?”
“Hold on one second,” he said, rifling through a few boxes in the corner of the room. “I just need to find… here it is.”
He opened the box as he walked over to me and took out a small glass slide before slipping it into place under the microscope. “Take a look.”
I leaned forward, now extremely curious about what he wanted to show me.