Page 10 of Academically Yours
“I’m Matthew.” He said, sticking his hand out. “Professor Matthew Harper, to be more specific.”
“Noelle,” I said with a small smile, still trying to ignore his folded sleeves and exposed forearms. Holy hell—he was beautiful, and what was he doing over here talking to me? Geez, Noelle, get a grip, I tried to coach myself. Well, no going back now. What do normal people say when they meet people? Oh. Right. “It’s nice to meet you,” I nodded in acknowledgment, popping a piece of cheese in my mouth as he continued to stare at me. His eyebrow raised, and I realized what he wanted, oh god—because I hadn’t even introduced myself. Yep, I was doing great. “Just Noelle Hastings, Hall Director.”
Thankfully, this beautiful giant of a man seemed to miss my gawking of him and plowed straight ahead with his topic of conversation. “Well, Just Noelle Hastings, it’s very nice to meet you.”
“What do you teach?” I asked him. “I haven’t seen you around before.” I felt a little embarrassed to have mentioned that, but oh well. I hadn’t had him as my professor in any of my classes, and he definitely hadn’t taught here while I was an undergrad. I would have remembered him if I had seen him around before.
“Finance. Do you go here, also?”
“Oh yeah—I’m a grad student.” I gave him a little nod. “Getting my master’s in student affairs, all set to graduate this spring.”
“And do you like it?” His lips tilted up just a little bit, just an almost smile, and I nodded again.
Oh my god, Noelle, my brain yelled at me. Ask him something instead of just standing here like an idiot.
“Working here or learning here?” I finally asked, realizing I wasn’t sure what he meant, exactly. No one had ever asked me anything like that before—about anything, really. It seemed so much more personal, underlaid with an understanding most people had never given me before.
“Both, I guess.” he chuckled.
I just nodded, again. I did like it—I’d always loved learning, loved being surrounded by other people, loved being in a place where I had always thrived before. “I went here for my undergrad, too.” It seemed like a good thing to say to stop myself from nodding again.
He was just standing there, peering at me as I fumbled through my thoughts, one hand in his pocket: the picture of composed and elegant. He didn’t seem to mind my fumbling because he went back to our earlier topic. “It’s only my second year teaching here, so that’s probably why we hadn’t run into each other before.” He tilted his head at me. “Oh, and I hate coming to these things. I got dragged along this time, I normally make an excuse to get out of them.” Matthew—Professor Harper, I tried to remind myself, even as he ran his hands through his blond hair—said.
“Really?” I resisted the urge to laugh, still wondering why this beautiful specimen of a man was standing here making small talk with me.
He nodded solemnly, leaning down towards me like we were sharing a secret conversation, co-conspirators in some scheme. “The older women are always trying to set me up with their daughters.” He shivered.
I laughed, deeply, which also caused me to snort a little. “Oh!” I gasped, embarrassed, slapping a hand over my mouth. After the urge to giggle died, I finally returned my attention to his statement. “And you don’t want that?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’d much prefer to meet the love of my life in more of a… Unique way.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” I found myself intrigued, even though I didn’t quite know why. “And what way is that?”
He shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. “Not sure. I’ll let you know when I find out.” And then he flashed a little hint of a smile at me, and I realized how badly I wanted to see a real one from this man—a full one.
“You do that.” I laughed.
“What about you?” He asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “What about me?”
“Have any crazy coworkers tried to set you up with their sons?”
“No. Heck no. But sometimes the dorm moms.” I made a face. It was certainly not attractive, scrunching my nose and all but sticking my tongue out as I shook my head, but I couldn’t help it. “I don’t need some man-child who still lives in his mother’s basement playing video games. Besides,” I took a deep breath before biting my lip. “I kind of, ah, swore off dating.”
“Hm.” Matthew mused as a new reaction spread over his face that I couldn’t quite read, and then he chuckled at me again. “You know, it’s a shame.” A shame? What—that I hadn’t been in any of his classes?
And… Was my face on fire? And this guy was doing more than just talking with me? This felt like flirting. I could feel the heat rising to the back of my neck, and I tried to keep talking to distract myself from it. “What is?”
Matthew looked at me with the sincerest look in his eyes when he said, “That we hadn’t met before.” And, oh God—I blushed.
I batted my eyes at him. If he was going to fluster me… maybe I could fluster him. “And why is that, Professor?” I asked, feigning innocence.
He laughed. “Touché, Noelle.”
“So…” I tried to think of another topic of conversation as I stared at the dessert table. I finally settled on, “Are you from around here?”
He shook his head. “I’m from Seattle, but I worked in Chicago for a few years before I got my PhD.”