The Road Less Traveled (Prof./Student)

Chapter 29 - My Elle

"And then we could add the quote from T.S. Eliot to highlight the statement?", I half asked and he nodded agreeingly.

As a result, I inserted the quote into the presentation that we had been working on for the past hour and saved the file. A few weeks had passed since my birthday and now we were currently sitting in the library for a poetry meeting once again because this was one of a few places where we could be seen together.

"Then I think we're done, if you don't want to add anything of course", I said and started to stretch my back and shoulders that were starting to hurt from all the sitting. 

He shook his head and watched me amusingly:"No, I don't think so. Good job, Miss White."

"Good job yourself, Professor", I countered and laughed at the odd situation. It was hard for me not to call him Alex when we were in public and to act as if we would be nothing more than a professor and a student. 

"Are you nervous because of tomorrow?", he asked me and changed to a personal subject, my brother's wedding.

"Mhm..I don't know. Maybe happily excited? I am so happy for my brother and Elle is absolutely perfect for him. You'll see. I can't wait for you to meet them", I smiled at him but he suddenly looked quite stressed out.

"Wait, are you nervous because of tomorrow?", I asked him surprised and he gave me a face that said 'of course I am'.

He sighed and moved his hand through his hair before he answered:"Yes, I have to admit I am. And before you start laughing at me, I have every reason to be! I'm going to meet your family. Your brother and your parents and I have to make a good impression to all of them. I'll only have this one chance and I can't mess it up..."

I gave him a sympathetic look and searched for his hand under the table to caress it softly:

"You won't mess it up. They'll like you. Just be yourself."

"But what if they can't cope with the fact that you're technically my student right now? They should just, under no circumstances, see me as the professor who sleeps with his students. I don't want the scenario in which they learn to live with us being together because they think that it won't last anyway. If this works, and I believe it does to one hundred percent, then I'm going to see them for a long time from then on. So, I most definitely need their approval and honest consent!"

"Alex, calm down okay? Everything's going to be fine. We'll explain the whole situation to them in the right moment and they'll understand as soon as they see that you make me happy. Gosh, you make me incredibly happy...Don't worry. They'll get to know you and, I promise, they'll love you."

He breathed deeply in and out and tried to calm down. He was so sweet...

"Eh, a different question. Do you have any cute male friends that are single?", I asked and had to suppress my laughter when I saw his face. 

"Why are you asking? Already tired of me, Miss White?", he asked me suspiciously but grinned.

I giggled, shaking my head:"Not for me, silly. For Julie. She has no one yet, so I thought that maybe you would know a nice, well-mannered, young man that doesn't look that bad?"

"Is that what I am to you?", he asked jokingly so I sarcastically replied:

"Oh absolutely!"

With a fake disappointment in his expression he shook his head at me before he chuckled lowly:

"Well, most of my friends aren't single. But I think there is someone that might fit. I'll call him and see if he has time, okay?"

Enthusiastically I nodded:"Oh that would be fantastic! You're the best."