Literature, lust and love - Professor Romanoff

FOUR

"Miss Dunn, your attention please."

I was jolted into consciousness when Professor Rogers spoke across his lecture hall. He had started talking about the constitution and as I didn't really enjoy this part of U.S. History, I zoned out and was planning my outfit for tomorrow in my head. I didn't want anything too slutty for two reasons, it was a frat party and so all the boys there are assholes, and I didn't want Natasha to get the wrong idea. I fixed on a black crop top and my pink jeans, pairing them with my black converse.

"Hello, Miss Dunn?" Professor Roger's impatient voice snapped again. I met his frustrated eyes across the hall as I quickly tried to apologise.

"I'm so sorry, sir."

"Tomorrow, 4 pm, you'll be here covering what you missed when you were daydreaming."

"But-"

"No buts, Miss Dunn, I don't appreciate laziness." He turned around smugly before addressing the rest of the class. Emily turned around to look at me and gave me a sympathetic smile, not realising why I was so bummed out. I had to find Natasha and tell her. I knew the pit in my stomach wouldn't go away until I saw her and sorted it all out.

I spent the next hour after class running around campus like a madman until I had a realisation. I walked into the library and found her in one of the study rooms, draping herself over a chair as she read a book. I took a slight moment to trace my eyes over her figure before remembering why I was here.

"Natasha, finally, oh my gosh!" I walked in, closing the door behind me as I caught my breath.

"Desi? What's wrong?" She stood up, her eyes flicking between me and the glass door. I followed her gaze and realised she might not want to be seen in a room with her student so I started making my way back to the door.

"I can keep it open if you don't want to be seen here with me."

Natasha scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Desi, you can't be serious?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm not sure what's right and wrong here. I just thought you were looking at the door because you didn't want anyone to see."

"Silly girl!" She sighed softly and took my hand, her fingers tracing over my knuckles. "I was just keeping my eyes on Mrs Elm because I need to chat with her but it looks like she's not coming back, so you can have my full attention. Sit." She pulled me over to the chair next to hers and pulled me down.

"I was trying to find you because Professor Rogers basically gave me detention for not listening for like two minutes and he's scheduled it for the same time as our lesson. And it sucks because I was really looking forward to it," I finished, looking down at my hands.

"Oh, Desi, let's sort this out." Natasha pulled out her phone and started dialling a number. "Hey Steve, how are you doing?"

I couldn't make out the other side of the conversation but Natasha was smiling. "Just a quick thing, you can't keep Miss Dunn tomorrow, I have her."

I smiled to myself, she has me. "Stop thinking like that, you idiot," I thought to myself.

"Who cares about the constitution, Steve!" Natasha raised her voice, clearly exasperated. "I don't know, ask her yourself."

My eyes shot open as she held out the phone to me. I tentatively put it to my ear and heard Professor Roger's voice over the static.

"Miss Dunn, Professor Romanoff believes you can tell me all about the constitution. Can you?"

"Sure, Professor Rogers." I listed off many facts that I knew he talked about today and snuck in a few critical thoughts and quotes from experts. The whole time I saw Natasha watching me, smirking as I rattled on through the phone.

"I see, sorry for doubting you, Miss Dunn. I no longer need to see you tomorrow, and it appears you know plenty of material."

"Thanks Professor Rogers."

"Goodbye, Miss Dunn."

"Bye." He hung up before I could say anything but I was glad because Natasha was starting to bounce up and down on her chair in excitement. I met her eyes and melted into them as all the stress of the day went out of the window.

"I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Desi, after all."

"Thank you Natasha, I really couldn't bare the thought of spending the time with Professor Rogers and not you."

"Of course, Desi. You're not the only one looking forward to these lessons. But Steve really isn't that bad, he's just a bit old fashioned." She smiled sweetly at me, absentmindedly fiddling with her necklace. I took a closer look at it and saw that it was an arrow, and curiosity sparked.

"That's a pretty necklace." I pointed at it, and she dropped her hand from it, smiling as she looked at it.

"Thanks, my best friend Clint got it for me when I came to the States."

"From Russia?" I was so curious about her past, and how she came to be with me today. So many things didn't make sense, her perfect American accent, her high level of fitness and her general poised demeanour. Why she seemed to like me.

"Yeah, he kinda helped me escape from it all over there and took me to New York where I enrolled at NYU. Fast forward two degrees and I'm now here. My accent went quickly because I spoke English back home and I'm very susceptible to external influence, like accents."

"That's really cool, thanks for telling me." I smiled and she reciprocated, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

"Of course, Desi, trust is a two way street so you deserve to know some things about me. And, I want you to know me."

I glanced at the clock in the room and realised that I should probably go back and shower and get ready for bed after such a long day. She saw my gaze and stood up, taking my hand in hers and pulling me up to face her, smirking as she did so.

"See you tomorrow, Miss Dunn?"

"Absolutely, Miss Romanoff." I winked and walked out of the room, certain that Natasha's eyes were on me as I left the building.