Professor Knight

Chapter Ten

"Who was that guy sitting at the bar with light brown hair and blue eyes?" Ellie points towards the window where we can see Joe and Jordan talking.

"Joe, I think he said his name is. Let me look at this." I hold out the business card he gave me in front of me. 'Joe McIntyre. Performer/musician.' It states alongside his phone number. Ellie snatched it from my hand to look at it herself. "Who was the other guy?" Xavier cuts in. "Jordan?" He nods. Crap. Do I tell him the truth, I question myself. "He's one of my professors." I glance for the last time before I move the car away. "So he's a professor and a restaurant owner? He must be raking it in." Xavier simply states his thoughts. I shrug. "I guess so. I don't care about money. Anyway, let's get you back so you can be going on your merry way home." I tell them both, not really wanting to talk about Jordan anymore with them. "I think they're both cute from what I saw of them." I hear Ellie say in the back seat.
Once we get back to my apartment building, we exchange hugs and I make them promise me to text me when they get back home. I thank them for travelling to see me. I wave them off. I walk into my apartment, it's all in quietness so I head straight to my room.  I plonk myself down on my bed. I end up dozing off.
It's dark when I wake up and I'm surprised to find it's about nine in the evening. There's still no sound coming from any of my flatmates. I reach for my phone and I flip the business card between my fingers. I decide to send a message to the number on the card to say 'Hi Joe, this is Maddie. It was nice to meet you today.' I browse through my social media to pass a bit of time. 'Hey Maddie! Was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me, it was my pleasure to meet you. What are you up to?' His message reads. 'Right now? Laid on my bed browsing through my social media seeing as I'm not doing anything else, you?' I sound so lame. 'I just got home from being with Jordan. He's a moody mare lately! Let me add you on social media. Joe.' Oh no, he's mentioned the one guy that I'm trying not to think about but I can't expect him not to when he's obviously friends with him. 'Oh okay. What's making him moody? Yeah sure you can.' Girl, what you doing, I scold myself! 'He met a girl who turned out to be someone he thought she wasn't, or something like that. He's been in his backside ever since. What's your surname then I can find you?' Duh! I reply with my surname. My phone pings on my social media accounts. I check into them. Lo and behold, there's Joe McIntyre sending me friend requests and following me on other sites. I'm really surprised when I look through his posts. There's pictures of him, with Jordan and three other guys.

Some pictures of him on his own and some with whom I'm guessing are his family/friends. Is he in a band? Oh my goodness, in a band with Jordan? What's Jordan doing teaching if he's in a band and co-owning the restaurant that I was at today? My head is confused.
Today is a new day and I'm feeling a little tired from late night texting with Joey. Thankfully, I managed to avoid conversation about Jordan and we kept out messages fun and lighthearted. He asked if I wanted to hang out sometime and I said I'd think about it. I don't want to hurt his feelings if he does like me but I don't want to hurt Jordan's feelings either. But he seems like a fun guy to hang out with and you can never have too many friends.
Me and Amy walk to our only class together which is the creative writing class. As soon as we walk into the classroom, we're both pounced on by Jake and India. Thankfully they weren't too heavy handed with me. India is a little quiet compared to her usual cheery self so I make a mental note to check in with her soon as I can. "You should see Xavier, India, he's so hot! Definitely tall, dark and handsome." She exaggerates and I'm trying not to feel queasy about her describing my brother like that. Jake whispers to me, "tell me who Xavier is again?" I giggle, and whisper back, "he's my brother. She and the other girls were all fawning over him, I actually felt sorry for him as he was glad to get away."

He asks to see a picture of him so I reach for my phone, and I show him. He arches his brow. "I can see the resemblance. Hey, India, here he is." He grabs my phone and holds it to India. Her eyes widen as her eyes rake in my brother on my screen. "Who's Joe?" She calls across the table. I go to reach for my phone and end up almost laid on the table. "Miss Young, you may sit back down now as I'm about to start the class."

I hear Jordan state from behind me. India hands me my phone and I slide back off the table to my seat. "I'm sorry Sir." His eyes lock on me for a few seconds before he wanders off. I quickly read my message from Joey who had asked if I wanted to hang out sometime with him.
Jordan talks to the class for the first part of the lesson and then gives us the instructions for our class work to do. "Guys, I forgot to mention that I will be calling you individually to discuss feedback on the course so far. Just like the register, I'll be calling in alphabetical order."
"How you feeling today, babe?" Jake quietly asks. I look at him with a little smile on my face, appreciating him caring enough to ask. "Better than I was the other day. It helped seeing my family. They reminded me why I'm here and how far I've come to get here." He frowns a little. "Were you thinking of leaving uni?" Straight to the point I see. "I was thinking about it." I feel Amy putting her hand on my shoulder, "you were thinking of leaving us all?!" Her voice laced with shock. I blush at the sudden spotlight being put on me. "Yes. But I'm here, aren't I?" I try to reassure them. "Seriously, babe, if you need anything, anytime, just let us know. My phone is always on for you." Jake tells me. He wraps his arm around me. I try not to get too close to him. "Thank you." Then I hear Jordan calling my name. I pick up all of my stuff and carry it with me to sit down with Jordan at his desk. "Thank you for joining me. I want to start with the poem that you wrote a few weeks ago. I'd like to understand why you wrote it in the way that you did." I try to remember what poem he's talking about. Sensing my memory lapse, he pulls it out in front of me. I read through it. I laugh at my sarcasm. "What is funny?" He asks. I stutter with my words. "Life in general." I frown. "I'm trying to understand, Maddie." He whispers when he says my name causing me to glance up at him. "You confuse me, Jor... Sir." He sighs. He leans closer, and whispers "just because I'm only able to be your professor, I still care about you and I'm trying to understand where your head is with regards to the work I set you." I roll my eyes. "Whatever." He growls only loud enough for me to hear. "I think we'll discuss this further when you feel you're ready to talk, Matilda." I pick up my stuff again and I hear him cursing quietly to himself. I quickly write down something and leave it on his desk.
'I'm sorry, I'm not ready to talk. Please don't be mad at me. M'
I don't glance at him once until I am seated back at my table with my friends. I can see he's reading the note but I choose to look elsewhere.