My Professor's Secret

25|

twenty-five

With everything going on lately, home was the only place I wanted to be. And not home as in my dorm room, but back home to Dreycott. Luckily, Chris was able to somehow convince his friend that drove us home last time to borrow his car. It's not like he needed it at the moment anyways. He couldn't handle the drive back for the holidays—it was too long for him so instead he opted out and took a flight.

It turns out not talking to your brother leaves a lot of space for endless conversations. Considering the last time we had a proper conversation was at the mixer, there was a lot of stuff we had been keeping from each other. Like the fact that his roommate still had a thing for me and wouldn't stop begging Chris to set us up together. It made me laugh thinking back to the time Chris and I fought over it. Especially since now he seemed to not care at all.

"I told him you're seeing someone," he pauses to get a good look at me from the driver seat. "At least that's what I've been hearing."

It was definitely news to me.

"Wow. Am I the hot commodity around campus? Have I officially made it?" I asked sarcastically. I hadn't been seeing anyone. And unless he was referring to the one date Wyatt and I had been on, it had to have been all rumors.

But then I remembered that letter from Rachel and suddenly my throat began closing in.

"Trust me, it's not a good thing. Clearly you don't know but a rumor about you and a teacher has been spreading around campus. I avoid drama and gossip at all costs. You know that. But if something like this finds my attention and keeps it, there's a problem. You being my sister and all, it felt only right to make it my business."

The only person who could have confirmed allegations like that was Rachel or Meghan. Even though Meghan was dating my brother and occasionally passing out good advice, the lack of trust towards her remained. Somehow she always found herself in the midst of everyone else's business.

"Wait. A teacher?" I laugh, fronting a fabricated sense of confusion. "Who and where do people find these rumors? Are they just picking shit out of the sky at this point?"

Chris turned to me with a raised eyebrow before pulling into the nearby gas station to load up the tank for the remainder of our journey back home.

"Alex, I'm serious. The rumors are about you and Trevor.  Don't try denying it. As I've said before, I know it's true. Maybe you two aren't physically doing anything, but you know as well as I that something is going on.. You can talk to me about it, you know? If he's pressuring you into anything or abusing his power. We used to talk to each other at one point, remember?"

He looks as if he'd been staring right through me because in all honestly, he had. One thing about my relationship with my brother is that I couldn't lie to him. I couldn't even pretend he didn't know I already knew that either. But what was everyone's deal about him taking advantage of me? If something was legitimately going on, he and I were two consenting adults well capable of understanding the consequences of our actions. Besides, Professor Thornton wasn't that kind of man and all I could hope was that this rumor hadn't tarnished his reputation. Especially because of me.

"I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't think it was relevant." Chris continues on account of my silence. "Hell, if I was gay I'd be into the guy. The way Meghan talks about him like he's from some fairytale." He looks at me waiting for a confession nonetheless. It wasn't until he realized I had nothing to say did he unbuckle his seatbelt to get out of the car.

There wasn't much left to say after that so he stepped out of the car and walked over the gas pump to fill the tank.The rest of our journey home was pretty much silence. Partly due to the fact that I'd jammed my earbuds into my ears to avoid talking. I braced myself for how seeing my father would play out. We weren't technically on the best of terms, but I missed him and denying that hadn't helped me at all.