Untouched

Chapter Two- Bartering With Morals

Not wishing for this handsome and charming male specimen to come upon her unkempt dorm room or her outlandish roommate, whom she suspected as having been a part of a wiccan clan, she simply attempted to part ways with him outside of the diner. However, her mind craved the continuous prodding he politely brought forward to her; having discussed the relationship of Daisy and Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Robbie and Ceceila by Ian McEwan, and the twisted incestual tales of V.C. Andrews, their conversation eventually drew personal. They discussed his life growing up in London and hers growing up in Ohio, the mutual abandonment of their father figures; hers in death and his in choice, and the status of remarriage that brought them to a similar belief of inner anger acting as a suss pool for creativity. It was clear by the time that the diner came to a close that they were cut from the same cloth, so to speak.

“Can I walk you home?’ He finally asked as they stood nervously outside of the closed establishment, the final illumination inside having been flickered off. She played with the tips of her fingers, twisting them with anxiety as he fought the urge to take her by her waist or even her hand as he believed he had connected with her in a way that was not only new for him but also craved.

“I would not be able to call myself a gent unless I did…” His accent made anything he spoke seem charming to her, but then again, she thought of El and the possible embarrassing things she could say to make this English Casanova suddenly lose his interest in Natalie. In fear of this, and wishing to keep him exclusive to herself, she rejected his attempts to remain chivalrous.

“Then can I at least know when I can see you again?” His eyes danced to her own, that shied away from him in consternation. “Unless I have completely read the situation wrong…” His gaze now fell in regret as he believed that perhaps they had come to share a tender moment; something fleeting between strangers, both riding a high of the mystery lain in a lack of expectation and a thrill of the unexpected.

“No…” She said quickly, her tone appearing more eager than she wished, before she shook her head with further confirmation. “You...You didn’t...I just...I want to get my footing here and-”

“I understand...How about you take the time you need and give me a ring when you decide you want to meet up again...yeah?” Her cheeks developed a blush of excitement as he held his hand, palm upwards, until she handed her phone to him. Rather quickly, he managed to insert his number into her phone, with his name in a proud display, before handing it back to her. However, as he turned, she looked at him with confusion before addressing him once more.

“You don’t want mine?”

“I don’t want you to feel pressured if I were to write to you immediately after tonight...I want you to do this on your own time-when you want. The ball is in your court, love.” Her heart fluttered to this pet name before she watched him disappear into a cobalt Kia and further down the unfamiliar road. Within a few seconds, Natalie took her own feet into the direction of the exit until she arrived back on campus. The sight of drunken peers stumbling on the foliage, lying in laughter and vomit upon the greenery, acted as an unkind reminder of why it was she remained from slipping into that black dress and becoming a victim to the pressure brought onto her by El. Eventually, she managed to cross the threshold of her room, to find El already passed out, half dressed, and obviously recovering from her own abundant indulgence of liquor.

She quickly completed her nighttime ritual before sliding into her own sheets and deciding to finish her decorating that next day between classes-as she found an excitement to build as her eyes closed for the night. Expected, her eyes came open to the sound of her alarm as El threw her pillow in the direction of the clock before missing and hitting Natalie. Casting a stare of annoyance to her roommate, Natalie pulled herself from the sheets and to the luggage to dress for the day. Deciding on an oversized jacket, black halter top that fell loose just before the lines of her jeans, she then focused on her hair. Throwing it up into a messy bun, she gathered her literature in her arms and made her way out of her dorm hall and towards her homeroom; psychology.

Rather excited to learn of the lesson and become further enlightened by the workings of one’s mind, she decided to choose a seat in the front row of the class, her eyes sharpened to the words of the text book in front of her as her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a figure entering the room before pausing at the board.

“Good day, pupils…” He spoke with a smirk, his accent having stunned her as her eyes rose up slowly to find the man from earlier this morning to have been her Psychology professor. The same mint green eyes were piercing at her, the impressive bone structure littered with short stubble hid his irritated s**t-out-of-luck grin, while he puffed his chest in a scoff before carrying on with his lesson. But as he attempted to gain the attention of his class while discussing the methods of manipulation, his eyes continuously fell on her, as she attempted to distract herself within the thick book, covering her blush and own self-annoyance.

When the torment finally reached a cessation, she quickly moved in the direction of the door, before he summoned her; forcing all eyes of envious feminine silhouettes a part of her same age bracket, to glare in her direction.

“A moment?” Her skin developed a chill of worry as she knew the things she had disclosed to him the night before were things no stranger should know of another without having first solidified trust. And yet, those kind eyes and charming accent were enough to bring her to the cusp of doing just that. They discussed everything from her true feelings of her stepfather and the annoying tumor of a son she was forced to endure along with the fresh exchange of vows-and even the insecurities she held within her beautiful frame, that he complimented sporadically throughout the night. But now, as she lingered in the doorway, waiting for every single member of the class to dismiss themselves in a leisurely fashion, he motioned her into the direction of his office.

Hesitantly, her steps followed his own until he brought her to a rather small room. In the center held a thick desk with a name plate and an entire wall of books acting as a backdrop to the professor’s back itself. A single window, closed from the inside sat on the right; and the adjacent walls held diplomas and articles that involved him and his philanthropic ventures; charities he and his family had been a part of for decades. But before she could commend him on his selflessness, she was met with his hand dipping into the direction of the chair, as she took the occupancy of the seat across from him.

“I want there to be an understanding that this needn’t be...difficult.” His words began with maturity, but his eyes flashed away as if he couldn’t bring himself to believe what left his own lips. ‘I wasn’t aware you were a student.”

“Neither was I-Uh...That you were a professor, I mean…” He slowly nodded, thinking to himself that this was just his luck; the first girl he would connect with had been someone more forbidden than him than any of the lovers they spoke of the night before.

“I hope we can coexist here without any awkwardness...It would be a pity to be distracted by misunderstood conversation.” Her eyes narrowed at him temporarily as she studied him.

“I understand…”

“However...There is something you left last night…” His accent rich with foreign enticement drew her focus to his lips until he revealed a book she had left upon the counter. Blushing for a moment, she leaned across the table to retrieve it, as he stretched his body closer to hers as well.

“I am very sorry for this...I just do not want there to be any confusion or-”

“No need to explain...It’s crystal.” Rather annoyed with the situation, she took hold of the book and disappeared back into the direction of her dorm.

The moment that the door closed at her back, she threw her body against it in defeat. “Of course this would happen to me...someone cool and sexy and interesting WOULD be off limits” She thought to herself in her mind before she turned to find El on the edge of her bed, braiding Rachel’s hair.

“Hey...what did Professor Smolder want?” Natalie’s eyes flickered to her roommate.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t notice...He’s dreamy...But obviously off limits…”

“In more ways than one…” Rachel added. “Yeah...I’d be careful...He seems to take an interest in all of his….scholarship students...The last girl before you-”

“Don’t scare her Rach-they never knew for sure…”

El finished tying off the end of Rachel’s dyed ruby hair before rising from the bed and showing Natalie an article upon her phone.

“Local Philadelphia college student goes missing after receiving scholarship-” The article read as Natalie let out a breath of uncertainty.

“He used to call her after class too...So many girls hated her for it...Nobody worse than Camilla though-I’m sure you’ve met her by now...the serpentine model’s daughter with an unfair ass and belief that she’s God’s gift…” Natalie slowly nodded, theorizing the girl who commented on her ‘retail cotton’ must be this girl all the same.

“Poor Joanna was so bullied because of it...But...Her and the professor had a fight that night-nobody knows what for...but she never came back to the dorm and he was arrested for like three days…” El shrugged. “It’s too bad because he’s cute and all-but...also dangerous.”

Natalie’s eyes fell to the side for a moment as she tried to think if this man could be capable of something so horrible-if anything had come to happen at all, as she knew better than to trust rumors as truth. However, she knew one thing for certain; he was no more than a stranger to her…

Yet, when her thoughts returned to the toned forbidden interest she had let consume her mind for the past twelve hours, she opened the door to find him standing there; a look of dissatisfaction on his expression. Her heart sank with the thought that perhaps he had come to hear the conversation she had with El, before he handed her the bag she left back at his office, and turned without a word, verifying to her that he was upset, if nothing else. But his expression when turning from her was not of anger or even resentment, it was sadness-depression even.

“Looks to me like he found his next- '' Rachel began to comment before being ceased by El.

“Don’t let it get to you...Just stay with us...How about we convince you to go with us tonight? There is this talent show that the sorority puts on for hell week against their new pledges-it is a lot of fun to watch...all those polished fingernails broken by the tasks...the wet hair of two hundred dollar blowouts-” But as El attempted to convince her roommate to ditch her mightier-than-thou persona, she noted how she eyed Jackson disappearing down the hallway, turning back towards her just before vanishing down a new corridor.

“That’s it, I’m not taking no for an answer...Finish your classes...and then tonight...I’m going to make every soul on the grounds wish to have your number.” Natalie grunted at the thought as she wished for her classes to be lengthy due to this; the thought of acting like a Barbie doll or voodoo doll to El sounding like an unfair fate or torture; and so, she decided to remain distant from her dorm room so she would be allowed the chance to refrain from being a victim to her roommate’s relentless need to adjust her.

Unaware of just what this night would truly entail….