Doctor’s Duties by K.C. Crowne

Chapter 10

LOGAN

Iallowed myself exactly one moment of total shock before composing myself. Every single pair of eyes in the room was on me, and I didn’t have the luxury of looking stunned at the little fact that the woman I’d slept with over the weekend was a student in my class.

“Uh, as I said, my name is Dr. Logan Frost. Dr. Frost is fine, and so is Professor Frost. I trust you’ve all had a chance to look over the syllabus over the weekend?”

Nods broke out across the faces of the hundred or so students in the lecture all.

“Good. Because, contrary to some of the other classes you might have, I don’t like to waste a moment of time. That means we’re going to get right into it today – no syllabus review first day.”

The same thing happened that always happened when I said those words – expression of fear took hold here and there. That was the intended effect. I liked to let students know right off the bat that I was a hard teacher, and there’d be no slacking in my class.

My eyes briefly fell onto Abby as I spoke. To her left was a trim, good-looking blonde guy who I got the sense was more of a friend than anything more. Not that it mattered, of course.  I was curious to see if she had the same expression of fear as most of the others. She didn’t. The surprise had faded, determination taking its place.

It was a good sign. I could typically tell what kind of student I was going to have on my hands at around this time.

“Now,” I said. “There’s a good amount of you in this class, but don’t think that means you’re going to be able to coast on your anonymity.” I opened my bag and slipped out a clipboard, a few pieces of lined paper tucked under the holder. “First order of business is that I’m going to take your names. Jot them down, along with your seat number. I want the seat you’re in now to be the same one you have all year. So, if you have a problem with the view, adjust it now before you sign your name.”

A few students moved around finding new seats as I stepped over to the student at the front left corner of the room and handed her the clipboard. She made dreamy eyes at me, and I didn’t give them a second glance. As ridiculous as it was, I’d had to find ways to manage the affections of my students.

All of that had gone out of the window with Abby, however. She’d mentioned she was a college student, that she had an interest in medicine. But no way did I expect her to end up being in one of my classes.

I’d slept with one of my students. Abby didn’t seem like the scandal-loving type, but if this were to get out it’d ruin my reputation at the university, and possibly my career. I’d made the mistake of a lifetime, and I’d had no idea that’s what I was doing when it had happened.

Once the clipboard came back, I threw myself into my teaching. The hour flew by like it always did when I was in front of a class, but it took all the restraint I had to avoid letting my eyes linger on Abby. She looked beautiful, of course, and there was no fear or worry on her expression as she hung on my every word, typing quickly onto her laptop and occasionally jotting things down longhand in her notebook.

I was a little biased, but I had no doubt she was going to be one of my better students. Knowing she was brilliant in addition to being beautiful only made me more attracted to her, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it. With her being my student, Abby was officially off-limits.

“Alright,” I said after a quick glance at the clock. “That about wraps it up for today. Assignment for next class is to read the first chapter and take the introductory quiz online. If you have any questions, feel free to reach me by email, or to drop in during office hours. See you all next time.”

The din of students putting their laptops and notebooks away filled the air, and I did my best to keep my eyes off Abby. I couldn’t help but give a quick glance her in her direction to see her scurrying out, her friend glancing back at me over his shoulder.

I didn’t need to swing by the psychology department to figure out what their conversation might’ve been about. I sighed and packed my things, the urge to be alone taking hold.

When they were gone, after I’d answered the last question of the last student who’d stuck around, I dropped down into one of the nearby desks.

Fuck.

Fucking fuck.

As I sat there in the now empty auditorium, the fact washing over me that I was suddenly stuck teaching a student who I’d slept with, it hit me that I’d really screwed up.

It was a mess. Any kind of sexual relationship between faculty and students was strictly off-limits, and if it were to get out what I’d done I’d be run out on a rail. Not to mention, that kind of behavior was the shit that would follow me forever. After all, what med school would hire a professor who’d had sex with a student? Sure, I hadn’t known at the time, but if the subject were to come up during an interview my ass would be out the door before I’d even squeaked out a word of explanation.

Part of me wanted to get in touch with Abby and discuss it, but that would only call attention to the fact that she and I had a, well, special relationship.

I’d have to let it go and hope for the best. For a man like me who liked to have all his affairs in perfect order, this would be no small task.

The door opened to the auditorium, and a member of the cleaning staff poked his head in.

“You still in here, Doc?” he asked. “I was gonna do a pass-through before the next class.”

“No, no.” I hurried out of my chair and grabbed my bag. “Just got lost in thought. It’s all yours.”

He smiled and I returned it with one of my own – though I was sure it was a smile that betrayed how frazzled I was. I sidled past him and hurried out the door.

Great. I was already looking like a man who had something pressing on his mind. In that moment I wasn’t sure what to do, exactly, but I did know that I needed to be alone with some time to think.

The office area on the third floor was bustling, professors zipping here and there, headed off to classes or to their offices to get some work done. Phones rang in the reception area, and students sat in the waiting room for appointments with professors.

I only gave a few perfunctory “hellos” before slipping through and getting to my office as quickly as I could without attracting any attention to myself.

Relief washed over me once I was back in my office. Just the sight of everything in its proper place, the calm silence washing over me…it was enough to relax me a bit, enough to give me a moment to think things over.

OK. So, Abby’s in my class.I set my bag down on my desk, my eyes drifting up to the window from which I could see hundreds of students making their way across the quad. Sure, this might be a problem if she starts talking to people about it. All she’d have to do is tell one or two of her friends that she’d slept with me and that’d be all it’d take for it to spread like wildfire. But that hasn’t happened yet, and there’s no sense in —

A knock sounded at my door. I stopped mid-step, wondering who on earth would be coming to see me. I had no appointments for the morning, I never liked to schedule them on the first day, and the reception staff knew that I liked to be given a call before any of them stopped by.

“Who is it?”

A beat of silence came and went.

“May I come in?”

I recognized the voice right away, my heart skipping a beat.

Abby.

Part of me wanted to bark out something about being busy, but I quickly put that idea out of my head. It would be more than a little cowardly to shirk out of a conversation with her – especially seeing as she’d intentionally come to talk to me.

No, this needed to be done.

“Come in.”

I stood in time to watch the doorknob turn and the door open slowly.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, the first thing that occurred to me was how good she looked. For the briefest of moments, all I wanted to do was pull her in, shut the door, and take her in the way I’d been fantasizing about since our night together.

I put that out of my head as quickly as I could.

Abby shut the door and took a slow breath.

“How can I help you?” I asked.

She closed her eyes and pursed her mouth, then went right into it.

“OK. So, I know this is weird. And I know that neither of us were expecting our night together to end up in a situation like this. And I know I’m risking making it even worse by coming here and talking to you. But we’re going to have the entire semester together and there’s no way that we couldn’t talk about it at some point, right?”

She was talking at a mile a minute, not really leaving me room to interject.

“So, why not do it now, right? Rip the Band-Aid off and talk about it and get it all out in the open. This whole situation is kind of a mess, but I don’t want things to be awkward between us. I hope you’re thinking the same thing and —”

Before she had a chance to get another word out, I stepped over and placed my hands on her shoulders.

“It’s OK,” I said with a slight smile. “Breathe in, breathe out.”

As if coming to her senses, she let out a snort of a laugh and shook her head. Then she did as I asked, taking in one breath and then another.

“Sorry,” she said. “I did the thing on the way over where you come up with what you want to say to someone and forget that conversations are back-and-forth and not lectures.”

I chuckled. “It’s fine. You want some water or something?” I swept my hand toward the small fridge I kept behind my desk stocked with water and post-workout drinks. A little gym time sounded damn good now that the thought had occurred to me.

She shook her head. “No. But thanks.” Abby shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “So…what do you think?”

The million-dollar question. I opened my fridge and grabbed a bottle of Vitamin Water, cracking open the cap and taking a sip to give myself a moment.

“I’m glad you came to talk to me. And you’re right, you coming here might draw attention. But probably not. I mean, it’s not like anyone would have any reason to think there was something going on between us.”

“And there’s not something going on between us,” she said, as if affirming the words by speaking them aloud. “Something did happen. But that’s over now. You’re my professor and that means you’re totally off-limits.”

“Right,” I said. “But I have to ask you this – did you tell anyone? About us?”

“No. I mean, kind of.”

“Kind of?” Abby was mature for her age. But in that moment, she was all twenty-something.

“I told my roommate about you, but all I said was that you were a writer. I didn’t tell her you were a professor here or anything like that.”

“Is she a student here?”

She shook her head. “No, she did her MFA at CSU. She runs in the artist circles in Denver, so it’s not like you’re going to bump into her. And she’d have to do some serious digging to find out that you’re a professor here, let alone that you’re my professor.”

So far, so good. “And what about that guy you were with?”

“Oh, Blake? Don’t worry – he’s gay.”

It took me a moment to realize what she was saying that she’d mistaken my question for wondering if he was competition.

“Oh!” her eyes flashed with realization. “I mean, no, I didn’t tell him. If he was looking at you funny, it’s because he thinks you’re hot.”

I laughed. “OK, that’s good.”

Silence fell again, and it occurred to me that we’d spent far too much time talking to one another in private.

“And what about you?” she asked. “Did you mention me to anyone?”

“My brother. But I didn’t tell him the details of you being a student. Didn’t know at the time.”

She nodded. “I guess there’s the chance that someone saw us out together.”

“No way they would know we were a professor and student at the same school. Semester hadn’t even started yet.”

She smiled coyly. “Then…we’re good, right? We did the crime and it’s looking like we’re not going to have to do the time.”

“That’s one way to look at it. Just so long as we both keep our mouths shut and, most importantly ne—”

“Never do it again.” She finished my sentence, giving me a nod after she’d said the words. “Way ahead of you. It was fun, but…”

“Right.”

Silence fell, and I could sense that both of us were thinking the same thing – that doing it again was a very appealing idea.

Abby cleared her throat. “Um, well, I should go. Thanks for talking to me, and thanks for being so cool about this.”

“Of course. See you in class?”

She nodded, not saying a word. I reached around her and opened the door, her hair brushing against my face.

“Bye!” she shot the word out as she slipped past the threshold.

Then she was gone.

As I stood there, my hand on the doorknob, her scent still lingering in the air, I had to remind myself that Abby was officially off-limits.

Knowing that only made me want her even more.