Filed to story: Shhh Professor! Please Don’t Tell! Novel Free
Class ended, and everyone began to pour of the room, talking excitedly.
“We’re all going to get some girlfriends real fast,” one guy joked.
He was probably right. Once word got out that dating a business major would get you to Professor Steele’ Halloween party, a whole bunch of business majors were going to be getting some extra attention.
Absentmindedly, I packed up my notebook and pencil case. Should I try to find myself an actual date? I’m straight, so it would have to be a guy, even though I barely knew any guys here yet. That would help dispel whatever rumors were circulating about me and Professor Steele. Or maybe I would bring Annie, I thought, smirking. Let people think I was gay. That might dispel rumors even better.
I looked up, surprised, to see that Professor Steele was walking up the steps of the classroom towards me. I looked around the room, anxious about people seeing us talking together, but no one was left in the classroom.
“If you want to bring your friends to the party,” he said, “they’re all invited too. They can be honorary business students.” He smiled. “Keep it on the down-low, though, I don’t want word to get out.”
I didn’t either. Giving me special treatment, allowing me to bring my friends, wasn’t something I wanted spread over the whole campus.
“They’d love that,” I said. “They’ve been joking about sneaking in already.”
“Them and half the school, I’m sure,” he said, laughing. “It’ll be a good time. Nothing too crazy. You’ll see it on the invitation if you RSVP, but I’ll be checking bags for drugs at the door, and keeping the alcohol selection to wine, beer, and champagne. I don’t want this to bring myself or the college any unwanted publicity.”
“You might want to add a note about costumes,” I said, smirking. “A lot of people like to use Halloween as an excuse to wear a thong in public. And, you know, more power to them, but that’s also probably publicity you don’t want. Pictures from your party will be all over social media.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. He seemed amused, but I could tell he thought I was right.
Not that I wouldn’t love to wear a thong to his party. Something with fishnets. But I didn’t want to be one of those girls that got off on just getting looked at. Desired.
He was desiring me anyway, even fully clothed. It was my responsibility to not let this get any farther than it had already gotten.
Estella rejected Pip because she was cruel. I was being cruel only to be kind, as Shakespeare said.
“What are you planning on wearing?” he asked, starting to walk with me to the door at the top of the room. I wished he wouldn’t. People would probably see us together from the doorway.
“I don’t know,” I said, wondering if he was now thinking about me in some skimpy Halloween costume. Obviously not. I’d just said that people shouldn’t be wearing those to his party. I still felt like I might be blushing, though.
“Probably something historical,” he said, smiling.
I had been about to say those exact words. I stopped in the doorway, looking up at him. The way he was staring down at me, his chest rising and falling visibly. The bright blue of his eyes. The softness of his lips. The flecks of grey at his temples, making him look wise. Like there was so much more inside of him than any other man I’d ever met.
“Maybe Jane Austen,” he said, his eyes tracing over my face. My body.
I don’t know why I said it. I wasn’t even sure what I meant by it. I just found myself saying it, as if it was the next line in a play that we’d rehearsed.
“I might go as Estella,” I said, and walked out of the room.
I didn’t go as Estella. That would have gotten people talking, for sure. Instead, I went as Jane Austen, like he’d suggested. Wearing a white dress with long white gloves. My hair done up. A white feather in it. The dress wasn’t really all that low cut, but I still ended up showing off almost half of my tits. It was just the style. I looked at myself in the mirror and was simultaneously delighted and horrified.
“Oh, you look hot
,” Cynthia said eagerly. We were all in her dorm room, getting ready together. I’d taken Professor Steele up on his offer and invited all three of my close friends. I still worried about what people might think, but not disappointing my pals was more important to me.
I winced. “The dress pushes them up,” I said. “I didn’t realize it was going to do that. It didn’t look this way on the model.”
“That’s because the model isn’t built like you
,” Jasmin said. “Girl, show those things off. You look incredible.”
“I literally told Professor Steele that he should make a note about costumes being appropriate,” I said. “I don’t think I can show up like this.”
“Oh, that’s just because you didn’t want him looking at anyone else’s titties,” said Cynthia.
My jaw dropped. I was laughing, but protested as quickly as I could. “No! He’d been talking about making sure there weren’t any drugs because he didn’t want it to become any kind of sleezy news story. So, I said he’d better make sure nobody showed up in a thong.”
“You said the word ‘thong’ to Professor Steele?” Jasmin asked.
“Were you blushing as hard as you are now?” Cynthia asked.
I threw a pillow at her.
“Stop it, you guys,” Annie said. “Ellie, don’t sweat it. You don’t look nearly as naked as you think you do.”
“I wish you hadn’t used that word, Annie,” I said.
“That’s what you were thinking, though,” she said serenely. She was lying on Cynthia’s bed, already fully dressed in her steampunk Vampire costume, complete with top hat and historically accurate corset. She grinned, showing off her plastic fangs.
“We all look amazing,” Jasmin said. She was dressed as Jasmine from Aladdin, her arms covered in henna tattoos that mirrored Cynthia’s permanent ones. Cynthia was dressed as some kind of goth fairy, with fingerless fishnet gloves that reached to her elbows and swirls of glittering makeup covering all of her exposed skin.
“We really do,” I said, beaming at them. “Let’s take pictures.”
We took a series of selfies, posing coyly. They were all fantastic.
“Best Halloween ever,” Annie said cheerfully, tucking her phone into the hidden pocket she’d added to her costume.
“Hey, we’re not even at the party yet,” Cynthia said.
We took an Uber, posting on Instagram as we rode. The streets became dark as we headed out of town. We drove along the coast. Moonlight glittered on the ocean.
After a while, we turned away from the coast and began to drive through a vineyard. Rows upon rows of trellises thick with grapevines were shadowy in the darkness. It was like the thicket of thorns in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, I thought.
Then we could see the mansion. It was on top of a hill, surrounded by a circle of big trees. Golden windows gleamed in the darkness, like a wall of cat’s eyes in the dark. The wind picked up, whooshing around the car.
“What perfect weather for Halloween,” said Cynthia.
“I’d prefer a thunderstorm,” Annie said.