After a solid 20 minutes of severe hyperventilating and sobbing so hard that it had become painful, I calmed myself down enough to drive back home.

Once home, I threw on shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed myself a bottle of Merlot and went to town. Drinking away the memories of how his hands felt on my waist; hot, large, and demanding. Drinking away the hurt and embarrassment until there was nothing left, nothing but an empty bottle and numbness.

The next morning, I woke up to a blaring alarm and a throbbing headache. Reaching across my bed, I grabbed my phone to shut it off, wiping the sleep out of my eyes just enough to check the time.

Holy crap.

I had slept through my alarm for over an hour. I sprung out of my bed to get ready as fast as I possible. Yet, I only made it a few steps before collapsing back down onto my mattress.

Oh joy. Another hangover.

I quickly texted Ben to let him know I wouldn't be in class today. I was honestly relieved that I wouldn't have to face Mr. McCoy after what happened yesterday. We definitely crossed boundaries we never should have even come close to. I'm not sure how far things would have gotten if his phone hadn't of interrupted us. And to tell the truth, I was so freaking happy that we stopped before anything else could have happened.

I mean, what was I thinking? Sure, he's an insanely handsome, chiseled, charming man. But he's also a bipolar ass-hat half the time who, oh yeah, happens to be my teacher.

So new plan of action: AVOID MR MCCOY AT ALL COST.

Sounded easy enough, right? I'd just come into class right before it started and leave as soon as he dismissed us. Besides the gala on Friday, I had no other reason to see him outside of the classroom.

Thursday passed in a blur of homework and Friends episodes and before I knew it, Friday had arrived. Even though I would be forced to see Mr. McCoy today, I was actually really excited about the Gala. My parents were coming up to see me and my collage. I hadn't seen them in over a month. That was an unusually long time for me, but with all the time and energy I had to devote to this project, I just didn't have the time to go down and see them.

I was extremely lucky to only be an hour away from my parents at college. Especially since my first semester of college I was driving down there every weekend for therapy.

My parents weren't set to get here until around two so we could do some catching up and grab some dinner before the Gala. I glanced over at the clock, noticing that it was only 11 but I still needed to wake up Rachel so she could help me pick out an outfit for tonight.

Waking up that girl was a task all on its own that would take up a good 45 minutes of my time.

After finally dragging her out of bed we began trying on countless outfits. We settled on a dark purple dress that cut down just enough to show a hint of cleavage and went down to about mid-thigh. Throwing a black belt around the center of my body to cinch my slim waist even more, adding in a pair of back heels, and I was ready.

My parents weren't set to get here for at least another hour so I took that time to curl and style my hair and put on a hint of makeup.   

Staring myself down in the mirror I couldn't help but think of Mr. McCoy. I knew I was going to be seeing him today for the first time since we got a little too close for comfort. My gut clenched at the thought of seeing him again and remembering how he kicked me out with his cold, monotone voice. And his eyes. I don't think I'd ever be able to look at him again and not see that hellish, disgusted look in his eyes.

My thoughts were interrupted by a shrill ringing from my phone. I left the bathroom and headed to my bed to pick up my phone. Opening the text message I saw that it was from my mom.

Were here! Come outside and let's go! I'm starving and you know how I can get when I'm hungry!

I smiled at the message and grabbed my purse. I walked out the front door and instantly saw my dad's car and sprinted for it. I reached the car and tore the front doors open and gave my mom a huge hug then ran over to the other side to hug my dad.

"It's so good to see you Babycakes, it's been so long!" said my mom as we drove to the restaurant.

"I know! I missed you guys!" I reached up from the backseat and patted my dad on the shoulder as he drove out of the apartment complex and headed to dinner.

Dinner went by in a flash of delicious food, reminiscing, and plenty of laughs. Before I knew it, we were on our way to the gala.

My stomach started to churn for a few different reasons. One being that my parents had never seen one of my college galas before since there had only been one before this where they couldn't make it. Two, was the nervousness in general for everyone to see my work and my family photos.

Yet, alas, the main reason those butterflies wouldn't stop ramming around in my stomach was Mr. McCoy. I just had to push him out of my mind, enjoy the gala, and introduce my parents to all of my friends. That should take up enough time in itself.

"I can't wait to see this project of yours that you won't tell us anything about!" My mom beamed as we pulled up to the university.

"I think you guys are gonna like it." I smirked to myself knowingly.

Out of the car and walking to the arts building, I couldn't help but smooth out my dress and re-apply some lip gloss. I knew that I wanted nothing to do with McCoy but that didn't mean I couldn't look good enough for him to wish he didn't throw me out of the room a couple days ago.

The moment we entered the gala, we are met with an array of different style art pieces. There were sculptures to our right, canvas paintings to our left, and digital photos all around us. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Rachel and Mia coming our way.

"Oh! Here comes Rachel and Mia! You guys are gonna love them," I said to my parents and directed their attention over to my approaching friends.

Mia was the first to greet my parents. Before she even said her name, she pulled both of them in for hugs. Both of my parents seemed taken aback at first but quickly got over it and hugged her back.

"Hi! I'm Mia! Its really nice to meet you guys. Alex is pretty awesome by the way so thanks for making her." Mia said while nonchalantly nodded her head.

My dad barked out a laugh." You're quite welcome, Mia."

Rachel reached out and shook both of my parent's hands. "I'm Rachel, it's really nice to meet you both. Alex talks about you guys a lot! I feel like we're practically family already!" Everybody laughed and we drifted into easy conversation.

"Oh! Alex have you seen your collage yet!?" Rachel suddenly asked excitedly.

Nerves exploded in my chest. "No, not yet, we'll get to it eventually."

"You have to go see it now! It's incredible! Like, you honestly won't believe what Mr. McCoy has done with it."

My eyebrows peaked in curiosity and shock. What did Mr. McCoy do and more so why did he do anything?

"Who's Mr. McCoy?" inquired my mom.

"He's just one of my professors." I shrugged the comment off as nothing when, in fact, my heart was beating about a mile a minute.

Rachel scoffed "Yeah, one of your hot professors, who-" I sent a glare her way and tried and convey to her with my eyes all of the horrible things I would do to her if she completed that sentence.

"Who....um, is really great at his job!" she finished.

"Well," I cut in quickly. "Let's go find it then, shall we?" Without waiting for their answers, I turned on my heel and stalked off to find my project.

Strolling through the Gala, I made it pretty much to the back on the exhibit room and still hadn't seen my project on display. Maybe Rachel got my project mixed up with another one?

Just as I was about to give up all hope of finding my project, I heard my mom.

"Oh, my God..."

I whipped around in the direction of my mom's voice. Her face was one of pure awe and tears formed in her eyes. Following where her eyes were trained, I finally saw my project. I couldn't control the release of breath that came from my lips.

There, pridefully taking up its own entire wall was my collage. The picture of my parents was blown up and was the center of the wall with my four other photos surrounding it. Each photo was on a different size canvas, my parents being the biggest one. My heart began to flutter and the biggest smile erupted onto my lips.

I spun to meet my mom, who is at this point red faced from tears.

"Do you like it?" I shrugged teasingly. She laughed through her tears and pulled me in for a hug.

"I love it and I love you so much." She whispered into my ear. We pulled apart and giggled at my dad who was still standing there gaping at the collage.

My mom came up behind us. "Where is that professor Rachel was talking about? I'd love to meet him. You've developed so much under his teachings!"

My face twisted into a grimace. "Not really. I just connected with this project more than others you've seen me do." Giving Mr. McCoy any kind of credit for my project right now seriously irked me to my core.

"Anyways, I'd still like to meet him. Is he here?" Sighing, I did a quick survey of the room and came up empty.

"Nope, don't see him. Maybe at the next Gala."

My mom sighed. "That's really is too bad. Anyways baby, we really should be taking off. You know how we feel about driving when it's dark out."

A frown formed on my face. "Yeah, I do. Let's just make sure that the time in between visits isn't nearly as long as this one!"

"Well don't forget we have the family dinner coming up in about a week and a half. We'll see you then, right?" She asked.

"Oh yeah! Of course. I wouldn't miss that for anything!" I smiled up at them and walked them to their car. Kissing each of them on the cheek we said our 'See you laters' and I headed back inside the Gala.

Without intention, my feet brought me back to my collage. I still couldn't believe how incredible the whole piece looked. I mean, I knew that my pictures were pretty good but the way that Mr. McCoy positioned the whole collage and the type of canvas that he printed them on added a professionalism to them that I couldn't have created on my own. Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.

Looking around the room, I couldn't help but notice that my piece was the only one that had been printed on the more upscale type of canvas; but why? After everything that happened, after pretty much telling me in his own words to leave him alone and that I disgusted him, why would he do this?

"Enjoying the view?" A voice came from behind me.

I jumped at the sudden interference to my train of thoughts. Yet, I stopped myself from turning around to see who it was, because I already knew. Someone I was thoroughly confused with at this point but knew that I really, really don't want to talk to.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Just saw you staring and wanted to know what you thought of it. I mean, I know what everyone else in the room thinks of it and now I'd like to know what the photographer thinks." He seemed like he was kind of rambling. Which meant he was kind of nervous; which made me kind of happy.

"It's nice." I replied curtly.

I saw him shift from foot to foot next to me, seemingly uncomfortable.

"Nice? Everyone else seems to think it's the best piece at the Gala."

Without thinking, my head snapped towards him, locking eyes with the beast in the process.

"Everyone thinks that? There's no way." Disbelief was clear in my voice. "There's much better pieces of art work here. Anyone would be stupid to say that mine was the best," I finished, a scowl now set firmly on my face. Why he felt the need to lie, I hadn't a clue. All I knew was that he was just pissing me off more and more by being here.

"They wouldn't be stupid. They would have good taste." He took a step closer to my body, his warmth radiating off of his body and seeping into mine. My body stiffened and my breath hitched as I felt a breath of hot air wash across the side of my face.

"And I have very good taste." He whispered seductively next to my ear.

My eyes bugged out and I dragged myself away a couple feet and glared at him head on.

"What are you doing?!" I whispered harshly.

He seemed taken back by my outburst but quickly gained his composure. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked feverishly. "You know exactly what you're doing and if you don't, then you are a seriously sick man." I spun on my heel and stalked off towards the other side of the room but was quickly pulled back. I wretched my arm out of his grasp and refused to look at him.

He sighed next to me. "I'm sorry, okay? I do know what I'm doing but it's not intentional," He ran a hand through his thick brown hair." I just can't seem to control what comes out of my mouth sometimes."

I scoffed lightly.

"Look, I really am sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, truly."

This time I turned and face him, my blank, icy stare meeting his pleading one.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you threw me out of your classroom."

He looked as though I had physically slapped him. He took a step closer to me but I held my ground, refusing to succumb to him again.

"I-" he paused for a moment, looking at the ground. "What happened between us was-"

"Nothing happened!" My voice rose a little louder than it should have and we gained ourselves a few on lookers. Mr. McCoy grabbed my arm and tugged me to a farther corner of the room. He paused and sighed once he felt certain no one could hear us. "Look,"

"No, you look. Nothing really even happened between us. We pretty much just hugged for a longish period of time."

He let out a breathy laugh, his eyes swirling with memorable delight. "Do you always moan when you hug everyone?"

I felt my cheeks start to heat up. "I'm a very responsive person," I blurted out without even really thinking about how it could be taken. But Mr. McCoy obviously caught on. His eyes darkened and swooped dangerously low over my entire body. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back up at me.

"You have to stop saying things like that," he spoke low and slowly. Instead of responding to that tempting comment, I said the one thing that would put both of our minds at ease.

"We should just stop saying things to each other in general. Besides in the classroom, there's no reason to talk to each other."

He looked like he was about to protest for a moment, then decided against it.

"You're right." Even though it's exactly what I wanted to hear, that didn't stop the pang of hurt I felt at his words.

"After tonight."

"What? Why after tonight?" I asked warily and confused.

"I still have to give you my critique on your project." He smirked a little as my relief kicked in.

"Oh okay," I walked back to my project wall, knowing he followed close behind. "So? What's the verdict?"

He was silent for a minute as he looked over my pictures. My palms started to sweat as the time ticked by.

Oh god, he's gonna fail me for everything that's happened. Oh no, he's gonna-

"It's perfect." I swear my heart stopped when he said it. Perfect? "Like I said before, it's arguably the best piece in here," he said still looking at my photos. His eyes seemed to jump over the one of me in a bathing suit though.

"Thank you," I said honestly. Then my curiosity got the better of me. "Oh, and is it just me or are my photos printed on an upgraded canvas?"

Mr. McCoy shuffled his feet and directed his attention anywhere but at me. "Uh, the printers didn't have any of the normal brands left. I wasn't sure if you'd notice."

If I didn't know any better, I would say Mr. McCoy was blushing.

"Oh, well then I'll have to thank the printers because that canvas is honestly what makes my photos stand out above the others."

"No," He turned to face me. "That's all you, Ms. Merrick."

"Sure, I'll keep telling myself that." I laughed dryly. Sarcasm was pretty much my second language if you hadn't figured that out by now.

He shook his head. "No, you-"

"Wow, you should definitely receive an A+ on this project. If not just for this bikini picture, here," An unknown voice said behind me.

I spun around to see a shorter guy with blonde, short hair, and brown eyes pretty much eye fucking my photo.

"Can I help you?" I asked with a hint of uncertainly in my voice.

His eyes moved from the photo to me. A sly smile appeared on his face as he looked me up and down. "I sure hope so. I sure know a few ways I can help you." He winked at me and I almost threw up a little in my mouth.

I decided to play along with his little game though. "Oh yeah? How?"

He smiled and took a step closer. I automatically took a step backwards, running into a solid frame behind me. And he wouldn't budge an inch. Mr. McCoy kept his body against mine in a sort of protective way that made me not want to move. The guy in front of me seemed oblivious to the professor standing behind me.

"Well, first how about you tell me your name, sexy? Or I can keep calling you that all night." He smirked down at me, thinking that he's being cute. Quite the opposite, actually.

"It's Veronica." I felt Mr. McCoy behind me stifle a laugh.

"A sexy name for a sexy girl. I'm Vince. I'm sure you'll be saying that name a lot soon, or screaming it rather." He winked at me again and my fingers started to twitch. The need to punch this guy is becoming irresistible.

"Mhm," was all the response I could muster for this twit.

"So, how about I get your number so we can set up a time for us to hang out?"

"Oh man! I'm busy on that day." I threw a fake pout in for effect. A confused look came over Vince's face.

"I haven't said a date yet. You still need to give me your -"

"I'm really sorry, Vince! I was really looking forward to it."

"No, stop. We can still do it, just give me your-"

"Dude," Mr. McCoy cut in "That's her polite way of telling you it's never gonna happen."

Vince looked up towards Mr. McCoy finally and an instant look of fear seeped into his stare.

"Oh, uh, maybe next time," he stuttered before throwing an aggravated look my way and stomping off.

Muttering a "loser" under my breath, I turned around, almost jumping back at the death glare that Mr. McCoy is giving to Vince's back. He looked as though he wanted to drag him back here, pummel him, and claim his head as a victory.

"Woah, there Hulk! Let's just put you back in your cage for a while, huh?" I joked around with him to try and ease his sudden dreadful mood. He didn't seem to be having any of it.

"I told you guys would be lined up for you if you displayed that picture," he seethed, not even looking at me yet.

I scoffed. "That was purely coincidental! Plus, he was a total tool; he doesn't even count as a guy. Now if a man, a real man comes up to me because of this photo, then I'll say that you were right."

He finally looked down to me as I continued my speech. "None of these ignorant college guys count. I need a real man."

Mr. McCoy's eyes bored into mine with an intense look that I was all too familiar with. I knew that if I stayed here any longer, I'd fall into that trance that only his sapphire eyes could put me in. I had to snap out of it.

"No. No, not happening," I muttered while shaking my head I turned away from him and took off only to find myself about to run smack dab into one of the sculptures that was sitting on a podium.

I gasped and prepared for impact when an arm swooped over my waist and pulled my back into their body. I waited to hear a crash or something, but all I heard was the chatter of the people in the Gala.

Opening my eyes slowly, I saw that the sculpture was completely unharmed. Then, I realized that someone still has their arm wrapped firmly around my waist. Craning my head back, my heart rate spiked when I found myself inches away from Mr. McCoy's face; more importantly, his lips.

"How? How do we keep finding ourselves in these positions?" I asked. My voice came out breathy and bewildered. His eyes traveled down to my parted lips and back up to my awaiting stare. The smallest and most genuine smile formed on his handsome lips.

"You... are a very clumsy woman, Ms. Merrick."

A breathy laugh escaped my lips which brought his eyes back to mine. A dark yearning entered his eyes which I'm guessing only reflected my own. I placed my own hand over his that covered my waist. My heart was slamming in my chest. My tongue slipped out to dampen my lips unconsciously. His eyes followed the movement and his thumb started to draw fiery circles on my waist. His hot breath fanned my face, acting as an aphrodisiac. I parted my lips and-

"Nathan, what the hell are you doing?

We sprung apart rapidly. I smoothed out my dress and turned in the direction of the person who interrupted us.

"You've got to be shitting me."

HEY GUYS! Heres chapter 8! I really like it, if I do say so myself :) Please comment and vote your thoughts! Love you guys!