Chapter 10 – Chapter 10

I was anxious the whole night. About JJ and Claire and what he told her. About JJ and me and whether his regrets would collect and, brick by brick, build a wall.

I waited for him at the faculty lot the next morning. I knew he taught at 8:10, so I got up far earlier than I normally did, got two coffees, and loitered in the lot starting at 7:30.

He pulled in at 7:45. He had his own coffee, which was good, as I had started on the one I had bought for him.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," he said as I walked toward his car.

"Is it?"

"Of course."

I was visibly relieved. His regrets, which I knew he had, were still scattered on the ground, desultory.

"How are you?"

"I'm great."

"No trouble?"

"No trouble.

"How'd you manage that?"

"You don't want to know."

"I do."

"I swept Claire off of her feet. Before she could express her pique, I said 'I missed you,' I kissed her like you had kissed me, and I took her to bed. I was inflamed, so l put the fire to use."

I quickly got hard and lustful thinking of him sexing her out.

My lust turned to jealousy.

We were at his office door. "You can't come in, Harry," he said, his voice soft so only I would hear it. "I can't miss class, and it's a bit early to make out anyway."

He disappeared into his office. I should have walked away, but I couldn't. Instead, I traced my finger around the gold lettering that announced "Jackson Masters, Professor." As I did, I thought about his "make out anyway." It meant we were going to make out again, which made me happy.

I was startled when he opened the door. I don't know how he knew I was still there.

"I have a break at two. Come back then."

*****

He opened the door before I knocked. We were kissing before the door was closed. My back was to the door as I heard the click of the lock. My arms were below his. My hands slid to his lower back and then to his globes. They were delightfully firm. Before I could squeeze them, he gently moved his head side to side, our mouths still together as he breathed "no" into my mouth. I moved my hands back up, and he breathed "thank you" into my mouth.

His break was only for seventy minutes. His 1:10 class ended at 2 and his final class of the week started at 3:10. He checked his watch as we kissed, my back and his hands braced against the door the entire time.

"We have to stop," he said, "It's 2:40. I need half an hour to calm down and get in the zone."

"I thought you were born in the zone."

"Nope. The zone is achieved, not natural."

The zone, as he called it, was the confident, informed state he presented in each of his classes. It allowed him to own the classroom with the casual grace I had seen firsthand the prior semester.

"Can I watch," I asked, "as you prepare?"

"Sure, but don't speak."

He moved behind his desk, opened his computer, and began studying. I saw things I had not seen before. He furrowed his brow and moved his lips as he read. His eyes widened when he read something he liked or thought of something he wanted to add.

He was as focused as I had ever seen anyone. For twenty minutes, he didn't look up, no matter how hard I willed him to look at me and smile.

I walked with him to his classroom. He was teaching 1L Contracts.

He didn't notice when I followed him in and took a seat in the back left corner. I had nowhere else to be, and I wasn't yet ready to leave him. I wanted to watch him.

He was purely Socratic, choosing today a beefy boy about halfway up the middle section. "Mr. Bradley," he said, not looking at a seating chart or anything else that would tell him this boy's name. "The facts, please."

His voice was sonorous, bordering on stentorian.

The boy shrank. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I'm not prepared today."

"Well, I am, so I'll give you the facts." And he did, from memory, no notes.

"So," he asked, when his recitation of the facts was complete, "contract or no contract?"

"No contract," Mr. Bradley answered, diffidently.

JJ smiled at the boy. "Guess again, Mr. Bradley. And, this time, your chances are much better."

"Contract," Mr. Bradley declared, laughing along with the class and JJ.

"Brilliant!" JJ declared, as arms shot up all around the room.

"Ah, yes," he said. "All of you who prepared for today want to point out that the Delaware Chancery Court concluded no contract. I'm well aware. Like you, I prepared for today. But, the Delaware Chancery Court got it wrong. Who can tell me why?"

I stopped listening. I was too mesmerized by JJ as he moved around the room, engaging students one on one, no notes and no missteps as he probed and pushed, his eyes as focused on the student speaking as they were on me when I sat with him.

"He's so lovely," I thought to myself.

"And I'm so in love with him," I admitted to myself. "So in love…. Deeply. Madly. Truly."