Unexpected Love (2 page)

As soon as she said her last word, he looked up and right at her. They made eye contact. TC noticed his eyes widen as if he recognized her too. She looked at the message on the board the professor wrote before he took his seat. It read,
Good morning, class. I am Professor Seth Howard.

“What the hell! Oh no, no, no. I got to go!” TC exclaimed. She ran out the class without a word to the professor.

“Ms. Shaw, Ms. Shaw,” the professor called.

She was determined she was not going to look back or respond except with, “Kiss my ass!” TC wasn’t sure if he heard her or not. She just kept it moving swiftly.
I don’t have time to get confirmation on that
, she thought.

TC stepped into the bathroom to catch her breath and regain her composure. “There it is. This blows my whole day. I’m just going to hide out in the library. That’s where I feel my best. This situation calls for a mental check, and what better place to do it other than the library? It’s my favorite place. I can’t talk to anyone about this right now. I must figure this out. What’s really going on? This professor is going to be a problem. I can feel it. Hmmm, Professor Seth Howard, who are you? I got to find out.” TC kept looking around the library, and her hands shook as she signed her name to request access to the library’s online research files.

“Shhhhhh!” Several people shouted as they glared at TC.

She chuckled and apologized with a short wave then quietly slid between two bookshelves.
I got to get it together. This man will not take me out the way he took that woman out. I will have to talk to my sisters eventually about this.

Chapter
Two

So Serious

“Let me see. Just a double check of my schedule today,” TC mumbled while looking at her handheld organizer.

“You meant to say, for the one hundredth time, didn’t you?” El corrected.

“No seriously, El, I got to get out of that class. It’s him.”

“It’s who? What are you talking about or who are you talking about? Why do you have to get out of that class?” El laid a hand over TC’s schedule. “Please, slow down and explain yourself. I told you, girl, all this studying is driving you crazy.”

TC took a deep breath before she continued with what she was saying. “Ok, breaking it down, yesterday when I went to my chemistry class I remembered that my professor, Dr. Kimoto is no longer teaching my class.”

“Yeah, go on, I’m following you.” El said.

“Well I have a new professor.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“The problem is, I didn’t notice him because I was being hardheaded again, and against your better judgment, I started daydreaming about the past.”

“No, you didn’t,” El responded. “Maybe we need to go back to counseling because taking on fifteen to nineteen credits a semester just to pursue a double major is really stressing you out.”

“No, it’s not. I am on top of everything. I don’t need anymore counseling. What I am trying to tell you is, when the professor called my name, I came to myself. I recognized him, and I think he recognized me as well.”

TC sat there watching El try to figure out how to help her and handle the situation. El paced back and forth while scratching her head.

“Now let’s think. Who is the new professor, and why would he recognize you? What’s his name?” El asked.

“Professor Seth Howard,” TC replied. “The man I saw fighting the woman in the parking lot is Professor Seth Howard. He teaches my chemistry class. I think he saw me on the terrace. When I realized who he was, I think that’s when he recognized me. I got to get the hell out of that class. I can’t deal with this now. We are almost into midterms for the semester. If he thinks he’s going to blackmail me into keeping my mouth shut by threatening to fail me, than he’s got another thing coming. He better ask somebody. He’s got the wrong one, babe.”

“Down, girl, down. I am sure it’s not like that at all. You are too wired up. I am sure he would not risk his profession as an instructor by making threats like that. Otherwise, I would have to beat that ass myself. Nobody messes with my family. That’s a given and a known fact! But wait, hold up. Damn! That’s a sexy name.
Seth
. I see why that woman was trying to hold on to him. Can you imagine being in bed with
Seth
?”

“Are you horny or something?” TC growled.

“No, sorry, but how did he look?” El inquired.

“I don’t know. Everything was moving fast. Well, he has dark coal black short, but curly hair. His eyes were blue like some of the celebrities we like.”

“You saw all that while moving fast? Are you sure you’re not horny?” El gave her doubtful look.

“No, girl, I am too busy and too tired to have those feelings. And besides, I don’t have time for a relationship let alone anything else that requires time and energy,” TC said defensively.

“Well you better be careful. A build up like that can be explosive. I can hook you up with some friends of mine if you want. All the men I mess with are professionals and carry a lot of paper in the wallet. You know my friend Stephen, the accountant, who works in my building? He thinks you’re hot. He keeps asking me about you every time you come past the bank to see me. He says he can see you walking to your car in the parking lot from his office.”

“What? Shouldn’t he be looking at numbers instead of eyeballing my rearend?” TC muttered indignantly.

“Well apparently he likes looking at you. He says your slender body has curves in all the right places. He also thinks you have a very large playground for your size, which entices him the most,” El reported. “Plus, they say boys that were raised on the breast become men who like the breast.”

“Ok, ok, Stephen is beginning to freak me out. He needs to pay more attention to his accounts and less to my playground. My playground is none of his business, and it’s not open for public view. The only purpose it will be used for is my children if I should ever decide to have them. Stephen sounds out right nasty and not my type. And I don’t have time for him. Now, Lauri-El Towanda Ellis, can we get back to the subject at hand please? El, I need your help.”

“No, you did not just use my government name,” EL sneered and took TC by the hand. “Sorry. Look, girl, on the real, the way I see it you are making way too much of this. Just go to the dean and explain the situation. Ask if you can be removed or swap with another class because you don’t feel comfortable. Tell him or her that you are not trying to cause problems, but you can’t stay in this class. Done, that simple. That’s all you have to do. Or, you can be the woman you are and confront Professor Howard yourself. You do have options.”

“Well, what if I get him fired?” TC asked.

“Look! You know what you saw right?”

“Yes,” TC replied.

“Was it the same man you saw in your classroom?” El asked.

“Yes.”

“Then you have nothing to do with it. Whatever he’s involved in is his business not yours. All you want to do is be able to receive your education in a safe working environment. So whether he gets fired behind this is not your concern. This is why we pay these universities big money, so we can retrieve our degrees without problems or hassles,” El proclaimed.

“You don’t make any sense, you mean
receive
, don’t you? But you’re right. That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

* * * *

Dee entered the room, passing El who relaxed on the couch drinking a glass of white wine.

Dee looked at El and winked. “Hey, girl. You might as well pour two more glasses, one for me and one for TC. What’s up? You both look a little crazy. I could also hear TC sounding frantic and uptight as I was getting off the elevator. Plus, TC looks all swollen like she is about to explode. Oh, yeah, TC your professor called. Umm, I think it was a Professor Howard. He said for you to give him a call. He needs to speak with you because you left class pretty swiftly.”

El interrupted. “No, how about before the class got started?”

Dee raised her eyebrows as she replied, “Ok, what’s really going on? Has much learning made you mad, girl, to leave the class before it actually got started? You never cut or miss any of your classes. Something truly must be wrong.”

TC went through the whole spiel all over again about Professor Howard and the parking lot with Dee while El refilled her wine glass. TC continued on by saying, “Here’s what I think I am going to do. I will take two days off to decide how to handle this matter. I will send Professor Howard a message via email requesting my assignments and telling him I’m ill, and if by chance he calls again, you two can take a message. How’s that?”

Dee grabbed her head with both hands as if it was about to fall off her neck while she walked over to the stereo. “Get out! I can’t believe this. This is some shit right here. You know what, I need to mellow out. I’ll turn on some jazz. What do you say to a little Ben Tanker? No, let’s listen to some reggae, Bob Marley or Ziggy Marley, if you please. Besides, TC needs to come over here and join us to relax a little. She is too serious and uptight all the time, especially with this shocking info I’m just hearing. Come on, TC. Grab a seat, couch, or sit on a throw pillow or something. Hell, scream, girl. Let it out! We all had a rough day. Come in here and let your hair down, like me,” Dee demanded.

“Dee, you don’t have any hair, remember?” TC said sarcastically.

“I know that.
Erevu punda
.”

“Did you just go Swahili on me?” TC snapped.

“
Eeh
,” Dee replied. TC already knew that word meant
yes
.

TC stood with her wine glass in one hand and glanced at her freshly French manicured nails decorated with glitter and diamond designs. Her other hand she slapped on her hip, getting madder by the minute.

TC knew El didn’t know any more Swahili than she did and apparently found it very amusing, laughing uncontrollably.

“I’m not playing with you, Dee, and I don’t see anything funny, El. Dee, this is America. Say it, A-me- ri- ca. We speak English here, English. Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” TC demanded.

Dee burst out laughing while yelling in a joking way, “Girl, sit your happy hips down. I said
yes
. I was speaking Swahili, and I called you a smart ass because you cracked on my bald head. I know I don’t have long hair. It was just a figure of speech because your tight frigid ass is always serious and stressed out. You need to slide down somebody’s pole. That’s what’s really wrong. You really need to release some of that tension you got built up in you and get unplugged.”

TC dropped down to the couch joining in with the laughing as she sipped her wine. “Shut up! I will thank you all kindly for not worrying about my sexual disposition. I perfectly understand and can control my own needs. I do not need you two sex crazed women to help me out, set mu up with a man, or anything of that nature.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” El asked in a cynical explosion. “Wait a minute. Let me refill my glass, because either I am getting tipsy, or you just said
mu
instead of
me
. Hmmm, I think we all had a little too much to drink. Well, there’s nothing wrong with unwinding with your sisters, especially after a long hard day at work.”

Dee interrupted. “Hey, El, what was that professor’s name?”

“His name was—wait a minute—got to get my thoughts together. Hmmm … I think… Professor Seth Howard,” TC bolted out.

“My, my, how we remember the whole entire name, along with the credentials and all. El, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Dee asked tauntingly.

“Yeah! Maybe Mr. Pretty Blue Eyes might want to help with the relief of somebody’s tension indeed,” El retorted.

Dee sat up almost dropping her glass. “What! Blue eyes?”

“Yeah, girl. That’s what she told me she saw. And peep this, she noticed his coal black hair and how he had movie star blue eyes all while running,” El informed her.

“Damn, girl, those are sexy drop your draws type eyes,” Dee replied.

Bubbling with anger and filled with annoyance, TC jumped to her feet and slammed her glass down. “See this is what I am teaching abut. You two always bake fun of me. What is dis, make fun Tcese night? You missed up. How easily we forget how dis man dust bait up a women not many doors from us. Well, I am not hacking it-t. I am going to my roomp.” TC realized she was tipsy and furious at her sisters’ mockery. She was annoyed with herself because her words were so distorted, and her sentences didn’t make sense at all.

As she walked out, her sisters yelled and laughed, “Come back. You know we love you. Stop being so serious all the time. We were just playing with you.”

TC slammed her door shut and fell asleep when her head hit her pillow. The next morning, she was up and out the condo before her sisters woke up. She didn’t remember much from the night before because her head throbbed. She knew she was mad at them for a reason. This was why she didn’t make a habit of drinking wine.

TC went to the Dean’s office, and somehow she was able to convince him to allow her to swap classes without going into details about who the professor was and why she felt uncomfortable being in his class. “Thank you, Dean Witherspoon, for going into the system and overriding my schedule to change my class. I will take this
Drop and Add
form with your signature on it to the registration and records department.”