CHAPTER FIVE: I HATE PROFESSOR BUFORD.

Maddie.

"Oh my God. What did he say? That looked so intense and uncomfortable to watch." Gia asked as soon as I walked out of the door. 

"That he'd destroy our lives if we said anything about Saturday night." I gave her the brief summary. 

Gia made a face. "Is that all?" 

I began to head to our next class and she fell into step with me. "What do you mean by is that all? Should there be more? Maybe pictures of the people's lives he has destroyed as evidence?" 

She rolled her eyes at me. "I expected more." 

"More what? More threats?"

"Okay okay." She stopped walking and faced me. "Don't shoot the messenger, but from where I was standing it looked like both of you were about to start ripping each other's clothes off." 

I spluttered. "Excuse me?"

"I swear." 

"You're seeing things." 

"I am not just seeing things. I was afraid that someone was going to walk in and see you both because trust me, it'd have looked the opposite of what was actually going on. I don't know how to tell you, Mads, but that man wants you and you want him right back." 

"I don't." I scrunched up my face. "I hate him. He's an asshole and I can't believe I was ever attracted to him. Ugh, I must have been drunk."

She raised a brow, one hand on her waist. "On what? The whole bottle of water you had at the club?" 

I laughed. "I hate you." 

"You know you love me." She smirked. 

"Yeah, I really do. Okay, but on a really serious note, we just have to keep our mouths shut and our heads down till we're done with this class." 

"I wasn't planning to go to the newspapers with news about your disastrous one night stand anyways. But just so you know, you and the big, bad professor are definitely going to get horizontal again." 

"Eww." 

"He's hot. You could do much worse." She waggled her eyebrows.

Professor Buford wasn't just hot, he was a work of art. Tall, lithe, with high cheekbones, perpetually messy hair, those intense grey eyes and the expensive looking clothes that tapered to his body. It was unfortunate that he was a grade A asshole. I understood that his career could be hurt if what we had done came out, but he didn't need to keep me quiet with threats. 

"He's old." The only problem with my statement was that I had always been attracted to older men and Gia knew it. Professor Buford wasn't actually old, he was probably in his early thirties, but it didn't make sense how someone that young could already be a professor, so maybe he just looked younger than his age? 

She laughed. "you didn't think that when you were screaming his name." 

"Gia!" I looked around to check if anyone had heard her while I felt my cheeks go hot. "See why I can't take you anywhere you crazy child." 

She winked. "Sorry, mum." 

I turned away from her to continue the journey to our next class and immediately ran into someone. I made a surprised squak as my bag went flying out of my hand and his books fell out of his hand. "Oh my God, I'm so so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." I squatted to help him pack up his books. 

"It's okay." An easy voice replied. I handed him his books and he gave me a grateful smile. "I'm Camden, everyone calls me Cam though." 

"I'm Maddie, this is my best friend, Gia." Gia gave a little wave. 

"Nice to meet you Maddie." He smiled at me. "And Gia. Where were you two in a hurry to?" 

"Our next class, we're taking a new elective this semester. History." 

"That's all the way at the other end of the campus. It's a fun class though. An easy A too. Unlike English lit." 

"You're taking English lit with professor Buford?" Gia asked.

"Yup. Failed it last year and so I get to do it all over again. How very unexciting." He shuddered. 

I laughed. "So he did mean all of those things he said." 

"I'm assuming you've both just had your first encounter with him?" Cam asked. 

Gia and I exchanged a nervous glance. It was as far from our first encounter as first encounters could be. "Yeah." Gia replied. 

"He's a dick." 

For some reason, I didn't like hearing Cam call professor Buford names, so I immediately changed the topic.

"I saw that you have 'trials and triumphs' in your pile. Have you read it? It's a really good book." I said. 

"I was just about to start, I honestly just picked it at random from the library. But maybe we should exchange numbers so we can talk about it. If you want, that is." He was cute in that next door neighbor way. Brown, floppy hair and brown eyes, a single dimple in his left cheek. He was my nice, my age and uncomplicated. This was exactly what I needed.

"Sure." I smiled, digging out my phone and rattling off my contact information.

"I just texted you so you know it's me. I'll call you." 

"Okay." 

As soon as he was out of sight, Gia smirked at me. "Look at you, collecting men like coupons. My little girl is growing right before my eyes." 

"You can't just bring up that you're a few days older than me every time." I chuckled.

"You think it's easy to be the older one. There's so much pressure and responsibility on me." She fake sniffled. 

I started to laugh, but it immediately trailed off when I looked up and caught a silver gaze. He was glaring at me like I had just gotten muddy boot prints all over his freshly cleaned floors. His gaze shifted to where Cam had just exited from before returning to me. Before I could even blink, he turned around and disappeared around the corner. 

What the hell had that been about?