I.

I can still remember the first time I saw her. It was a hot summer day in south Louisiana where the humid air clung to your skin like a blanket. I had been running late to teach my communication class and now stood sweaty before a room full of bored college students sporting hangovers from the prior night. The joys of teaching. 

She walked in to my classroom wearing a short black skirt with a blue top and had curly brown hair that hung slightly past her shoulders. Her skin was very light, and she had these cute freckles that made me think she could be Irish. It was her eyes though, those brilliant and sparkling green eyes, that caught my attention first. She was beautiful. 

I looked slightly too long as she made her entrance into my classroom five minutes late. Against my will, I shifted my eyes back to the room full of "young adults" wasting their parents' retirement so they could play on Pinterest for the next sixty minutes. "Open your books to Chapter two please."

As the hour neared, my students began to gather their things anxiously. I sighed. "Class dismissed."

I turned my back to clean the whiteboard for the next professor who was coming in any moment. Professor Hartz was an old cranky bastard and the last thing I wanted to deal with today was threats towards my potential tenture. 

"Professor, I wanted to apologize for being late."

I turned around and there were those huge green eyes. 

II.

Meet Jenny. 

“Hi Professor Jacobs I’m sorry I walked in late to your class. I just switched majors and couldn’t find the building.” She stopped and smiled. “Oh I’m sorry, I’m Jenny. Jenny Walsh.”  She reached her long and beautiful arm out to shake my hand. Again, I stop just a second too long. She truly is beautiful.

“It’s okay Ms. Walsh. I’m sure you will be here on time for the next class,” I wink. 

She smiled and pouted her lips, just for a second. “Oh I will, don’t worry. Your class was the best I have had this semester so far.” 

And, with a quick turn, she is gone. I couldn’t help but stare at her ass as she walked out my door. I vowed when I became a teacher to see my students as just that, students. For the first time, I felt temptation begin to creep in. 

III. 

“Now, who can tell me what semiotics is?”

*silence*

I wish that they had told me that the average student’s attention span would drop dramatically over the last five years. I might have chosen a different career path. My job was to make education interesting but you are often handcuffed in what you teach and how you teach it. Today was one of those days. 

“Anyone?” 

A hand confidently rose from the middle of the classroom. “Semiotics means the interpreter of signs. It’s the idea that all our actions, our facial expressions, even the clothes we wear are signs that are a part of communication,” Jenny smiled and winked at me, like the wink I had given her when we first met. 

For the last three weeks, Jenny Walsh had shown up to class five minutes early each day and had been perfectly prepared. At first, the class, and I do mean the entire class, had turned around and stared at her as she whittled off fact after fact. She was impressive. Now, they just believed her to be a goody two shoes and had returned to being zombies on their phones.  

Jenny smiled and winked at me, like the wink I had given her when we first met. 

“Yes, Ms. Walsh, that is absolutely correct.

“Pay attention class this will be on the exam. Now let me show you a few examples of semiotics.”

I walked over to the old brown lectern with the chipped paint and “Tyler loves Amy” etched in to the side. Romantic. I opened the powerpoint I had prepared the night before and started flipping through the slides which were projected on to a large white screen for the class to see. 

“Okay class, when you see this,” and a huge Nike swoosh appeared on the screen, “what do you think?”

“MJ”. “JUST DO IT".  “Shoes.” 

Teacher fact: students will respond better to pictures and pop-culture over a standard lecture any day. 

“Good. Next?”

A large red heart appeared on the screen. “Love.”  “Valentines Day.” “Don’t remind me,” someone in the back of the class exclaimed as the room erupted in laughter.  “Very funny guys” I laughed. “Anyone else?”

“Sex.” The room grew quiet as students turned around quickly to see who had spoken the word on every college kids mind. Jenny Walsh stared straight ahead right at me, almost through me.  Unlike most college girls at campus, who wore overly large sorority shirts that stretched almost to their knees and covered their body, Jenny preferred sun dresses and a small sweater for the cold classroom. For the first time, I wondered what was under that dress. 

A few minutes later the bells began to ring from the tower across campus and the students began to file out. I turned around to perform the ritual cleansing of the room before the old geezer arrived and was startled when I heard someone quietly clear their throat.

“Professor Jacobs, can I ask you a question?”

I turned around quickly to see Jenny standing only two feet in front of me. She was wearing a blue and green sun dress that was cut very low. I fought the urge to lower my eyes and take in her chest and long legs. Did she notice me looking?

“Of course Jenny.” Whoa, I said her first name. I never do that.

“The rest of the class seemed surprised by my answer. What do you think? Am I wrong?” she said quietly, looking straight into my eyes with the slightest smirk on the corner of her lip. 

Without thinking, I said, “No I agree. I would have said the same thing.” Shit. What the hell am I doing? Blood began to rush below and I now had to worry that my student would see my growing erection. I clasped my hands together. 

“Thanks,” Jenny said with a smile. 

She twisted one curl in her hand and then bent down to pick up her backpack from the floor. My eyes were now helpless as I saw her dress slip up higher on her toned thighs.   

“Professor, it looks like you dropped this,” said Jenny as she pointed to something on the old wooden floor. 

I looked down and saw a piece of paper resting near Jenny’s sandal. I leaned over to pick it up and as I rose with paper in hand Jenny’s elbow accidentally caught the top of my head. 

“Oww.” 

She giggled. 

“Hey, are you assaulting teachers now?” I asked. 

Before I could move she stood up on her tippy toes and kissed me fully on the lips. 

“There, all better.” 

I was frozen as Jenny smiled and walked out the door. She turned and gave one quick furtive glance and was gone. Thoughts began to uncontrollably pour through my head. Did that just happen? She is your student. What does she look like underneath that dress? You could get fired.

I could still taste the sweetness of her lips as I turned the paper over. There was a little red heart and a phone number written underneath.