15 Minutes

8:33 AM: Her eyes blinked open and she looked at her phone, reading the time with annoyance. Her alarm wouldn’t go off for another twelve minutes. Yet here she was, awoken by some invisible force within her. She lay in the bed staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, contemplating whether she should try to sleep the last few minutes before her phone blared to wake her up. “I should just get up” she thought aloud.

8:48 AM: Pushing the blanket off her, she crept out of bed secretly unwilling to leave. She yawned and stretched for a moment. Looking out the window, she saw the faint sunlight trying to creep through her black out curtains. Her cat, Leesi meowed at her feet and she bent down to pet her. “Good morning Leesi.” She said as she scratched the fluffy calico cats ear.

9:03 AM: “Be a good girl Leesi.” She told the cat as if she were speaking to a child. “I’ll see you when I get home, okay?” The cat meowed as if to respond “Okay” and curled up on a black and white pillow at the foot of the unmade bed. As she shut her door, she slid in her headphones and searched for her favorite Tuesday podcast on her phone. Even though she felt tired, she was ready to start the new week and her day.

9:18 AM: Today’s episode was extremely funny, and she found it hard to contain her giggles this morning. The laughter was a welcome distraction as the morning traffic seemed to be especially bad today. She briefly had a thought that she may be late today if the traffic didn’t let up but quickly dismissed the idea so as not to over worry about things beyond her control. She had to remember to stop worrying about everything so much and break these bad habits. Instead she focused on the podcast.

9:33 AM: Although she was still in traffic, it wasn’t too much to worry since it seemed to be picking up and she still had plenty of time to get to class. She might even be early today. The episode was increasingly hilarious as it continued, and she felt it hard to be in a bad mood. She checked her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t done much to get ready today, just put her hair up in a bun and put on a simple outfit. She was even too tired to put on any mascara today. But she did catch the reflection of her dry lips in the mirror and decided she should probably put on some lip balm.

9:48 AM: Pulling into the parking lot, she was about a half hour early which was quite a bit earlier than usual. Normally she got to school with about ten minutes to spare, just barely breezing in before the professor started his lecture for the day. Though she had never been late, she could always feel his eyes on her as he began his first sentence. Wouldn’t he be surprised today to see her showing up earlier than everyone else. The ironic thing was that she truly enjoyed his class and his teaching style in general, not to mention he was unusually attractive for a man in his late thirties. Being only twenty herself, she didn’t much find an attraction in older men and rarely had anything in common with them. Not to mention a large majority of the older men that approached her were frequently in unhappy marriages.

10:03 AM: She could see part way in to the classroom through the open wood door; There were already a handful of students inside even though the class didn’t begin for another seventeen minutes.

So much for being the first here. She thought. Oh well, at least I’m early.

Feeling slightly defeated, she began to walk in to the class but just before she crossed the threshold, she heard a male voice call out her name. It was her professor.

“I’m surprised to see you here so early.” He chuckled.

He really was a striking man. The palest green eyes she had ever seen framed by dark, intense eyebrows. She could see small wrinkles in the outer corner of his eye as he laughed with a big grin and squinted eyes. His light brown hair was kept neat and tidy and she noticed today that he was not wearing his usual glasses with the hunter green frames. Instead, it appears he was coordinating a pair of dark blue frames with his navy-blue button up and dark denim. Somehow he still hadn’t lost his southern accent that made his voice sound like the way golden honey looks as you pour it on the most perfectly toasted slice of bread. In his introduction to the class on the first day he had told them that he was born and raised in a small town in North Carolina, but that he had moved to Illinois sometime after his twentieth birthday to study here as an undergrad.

“Hi Professor Fuller.” She felt her voice tremble and crack as she got the last syllable out.

“Please,” he touched her elbow that was carrying her purse. His eyes soft but focused and profound. For a moment she thought he might see right through her with his piercing gaze.

“You can call me Tyler.” His smile as sweet as his voice. He pulled his hand away and motioned for her to move inside to the classroom. Before she walked in she noticed that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.