When I got home that night, Kittul was nowhere to be found. I searched every corner of my tiny apartment, but she was gone. Normally, I would have been berserk with worry, but Al's revelation had me in a black mood, unwilling to consider the fact that she might be lost or injured. I went to the fridge, but nothing in it appealed. I staggered back to the bedroom, shucked off clothes damp with sweat from the time I’d spent under the sun with Al, and slumped into bed.

When I woke the next morning, my head pounded, my stomach growled at me, and Kittul still hadn’t returned. I dragged myself to the kitchen, where I realized that despite my desperate need for them, kitchen pixies still didn’t exist. I choked down a hot dog raw from the pack, took a slug of orange juice to fortify me, and wandered back to the shower.

Fifteen minutes later I was clean and dressed, but my head still pounded, my mood still darker than Satan’s sock drawer. After the wonderful food from the day before, I couldn’t bear the thought of more of my own cooking, so I decided to go looking for Al’s Greek place. I walked out to my car, turned it on, and swore. The battery on my Leaf was nearly flat. I pounded my head against the wheel for a while, but that didn’t charge the battery. It didn’t do my headache any good either.

I got back out, plugged my car in, and started walking toward campus. On most of my days off, I wouldn’t mind the walk. I lived a mile or so away from campus, a bit of a hike, but nothing I couldn’t handle if I could set my own pace. I’m soft, not obese. This morning, however, I was in no mood to walk. I had no aspirin in the house, I was still hungry, and the closest cures for either of those were at the university. I swore under my breath as I trudged toward Route three twenty-two and the campus. The only silver lining in my own personal dark cloud was the lack of student contact today. I couldn’t handle Al in this mood, and wasn’t sure I could handle any of my other students either.

Life, of course, didn’t cooperate. A small batch of off-campus student housing graced my walking path to work. The rain from the evening before had dissipated into a beautiful day, and two young ladies lay out trying to get a head start on their tans. I was too distracted with my own horrible life to even leer surreptitiously, which proved to be my undoing. They saw me walking by, and of course they recognized me.

“Dr Silver! Hey, Dr. Silver!” That was Sonja, a perky blonde, built along athletic lines. She leapt after me like a gazelle, pulling on an oversized tee shirt as she did. I couldn’t exactly run away, but I kept going, step by step, toward the campus. The dining hall had coffee, I was certain of it, and no annoying coeds would keep me from it.

Sonja fell into step beside me, watching over her shoulder for Sasha, the brunette. Where Sonja was clear eyed and friendly, Sasha’s eyes always implied she knew something I didn’t want her to. Given the way she smirked, it usually seemed like something about bedroom habits. She caught up with us easily, her legs still bare, a halter wrapped over her bikini top. She handed Sonja a pair of sandals, and both girls slipped them on without slowing.

I realized they would follow me unless I got rid of them, no matter what hints I dropped with my posture and silence.

“Yes, ladies? What can I do for you?”

“Do you remember us, Dr. Silver?”

“Of course he does, Sonja. How have you been, Dr. Silver?”

Sadly for them, Sasha was right. I remembered them, but not fondly. Neither one was cut out to be a math major, but both had finagled their way into my lecture course. Floundering desperately, both had made separate attempts to influence their grades. In Sonja’s case, she just tried to seduce me. Sasha, on the other hand, went to my department head after her seduction was received as badly as her essays.

Once in a very great while, it pays to have your employer believe you’re gay. Dr. Decker didn’t out me, but he did laugh Sasha out of his office. I think he told her lawyer in strictest confidence, but I don't think she ever found out.

It was obvious that if she’d heard, she didn’t believe it. She handed a book to Sonja, leaning across me as she did. Sonja started walking backwards, holding the book out for me to look at. When she leaned over, by complete coincidence it let the neck of her shirt drape open. Sonja was never subtle.

“See, we’re studying! We both still need to fulfill our math requirements, but this part doesn’t make any sense.”

Sasha cut in, “You explain things so much better, Dr. Silver.”

Unable to hold it in, I sighed. The girls were moving along with me, so I wasn’t really being delayed from breakfast, but I wasn’t in the mood for conversation. I also wasn’t in the mood for someone to seduce me. More honestly, seduction was exactly what I was in the mood for, but Sonja and Sasha were still students, and while each of them was attractive in her own way, neither of them could hold a candle to Al.

I forced my gaze to snap directly from the page to Sonja’s eyes. She almost tripped going down a flight of steps backwards, but I was too annoyed to care about almost disasters. I saw Sasha hovering to our right, ready to pounce on any opening Sonja created. “Girls, you realize I have no control over your grades in another professor’s class. I don’t even have a lot of influence.”

Sonja hid her dismay imperfectly, but Sasha always was a better actress. Her expression of wounded innocence would have been perfect had it reached her eyes. Even when she tried to seduce me, I’d always thought Sasha had shark’s eyes. She blinked them at me now, “We would never want you to do anything like that, Dr Silver.”

Sonja cut in, “Oh, no, Dr. Silver! We know you’d never condone something like inflating a grade! We’re a little wild, but we do learn our lessons.”

I couldn’t help it. I’m only human. I took the opening, nodding at the book. “So why haven’t you learned this lesson?”

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Sonja’s voice, just short of a whine, scraped at my nerves, “It’s so hard, and Dr. Bryslochski doesn’t teach it very well.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sasha throw a quelling glare Sonja’s way, then felt the barest touch of her hand on my shoulder. Her voice was warm honey, “Sonja’s right, Dr. Silver. I know we weren’t good students in your class, but we’ve really been trying this term. Dr. B. just doesn’t teach as well as you do. I know we’re asking a lot, but…” Sasha broke off, her hand sliding down to rest against my bicep. I turned my head, looking sharply at her hand.

Sasha was dangerously good at what she did. While I was paying attention to Sonja, she’d arranged herself next to me. When I glared at her hand, the rest of her was perfectly framed. Worst of all, my angle meant I wasn’t looking her in the eye, but taking in the full sweep of her from mouth to belly. Fortunately for my career, Sasha was never quite as good as she thought she was. If she’d just stood there, she might have had me, but she just had to drive her point home.

“Please, Dr. Silver. We need your help. Could you spare a few hours, just to explain this part to us?” She didn’t lick her lips. That would have been too much, and she knew it. Instead, she stood there, lips parted, her posture one of demure supplication despite her near nakedness. She had me then, but she didn’t know it yet. I had one last card to play, and I was determined to play it to the hilt.

I turned my head away from Sasha and kept walking as I talked. Sonja fell into step beside us. “I’m not sure I can do that, ladies. There’s a campus tutoring service, and they get very territorial. I’m on their roster, but as an adjunct I’m at the worst part of the list. You’ll probably get a TA.”

Sasha replied. I guessed she’d passed Sonja some signal to keep her mouth shut. “We… we really can’t go to them, Dr. Silver. The TA math tutor… He and I have a history.”

I shot her a disbelieving look, as fake as I could manage. “You do? Really? Who’d have thought. Look, I’d love to help you girls, but…”

Her hand dropped, her shoulders slumping in resignation. “It’s Okay, Dr. Silver. We really don’t want to get you in trouble. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about last year, too.”

I smiled at her, paternally I hoped. “It’s ok, Sasha. You’re young. That means you’re allowed to make mistakes, so long as you learn from them. Apologies don’t hurt, either.”

“C’mon, Sonja. Let’s get back to studying.”

I’m a sucker for a pretty face. I called out before the girls could get too far away.

“Where are you two headed?”

Sasha looked up, surprise and suspicion lurking in her eyes. Sonja was the one who spoke, her voice flat with depression. “Back to the dorm. At least we’ll have nice tans to go with our failing grades.”

“You both look hungry. I’m just headed over to the cafeteria for breakfast.”

“Lunch.”

I shot a quelling look at Sasha, who grinned back impudently. “I just got up, so it’s breakfast. You’re welcome to join me. Until I’m finished eating, if you have any questions, I’ll be right there, and it would be impolite to leave you hanging.”

The girls returned before I finished talking, one to either side of me, urging me toward the Student Center and lunch. In minutes, I sat ensconced at a table, a spread of bacon, biscuits and gravy, and oatmeal in front of me.

What? I did mention that whole 'not observant' thing, didn't I?

I’m a sucker for free food. I ate slowly. I didn't have much choice; every few bites one of the girls leaned over with a question. I talked them through what they knew and what they didn't. Sasha brought me a club sandwich. I took them back about four chapters, finally finding the point where their current professor lost them. The fact that he hadn't noticed annoyed me beyond reason.

By the time the cafeteria served dinner I realized the girls were really trying to learn something. Whether it was to pass the course or out of an interest in the material didn't matter, they were putting in an honest effort. When a student is really trying, it's completely unprofessional to leave them behind.

Of course, just as I had that thought, Sasha started feeding me sliced up bits of meatloaf. My hands were full of pen and paper, sketching out the curve of the equation they were trying to understand. It helped, sort of; Sonja nodded her head. Sasha watched her with disbelief, but Sonja proceeded to graph out two more equations using the same technique. I couldn't tell if she was mimicking me or really understood, but either was better than the complete lack of understanding they'd displayed before.

At this point we’d reached the end of the chapter that baffled them before, the skylights had gone dark, and the cleanup crew of the cafeteria was giving us dirty looks. I leaned back in my chair, looking over Sonja's work.

"You're sure you understand it?" I asked.

Sonja's answer was hesitant, but not confused. "I think so. I'm not sure I can explain it, but I can do it."

I frowned at her. "Okay, that's the last thing you need to do. Explain it to Sasha. Once you can do that, it's yours."

Sonja's mouth dropped open. "But she's the one that's good at math."

Sasha took this opportunity to chime in. "Hey, you're doing the work. I'm still a little confused by this part."

I stared at her. "Only a little?"

Her smile, for once free of guile, was gorgeous. "Yeah, only a little. I understand what I don't understand, y'know?"

I returned the smile. For the first time since Al's revelation, I felt good. "That's the point where you can really start learning it. So, you're all caught up, then?"

The guile returned to Sasha's smile, but I still saw the good humor lurking beneath it. I realized in that moment she'd never really been trying to get me in bed before. The difference was exhilarating and frightening. She leaned in, an invitation written in every feature, every inch of her body. "Dr. Silver, is there any way at all we can thank you?"

Sonja took that as her cue. She leaned in from the other side. "Yeah, Doc. You could come back to our place. We're having a party tonight!"

I couldn't help it; the banter was too fun to let go. "Oh? Who's going to be there?"

Sasha was hovering inches from my ear. The heat of her breathy whisper warmed my ear. "Oh, I guess we forgot to invite anyone else."

I couldn't help it; I threw my head back and let out a bark of heartfelt laughter. Before the girls could react, I shook my head and spoke. "Thanks for the invite girls, but I have to be up in the morning."

Both girls smiled at me, Sasha shaking her head in disbelief while Sonja giggled. I saw an idea pop into Sasha's head, and before I could interrupt, she let it out. "Dr. Silver, could we do this again next week?"

"You think you're going to need an all-day study session again?"

Her expression was priceless, the perfect mix of seduction and satisfaction. "Oh, I don't know if we'll need to study all day, but I'm sure we can think of something else to do."

I'll deny it to my dying breath, but I'm a sucker for a student who really wants to learn something. I stood and gave each of them a quick pat on the shoulder. "Tell you what, girls. If you need some help or just want to be sure you're staying up to speed, meet me here next week, Okay?"

A moment after I turned to go, both of them clung to me, squeezing until my vision sparkled a little. They bounced back away, Sonja calling "See you next week, Dr. Silver!" as they ran off.

Okay, I need to own my weakness. I'm a sucker, and I'll get taken each and every time someone tries. A thrill of adrenaline shot through me when I admitted to myself right then and there that I would be at Moondancers the next time I didn't need to get up in the morning. Today was Friday. Saturday morning I had a lecture. Sunday morning I was free and clear. It looked like I'd be at Moondancers on Saturday night.