"Mediterranean" Goddess

I was now caught between trying not to think about a woman with whom I was obsessed and trying not think about a hot young blond who seemed to be showing off for me. I went from the guy who never noticed this stuff in class to a guy who was tormented on both sides of the room. As the time for the quiz winded down, I again scanned the room for questions. I allowed myself to take full notice of Maria, but I didn't let my gaze take in Mandy. It was only a minute before my curiosity made me take furtive peek in Mandy's direction. It might have been my imagination, but it now seemed that her arms were squeezing her breasts tighter, making them swell even more. What clearly wasn't my imagination was the fact that Mandy's nipples were now hard and straining against her top.

"Okay, time's up. Please hand in your quizzes." I worked hard not to look at either source of my torture, but instead thanked students and wished them well as they handed in their quizzes. When Mandy turned in her quiz she smiled impishly at me and said, "I didn't think it was too hard. But I could see how some people could feel it was hard." She put an odd emphasis on "could feel it was hard" and paused a moment too long. She was probably waiting to see if her double entendre had an effect.

I looked at her straight in the eye and coolly replied, "I hope that everyone did equally well." Although my eyes had never strayed below her eyelevel, I could still tell that her high beams were shining brightly through her top. As Mandy walked away, I proudly thought to myself, one potential problem averted.

Maria was one of the last students to turn in her quiz. She dropped it off quickly, hurrying out of the lecture hall without making eye contact with me. This behavior usually is a sign that a student performed well below their expectations on an exam. At first I felt sorry for her, but then on the walk to my office I started to worry that perhaps she had seen me looking at Mandy. Maybe I had offended her or let her down. Maybe she was now repulsed by her lecherous old professor ogling the younglings in the class.

I set to grading the quiz and quickly learned that Maria likely scurried out because she was embarrassed by her performance. When I recalled her confused question in lecture, I wasn't surprised at her low D grade. I always feel bad when students perform poorly, but this hit me personally as I was clearly pulling for my lovely Mediterranean goddess. I found myself wishing desperately that Maria's poor performance was the only reason that she avoided me.

On the other hand, Mandy did quite well, only missing a couple of points on the difficult question. When I started my teaching career I might have been chauvinistic enough to be surprised by such a strong effort by a giggly, bubbly, apparently air-headed cheerleader type. However, I had learned long ago that looks often really were deceiving.

When I handed back quizzes on Wednesday, I gave my usual spiel that I was extra available to provide help this week. I reminded the students that the quiz itself wouldn't have much effect on their grade, but that the upcoming exam would. So, they should get help and/or get to work as soon as possible. Of course I snuck glances Maria's way throughout the day but did my best to ignore a suggestively dressed Mandy. I hoped that my encouragement to seek help would persuade Maria to visit my office, but I didn't consider how it would affect Mandy.

About 10 minutes after I returned to my office, I heard a vivacious, "Do you have time for me now, Carl?" I looked up to see Mandy standing seductively in the door. She had all her weight on one leg which caused her hips to stick out provocatively on the other side. This effect was accentuated by the fact that she was wearing extremely short cut-off jeans. She had a V-necked t-shirt on top, which unlike Maria's from the other day was designed to show plenty of her newly ripened cleavage. She held her books against her body in a way that lifted her bust line up even farther than its normal pertness.

I coolly replied, "Sure. What can I help you with?" I managed to maintain my composure and to sound like a friendly father figure -- or so I thought.

Mandy looked a little disappointed and added a little less vivaciously, "You did say we could call you by your first name, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes," I assured. "It's just that most first semester students don't feel comfortable with that. But I'm always glad when they do." Her spirited disposition quickly returned. As I pointed to the chair I keep on the right side of my desk for students, I added, "Why don't you have a seat." I didn't want her hanging out in my doorway dressed like a car shop calendar girl.

Mandy pulled the chair up to the side of my desk, leaning low as she did. I managed not to look down her shirt. "I just have some questions about the parts of the quiz I missed. I saw the correct answers on Brad's quiz, but I don't know how to get there." She affected a slightly pouty demeanor, conveying more of an "I'm lost" attitude that I'm sure she really felt. I'd seen students like this dozens of times. If Mandy went home and worked it through on her own, she would figure out her own answers, but students like this want extra help from the professor. Sometimes they just want some face time with someone who can eventually write them a letter of recommendation. Sometimes they have a slight lack of self-confidence and need a little hand-holding at the start of the semester.

"Well, as I recall you did pretty well on most of the quiz. So, I'm sure you could eventually work this out on your own, but let's work it out together as long as you're here."

"Yeah. I'm sure working together is just what I need." Mandy put that unusual emphasis on "together" that I heard her use before. I hoped she wasn't hinting at what I was afraid she was hinting at. No. You're too old and too unremarkable, I told myself.

I reviewed her quiz to familiarize myself with her mistakes and asked what she didn't understand. I reviewed the concept on which the question was based, and I explained the strategy for solving it. I looked her straight in the face as I did this. She was showing a lot of flesh, but I wasn't about to give in and look. When I finished, she had a puzzled look on her face.

"I'm still not quite getting it," she said slowly. She seemed entirely sincere in her confusion.

"Let's look at it this way," I replied. As I spoke, I got out a sheet of scratch paper and a pencil. I began drawing out a diagram to illustrate the concept. My drawing became more and more elaborate as I got completely caught up in the concepts at hand.

Before I could complete my mini-lecture, Mandy got that satisfying "I've got it" look, and actually said excitedly, "I think I have it now. Let me see if I can finish this." Instead of taking the paper from me, she moved her chair around the corner of my desk so that she was right next to me. Her bare leg rubbed against mine. Her right hand reached around mine and took the pencil from my grasp. She began adding to my drawing, filling in the details perfectly. Of course to reach around my arm, she had to lean forward which provided a perfect view down her blouse. It took a Herculean effort, but I didn't allow my eyes to leave the paper and wander to her cleavage. Instead, I removed my hand from the paper and sat back a little, giving her easy access to the paper. I hoped she would pull the paper to her so that we didn't have to be so close to each other. However, she kept working at an odd angle and leaned closer to me, bringing the side of her juicy left breast against the side of my arm.

I had started out completely focused on my explanation, but now with the pressure of her leg on mine and her boob on my arm, my head was starting cloud. I couldn't let that happen and scooted my chair a little to the left, providing separation between our flesh. This move gave her more room to work, so it didn't look too much like I was escaping. My eyes remained locked on the paper, because they might get me in trouble otherwise. Mandy finished the drawing, explaining as she went. She then quickly proceeded to solve the part of the problem that had stumped her on the quiz. She was absolutely correct and I felt proud as a teacher. That paternal feeling grew in me, providing some armor against her bountiful womanly charms.

"Yes, you've got it precisely!" I exclaimed clearly pleased. "I thought you'd pick it up if we looked at it from a different angle."

Mandy smiled at me happily, and proclaimed "We work really well together." As she spoke, she slipped her left hand across the top of my thigh to squeeze its inside edge. Her look went from cheerful to sultry. A note of arousal trumpeted through my body. At the same time an alarm of warning clanged in my head. Her hand started caressing my thigh. Before she could really get a good fondle in, I stood up quickly.

"Well, I think that you are ready to solve the other part you missed on your own. But I want to give you a reference to help." As I turned toward my bookshelf, I thought I caught a glimpse of someone going by my office door. I quickly found the book that experience told me would help Mandy. I leaned over my chair placing the book on the desk so that I didn't have to sit next to her again. I rapidly found and marked the appropriate place. "Here it is. This book covers this topic completely differently than our text. I think between the two, you'll have no problem mastering the rest of this material." I felt that I had executed my escape from Mandy relatively smoothly, but I didn't want it to seem like I was driving her out of my office. To this end, I added, "I really think that you'll make the material your own and be able to apply it better on the exam if you work the rest out on your own. Research on learning shows that people only really achieve lasting learning when they construct their own learning." The learning theory stuff was probably over the top, but oh well.

If Mandy was put off by my behavior, she didn't let it show. She hugged the book against her and said, "That sounds like a good idea." There was conviction in her voice, and she had a completely nonplussed attitude. It was as if she thought that fondling a professor's thigh was perfectly normal behavior. I found this attitude odd, but I was just happy that she was easily agreeing to end our learning session. Of course, a small part of me wished that I could be the book pressed against the swells of her chest.

Mandy gathered the rest of her things. As she stepped to the door, she said over her shoulder, "Thanks, Carl. That really helped a lot." Her voice was the sound of pure innocence. She turned and left. I allowed myself the briefest of views of her perfect ass in those short, short cut offs. The vision was brief, but burned into my brain.

As I rode my bike the 15 miles home, I had a headfull to contemplate. The long ride helped to keep me in excellent shape for a guy over 50, and I often solved many research problems riding along the back roads. This time I had to solve personal problems and maybe even face some personal demons instead. If Maria had come to my office and behaved the way Mandy had, I would be hearing fanfares and seeing fireworks. But apparently the woman of my interest had no interest in me. Instead, a 19 or 20 year old hottie had come into my office and came onto me. At least I thought she had. It seemed so incomprehensible to me that Mandy had purposefully flirted with me that I had to review the evidence over and over to convince myself it happened. As unlikely as it seemed, it definitely seemed that Mandy had a pattern of flirting with me. Worse yet, she had seemed to up the ante at every turn.

While Mandy's young age and position as a student in my class strongly activated the part of me which helps me avoid thinking of students in any way other than a professional relationship, her exceptional good looks and flirtatious manner strongly activated the basic male urges of my psyche. In over 20 years of teaching I had never had a woman come onto me like this. In fact, I realized that as I replayed our interactions this afternoon, that a bulge was growing in my shorts. This was a new experience for me while riding a bike.

To distract me from her actions and looks, I reviewed Mandy's potential motivations for her behavior. The most obvious reason for a pretty young thing to flirt with an old prof like me was to influence her grade. It didn't seem like Mandy needed this extra advantage, and her excitement at finally solving a difficult problem suggested that she didn't want to avoid the learning process. Still, this explanation made the most sense. If she was really cunning, maybe she thought she could set me up as a freshman so that she'd get As in all my classes and get the most outstanding letter of recommendation ever when she graduated. No. That plan would take significant cold-hearted calculation to instigate in your first month on campus. While I couldn't figure Mandy out, she didn't seem that cold-hearted.

This contemplation of rationale did squelch my animal urges for Mandy. Finally, I considered the possibility that she saw me as a figure in power. Maybe she had issues with her father, or didn't know her father. She could be mixed up and ready to have a crush on any mature professor without a hump on his back. At last, I felt only that paternal, protective feeling for Mandy like I did for every student. Well, every student except Maria.

As I closed within a quarter mile of my home, I tried to enjoy the smells, sights, and sounds of the forest where my home was located. I had been riding on autopilot, lost in thought. But now I purposefully took notice of my surroundings. Homes were spread few and far between in here, and I liked it that way. So, when a car I didn't recognize appeared ahead of me I took notice. I tried not to stare at the driver, but I definitely tried to apprise the situation as the car drove toward me. As the car passed me, the evening sun shining through the trees caused a dappled glare off of its windows. However, the driver looked a lot like Maria.

At first I was shocked and almost turned to cycle after the car (as if I could catch it). I soon realized that I just had Maria on my mind. It was silly to think that she would be up here on this road. I found myself wishing it had been her, but I was sure it wasn't.

On Thursday, I kept hoping that Maria would stop by my office for help. After all, I had given her a personal invitation. At first it seemed likely that she would still come by. I could easily rationalize that, like many students, Maria might have had to rush off after my late afternoon class on Wednesday to a job. So, earlier on Thursday would be the time for her to come to me for help. I saw several other students from my gen chem class that day, which kept my rationalization alive. However, by the end of the day, I realized that Maria wasn't coming in for help. She either wasn't the type to seek help or she actually had caught me ogling Mandy that day and was disgusted with me. The bike ride home that day seemed longer than usual.

I was hard at work Friday morning prepping lectures when I heard a tentative knock at my open office door. I looked up to see Maria and nearly fell out of my chair. Well, actually what happened was I dropped the pen I was holding and tried to catch it several times only to knock it up again like a hacky sack. I finally subdued the recalcitrant writing device, but I felt like a complete bumbling fool. Smooth move, Rico Suave I thought to myself.

"Hi, Maria," I stated calmly, trying my best to regain my composure. She was dressed in a loose fitting sweater that was entirely too warm for the weather and baggy hip-hop style jeans. The effect produced by all this fabric was one of trying to cover up her natural physical gifts. It might have worked on Mandy, but Maria's bountiful attributes couldn't be covered up by any such fashion trick.

"Hi, Dr. Wilson," she said sheepishly as she eased her way slightly into my office. "You said we should come see you if we needed help." Although she still emitted an air of maturity far beyond any of her classmates, Maria seemed apprehensive -- unsure of her decision to talk to her professor.

"Yes. Of course. I'm always willing to help." I tried my best to sound reassuring, just like I would with any student who needed help in making the transition to one-on-one interactions with their instructor. "Although I think I do a decent job in the lecture hall, I often think that the best learning occurs here in my office." Again trying to make her feel safe to seek help.

Maria relaxed a little but still seemed tentative as she took the seat to the right of my desk. Her figure was mostly hidden, but man those eyes! As I looked at Maria's face, I was on the brink of getting lost in her sultry, dark eyes. Eyes framed in a perfectly constructed countenance. I thanked my lucky stars that Maria wasn't dressed the way Mandy had been. I knew that I would find it difficult to maintain my concentration even in her conservative manner of dress and didn't need additional distraction.

Maria sighed heavily and said flatly, "I think I'm pretty lost in your class." She sounded like all the joy in life had been sucked from her.

I put on a friendly smile and tried to reassure her. "Well, lots of people get lost in the first semester of chemistry. The good thing is that I've always been able to save them if they are willing to work a little extra."

"Oh I'm willing to do almost anything to learn this material, Dr. Wilson." There was absolutely no hint of any hidden meaning in the phrase "do almost anything." I know it was shameful of me, but I almost wished that she really had meant "anything."

"First, why don't you call me, Carl." I continued without letting her reply. "Let's try to find out where you first started getting off track. I find that's the only way to really make any real progress." We talked back and forth until I finally realized that she had started getting lost in the second lecture of the semester. Wow. That meant almost three weeks of material to catch up on before the exam in three days. We started at the beginning and we made good progress. Each time I re-explained a concept from class Maria caught on. We were all business. She asked questions. I explained. Unlike most students who are eager to explain or provide excuses as to why they aren't doing well, Maria stuck strictly to trying to the learn the topic. While it was nice not to have to hear some of the trumped up excuses I've heard, it made figuring out her real root problem difficult. I could tell that Maria was certainly bright enough, because she was clearly catching on here in my office. But I wanted to know why she had gotten lost so early.

Finally, after working together for over an hour, I gave Maria a couple of problems to solve based on the concepts we had covered. It was then that I figured out why a smart person like Maria had gotten so lost so quickly. Even though she could explain the chemistry concepts to me, she really struggled with the mathematical applications of the concepts. If you don't know much about chemistry, it requires a significant amount of math to solve problems based on the chemical theories. My lectures in class are usually peppered with math both to teach the concepts and to provide examples on problem solving. It was the math that had caused Maria to get lost. Here in my office, I had stayed away from the math in my explanations, which allowed her to at least follow the concepts.

As she sweated over the two problems that I gave her, I tried again to make her struggles feel normal. "Making the transition to apply the concepts is often the hardest part," I stated comfortingly.