Professor Neal Longosch believed there was only one way to teach public affairs reporting: hands on. If a college sophomore was going to learn how to report on politics after graduation, they had to experience the process first hand. They had to be at the local board of elections on election night; they had to attend candidate's acceptance and concession speeches; they had to interview real people.
The word on campus was that Longosch was demanding, but you'd learn a lot. The word among the coeds on campus was that Longosch was worth staring at for an entire semester. He was forty, good looking, and in shape. In fact, it shocked most students to find out his real age. The unmarried Neal Longosch seemingly could have his pick of young women.
He had been tempted many times. And each time he kept his desires under control. The students he might have given in to were all very attractive and sexy. None of them interested him beyond a single encounter and he didn't think it was worth the risk.
Nearly any professor could have nearly any student if it meant a passing grade for the student. It happened every day. Neal Longosch was above all that. He sometimes reasoned with himself by saying, 'If I flunk that really cute babe, she'll have to take the class again.'
But he never, in fifteen years of teaching, seriously considered having sex with a female student.
Until Jenifer Huntington stepped into his class.
The only thing extraordinary about Jenifer were her looks. She was shy, introverted, and marginally intelligent. The idea of using her cuteness to further her reporting career had never once crossed her mind. Despite her Midwestern upbringing, Jenifer appeared to come straight from a southern California beach. Blonde and tan with a swimsuit model's body...she had it all. The only person who didn't appreciate that was Jenifer.
She rarely dated, having had a couple bad experiences with immature, overly hormonal guys who nearly had her undressed before the dates started. In both cases she escaped before anything happened.
Even before those unfortunate incidents, nineteen year old Jenifer was attracted to older men. She never acted upon it; it was just her preference. And now she was sitting in a new class looking up at one of the best looking older men she had ever seen in her life.
Jenifer thought to herself: 'It would be cool to know him.'
Neal thought to himself: 'I've GOT to have her.'
The progression of events that led to the realization of both of their wishes began with a meeting in the professor's office the second week of the semester. The May primaries were just around the corner and Neal had handpicked the students who would accompany him to the board of elections and major campaign headquarters. Jenifer, of course, was invited.
"Each of you will have an assignment," the professor told the six students. "I will spend as much time with you as I can, but a lot of the work you will have to complete on your own. That's the way it's going to be in the real world, so don't bitch about it."
He detailed the assignments and allocated one to each student. Jenifer would attend the likely victory celebration of an incumbent Senator. Neal knew it would take his intervention for Jenifer to get anywhere near the politician for an interview. Not so coincidentally, he would have to spend considerable time with her.
The professor handed out schedules, meeting places, background notes, and other useful information. At the end, he asked, "Who wants to ride down with me?"
Two hands went up immediately. One was Jenifer's.
All of this worked out fine. The vast majority of the class wanted as little interference from Neal as possible. Jenifer didn't mind in the least trailing behind her new favorite teacher. And Neal desperately wanted her trailing along.
Primary election day dawned as a perfect spring day with temperatures forecasted into the high seventies. Jenifer showed up dressed as professionally as a young college student could—in a light weight skirt and blue knit top that hugged her hourglass figure. The colors contrasted perfectly with her hair, eyes and skin and Neal realized it was going to be a long day. Looking back in his rear view mirror while they drove and chatted, catching glimpses of her long, lean legs, made it difficult to concentrate.
Neal had always been a breast man and he had rarely seen a pair as tempting as Jenifer's. No, they weren't the biggest...by far. He wasn't into that. He loved round, firm and alluring without being 'in your face.' Jenifer's top dipped just low enough to show the first hint of cleavage. After that, only the general shape was offered up as enticement.
Perfect tits, to him, should barely exceed the size of his hands and have nipples that begged to be sucked. By all accounts, Jenifer's fit the bill.
The entire time in the car, Neal had to force himself to acknowledge Carly, the other girl that rode along, despite his total indifference towards her. At times, though, it was a welcome respite from his dangerously unvarying attraction to Jenifer.
Finally, they arrived at the capital and Neal escorted Carly to her assignment at the Secretary of State's office. Neal made sure she knew what her tasks were and arrangements were made to pick her back up at the end of the day.
Neal felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he went back to meet up with Jenifer. Now it was just the two of them. They drove a short distance to the Senator's campaign headquarters, formerly a large retail operation that was now out of business, and walked inside. It wasn't the bustling madhouse Jenifer expected and she mentioned that to Neal.
"Oh, almost all the work is done now," he told her. "They will still be making phone calls and offering to take people to the polls. But the actual campaigning is over."
Rows of circular tables with chairs faced a couple large screen TVs, ready for the evening's activities. Harried people rushed past Neal and Jenifer as if they weren't there, and the pair weaved their way towards a small group of people in the corner.
One man waved at them and Neal replied loudly, "Joe! How's it looking so far?"
They met half way and the men shook hands. "Exit polling is good. Should be a comfortable win," Joe said. "Who is the future Pulitzer winner this year?"
Joe was looking straight at Jenifer with a wide grin.
"This is Jenifer. Jenifer, this is Joe Clark, the guy in charge of this operation," Neal said. "If we're nice to him, you'll get to meet the winner tonight."
Joe and Jenifer shook hands. "Nice to meet you," she said. "I'm excited. This will be a great learning experience."
"I hope you're in broadcast journalism and not print," Joe said. "You're much too pretty to be a newspaper reporter."
Jenifer blushed. "We'll see."
Joe showed them around, all for Jenifer's benefit. She conducted interviews with Joe and other staffers under the watchful eye of her professor, appreciating the practice she was getting under non-stressful circumstances. The time seemed to fly by. After a quick snack for dinner, it was nearly 'show time', as Joe called it.
At one point, Neal sought out and found an obviously vacant office far in the back of the headquarters where the two of them could dissect how Jenifer had handled the interviews.
"Think ahead," Neal was saying. "Anticipate the say-nothing response you know you're going to get and be thinking of another way to get them to answer. Force them to say more than they want to say."
Jenifer scowled. "That's just not my personality. Being forceful, I mean. Am I being too nice? I thought I was getting good quotes."
Neal smiled. "You can be nice and still get better quotes. You're doing great. But I know you can do even better."
Jenifer looked relieved. "I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this, Professor Longosch. This is going to be a great class."
Neal touched her on the arm. "I don't expect miracles from students in this class. But I look for improvement each time you do an interview. Are you thinking about what to ask Senator Smith?"
Jenifer was only thinking about his hand on her arm and the tingles she was feeling up and down her spine.
"Ah, no."
Neal smiled "You're running out of time. Jot them on your notepad as they come to you in the next half hour."
