I should not look so longingly at her neck. Were she to turn and fix me with her lapis eyes, she would likely be astonished with the intensity of my gaze focused, not as expected, on her breasts (smallish, round, lovely) but on that slender column. Skin pale, contrasting sharply with the red of her hair, smooth and taut. I could, I fancied, see the beat of her pulse beneath her jawbone. I could, I fancied, taste the light saltiness of her skin, feel its warmth beneath my lips, hear her sigh as my tongue blazed a trail upward towards her ear, smell her soft perfume that had lingered in my nostrils when she passed by me earlier, thrill to the tension as she leans away, offering me more ground to cover.
No. Staring like this is living dangerously.
I do it anyway.
Of course, she snares me with a sidelong glance, notes my attention not on the lecturer, but on her, and turns to look at me. For a long moment I am falling as I look at her looking at me looking at her... There is a positively sexual thrill that runs through me as the corners of her mouth tug upwards in what may be a smirk, but which I interpret as an indulgent (and dare I think flattered?) smile. I wonder what she sees: a man, not handsome but not ugly, slightly older and embracing baldness, eyes, with small wrinkles at the corners, that have been described as arresting. Or an old man, staring lustfully at a younger woman? Which would not be entirely wrong; lust is certainly a component of my interest, but not the only one. When I surface, I realize that the entire tableaux must have lasted no longer than three or four seconds, or else everyone in class would certainly have been caught in our web. There is a palpable sense of loss as she turns away.
About midway through the seminar we take a break. As my fellow students file out, I watch the way she moves. I confess to paying no small amount of attention to her backside as it moves in her jeans, but not only that. As she exits the room she turns her head slightly; if you had not been watching you might have missed the movement. Again, she catches me looking and, I think, challenges me with her glance to follow. Which I do, standing quickly and exiting the room just in time to see her vanish into an empty classroom down the hall.
I make sure no one is watching and, true to form, all are engaged in idle chatter or in going to the restroom. Furtively, I move to the darkened classroom down the hall, enter, and spot her standing off to one side. She is half-lit in the overspill from the hallway, the shadows on half of her face deepened by her hair hanging over it. She looks at me intently, and I do not flinch from her gaze. I step closer, coming within arm's reach of her, close enough to smell the perfume, to hear her soft breathing, to see her swallow uncomfortably.
"You've been staring at me." It is not a question. There is no point in questions.
"Yes."
"Can you cut it out?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Does it make you uncomfortable?"