Diary Entry -- April 21st
I feel so... embarrassed
I'm a professional, adjunct instructor at the junior college, advisor to the math club, And I'm happy in my marriage. I love my husband, I do. We've been together for years, and I feel like we're in a good place, you know? But this overwhelming curiosity has taken hold of me. I don't even know where to start. There's something about this that's making my chest tighten, and it's not the first time I've thought about it, but this time it feels different. I've been thinking a lot about one of my students, who I will call R. in case anyone ever sees this. And I feel almost ashamed to admit it, but I can't stop myself from wondering--What is it about him?
I mean, of course, I've noticed him before. It's hard not to. He's tall, he's black, and he just ... takes up space. Do I dare say what I mean? It's not that he's physically a giant. Yet--there's a certain way he carries himself, like he doesn't even need to try. He walks into a room, and everything else fades a little bit. His confidence, his presence, his charisma with the girls in class--it all draws you in. But here's the part that makes me so uncomfortable--I guess I can dare to say it--I can't stop wondering about his endowment.
But what brought me to wonder this? Nothing unusual to begin with. I did notice at the start of the year that he carries himself quite maturely for someone so young. Before class I saw R. joking with the other students, mostly with the girls, but that's not too strange. Over time I saw he could build an instant rapport with almost any girl, and many would stop by who weren't even students of mine. Once class started, he would smile at me as I called the room to attention, then become serious, an intense look on his face as he worked. Occasionally he'd stay late for a question and I found him friendly but quiet. Still, something about his bearing made me take notice, and on a few occasions I caught his eyes looking at me with that intensity.
It was not until we approached the end of the quarter that my thoughts were triggered. Last week R. stayed after class to ask if he could use my lab to study for finals during lunch. R. had an even more intense look on his face than normal when he asked. I detected something urgent in his request behind his soft smile, but I appreciated his manners and his work ethic, so I said sure, he just had to clear out before the bell. For the next two weeks I saw him bent over the large worktable in my room with a series of different study partners. He was a first-year but I was surprised to see his partners were mostly older and all of them female. R. would settle in with his partner and spread out their papers, his large hand clutching a pencil, working through problems with the girl of the moment, an amused grin occasionally breaking the intense look on his face. Once they were set up, I would leave for the teachers lounge, grateful for the break from my classroom.
Then last Thursday I returned to the math lab early, forgetting about R's study session. As I approached, I could see R and his partner through the narrow windowpane that bordered the classroom door. From this angle, I could see into the room while they could not see my approach. And what I saw was that R's hand was no longer clutching a pencil or moving over his stack of worksheets. Instead, it was under the table and visibly moving high along the thigh of his partner, a slender brunette named Brenda who I knew was set to graduate.