Chapter 2

Beau eyed the stack of papers with contempt. So he'd have to review 19 essays on the same topic. That was just one class' homework assignment. He loathed grading and wished he could just give everyone an A for effort. At no point would any of this crap do anyone any good in the real world. No one made a living analyzing a book. No one wrote a book with hidden meanings for a class to study. He pitied the students for this forced task, hoping they had better sense than him to avoid this as a profession.

After reviewing nearly half, he felt he was dozing off until one essay in particular caught his attention. Not that the topic was any better off, but whoever this was not only had fantastic penmanship, they also wrote with pure elegance. This person's words were anything but ordinary. He decided he would wait until he finished to figure out who it belonged to.

"By daily dying I have come to be."

"Who wrote this?" Beau spoke aloud in his office, quickly thumbing the page over to see it. Victoria.

God.

Even her words made him horny.

He held onto this juice, this pump of vitamin C as best he could. He knew he'd need it for his night out.

He fashioned his tie to match his suit as best he could, even if he felt he was slowly becoming color blind. There were no differential hues in this world. Just a vast flock of sheep, herding themselves in the same mob mentality direction. Even though he picked apart social gatherings, he knew deep down he'd feel lost if he too wasn't part of the trend. Tonight, Beau and his colleagues were meeting at the Vancouver Art Gallery, followed by the usual mingling of drinks and chit chat. It was the first outing of the fall semester, the men using the first week of classes as an opportunity to go out. Rather, a chance to one up each other on who was doing better financially, mentally, and sexually. Beau never felt he had anything to bring to the table but the status of his thesis. Every man had their own flaw, something that annoyed him to no end but kept his mouth shut for the sake of being included. Even the mundane flaws chipped away at Beau's icy attitude. He felt perhaps his own flaw was showing up.

Kip. That smug bastard.

Beau saw him sitting with his girlfriend at a round table, wearing a blazer that may as well have belonged to a hobo but was apparently "cool." He just knew Kip was bragging to his young girlfriend about what a smart fuck he was. 'Look at me with my PHD in political discourse' or whatever the hell it was. Beau only half paid attention to these dull conversations. No one had anything interesting to say unless they were debating each other's merits. His blonde shaggy hair and hipster glasses only annoyed him more. He looked like a tween in a man's body. The poor fuck could hardly grow a beard. Yet the smoking hot girlfriend was all over him like a fruit fly in-

"Chardonnay?" a young hostess interrupted his thoughts, holding a tray with small plastic cups of the hottest new wine. Rather, whatever the kitchen was trying to get rid of.

"Sure," Beau smirked and took a glass from the tray. He took a sip and continued to skim the room.

Darren. The only person that could be worse off when it came to sex. Darren's problem was that when he wasn't teaching, he was too busy teaching. He felt he had to dispel knowledge every minute to every person. Even women who went to flirt with him. He was averagely handsome with regular features, but no one was willing to listen to him babble on and on about science. Perhaps if he'd only met his queen of the laboratory, something would start cooking up beyond amoeba.

Alex. A nice guy but cared too deeply for preaching his religious views. He would get offended by the easiest of things. That being said, Darren and Alex did not get along. Beau often heard them quarreling over monkeys v Adam and Eve. Quite frankly, Beau didn't care one bit who was right. All he cared about was how to reverse the day he was born.

"Professor Edison, the brilliant English literature aficionado! Glad to see you made it out of your cocoon," Reed clinked his plastic cup against Beau's.

At last, the only person Beau could stand. Reed was a saint in his own right. He came up poor and managed to climb his way up the social ladder; educated and still as humble as anyone. He never bragged about his work or acted like his struggle was too hard. Beau appreciated his realistic attitude and overall enthusiasm. Those who worked for what they had were the ones that had the bragging rights, yet never bragged at all. Reed was an older African man in his 50's, but still held a candour of youth. He wore his graying hair and beard with elegance, as much so as his pristine suit.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked when Beau said not a thing. He loved the sound of his voice, it was so soothing, even when he wasn't dispelling wisdom to help guide the lost Beau soul that only he could clearly see.

"Yes, I'm just..."

"Lost in the repetitive cycle of teaching?"

"How do you pinpoint me so well?"

"I've been there too. I try hard to spice up my curriculum. I never thought I'd be more sick of something than sleeping with the same woman," Reed joked, making Beau laugh harder than he had in a while.

"I guess I should be glad I haven't found a woman yet. If I can't handle this..."

"You can handle anything. Just remember why you got into this whole atmosphere in the first place."

"It's temporary, Reed. I only intend to teach while I obtain my PHD. When I'm done, well. I'm not sure.'

"How are things on the dating forefront?"

"I didn't know I was dating."

"You're a good looking man, Beau. Why haven't you spoken to any women?'

Beau was frazzled, his guess was as good as anyone's. He chewed on his lip and tried to give the most reasonable explanation as to why he hated his life, but did nothing to fix it.

"It's just not something I worry about."

"Are you telling me that in the largest city in BC, you haven't seen a single woman you wanted to sleep with?"

Beau let the wine swirl around his tongue as he debated admitting the truth. That there was a student's vagina he longed to swirl his tongue around. Dare he admit such a vile idea to someone who could very well rat him out to another colleague? While he did trust Reed, he decided to keep her identity hidden.

"There is one girl I've seen on a regular basis, but I have yet to speak to her."

"And why not?"

"It's complicated," Beau let his shoulders shrink at the realization that he would never muster the courage to even look her in the eyes.

"Is she a student?"

Beau chugged the rest of his wine to keep his lips busy.

Reed chuckled at his reaction. "We've all been there. You don't think I fancy some of the girls in my class?"

Beau was bewildered. Such a respected man, speaking such perverted thoughts.

"Reed! You're a married man!"

"I cannot help my body's natural reaction to an inciting woman. Tell me, what does she study? Perhaps I know her."

"I'm not sure. I've never spoken to her. She sits near the front. English 4401. I can only imagine she is an English major to be in my class, but it could be her minor. I see her three times a week. She always wears form fitting clothes. She dresses like an adult, that's for sure. A great departure from the sweat pant and head band look that seems to captivate universities. She also happens to be a fantastic writer. I'm simply taken with her work. She turns her essays in faster than anyone I've ever seen. I can see she's truly passionate about it."

"Victoria Montoya?"

"What?" Beau's lips trembled.

"Oh, we've all seen her Beau. Trust me."

"You're the only person I truly feel comfortable talking to."

"I'm glad you feel that way. We can't all be arrogant. Speaking of arrogant, here comes your best friend."

Beau looked behind himself to see the person he loathed the most. Professor of Mediaeval English Adam Walcott. A spoiled brat from birth, Adam only attended the finest of schools, dated the hottest of women, and sported the most lavish of clothes. He constantly boasted about how fast he finished college, with the help of his parent's funding of course. Not to mention the people he hired to do his homework. What bugged Beau the most was that Adam was convinced he was god's gift to not just women, but to everyone as well.

"My biggest fans!" Adam approached Beau and Reed by slapping both of them on the backs. Beau eyed his absurdly large, crooked nose with disdain. For being so unattractive, he was a cocky fuck. It seemed like that was Adam's issue. He had to overcompensate for his unattractiveness with everything money could by, and a large ego. Anything that was larger than his nose.

"What are you two talking about?"

"What a splendid turn out tonight has been, of course," Reed jumped in. They stopped to notice that the gallery was quite empty.

"Well now that I'm here, it's going to be fun. Seriously, what's the talk about? You look down Beau. Of course, you always look like your sad. If you could only see the world through my eyes, you'd be a much happier man."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Beau shook his head. He shook his head to avoid shaking the fist that wanted to thrust across and break that large nose of his.

"It looks like you need to get laid."

Beau wished he hadn't finished his wine, because he would have loved to have poured his drink down this asshole's overpriced Armani suit.

"Do you really need to go down that road?" Reed tried to stop the brewing fight.

"Come on, we all see how grumpy this guy looks. See how happy I am? It's because beautiful women throw themselves at me all of the time. I don't have a chance to be upset, I'm too busy responding to women."

"They come throwing themselves at you because you throw money at them!" Beau stated point blank. "Tell me this, has any one of these women been remotely educated? Any of them even going after their masters?"

Adam kept quiet as he bit his tongue. He knew Beau was right, but he'd never dare to admit defeat to someone he found pathetic.

"I could get a smart girl if I wanted to."

"Please," Beau rolled his eyes.

"I hardly find most of the educated ones attractive anyway."

"There's a looker around the English classes, that's for sure. And she's over there now," Reed said and pointed down the hall. Beau's lips began to quiver. It couldn't be...

Victoria Montoya. In an outfit even sexier than the way she presented herself in class. Now she was in high heels, a black form fitting dress with a plunging v line.

"Whoa, that girl is a student?" Adam interjected.

"Don't even think about it," Beau stepped up. No way was he going to let this prick bastard come between the legs of such a pristine student.

"She's too smart for you, Adam. She's one of Beau's brightest minds."

"I can have anyone I want," Adam flattered himself, then began walking down the hall. Beau felt ready to chase him down and beat him to a bloody pulp. That gorgeous woman did not need to be around the likes of Adam Walcott, the number one douche of Vancouver.

Beau and Reed watched as Adam approached her. Victoria turned around, but did not boost a smile, and looked quite displeased when he took her hand and kissed it. In fact, it seemed as though she'd said something shocking to Adam. He looked taken aback, and then began laughing awkwardly. She continued to speak with him anyway. Beau could see all over her body language, her polite gestures, and just knew she wanted nothing more to do with him than this simple conversation at an art gallery.

"It looks like he struck out," Reed patted Beau on the back as they watched Adam return with defeat. For once, a look of pure failure on his face. Beau had never been happier.

"What happened Adam, I thought you could have anyone you want!" Reed decided to step in for Beau and let him have it.

"Come down, gentlemen. As it turns out, she's a student of mine as well. I had no idea since my classroom is so big. How terrible would that be, chasing after a student! I wouldn't dream to tarnish my reputation that way. The university thinks highly of me and no woman is worth that esteem."

Even if it was clear he only spoke these words to cover up the fact that Victoria had no interest in him, they took a toll on Beau's view anyway. It was true. He would be looked down upon if he did chase after her. And he couldn't let anyone, especially Adam, know the truth about his ill thoughts for her. If he did, Adam would live to ruin his career. Beau's career meant the world to him. After all, it was all he had.