Falling for the Teacher Is Never a Good Idea

I didn't know what to think the first few minutes of the flight. My old and decaying math teacher was seated next to Mr.
Novak, and he was just an old curmudgeon that hated humans. He was probably around for the entire evolution of humans and has resented the species' existence since. He fell asleep after about ten minutes, and the flight hadn't even taken off yet.

They moved us down the runway for what felt like years, my heart racing so fast that I could hear it in my ears and feel it in every crevice of my body. Mr. Novak didn't look at me after I gave him that glare, and I started to feel kind of guilty for being that rude. I'm just antisocial, and he was really getting under my skin in a kind of good way, but also in a painful way.

I thought to myself that I should apologize but then I felt the plane start to ascend, and holy fuck was every thought other than terror wiped from my mind. It was like this bomb dropped in my stomach and all I could feel was the world caving in around me, because there was cotton in my ears, and my stomach was made of lead, and every one of limbs was made out of ice. My hand was clutching around the arm rest of the seat between Mr. Novak and myself and I was gripping it so hard you could see the veins in my hand which was the color of snow. I was probably paper white, or Frankenstein green, at that point but I didn't really care.

"Whoa, first time flying?" Mr. Novak asked a little concerned, with a clear frown that was trying to conceal a smirk.

"No, not at all, I'm just really enjoying this flying death trap!" I said, trying not to panic.

"Do you need to puke? They have special bags for it," he replied.

"No thanks," I said shuttering at the idea of puking in front of him. I didn't really feel sick though, I hadn't had much for breakfast so there wasn't much to make me sick anyway.

"Well take it just to be safe," he said handing the bag to me, which didn't make me feel like a four year old in the slightest.

"Jeez, don't patronize me," I said, finding at least some of my composure after we stopped going up and maintained a steady height.

"That's sort of my job. That's why I'm sitting here Dean," he said. My heart fluttered a bit when he said my name. Why did it do that? It was so annoying being attracted to him, especially considering how nice he seemed. A little devious, but still sweet.

"Oh sorry, I didn't think about that," I said, completely forgetting what it was he said in the first place. Something about his
job. I didn't care, I just wanted to look at him. Damn was he good looking.

I turned my head away from him to look out the window. 'Oh shit.' Not a good idea. Too high. Very high. Extremely high.

Where on earth did the ground even go? Why on earth did I willing get in that thing?

"Do you need to hold onto something? Like maybe a tranquilizer? Or a hand?"

"How about solid ground? Wait- what was that second one?" I asked a little bewildered at the offer.

Mr. Novak didn't say anything he just held his hand out for me to grasp. What the hell was I supposed to do with that offer though? It's not like I could've just brushed it away, or say no, or ignore it, but if I took his hand than it would be awkward because he's my teacher and I like him, and he knows I like him. But on the other hand, I'd be holding his hand.

'Good enough,' I thought and I grabbed it. Who could blame me? He's hot, and I was terrified, I had a good excuse, and he offered!

"Ow if you hold any tighter I'm going to lose my hand!" He said, but I barely heard him, I had closed my eyes and was taking deep breaths through my nose trying not to scream.

It took me almost five minutes to calm down enough to let go. Mr. Novak didn't seem to care he just kind of smiled. When I'd closed my eyes I didn't see it, but when I opened them he was looking at me and then quickly looked away.

'Had he been staring at me?'

On one hand I was a little wigged out with that prospect, but on the other… it was really fucking sexy. Either he cared enough about me to see if I was okay, or he just felt really superior to me, but he really didn't seem the arrogant type.

I did get a little better throughout the flight especially when the pilot came on the overhead and said we could use our electronic devices, so I of course got my iPod out and put it on shuffle, to try and take my mind of the fact that I was flying.

Mr. Novak started writing in an old composition notebook when I put my ear buds in, and for a while I closed my eyes and rested my head back on the seat but occasionally I would open them and see what he was writing. Most of it was just stuff about history lessons or whatever but I caught sight of my name and this grabbed my attention, and managed to secure it pretty well.

It was no accident that my name was written for me to see it either. Definitely not just a mistake or anything. Mr. Novak wrote that for me to see it.

"Dean Winchester might want to know that his feelings are not one way."

As soon as I saw that, he turned to the next page, and the words disappeared. Did he have eyes in the back of his head? He looked back at me, his face completely void of anything. He looked completely innocent, like he hadn't just wrote what I'd just read.

'Did he actually write that, or did I just imagine?' And if I'm not imagining it, did he just write it to pull my leg? Oh god this was hard. I just wanted to spit it out and ask him. What was he doing? He was getting me all excited and he knew it. He knew what he was doing. Maybe he was just playing little mind games. If he was, then he was a sadist.

I couldn't really risk asking him, but I saw his hand scroll around the blank page, and he removed it so that it was blatantly easy for me to read again.

"You look skeptical."

He looked around at me as I read this, and I just nodded very slowly at him.

"Silly. You have very little confidence. It's cute."

He turned to me and winked. It was definitely a wink this time, no imagination. That was a wink. He was a sexy winker. Oh my god, I had to stop thinking about him, he was my teacher! But he wasn't exactly discouraging any of this.

He didn't write anything more throughout the entire flight. He was torturing me, I could tell. Either he really hated me because he thought I vandalized his car or he was just really freaking weird. Whichever it was, it was attractive.

The plane, I realized was beginning it's descent. If taking off had been scary it was nothing compared to that.

Mr. Novak didn't even ask me that time before he put his hand over my hand which was on the arm rest again. I didn't say anything, or even acknowledge his hand there. I was too lost in my own head to have said anything more advanced than "gaaahh" so I just kept it shut.

When I felt the plane make contact with the ground I couldn't stand it anymore.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

Mr. Novak said nothing, he just looked at me with a gleam in his eye.
"What's wrong Dean?"

Oh man, he said my name again, it sounded like honey rolling off his tongue.
"Nothing. Yes something. No nothing," I said battling myself, "you're a teacher, you can't be…"

He looked at me like I had just said the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, "and as your friend would point out: I'm only a student teacher."

He stood up as everyone else around us did, and pushed the sleeping teacher beside him awake, before turning to me, ducking down and whispering in my ear.

I felt his warm breath against my ear and practically swooned, "besides, you like it."

He turned away and got out of the row, not looking back at me once, before he left the plane. Evidently he didn't have a carry on either, but the stuffy teacher did and he blocked me into the cluster of seats as he reached for it.

It took me forever to find a gap between people to actually get out of the plane, and when I did I could barely stand. I was full of jitters, either from the plane ride or from Mr. Novak, but most likely from both. If things kept going where they were going than I was going to be wobbly for the rest of my life, because just the way he looked at me made me feel like I was melting.
And other reasons.

I got out of the plane and completely avoided looking anywhere around the room not wanting to make any eye contact with anyone especially Mr. Novak. I just wanted to find Charlie as soon as I possibly could so that I could talk to her about the strange trip, and maybe to vent my sheer puzzlement.