Eyes Open • •

[cedric westley critchley]

Cedric felt like he was walking a dangerous line. No, in fact, he was well over that line and in terrifying territory. He knew better, he really did, but that knowledge had done little to stop him all the same. His career was something he had worked incredibly hard for. He was a young professor with a lot under his belt, most of which he had done to prove he was credible. He might have been something of a bumbling young man who appeared to be out of another time in moments, but he was qualified for his post and was completely capable of teaching the history courses he put his name to at the university. He was just odd, and not the kind who had ever fitted in with the crowd. He was old fashioned, a tiny bit forgetful, and would rather spend his weekends at antique stores and flea markets. Most men his age were at the bar after work, enjoying time with friends, but Cedric had spent most of his life as something of a loner. Very few people shared his interest who were also his age, and even less of those people had been women and romantically inclined. In fact, none of them had so much had looked at Cedric with that twinkle in their eyes. Thankfully, it wasn’t something that came up in conversation so he never had to admit to anyone that he was twenty-nine and without many of the firsts his own students were experiencing – if they hadn’t already done so.

Then there was Kensi. She had been like a bolt out of the blue and now that particular class was even more difficult to teach. Cedric avoided looking at her section for every lecture and seminar now. If she answered a question he kept the praise to a minimum and hastily moved on. What the hell was he doing fooling around with one of his own students?! There would be a tornado of trouble if they were ever to be caught. It wasn’t like they could openly date, and Cedric wasn’t going to sing and dance that this was his first time with, well, everything. He hadn’t led a sheltered life by any means, but no woman had ever looked his way twice, and he didn’t consider himself an attractive man. He had no sense of fashion, and his glasses were completely necessary for him to see the world around him; milk bottle lenses were not particular flattering, but contact lenses left his eyes bloodshot and stinging worse than during allergy season.

Cedric found himself pacing his office. Kensi had made an appointment to see him at four o’clock, but he knew it wasn’t going to be about her latest piece of coursework. It hadn’t been the last two times. A part of him knew he should have said no, told her that they needed to stop playing this dangerous game before he ruined his career or she got kicked out of school. He hadn’t done that though. He had gulped and spluttered his way through telling her four o’clock was fine, and that he would be in his office waiting for her. His last class of the day wrapped up at three, so he had spent the last hour fighting off his nerves. He was terrified of how far it might go this time, if they’d cross another line they couldn’t come back from, and if it would cost them more than they could afford. When the knock came at his door, Cedric’s breath caught in his throat.

• • •

TAGGED! Kensington Olivia Summers
WORDS! 597!
OUTFIT! Nervous Nerd!
LYRICS! Life Changes - - - Good Charlotte
NOTES! <3

[Kensington Olivia Summers]

Kensi knew better than to take up with a professor, very few were like those in television shows and movies, interested in seducing their students. And in fact, Cedric was one of them. Kensi had pursued him. She had from that first class found him intriguing, inspiring and his voice had captured her attention immediately. Just because she was in college, attempting to do something with her life didn't mean she was going to change everything about herself though. She was still Kensi after all and she wasn't about to change who she was for anyone. So she'd pursued her professor from that first class, being subtle at first and then more and more brazen as time dragged on. She'd made it quite clear that she was genuinely interested in him as a man and not just as her professor and someone who could expand her academic horizons. In truth, Kensi had always gone for men with a little something more. She didn't have a set type. In all her years of dating, she'd basically tried them all and that probably said a lot about her but there was one thing that was consistent; brains. She liked to have conversations and intellect was something that needed to be there to do that. She didn't want those boring conversations about the weather or the bland and well, boring. She wanted someone who could hold her interest and it was quite difficult to do. Kensi was the first to admit it, she was fickle and fancy free.

Cedric had yet to disappoint her though and she continued to chase him. She'd made appointments for his office hours and locked them in slowly working her way past those lines in the sand and the lines he'd drawn between right and wrong. She'd noticed after the first couple of those meetings he was finding it difficult to look towards her general direction in class when he was lecturing and barely spared her the time of day to praise or argue her points when she did speak up; and she spoke up often. Watching him squirm in front of the class, knowing she was the reason he stumbled through parts of his lesson was almost as much fun as the moments they stole away in his office. They would never be a regular couple, he was her professor and she was his student after all. They couldn't do proper date nights, they couldn't grab meals or movies for fear that they'd be seen. Kensi may have wanted him but she didn't want him to lose his job and she was quite fond of her classes and coursework. She wanted to graduate and become a historian. She had plans that didn't include a mark on her permanent record quite like that.

The ones she had were more than enough, and had been happily earned in high school. She'd been a rebel in her Southern state of Georgia and her mother had been quite proud of her. Kensi didn't think her mother would be quite so happy with her only daughter's antics if she were brought up to a board being accused of having relations with a faculty member. No, this was her little secret and she wanted to keep it that way. She didn't know how long it would last but she was going to make the most of it while she could. Her class let out a half hour later than it had meant to but her teacher enjoyed running on and going so far off topic it was difficult to remember where they'd been in the first place. Kensi didn't normally mind, she didn't usually have anywhere to be after the class but that particular day, she'd booked in an appointment to see Cedric and she didn't want to be late, though she knew he would understand why she was. She made it to the office with moments to spare and knocked on the wooden office door with his name on. The door was slightly ajar, letting Kensi know that he was in there and that he was alone so she pushed the door open tentatively, as though she didn't want to be interrupting anything. "Professor Critchley?" She called poking her head in with a devilish smile before stepping into the room and shutting and locking the door behind her. "Miss me?" She asked curiously, taking her bag from her shoulder and setting it on the chair on the visitor side before stepping closer to him and running her hand down his arm.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || cedric westley critchley
Words || 759
Clothes || Sassy Minx
Music || What Ifs --Kane Brown
Notes || <3

[cedric westley critchley]

Cedric had no idea what he was doing. He was being a complete and utter fool – of that much he could be certain. His entire career was on the line. If he was caught having any kind of a relationship with a student then he wouldn’t be teaching at NYU or anywhere else again. And teaching gave him a purpose, even when his students rolled their eyes because he was enthusiastically talking about something irrelevant, going off on one of his typical ‘did you know’ facts that only Cedric found particularly interesting. He was definitely a century out of time, but he couldn’t help it. He was bookish and nerdy, and no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn’t catch up with the twenty-first century and its thriving technology. He still didn’t understand why people had to have a gizmo for everything. He much preferred to rely on a simple phone and a diary that he could scribble in; not that it helped him remember where he was supposed to be, or get there on time. He was always crashing through doors late, and stumbling into meetings fixing his glasses and fiddling with his jacket. This entire situation with Kensi just made him bumble and stammer about more than usual.

He really ought to have known better. Cedric was not a rule breaker. He had never in his life been tempted to bend the rules, or even poke at them just to see what it felt like. He simply liked to keep his head down and focus on his studies and research. So he couldn’t understand why on earth he was so drawn to this….situation. He wasn’t a confident man, not at all the type women looked at or talked to. He was used to it, probably could say he preferred it by now. After spending his whole life as someone who stayed in libraries and hid away when others his age had been playing games, going to clubs, or getting ready for dates, Cedric still felt wildly uncomfortable when it came to matters of the heart. There were kids in the world who probably knew more than he did. He had more in common with one of those stereotyped geeks from an old eighties movie than he did with anyone else; although the comparison made Cedric annoyed and only put him off people more. That did not help his situation in the slightest.

Knowing Kensi would be there in his office at any moment made his heart race, and he was starting to feel somewhat queasy. This was a bad idea, such a bad idea, but he always agreed to her appointments and questions. He knew better, he knew so much better. He still jumped a little when he heard her voice coming around his door, and he beckoned her in awkwardly, wiping his clammy hands on his trousers as he realised that once again he was nervous as hell about her being in his office. He fiddled with the papers on his desk, even though they were in order, completely irrelevant to this meeting, and ready to go back out to his seniors the next morning. The door was locked, that was bad – no good! No, bad! This was all bad! He had to remember that he was the professor, Kensi was the student and that boundaries were a real, real thing that existed for a reason."Mmhm.” He managed, swallowing hard and not trusting his head to make words come out of his mouth just then. There was too much of an internal fight going on with him that he feared all that would come out would be nonsense.

• • •

TAGGED! Kensington Olivia Summers
WORDS! 614!
OUTFIT! Nervous Nerd!
LYRICS! Life Changes - - - Good Charlotte
NOTES! <3

[Kensington Olivia Summers]

Kensi was pushing the limits awfully bad. And she couldn't find it in herself to give a damn. Cedric intrigued her. He spoke so eloquently about the past, snared her attention and actually kept hold of it. Some of the other students in the class thought he droned but she didn't. She understood that his speeches were filled with passion, they were something he was confident in. And Kensi found that confidence sexy as hell. He was enamoured with his own work and that was something Kensi could relate to. Outside of class, she was like any other average student. She partied, she drank more than she probably should and she had a lot of fun. She never missed a class because she was hungover or drunk, she was even at the early classes that should never have existed in the first place! Kensi was nothing if not dedicated. What she wanted now though, she knew she shouldn't want at all. It was the forbidden part of it all that part it all the more interesting. Kensi had been considered many things in her short life but responsible had only been one on rare occasions. She was brash, she had a habit of doing things just to prove people that she could and she continually tossed the rulebook out the window. She didn't care for rules, thought they took away all the fun that could be had.

Kensi was all about the fun. In the classroom or lecture hall, she was a dedicated student, she did her homework, aced her essays and exams and even asked questions frequently. Off campus was a different matter altogether. And Kensi wasn't at all ashamed of how she got on in life. She was young and proud and she wasn't unattractive. She saw the looks she got, the side glances and the outright stares and ignored them all. She couldn’t care less because she knew instinctively that none of them could hold her attention. In the city, she could count on one hand all the people that she could stand to be around for more than five minutes, and one of them was her damn brother. The other was her best friend and then there was Professor Critchley.

She knew better than to get involved with a teacher, it was against the rules. But there was that pesky word again; rules. She had never actually listened to them growing up, she wasn't about to start now. With the door locked, Kensi wasn't concerned about being interrupted. The coursework in her class at least, was a bit of a breeze for anyone with a head for history so it would have been from one of his other classes and a locked door usually meant empty office. The thrill of someone trying to gain entry, even knocking and coming so close to being caught was thrilling, though she wouldn't have said as much to Cedric. He was obviously of two minds at the moment. She had hoped to solidify one of them, the one that saw this continuing on to another level. Smirking up at the man, Kensi easily sat on the edge of the desk and pulled him closer to her. There was no point in pretending she was there about the coursework, she hadn't been yet and this time she wanted to take things further than the conversations and flirtations they'd had up to this point. Kensi reached up, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck and carefully pulling him down to her level. Part of her just wanted to kiss him and see what his reaction would be but another part wanted to prove them both that he wanted this just as much and held back from doing what she wanted to. It was the curious part that kept her from closing the gap between them and waiting him out instead.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || cedric westley critchley
Words || 648
Clothes || Sassy Minx
Music || What Ifs --Kane Brown
Notes || <3

[cedric westley critchley]

Cedric didn’t break the rules. He had never let anyone copy from his homework or exams. He didn’t skive off and fake a sick day just to get out of gym class. Hell, he wasn’t even five minutes late for curfew – not ever! Cedric was always the good kid, the teacher’s pet. He was laughed at by his classmates, taunted about the little things that made him who he was. It had been teenagers trying to corrupt other teenagers, peer pressure them into doing the things they considered ‘cool’. He had never cared for those things. His parents would have disowned him if he had been caught hanging about a play park with a cheap bottle of cider. He was never left alone overnight for the chance to throw one of those house parties all other teenagers seemed to dream of. Although, if Cedric had been left alone for the night, he probably would have ended up falling asleep in the leather chair by the fire, surrounded by all the books he had optimistically hoped to read before sunrise. No, Cedric definitely was not the “rebel without a cause” type.

He wasn’t even the type who expected girls to look at him. He knew there were professors at the college who made some of their students turn to complete mush on that first day in the lecture hall. He didn’t consider himself among their ranks. He was the professor who earned himself a few sniggers, maybe a cocky comment from someone in the back row. He was a firm teacher though, and when it came to grading papers and exam sheets he could be considered among one of the harshest for deducting points. In the end that got him the respect he struggled so hard to find elsewhere. What did this get him? What did he get from this thing with Kensi? Was she trying to play on his weaknesses to get top marks in his class? Honestly, Cedric couldn’t think of any other reason why she would want to be doing this to him – with him.

Cedric could smell her, whatever perfume she wore filled his office and drowned his senses. He wasn’t used to women liking him, especially not pretty ones like Kensi. Was this a joke? Was it a joke like the jocks would play on the nerdier girls in high school? There was barely any space between them, and Cedric was sure she must be able to feel his heart pounding in his chest. His hands awkwardly came to her waist, gripping tight so that they didn’t shake. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t have his hands on a student. He especially shouldn’t put his lips on one. But he did. It was a clumsy kiss. He was nervous, knowing that everything about this was wrong, so very wrong. But Kensi was pretty, and she seemed to want him. He might have known better, but he was still a man, still enjoyed the idea of a pretty girl choosing to be with him. Cedric pulled back, but kept his hands on her sides. “We, we shouldn’t be doing this. It’s against all of the rules, and it’s so unethical.” He babbled, though the argument felt weak on his lips.

• • •

TAGGED! Kensington Olivia Summers
WORDS! 548!
LYRICS! Life Changes - - - Good Charlotte
NOTES! <3

[Kensington Olivia Summers]

Kensi had always been a bit of a wild child with absolutely no regard for the rules at all. She knew the lines she could toe and the ones that she absolutely could not cross, or even walk up to. Her mother had told her if they didn't catch her, how could they punish her? Of course, her mother had always known when they slipped out and always had a knowing sort of smile hiding behind her coffee cup the next morning. Annabelle had been a bit of an adventurous sort as a teenager, getting herself into all sorts of the best kind of trouble. Everyone blamed her "troubled" past, having lost her parents young. But the truth was it wasn't because her parents died, it was the fact that she hadn't then been brought up in a warm or comforting home afterward. She was sent away and children who don't get enough love and affection at home, act out. Act out Annabelle did and she didn't regret a second of it. It all meant, however, that she really couldn't, in good conscience tell her own children to behave when she hadn't been a docile child herself. Annabelle had been called many things over the years and would continue to collect adjectives but a hypocrite would never be one of them.

Unfortunately, even from a young age, Kensi was just like her mother. She was curious, unafraid and went for whatever it was she wanted. She went flying off swings, falling out of trees and diving into the pool or the ocean without a second thought. Annabelle had feared once or twice that they would lose their sweet, adventurous little girl before she ever even became a teenager with all the stunts she pulled. She should have known better because Kensi was destined to give her parents heart attacks. Kensi would like to think she'd grown up a bit but that really wasn't the case. She was still getting into all sorts of trouble, she was just so much better at getting away with it now. No one would suspect she was chasing after her professor because frankly and honestly, they just didn't match up and the mere thought would be brushed away and chuckled at, considered ridiculous; which, of course, made it so much easier to do. It was kind of a shame really, that they all thought what they thought about them as individuals because Cedric was quite adorable in his awkward and geeky way. Kensi liked that he was so clumsy and fumbled through conversations with her; she made him nervous and she liked it.

The kiss was sloppy, filled with nervous energy. Kensi had her fair share of kisses and make out sessions in the few years since she'd discovered boys and how much she liked them. Some had been good and some had been so much worse than this but it was obvious that this was something Cedric didn't do often; if at all. Hell, before he leaned in and kissed her, she hadn't been sure at all that he would even do it. It was tempting to break all the rules but that was something Kensi did on a daily basis. Cedric was a rule-follower. He liked the rules and Kensi loved the break them all. "Fuck the rules, Cedric. Live a little." She said, leaning forward to tempt him more. She really did enjoy being a terrible influence on people and Cedric just seemed so... Innocent.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || cedric westley critchley
Words || 583
Music || What Ifs --Kane Brown
Notes || <3