[Kyle's Short Stories>heeheee]
Burly Cutie
After waking up in his apartment and getting ready, Kyle soon arrived at Wexford University, he was an English Literature Professor there, even though he was so young. He was more of an assistant professor though because he only had classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He only had a couple of classes on Wednesday before his club meeting.
He had created a club, the "Painting & Poetry Club" that had lots of members, 80% of them were women, some who actually came to learn while some came just to watch the handsome professor speak and teach them one on one. Kyle was one of the youngest professors in the school and he was closer to many of the students in age making them think they had a chance with him. After the club activities ended Kyle stayed back to clean up and lock up.
"Professor." While he was standing on a ladder to put a box on the top shelf he suddenly heard a voice from behind him, scared shitless Kyle wobbled on the ladder almost landing on the floor but a hand reached out and grabbed his waist saving him from a bad fall.
The person carefully placed him down, "Are you okay?"
"Ah.." Kyle nodded numbly recovering from the shock. "Why'd you come back Travis?"
Travis was one of Kyle's student and one of the guys in his Painting & Poetry Club. The only reason why Kyle remembered him vividly was because Travis just stood out, he was an athlete so he was buff, tall and also a silent student. That wasn't all though, the sight of him, broad shouldered and buff with his towering frame hunched over with delicate paintbrush that looked almost comically small in his grip stuck in Kyle's mind. Yet, despite the mismatch Travis had a surprising gentleness in his hands, his paintings clearly showed how much of talented young student he was and that's what Kyle appreciated the most.
"Oh..uh.." Travis had an unnatural blush on his face, he rubbed his ear silently staring at his feet.
"Is there something you want to tell me? There's no one here, you can say it." Kyle had a warm smile on his face watching him. He was used to students who had issues coming up to him after everyone had left because they didn't want others to know, tch, Pride.
"Well...I won't be here next week because I..uh..I have a game and I.."
"Oh, do you want me to have your leave slip signed?" He spoke in a gentle voice like he was trying not to startle a wounded animal, he noticed Travis was a quiet student mostly because he was shy and he had anxiety.
Travis nodded handing Kyle his leave slip, his other hand was behind his back as though he was hiding something. Kyle signed his name and handed it back to him, "Was that all you needed?"
"No.." Travis shook his head making his soft curls bounce wildly. "I..also heard that next week Tuesday is your birthday so...I made you a birthday present, but I don't..."
Kyle smoothly interrupted before Travis could start rambling, it was something Kyle noticed he did when he was nervous. "That's really thoughtful Travis."
"Uh..yeah. Here you go." Travis brought the hand he had behind his back forward. He was holding a rolled up drawing.
"A drawing?" Kyle breathed a sigh of relief, he was worried it was something expensive. If it had been he couldn't take it as teachers weren't really allowed to do that but then it would have made Travis a little sad, thankfully he didn't have to reject the boy's thoughtful gift.
"Yes." Travis handed it over slowly. His hands were clammy with sweat watching Kyle slowly unravel the paper.
"This.....Me?" Kyle's eyes widened in shock. The person on the paper was him, the Kyle from Travis's perspective, he expected a smiling happy teacher but Travis drew something different, the Kyle in the drawing was sitting in a garden of lilies, he was holding one in his hand with a wistful look. The only thing of color in the painting were the lilies, Travis painted everything in darker colors giving it a haunting darker edge.
"I..i had inspiration and i remembered you saying you loved lilies and I....If you don't like it I could give you something else, I don't know what i was thinking I.." While rambling Travis reached out for the painting but Kyle dodged his hand.
"No. I love it. Thank you Travis.." Kyle said still looking at the drawing. It was like he could see something but it was gone before he could grasp it. Underneath the drawing was "Happy Birthday Prof. Ginger Hair. TS."
"Prof. Ginger Hair?" Kyle couldn't help laughing reading that.
"I.." His face fully red Travis couldn't form a sentence.
"Thank you so much for this Travis. I'll make sure to cherish it." He quickly glanced at the clock, "I think you should head home now, also good luck on your game next week!"
"Thank you. Goodbye." Travis suddenly smiled brightly making his cheek dimple. "Goodbye!"
He waved and skipped away almost comically, his tall form disappearing outside.
Kyle's smile slowly disappeared looking at his back, he couldn't help glancing at the picture again, he truly truly loved it. Travis did a great job capturing him, the real him that he had tried so hard to hide.