**6 months later, Fall, Ruby's junior year in college, Zac's senior year in high school.**
Ruby stared at her Ben from Felicity look-alike English professor as he sat up on his desk.
She twirled her pen around her fingers and listened as he wrapped up the class.
“Before I let you go into the madness of your weekend, I’ll remind you what the
great 18th century poet, John Dryden said. ‘All human things are subject to decay.’ So
without dwelling on the fact, remember that your lives are precious. And I’ll see you next
week.” He slid off his desk and began to gather his things.
As the class filed out, Ruby put her books in her bag. She stood up and walked to
his desk as she put her bag on her shoulder. “Um.. Professor Moore?”
“Yeah?” He raised his eyebrows, looking up from his papers.
“Hi,” she smiled.
He let out a small laugh and smiled back. “Hey.”
“I just want to let you know about this poetry festival in Bryant Park...um, this
weekend. I read about it in the paper and it sounds like they’ll be doing a lot of the
material we read this semester,” she said.
“Yeah I was actually planning on going,” he nodded.
“Me too.”
“Great. If you wanted to do a write-up of what you thought, I could arrange some
extra credit,” he offered.
“Okay. Sure,” she agreed. “I just wanted to tell you because it sounded
interesting.”
“Definitely. Well I hope to see you there, Ruby.”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “Um, bye,” she said before biting down on her bottom lip and
leaving the classroom.
“Bye,” he laughed to himself.
*********************************
Ruby sat on a bench in Bryant Park, her legs crossed indian style, while she
sketched one of the statues on the lawn. It was a perfect fall afternoon and she had on a
pair of jeans and a light weight black sweater.
“Ruby,” a voice called breaking her concentration form her sketch pad.
She looked up and saw her English professor walking towards her wearing khaki
pants and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “Professor Moore,”
she smiled. “Hi.”
“Oh, please,” he laughed and stood over her. “Call me Jacob. May I?” He
gestured to the spot next to her on the bench.
“Sure,” she said putting her bag on the ground.
“Wow,” he said looking at her drawing. “So English isn’t your only good subject?
That’s really nice.”
She smiled and looked down. “Thanks.”
“So, are you enjoying the festival?” He asked.
“Yeah. It’s such a beautiful day.”
“Oh, I know,” he agreed.
“You here by yourself?” She asked.
“Yep,” he nodded. “What about you? Am I keeping you from someone?”
“No, not at all,” she said.
“Good. Do you want a cup of coffee or something?” He offered.
“Yes, please,” she nodded and stood up with him.
******************************
“You’re not from New York, are you?” Jacob smiled walking around the park
with Ruby.
“What makes you think so?”
“You’ve got a hint of a southern accent. Plus you don’t seem jaded and bitter,” he
said.
She laughed. “Well I guess you’re right. I’m from Oklahoma.”
“Oklahoma. Interesting.”
“I’m on my fourth year living here and I still haven’t kicked the southern accent?”
She asked looking up at him.
“Oh it’s okay. It’s cute,” he looked at her.
She shyly looked down and took another sip of her coffee. “So where are you
from?”
“Connecticut. I went to school there and then moved here and got my Masters at
Columbia,” he explained. “Which makes me 26 if you were wondering.”
*********************************
After spending the whole day at the park together, Jacob walked Ruby to the
subway station at 42nd Street.
“Listen, I hope you don’t think this too forward of me. And if you do, just tell
me,” he began. “But would you like to go out for coffee sometime?”
Ruby’s breath caught in her throat and she swallowed before answering. “We just
had coffee,” she smiled.
He laughed and looked down running his fingers through the back of his slightly
curly hair. “Is that a no?”
“I didn’t say that,” she said.
“Don’t make me asking you out any harder than it already is,” he smiled. “Can I
call you?”
“Um,” she pressed her lips together. “Yeah.” She reached into her bag and tore
off some paper from her sketch pad. She wrote her number on it and handed it to him.
“Great,” he said taking it. “I’ll give you a call.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Are you taking this train?”
“No, I’m going uptown,” he pointed across the street.
“Oh. Alright, well it was nice talking to you today. I had a good time.”
“Me too,” he smiled.
“Bye,” she said and descended the stairs to the subway.
*******************************
chapter 17.
