"Quick! Take your pants off!"

"Hannah-" Tom started but then made a face as he shifted, likely causing the fabric of his pants to graze his leg.

"I've treated these types of scalds on my parents before. You need to take your pants off now so you don't irritate your skin anymore!" Lexi ran a wad of paper towels underneath the faucet. She had locked them into the single-use bathroom in the coffee shop and was determined to wipe off the look of pain sealed into Tom's features.

Tom took in a deep breath and began unbuckling his belt. He slowly lowered his pants, revealing black boxer briefs with Star Wars Stormtrooper heads printed across the fabric. Lexi tried hard to hold in her smile, but it didn't prove successful. "Don't say a word," Tom said through gritted teeth, clearly still in a lot of pain.

Lexi giggled. "I wouldn't dare. Now come on, pull them all the way down!" As soon as his pants lowered even more, Lexi gasped taking in the large red splotches coating each of his thighs. She quickly kneeled in front of him and began lightly grazing the wet paper towel against his skin, trying desperately to ignore the pounding in her chest.

His breathing hitched and he grabbed onto Lexi's shoulder for support, which seemed to force her heart to beat even faster. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I'm so sorry, Tom. I don't think it's a second-degree burn, which is a good sign!"

"It's not your fault. I probably shouldn't get my coffee so hot anyway. I usually ask for it extra hot to last longer throughout the day," he said in between ragged breaths. Lexi tried to hide her smirk as she continued to gently press down on the red areas. Tom looked down and gently pressed her shoulder with amusement cracking through his downturned expression. "I'm glad you find my pain so entertaining."

"Sorry! I know I shouldn't laugh. I couldn't help but think that maybe it was my fault when I accidentally mooned you." Lexi laughed nervously and gently grabbed onto the back of Tom's thigh to gain more balance. The touch caused Tom to shift slightly and heat to explode at her fingertips. "Also, never in my life would I've thought I'd be crouched down near my professor's crotch. Stroking his legs with a wet towel in a coffee shop bathroom."

They both laughed and Lexi was trying to keep focused on his legs and not on anything between them. Tom cleared his throat. "Oh God, this really is bad. Never in my life would I've thought a student would be ordering me to take my pants off in a coffee shop bathroom. And the fact that I would oblige to being in this precarious situation." Tom let out a sigh before continuing. "This feels really good by the way. Thank you for your help. I would've tried to just suck it up and go to class."

Lexi frowned while continuing to dab the soaked paper towels against Tom's legs. "You may need to cancel class. You'll need to take ibuprofen and try to steer clear of wearing pants today."

"Yeah, the thought of putting my pants back on is making me nauseous."

Lexi furrowed her brows. "I'm so sorry. You really shouldn't be getting coffee that hot. It's clearly a hazard. You must be in so much pain." She unknowingly slid her hand down the back of his thigh and looked up to meet his gaze. A moment of silence hung in the air as the pair locked eyes with each other.

Tom clenched his jaw. Lexi could've sworn she saw movement coming from his underwear before he jumped back and hastily brought his pants back up, wincing in the process. "Alright. I think that's good enough. Thanks, Hannah. I really should be going and sending out the email to the class letting them know it's been canceled."

"Wait, are you sure? You don't want to air it out anymore?" Lexi said while getting up off of her knees.

"No!" he practically growled, and Lexi stepped back wide-eyed. "Sorry, I mean, no thank you. We should, um, we should really go."

Just then, a jiggle of the door handle made them both jump. "Oh God, why did you have to do this?" He turned to Lexi with a scowl. "You could've just told me what to do," Tom said in a harsh whisper as he shifted his belt buckle into place.

Lexi narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, excuse me for being concerned that you had third-degree burns because apparently, you've never seen a woman's thong before!"

"Shhh!" Tom brought his index finger up to his lips. "Someone is outside waiting to get in here. How's it going to look if they see a student and a professor walk out together? You think they'll just wish us well?"

"Well, it could be that we're two students. They might not know you!" As soon as Lexi said the words, she knew it still was incredibly risky.

"But we have no way of knowing that! Hannah, sometimes you just, ugh." He let out a huff and ran his hands through his hair.

Lexi took in a sharp breath. "You could have not accepted my help if you're so worried about it! You were the one that came in here with me!" She crossed her arms.

Tom rolled his eyes and picked up his bag. "Well, let's just bite the bullet then, shall we?"

"No! You wait here. I'll go out first and explain that the bathroom's clogged. Once the coast is clear I'll knock three times."

Tom sighed and nodded, prompting Lexi to open the door only to a degree necessary for her to squeeze out. A young blonde girl with a high ponytail was standing in the narrow hallway, waiting for the restroom. "Um, sorry, the toilet is clogged. You can't use this one," Lexi said, shutting the door behind her and making no effort to move.

"Oh, no worries! I just need to wash my hands," the girl said before stepping forward.

"Wait!" Lexi's eyes grew wide and the girl furrowed her brows. "Um, the sink. It's clogged too!"

The young girl eyed her for a moment, seemingly not buying what Lexi had just said. After a moment she muttered a thanks and then walked down the hallway back to the main coffee shop area. Lexi let out a breath. When no one else had appeared in the hallway, she flung open the door, forcing Tom to jump up from having his hands on the sides of the sink. "The coast is clear. I'm heading out, but maybe just wait a couple of minutes before you leave."

"Fine."

"Fine," she responded just as curtly. Yet once she turned around, her stomach sank. A coffee shop employee was walking towards her with Ponytail Girl right behind him. Shit!

"I heard there was a clogged sink?" the young employee with short black hair said. When they reached the bathroom, both of them could clearly see Tom in the space.

"I fixed it. We're all good here," Tom said as he stepped out into the hallway.

"I literally was gone for two seconds. There's no way you could have fixed it in that amount of time," the young girl said before turning to the employee. "They were canoodling in there."

Lexi gasped. "Excuse me? We were not canoodling!"

"Babe. It's okay." Lexi's eyes grew wide hearing the words come out of Tom's mouth. And they somehow managed to grow wider when he grasped her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. "Sorry, you were right. I just can't get enough of her." Heat spread from Lexi's hand to her abdomen.

"Um, dude. You can't just do that. I think it's best if you both leave," the employee said.

"Yeah, that's gross! This is a public place for goodness' sake! Are all college students this horny?" the blonde said.

"Alright, alright we're leaving. We have to go study anyway," Tom said and led Lexi down the narrow hallway. As soon as they got to the main area with low-level tables and students typing away on their laptops, Tom dropped Lexi's hand as abruptly as when someone accidentally touches a hot pan.

They quickly made their way out of the coffee shop. "Um, that was-" Lexi started to say but then was quickly cut off by Tom.

"You don't think they know I'm faculty, right?" Tom asked while rubbing his face repeatedly.

"Definitely not. Good thinking with the cover. I mean we probably can never go to this coffee shop again, but there are other-"

"This is getting really out of hand, Hannah," Tom said while wrinkling his forehead.

"What are you talking about?"

"This!" He started to wave a hand between them. "And don't play coy with me. You know exactly what I mean. That, in there," he pointed to the coffee shop, "was too close for comfort. From now on, you only call me Professor Miller and we don't talk at all outside of the classroom. Do you understand me?" Lexi nodded her head, too stunned to speak. "I need verbal confirmation, Hannah."

"Yes! Understood!" she said with a slight edge in her voice.

"Okay good. Now I'm going to go home and take a really cold shower. I'll see you in class on Wednesday." He turned to storm off but quickly recoiled to add, "For my legs. The cold shower is for my legs which are currently on fire right now."

Lexi stood there speechless and watched as Tom briskly walked away.

***

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