"Dr. Avery?"

Quiet words interrupted the new Biology professor's office hours, his gaze drawn up toward the door. A familiar face stood there: April Kepner, recognizable from her numerous other trips to his office with thoughtful questions and her knack for being one of the highest grades in his class. She was always one of the last to finish exams but he knew it was because she was relentless about getting an A in his class. Medical school aspirations, it made sense.

"Hey, April. Come on in. Ready to grill me about the final?"

The redhead laughed, adjusting the bridge of her glasses across a freckled nose.

"Yeah, I guess. I just want to make sure that I do well, especially since you said at the beginning of the semester that you don't curve or do extra credit. I don't want to slack off now."

"You look tired. Do most of your other classes have cumulative finals, too?" Jackson inquired. It wasn't uncommon for him to ask about what was going on in student's lives. He was a social professor, one of the highest ranked on most websites. He may not have been tenured yet, but he was certainly on his way toward it. This was only his third year teaching at Northwestern, but he was fond of the school and the student body.

"Yeah. I'm only really worried about this one and chemistry, though."

"Taking both at the same time, huh? You must have a knack for torturing yourself."

Laughter fell from April's lip once more, her bottom lip disappearing between her teeth. Really, she didn't need a lot of help with biology. Almost all of it was easy to learn from the textbook or his PowerPoints. But coming to his office hours was a lot more relaxing than burying herself in the corner of some library till the smell of highlighters and expo markers drove her insane. Dr. Avery was easily her favorite professor, he was thorough and precise, but seemed to genuinely care about the learning of his students. She knew that the same couldn't be said for every professor. The only reason his class had been available was that it was early in the morning. Early bird gets the worm.

"What can I help you with?"

A charming smile is shot her way as Jackson stood up from behind his desk and motioned for her to sit in one of the two chairs on the other side of his desk. April took off a heavy backpack and sat down as she began to pull out her notes, meticulously organized and color-coded as always. He sat down next to her, watching with one corner of his mouth remaining turned up.

It doesn't take much for the two of them to get lost in talking about the cell and transcription factors, meiosis and mitosis. His office hours had been set to end about forty-five minutes after she arrived, but she was perhaps the only student that he had this year who seemed just as passionate about biology as he was.

Neither of them noticed the time until her phone rings. April reflexively grabbed it to shut it off, until the time glared at her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. It's after five. I should go. I didn't mean to keep you, I'm sure that you have other things that you need to get to…" she rambled, already beginning to move to pack up her items and hurry out.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't even notice." He chuckled, leaning down to pick up a pencil that she'd dropped and handing it over to her. His hand moved to rest on her back for a moment as she finished packing up, igniting a furious blush across the redhead's cheek under the wrongful assumption that he was trying to usher her out. "I'll see you in my review session tomorrow, right?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The enthusiasm is adorable, and Jackson couldn't help but smile a little larger at her. If he had been in college the same time as her–– well, he could think about a lot of things that he would have wanted to do with her. A tutoring session only began to cover the most innocent parts of his thought, but he's quick to push them to the back of his mind. Sure, she's an adult. But she was probably only interested in the grade and not him, and she definitely didn't need any extra credit in order to get an A in his class.

"Try and get some rest between now and then, Kepner. You know sleep is just as important for doing well as knowing the material, and I think you've already got that much covered." Unable to help himself, he shot her a playful wink.

April's blush turned an even darker shade of red, both hands clasped tightly around her planner. Lips part and shut a few times as before finding her voice.

"I–I will. Thank you, Dr. Avery. I'll see you tomorrow."

She ushered herself quickly out of his office full of embarrassment. Had her really just winked? At her, no less! The office door shut behind her and April paused for a moment, glancing back at the shut door. He was just being friendly. Of course, that was it, she rationalized. He was always charismatic and joking around with students during class, this was without a doubt no different. She could hear him shuffling around behind closed door and found herself staring for a moment until another person walked by, nearly fumbling as she turned quickly on her heel and began to scurry away.

Oh, she wanted an A. More than anything. But maybe she wanted to know a bit more about the professor, too.