Yes, by trying and failing to be subtle.

Ms. Campbell gets out of the bathroom, wearing tight denim shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt that tightens beautifully around her chest area. You stare long enough to be noticeable, but if she saw you, she said nothing. You eat breakfast and you decide to try something simple, the affection score of 76 and her newly developing feelings for you giving you a big confidence boost.

“Hey, I was wondering…” You begin. “Since you didn’t want to go with me to a movie, how about we watch one here? That way we don’t risk being seen. Unless you already have plans for today, of course. If you want to just rest or something, I’ll stop being a bother.” You say, half-joking at that last part and give her a smile.

She sighs with a smile on her face and answers. “You’re not a bother at all. I shouldn’t be saying this, but I had a really good time yesterday. I almost felt like I was back in university.” She tells you with nostalgia in her voice. “I haven’t had a date since my second year there, now that I think about it. I never thought my next one would be with a student.”

Wait, so it DOES count as a date!

“Fine, you can stay. I’m picking the movie though.” She smiles at you.

You briefly wonder which score influenced her decision. You stop that train of thought by telling yourself that, while the app puts a (useful) numerical value on feelings, people are not computer programs and that there must be more to it than that.

You fix the sofa and you both sit there in front of the TV, covered by a blanket. Ms. Campbell browses through the streaming website’s movie selection and decides on… a horror movie.

Huh. Interesting.

“You’re not scared of horror movies, are you?” She asks with a teasing grin.

“Me? Please! It’s daytime and I have a blanket! I can take it!” You joke. Truth is, they do kind of scare you, but only jump scares. Other than that, you like them.

“My, how manly!” She laughs. She’s in a really good mood. Maybe you can take things even further?

You watch the movie in silence, and there’s a small hope that the clichéd scene of the girl being scared and seeking comfort on the man happens right on this couch, but unfortunately, Ms. Campbell is a trooper and she’s smiling excitedly as she watches, covered by the blanket and hugging her knees. So much for that, you guess.

As the movie goes on, you slowly scoot closer and closer to your beautiful teacher, until eventually you’re about 10cm away from her. You kind of want to do that thing where you stretch your arms and hug the girl besides you, but that’d be a dead giveaway.

When you notice Ms. Campbell repositions herself and stops hugging her knees, you try to search for her hand in order to casually brush yours with hers. In your search, you accidentally brush against her bare outer thigh and you heart starts beating faster in panic.

“Are you uncomfortable?” She asks.

“I’m fine now.” You answer, sitting up straighter.

Still trying to play it cool, you wait a few moments before resuming your search. When you unexpectedly find it, you fingers brush lightly against her and it’s you who’s startled. But something amazing happens.

Ms. Campbell fully takes your hand in hers, interlocking fingers with you and scoots closer, leaning her head against your shoulder, not once taking her eyes off the movie.

“You’re not fooling anyone, you know?” She tells you, focused on the TV.

Shit. Busted!

Still, after saying that, she takes your hand and guides it to her bare ankle and leaves it there, still leaning against you.

Not willing to let this chance escape, you slowly start caressing her leg, starting with a soft massage at her ankle, going further up to her calf, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin, until you finally reach her toned thigh. Ms. Campbell lets out a content sigh as you gently caress her, going from outer to inner thigh. You have to resist the temptation of going further up and reach her crotch.

Now, this might surprise people if you told them, but this is actually the farthest you’ve gone with a woman. Shocker, right? Well, that is if you don’t count your first kiss with your first girlfriend, but you’d rather forget about that. You heart thunders in your ears and you’re thankful to your jeans for trying with all their might to restrain your erection.

Your body goes cold for a moment when Ms. Campbell starts moving, but you’re both relieved and thrilled when you see her reposition herself, with her head resting on one armrest of the sofa and both legs over your lap. You take this as an invitation to touch her other leg, too.

The movie ends, but she doesn’t move or say anything. You continue your leg massage, the room now completely silent. Her skin feels great against your fingertips and you try your best to make her feel good by applying the right amount of pressure to her toned muscles. She doesn’t have athlete-level legs, but she definitely must do some kind of workout. Yoga, maybe?

“You’re not subtle at all, you know that?” Ms. Campbell finally speaks, eyeing you with half-opened eyes.

“Neither are you, Ms. Campbell.” You answer. Inviting you to drink, letting you stay over at her place, sleeping with you when she could’ve gone to her room, letting you stay to watch a movie… it’s all pretty obvious in retrospect, but you never would’ve acted on it if not for the AMA.

“You’re not going to run your hands all over my legs and still call me Ms. Campbell. Call me Emma.” She tells you with a small smirk. “And yes, I haven’t been subtle, but I’m very happy to know you’re either a gentleman or very innocent. I’m okay with both, honestly.”

“I’d like to think I’m the former, but I’ll admit to be the latter.” You smile wryly. “This is the farthest I’ve ever gone.”

“Really? Well, we’re only here because you had the courage to ask me out, so give yourself some credit.”

“Yeah, I’m shocked, myself. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I’d ask a teacher out on a date.”

“I always believed there’d come a time when a student would ask me out, but I never thought I’d accept.” She smiles and sits up, moving closer to you, leaning against your shoulder and holding your hand again. “We really shouldn’t be doing this.” She says, losing her smile and frowns.

“Do you regret this?” You ask her, caressing her hand with your intertwined fingers.

She shakes her head. “I don’t. But… I’m worried about what comes now. I don’t want to make things worse for you.”