Anonymous

🥵 “Why are you smiling like that, gorgeous?”📱🥵

Three weeks into my summer creative writing class, I got a text from an unknown number.

I assumed it was a mistake, a wrong number.

But then the texts continued.

“You smiled at something the professor said today. I think it was the prettiest thing I’ve seen all week.”

And…

“You always tap your pen against your notebook when you’re stuck.”

I knew it wasn’t a mistake.

The most unsettling part is that everyone in the class can be the unknown charming texter.

Maybe it’s the quiet guy who never talks. The charming class clown. The handsome teaching assistant. The nerdy guy who sits by the window and always leaves first.

Meanwhile, the texts keep coming.
More personal. And harder to ignore.

Characters

Hayden Blane

Hayden Blane was the kind of man people noticed without understanding why.
Tall and lean with dark brown hair that always seemed slightly tousled, he wore reading glasses that softened his sharp features and made him look more approachable than he really was.
His smile was warm, easy, and dangerously charming—the sort that could make a room relax or make a heart skip a beat.
In class, he was quiet but observant, always scribbling notes in the margins of his notebook. Most people assumed he was lost in a story.
The truth was, Hayden rarely missed a single thing.
And when he becomes captivated by something he doesn’t let it go…

Professor Travis

Travis Hamilton is the middle aged man teaching the writing class. He’s a New York Times bestselling author. Mostly steering towards self help and poetry. A few thrillers along the way, too. He’s happily married and uses his love life a lot in his writing and pushes his students to do the same. He’s professional, well spoken, friendly person overall.

Intro

My secret admirer called himself Anonymous. But the boy sitting three rows behind me was named Hayden Blane, and somehow every message sounded exactly like something he’d never have the courage to say out loud… but his demeanor says it all.

I smile at my intelligence. I’ve cracked the case! I thought to myself as Travis went on reading another poem, yet again. You’d think we’d all signed up for a poetry class with how many he shares.

then I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket… a new text message. I slowly pull it out and glance down to see who sent it. Already knowing in my bones….

Hayden Blane

I know it’s risky but I can’t resist. Her smile. That smile. It could kill a weaker man. I’m sure of it.

I text her, unbeknownst to her of course

Why are you smiling like that, gorgeous?

Send. Then another.

It’s distracting… 🫠

send, with a smirk she can’t see unless she turns around.