Survey Says: It Takes Work to Get an A

One of my most memorable classes in college was all about market research. Not because each class was filled with exciting lectures, but because everyone in the class (I'm talking girls and all of the gay guys) always gossiped with one another about how attractive our male Teachers Assistant was. In my project group alone, a gay friend and I would debate who the TA would give sweet, longing glares to, him or me. (Hindsight says neither, but it got us through lectures, so let us be!)

Anyway, as my group prepared for our final presentation in which we would present our survey and the multitude of results there were to explain, I joked that we should also mention the TA was hot. My fellow group members laughed, considering we had spent 50% of our group meetings discussing this, and then suggested we go with it since I was the last one in the group to present anyway. Now I have done some bold things in my time in college, but this was extreme. After a minute or two, I agreed, thinking that it would be the very last day of class anyway, and I would never see the TA again.

So, on the last day of class, my group sat nervously as we sat through one boring presentation after another. (It would have been hard for any presentation to be exciting in that class.) I noticed that one group had even invited executives from a local business to watch their presentation. When my group got up to present, my knees were shaking. I knew there was no way I could back out since we had even made a slide in our powerpoint presentation.

I don't think I heard anything that came out of my group members' mouths. As I began to conclude our presentation, I looked over to the TA, and seeing his beautiful, blue eyes, I knew I had to go through with it.

"And in our final survey, we concluded that TA is hot! Any questions?"

The class roared with laughter and applause, and both the professor and the TA were beaming. I'm pretty sure the TA looked at us and said "A+!"

What a success! I felt completely satisfied with going out on a limb and so did my group. (We later learned that we all received A's for the class.)

So where does the awkwardness come in? Well, because I had actually ended up enjoying the class and the professor, I decided to take another class with him. Little did I know that on the first day of class, the same TA would walk in! My professor looked at me, looked at my TA, then back at me as he chuckled a little too loudly. I'm fairly certain I quickly looked down at my desk as my cheeks turned scarlet.

When it came time for another final group presentation, I tried to convince my new group to follow up on my past confession, but to no avail. Fortunately, I did well in the class without having to profess my attraction.

I also ran into this same TA a year later at a party, but I tried to keep the conversation limited as I chatted with both him and his new girlfriend.

If you're out there, TA, call me! (Sorry, Boyfriend. But he's hot!)