“She doesn’t like the one project I did for her freshman year, and ever since, I’ve been on her shit list, and of course, she’s the one professor I have the most.”
“What didn’t she like about the project?” I ask.
Gabe makes a face. “She assigned us to write up an article on anything we wanted. A news article, right? So I made one up. I didn’t know that she wanted it to be about something real.”
“What was this article that you made up?” I ask suspiciously.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he protests. “It wasn’t anything bad.”
“Sure it wasn’t.” I lift my chin. “Out with it.”
“Fine. It was about how sex can help students with their studies.”
“How so?”
“It helps you to fall asleep faster and deeper, and it relaxes you, helps you to get out of a stressful mood… calms you down… stuff like that.”
I burst out laughing. “All of that might actually be true.”
“Yes, well, studying is so much better than sex, and I should have taken the assignment more seriously, yada, yada, yada. I think she was taken aback by the subject matter and thought it wasn’t appropriate.”
“How old is she?” I ask, imagining her to be old, with white hair in a severe bun and maybe spectacles.
"Not sure. Early thirties, maybe? That's the older end of the range, by the way. She might be closer to thirty or even late twenties."
“Oh, wow. She thought you were being disrespectful, I bet.”
“I wasn’t! I swear!”
“You also tend to flirt with the ladies.”
“I’m just friendly,” he protests.
“Unless you’re an ass.”
“There’s that,” he says.
I furrow my brow. “I thought someone told me that you can bs anyone and that all of your professors love you.”
“I’m working on Miss Peterson.”
“She’s not married?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I would advise you not to flirt with her.”
“Don’t worry,” he assures me. “I’ve stopped.”
I facepalm. “You shouldn’t have ever flirted with her.”
“Yeah. What can I say? I was young and naïve. I thought maybe I could make things better by bringing her coffee with creamer. Turns out she likes it black.”
“Let me guess,” I say dryly. “Like her soul.”
“No, actually, she’s one of the best teachers I’ve had here.”
“Maybe tell her that without making it seem like you’re just trying to butter her up.”