Professor

“It’s a date then,” she said. She talked a little bit about her night with Craig, but after a few moments I had to get off the phone because the pounding in my skull was just too intense.

I set my phone on the bedside table and lay down, grabbing a blanket and pulling it up to my chin. I was a lightweight, and this was embarrassing, and as I lay there drifting off to sleep, the thing that kept replaying in my mind on a loop was how Professor Goode told me I was his.

I needed to talk to Sherry about this, to confide in her. I needed her advice on what the hell to do.

But right now I needed to crash and sleep this off. Maybe when I woke up, everything would be clearer.

12

Grace

The sound of banging woke me from a groggy sleep. I opened my eyes, a hazy pinkness filling my room. The noise stopped, and I was about to go back to sleep when my phone went off, the ringing obnoxious on a normal day but overwhelming right now.

I blindly reached for my phone. My vision took a moment to clear, but then I saw Sherry’s face on the screen. I then noticed the time, how it was already five in the evening. I didn’t know how I’d managed to sleep so long, but that didn’t matter because in this moment I’d been a really shitty friend.

I answered the phone on the fifth ring. “I’m coming. I’m sorry.”

I tossed the blanket aside and left my room, heading toward the front door. I was still kind of groggy, but at least my headache was gone. I opened the door and stared at Sherry, who looked less than pleased.

She stood on the other side of the door with a pizza box in one hand and a large paper bag tucked under her arm. She lifted a perfectly arched dark eyebrow, the corner of her mouth kicking up in a smile, and her gaze raking over me. Then she whistled under her breath. “Damn girl, you’re looking rough.”

I lifted my hand and smoothed my fingers over my hair. I had no doubt I looked a hot mess. “Yeah, won’t even argue with you on that.”

I stepped aside and let her in. She was already talking about another date she had tomorrow with Letterman Craig.

“Wait, so like, it’s getting serious with this guy?”

She opened the pizza box and pulled out a slice, taking a bite and shrugging but smiling at the same time. “I mean, he’s growing on me,” she said through a mouthful of pizza. She set the slice back in the box and reached in the paper bag for a six-pack of pop. “Anything good on Netflix?”

I pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat, bringing one of my legs up so I could rest my foot on the chair.

I shrugged, more curious about how things were going with Craig and a lot of stuff I wanted to talk to her about concerning my night. “A mystery might be a good fit for tonight.” The look on her face had me laughing.

“Hey, Craig isn’t that bad.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t talking about you and Craig.” I took a deep breath, knowing that I just needed to get this off my chest. “What I told you happened last night didn’t really go that way.”

She was mid-bite on a piece of pizza when she stopped, this look on her face telling me she was instantly piqued.

“What happened to you last night? I thought you got an Uber and headed home?”

“Yeah, about that.” I licked my lips and started picking at the edge of the table, nervous that I was actually saying this out loud, but also admitting that I had lied to her.

I knew she’d understand, but my confusion, the little bit of fear of the situation had this resistance settling in me. It had me keeping things to myself for far too long. But I hadn’t thought there was a chance with Professor Goode … not until now.

“Gracie, you’re kind of freaking me out. What happened?” She pulled a chair out, the legs scraping over the linoleum floor. She sat down and pushed the box away so it wasn’t between us anymore. I felt her stare on me and knew that I’d open myself up and just be totally honest. I had to be.

I could see the worry on her face, and I hated that I was putting it there. So I took a deep breath in and just told her the truth. “At the club, there was a guy getting pretty handsy with me. Like he wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

“What?” She sounded horrified. “God, Grace. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to kick him in the balls.”

I smiled and shook my head. “No, the crowd was too thick, and he was drunk. Hell, I was feeling the alcohol too.” I had my hands in my lap and smoothed them over my legs. “Anyway, before I knew what was happening …” My heart raced. I didn’t know why I was so nervous telling Sherry this. “Professor Goode was standing right there, pulling him off me.”