The Dating Lesson

I unpack my things and head for the showers, wondering if I’ll have a new roommate and a little afraid whoever it is will be worse than the last. On my way, I run into Jaime. He looks awkward, like I am one of the last people he wants to see right now.

“Hey Kimmy,” he says.

“Hi Jaime.”

We stand there fidgeting and uncomfortable for a moment. I’m about to tell him I need to get to the showers, but then he sighs. “I hope there’s nothing weird between us after what happened at the bar with Brenna.”

This is the last thing I want to talk about, but I relax a little. “Nothing is weird.”

“Good. Because I really like you and I want us to be friends.”

He seems to notice the hesitation and laughs. “Just friends. I admit, I had a crush on you, but looking back at everything, it was obvious about you and Professor Whitford were having a thing. This is college, things happen, relationships happen. And I know you didn’t ace your finals because of him. You work hard. If I’m being completely honest, there were times when I looked over at your essays just to make sure I was on track because I know whatever you’re writing is gold. I can see it for myself.”

I smile at him, starting to feel a little better about the situation. “Thank you for that.”

He smiles too. “I wanted to let you know that Brenna was a little drunk that night after you left—and vindictive, I guess. I don’t think she meant to sabotage you at all, but she’s a terrible drunk and was feeling sorry for herself …”

My stomach starts to knot up with the apprehension in his voice. Did Brenna do more damage than I thought? Was there something she didn’t tell me or may have been too drunk to remember doing that night?

“What did she do?” I ask.

“She decided to tell anyone and everyone who would listen that you had an affair with Professor Whitford. Since then I’ve heard that you’re pregnant with his baby, and that you’re getting a free ride from the school to make sure the scandal doesn’t get out of control.”

I put my hand over my face, wanting to disappear. This is humiliating. Damnit, Brenna. It’s a good thing she’s gone because I would find her and strangle her right now if I could.

“I just wanted to warn you that things are pretty bad in the rumor mill right now,” he says.

“Thank you Jaime.”

I leave and head to my shower. There’s no one else in here so I lean against the wall and let myself cry and have a slight breakdown while the hot water streams over me. This is horrible, but I haven’t heard from the school yet, so maybe things aren’t as bad as Jaime is making them out to be. All I can do it hope. This is exactly my worst nightmare. I knew this would happen all along. How could I have been so stupid?

As I’m walking to class after my shower, it’s obvious that things are as bad as I feared. Everyone walking by stares at me. Some of them even put their heads together and whisper and laugh, making sure I know they’re talking about me.

I keep my head down and head for the coffee shop. I’m going to need a shit-ton of caffeine to get through this day.

“Kimmy, wait,” I hear the familiar voice behind me say. I’m both elated and filled with dread at the sound of it.

I slowly turn around, trying to keep my breathing steady when I see Leo. He’s so beautiful I could cry, and worst of all, he looks distraught. His hair is a mess—a far cry from his typical perfect coif, and he has about two weeks’ worth of stubble shadowing his sharp features. His clothes are askew and wrinkled, and he looks like he’s just rolled out of bed. And yet all I see is beauty. My Leo. The man I love with all my heart.

“Kimmy, we need to talk,” he says.

My throat closes and I struggle to get the words out. “It’s not a good time, Leo.”

A group of boys walk by us. I recognize one of them from one of Brenna’s orgies. He coughs into his hand and it sounds suspiciously like the word “whore” when he does it. Another one of the boys says, “Look at the happy couple,” he sniggers. “How many blow jobs does it take to ace the finals anyway? Asking for a friend.”

“Get the fuck back to your classes before I beat the hell out of you,” Leo says to them.

We are all startled by the sudden anger of a teacher who is always even keeled in his classes. It’s always the unassuming people who are the most frightening when they’re angry. But it’s only his personality that makes him unassuming. Physically, he’s a tower and it’s obvious he could take on any one of those little shits standing in front of him. They seem to know it too because their smiles falter and they take an uncertain step back. It’s a good thing the moment passes so quickly so no student can catch a video of it on their phones. Leo’s probably in enough shit as it is without people filming him threatening students on campus. It’s all hearsay. But still, there are a group of them. Enough witnesses to get Leo into trouble.