“COC form, Complaints on Campus.Just a paperwork thing.”Jewel let out a sigh.“No worries.If you want to head to your meeting with Richard, his office is just down that way.He’s a stickler for time, so at five-minutes-to, you’re probably already late in his eyes.”
Kalliopi grimaced but didn’t want to leave Jewel looking so flustered.“Do you mind if I take a look at the laptop?I understand the proper paperwork needs to be filed, but it’s possible it’s a cookie problem.”
The brunette chuckled.“That’s the first thing I looked at as we walked up here, even though it should be completely wiped before being loaned out to a new cadet.But it’s empty.I just need to get the form filled out so I can return this one and have them give me a new one for the MILF.”
“Right, of course you already thought of that.”Kalliopi shrugged.“It was an automatic response.I’m sorry.”
“Oh, I wasn’t chuckling to offend you.It’s more like a laugh because my dad would have asked the same thing, and truthfully, that Xer always comes to me with computer problems.I kind of thought it was funny that you said the same thing to me.”
Kalliopi smiled again.“Sounds like you are pretty close to your dad.”
“Yeah.I am, but lately we keep butting heads.I want my freedom because I’m officially in my twenties, and he still likes to treat me like I’m an eight-year-old who burns toast.”
Kalliopi let out a chuckle.“Mine was a military guy and also very overprotective of my sister and me.I hated having to bring a date to meet him.He was always cleaning his gun, trying to intimidate the poor guy I brought in.”
Jewel let out a hearty belly laugh.“Yeah, that sounds about right.Mine always scared them away in high school, too.I got why back then, I was still a kid, but I’m a lot older now.Well, you get it, I probably don’t have to explain it.”
Kalliopi patted Jewel’s shoulder.
“Give it time.Parents process their kids growing up a bit differently because they’ve always taken care of you.Once you’re living here for a couple of months, and he gets used to you not living with him, he’ll come around.”
“Well, I hope you’re right, but he still expects me to check in with him a few times a week.It’s silly to me because we practically see each other daily.He’s a FUC agent, working here on campus, so I always see him seemingly everywhere.”
“Oh, that kind of makes things more complicated,” Kalliopi said as she looked up at the file folders hanging by the main desk.“Complaints On Campus!Here they are.”
“Thank you so much!”
“All right, I’m going to head to my meeting with Richard, but we’ll keep chatting later.You can vent some more about your dad.I’d be happy to listen.We brats—military and FUC alike—should stick together,” Kalliopi said with a wink.
“Okay, looking forward to it!”
Kalliopi walked down the hall, but Richard wasn’t in.She asked the assistant at the desk outside his office where he was, and she told her he had to step out for a bit and would catch up with Kalliopi in an hour.Kalliopi headed back to the main part of the office and found Jewel just finishing the COC form.
“Strangely, he stepped out,” Kalliopi informed her.“I need to come back in an hour.Do you think you’d be able to show me where to get some coffee?”
“Sure!”Jewel enthusiastically replied.“I’m always ready to get some caffeine on, and my classes are light today, so I have some time.”
Jewel led Kalliopi down a hall.Within a few minutes, they were at a coffee kiosk in the cafeteria.They ordered their drinks and walked over to a table tucked in a corner of the room.
“So…” Kalliopi took a sip of her Americano before continuing.“What would you like to know about the cadets?”
“Right, work.Sorry, I still had dad aggro on the brain.”
“Well, then, let it out!”Kalliopi laughed as she encouraged the girl to keep venting.
“Like, the other day, he walked into my dorm room without knocking and pretty much ran my friend out of the room.My friend understood, but I want my father to understand that this type of thing is not okay with me.I don’t live with him.I live on my own, so he can’t just drop in uninvited.You get what I mean?”
“I understand.Let me guess, your friend is someone your dad perceives you are attracted to?”
“Yeah, Andy is my type, but I swear we are just friends.We are too focused on our training to be anything more than that.”
“Sounds like you are making adult decisions your father would be proud of.”
“Possibly?I didn’t really talk to him about it.I just sort of blew up and stormed out of my dorm room, leaving him a little dumbfounded.I really don’t have a clue what to say to him.He’s been so protective of me ever since my mom died.I get it, I’m the only family he has left, and I don’t want to hurt him.But I also want some boundaries.How do I say that to him without sounding like a snotty-nosed teenager?”
“Well, I’m not your dad, so I can’t speak for him personally.However, I think you should tell him just the way you told me.You aren’t disrespecting him by asking him to treat you like he would any other cadet here on campus.I mean, if I were a student, I would assume he’d knock on the door, right?Just make sure that when you are talking to him, you are coming from a loving place, and I feel you will do just fine.He raised you, and you seem to have a great head on your shoulders, and you are respectful toward others, so I can only assume he’s the same way and wants that for you.”
“That’s very true.”Jewel nodded as she took a sip of her coffee.“Perhaps I was making this out to be a bigger deal than it has to be.”
