“You know my story from when I was younger,” Daniel said. “I promised to keep Dean Reynold’s name as alive as I can. Not that my mom would ever let me forget. The day he saved me in that shooting, it was like my mom lost a son too. Even though he was just my Big Brother from the program. He did way more than was expected, especially after he graduated and left the program.”
Tawson had heard the story many times before, but it still gave him shivers. Daniel hadn’t even been a teen yet when he was walking home with the guy, Dean. There was a gang shooting and Dean had covered Daniel’s body, taking the bullet and saving his life while Dean lost his shortly after. Dean had been open about his sexuality and Daniel carried that with him, keeping Dean’s legacy of kindness and acceptance alive by creating safe spaces and traveling around the country to give speeches and rally for change. It was noble.
“Anyway, I didn’t mean to come in here and talk heavy stuff. I was going to invite you out for dinner tonight. If you don’t already have plans.”
It was Wednesday, which meant that Vic was most likely going to be hanging out with Joe. Since their talk, they made it a point to spend at least one day a week together. They’dend their night with calling each other, but he didn’t have any plans to see him tonight.
“No plans,” Tawson said. “And I could go with some socialization. I have office hours for another hour and need to finish up this grading, but then I’ll be good to go.”
“Sounds good,” Daniel said. “I have a couple people to go bug while I’m here so just text me when you’re finished up.”
“Will do. It’s great seeing you again.”
“You too,” Daniel said. “I’m happy you’re settling in.”
The next hour Tawson spent between grading an open-book quiz he gave out on Monday and texting with Vic. They were driving out to Joe’s house to have dinner with his family. Vic talked about Joe’s family just as much as their own. He was glad that they still kept their own lives and did their own things, but damn if he didn’t miss Vic when they were apart.
Vic was always on his mind. Whether just something that reminded Tawson of them, or a memory of their time spent together. He’d never been one to just randomly text throughout the day. Even with his ex-wife. They would say goodbye in the morning and then not really talk until they were both home that afternoon. A few times, they would text or call if plans needed to change or just to let the other know they’d be home late. It wasn’t a bad life, but being with Vic, he felt more alive and like they had a better grasp on communication than he’d experienced before. Granted, most of Vic’s communication involved one gif or another. And pictures. They shared pictures back and forth, always with their faces cropped out.
Their Thanksgiving break would be coming up next and he thought about asking Vic to go away with him for a couple of nights. Somewhere they could take advantage of no interruptions. It’d been a few years since Tawson had takena real vacation. After the incident and the divorce, he’d taken a couple days off for each to deal with them, but an actual vacation to relax? No.
He texted Vic, letting them know that Daniel was back in town and asked him to dinner so he probably wouldn’t answer until he got back home. He promised to call before he went to sleep though. Vic texted a picture of a table filled with homecooked food. He could see several hands in frame, plates with different levels of food on them. It looked delicious.
How would you feel about going away for a couple days during Thanksgiving break?
He sent the text before he could think it through. Once the idea was in his head, though, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. If they went far enough away, they could go on a proper date. Not a laundromat and study date. They did go see A.J. for food and Tawson would usually get a beer since Vic drove each time. He wanted to be able to take Vic out properly. Wine and dine, so to speak. Minus the wine for obvious reasons.
Really? That would be amazing. I’ll have to ask my dad if I can take a few days off. I’ll ask this weekend.
Tawson smiled at the answer. There were a trail of emojis after the text, heart eyes, stars, and the grinning face emoji all jumbled together. At least he didn’t have to question if Vic was actually excited about the possibility or not.
He met Daniel and a few other professors and faculty at a bar not too far from the campus. There were five of them and they crowded into a corner booth. It was one of those extra-large round ones and fit all of them easily. There was only one other first-year professor and they bonded over the ups and downs of figuring out their students. The other three gave them advice and also made them the butt end of some jokes. Itwas all in good fun, though, and Tawson enjoyed himself.
He had a decent drive back to the ranch so he stuck to just the one beer when he got there and then water or soda afterward. But the night and conversation was enjoyable all the same. He felt his phone buzz in his jacket pocket a few times, but didn’t risk pulling it out around everyone. The conversation turned from one subject to another, mostly revolving around the university but some veered into asking about relationships and how families were doing. Walter Beechum, one of the day janitors, was married with three kids. They were between the ages of six and fourteen. He seemed like a good, family man. Yvonne had just one kid with her husband. She’d been a professor at the university for five years. Her personality was loud, but not in that obnoxious way. Tawson knew several of his students that loved her. When the conversation turned to Tawson, he gave the bare minimum of information.
He was living alone, didn’t have any kids. Daniel, thankfully, didn’t pry for more information on their brief conversation earlier. The conversation quickly moved on to the next person in their group. Landon, who taught a more advance English class, was also single. He joked that he was okay staying single and tried to turn Tawson onto a dating app for teachers.
“I’ll look into it,” Tawson said with a half-hearted laugh. He definitely would not be downloading any dating apps.
“I don’t think Professor Lancaster will have any problems getting his own dates when he’s ready,” Yvonne said with a smirk. She leaned over and nudged her shoulder against Tawson’s before sipping on her third mixed drink of the night. “I hear the students talking about the new, young, and hot professor.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Tawson said. Sure, he had quite afew of his female students asking for office hours for any little thing. Some genuinely seemed to need the extra time one-on-one, no matter the gender. He’d made sure to keep his office door wide open for that reason alone. But none of them had ever come off as flirtatious. Or maybe he was just so focused on Vic to notice it. “Besides, my students are off limits for obvious reasons.”
“Smart man,” Daniel said. “I’ve seen a few professors over the years that got involved with one of their students and it did not end well. Not at this university, but other places. It’s an all-around bad idea.”
Tawson felt a slight pang of guilt. He hadn’t lied, because Vic wasn’t his student. Never would be. He’d be more likely to take one of Landon’s classes. There was no power imbalance between them. Neither of them were worried about the other blackmailing. Tawson was damned if he’d do anything to mess up whatever they were building. Not intentionally.
“Well,” Daniel said after one more round of drinks and more stories about past students. Daniel had plenty of stories about catching students cheating or excuses for why they were late or missed class. It was fun and Tawson found himself laughing at most of the stories. He enjoyed the time out and agreed to be at the next one. “I’m going to head back home to the wife. She’s probably going through withdrawals without me around.”
Their whole group laughed and stood up with him. They laid a few dollars each on the table before heading out to their cars. Tawson said goodbye to each before getting in his car. Daniel hadn’t drank much either and Yvonne was waiting for an Uber. Landon was standing, waiting with her. He finally pulled his phone out and smiled at the number of texts Vic had sent.
It seems after dinner, Joe roped them into playing scrabble.One text just simply read,Is blarb a word, Professor?.That was sent half an hour ago. The last text was informing him that their night was winding down and they were about to make the drive back to campus.
Tawson called Vic instead of texting back, hooking the phone into the holder on his dash. “Hey, you.” He rested his head back on the seat and ran his hands over the steering wheel. He hadn’t even started it yet.
“Hey back,” Vic said. “I was just about to head out. How was your night?”
“Not as fun as yours looked.”
