I glanced at my watch. The time was 7:59 for a blink, then switched over to 8:00.
At that exact moment, a woman in a pencil skirt and white blouse came striding into the lecture hall. “Good morning everyone. Welcome to Criminology 101. I’m Professor Carrington.”
“Yep,” Brock said. “She’s hot.”
“I’ll say.” I squinted. Why did she look familiar? Thanks to the layout of the room, I was high up above the lecture stage, so I couldn’t get a good look at her.
Until she turned and smiled up at the class.
Is that… no way. It can’t be.
“Hey, buddy?” Brock whispered. “She’s attractive, but maybe you should close your mouth.”
I hadn’t realized my jaw was open. I closed it and leaned closer to Brock to say, “Dude. Iknowher.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I got matched with her on Tinder.”
Brock snorted. “No fucking way.”
“I’m serious!”
Down on the lecture stage, our professor was saying, “I don’t take attendance. You’re all adults and can manage your own schedule, and if you can’t, then you won’t get very far in college.
“I don’t believe you,” Brock told me.
“I don’t care if you believe me or not,” I insisted. “It’s true.”
“Whatever you say.”
I stared down at the professor while she plugged her laptop in. Her hair was different today, but it was definitely her.
And for some reason, Ididcare if this random guy believed me.
“Here,” I whispered, showing him my phone. “Check it out.”
He looked at the Tinder exchange. “Oh shit, you were right. You’ve slept with the professor?”
“No! We haven’t even gone out on a date. We just matched a week ago and have been chatting. You can read our texts.”
I held the phone out and read along with him.
Me: I’m sick of all the standard ice-breaking questions, so let’s do something different. What TV shows are you watching right now?
Lila: Ohh, that’s a fun opener! I’m watching two shows right now: Stranger Things and Veep. I’m on the final season of Stranger Things, and I usually just watch one episode per night and then switch to Veep to relax with a comedy. How about you?
Me: You’re on the final season? You didn’t binge-watch them when they all came out?
Lila: I was busy over the holidays with work! I didn’t get a chance to catch up until a week ago!
Me: That’s a pretty big red flag to me.
Lila: What? Being busy?
Me: Not prioritizing your schedule properly. Huge turn-off.
Lila: I prefer to think of it as having the right amount of willpower to hold off until I’m ready to binge it. Which I am currently doing!
