“Here.” Garrett leans across me and grabs the door handle. I shake my head rapidly, whispering “no, no, no”as he slowly turns the knob and cracks the door. The sound barrier is broken and we can now hear Clinton reading through school policies aloud.
“Interpersonal relations should be established prior to employment. Administrative staff are prohibited to partake in relations with faculty members unless—”
“I know the policy, Henry.” Benny cuts him off, frustration in his voice.
“Then why are you doing this? Why are you risking it?”
“What’s he doing?” Garrett whispers to me as we both listen.
“Because I have feelings for her!” Benny’s voice carries into the hall. A few passersby look puzzled as they glance at Garrett and I.
“I knew it!” Garrett practically shrieks with ego as he slaps his uninjured knee. I snap a shush at him. “I knew it,” he whispers back.
“What’s going on?” Kate walks up to us, eyes darting between me and Garrett until they land on the cracked door. One of her eyebrows raises as she hears Benny and Clinton’s conversation filling the halls. “Well, well, well,” she says, placing her hands on her hips. “Finally told him, huh?”
“Told him what?” Garrett sits up, an overconfident smirk fixed on his face.
“Nothing.” I groan.
Giving up on eavesdropping, I stand up and head down the hall towards the breakroom—Garrett and Kate following behind, whispering and giggling like little school girls. Their attitude towards the situation was frustrating. Benny was in trouble for being in a relationship with me and I was being selfish. I should have known this was going to happen, but I didn’t do anything to stop it. I let his gorgeous face and personality captivate me, completely disregarding the repercussions that could accompany it.
I wave Garrett off as he veers towards his class. Kate catches up to me and begins her twenty questions about the current situation that has left me nauseous and dizzy.
“He can’t lose his job, no way. We just have to figure out a plan. Maybe we can—”
She doesn’t notice I’m trying to block out her questions as she has a back-and-forth conversation with herself. We weave through the hall as it fills up with students. The sound of locker doors, footsteps, and conversations pressing into me. The hot, sticky air coming from the ceiling vents hitting me in the face. My shoulders are brushed over and over by students rushing to class. Pictures of Benny are flashing through my slowed thoughts as I come to a halt in the middle of the hallway. Discomfort builds in my chest and shoulders.
I hear Kate ask if I’m okay, but her voice sounds like it's underwater.
My senses feel overwhelmed as I try to compute everything happening around me. I feel frozen in place.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Kate shakes me on the arm, the hall is basically empty now.
“I—I—I think I need to go,” I manage to say as I turn on my heels, bolting for the parking lot.
“They ain’t gonna eat themselves, ya know.”
Sam towers over my untouched plate of waffles. I’ve been sitting, staring at them long enough for the usual mound of butter that sits atop the stack to turn into a liquid and is now dripping off the edges.
“Right.” I force a smile as I cut into them with a spoon.
“You good?” he asks, eyeing me skeptically.
“Mmhmm.” I shovel a bite into my mouth to avoid going into any further detail.
“Uh huh, well enjoy.”
He heads back to the bar, looking at me over his shoulder multiple times knowing full well that I am indeed,notgood.
I pick at my plate as I try to sift through my thoughts and what resulted in the overstimulated response earlier.
“There are other things to eat here than waffles, you know,” a voice says from the booth behind me. Shuffling out of the booth and standing at my table, Naomi Johnson, Devon’s mom, peers down at my sad soggy waffles. “You should try the tuna melt, it really isn’t that bad.”
My stomach turns at the thought of a fish sandwich. “I’ll take your word for it,” I say, cutting another corner of my waffle with the spoon.
“May I?” She gestures to the seat in front of me. I nod, mouth full of waffle. “I don’t mean to intrude but . . . what’s wrong with you?” She crosses her arms across her chest, her turtle sweater swallowing her small frame. Her dark complexion is smooth and flawless as she frowns at me, eyebrows pinched down in pity.
“Nothing.” I shrug, another bite following.
