I groan. “Seriously?!”
“Denny said you were a nerd. That you were big intoLOTR?—”
“Is this time appropriate?!”
“Sorry, Denny didn’t ask me to message you, but I figured she’d need you around if you weren’t in class.
“Langton has a boner for Nietzche and a complete disregard for anarcho-primitivism. When D used his philosophies and pointed out an allegory to feminism, then threw in an argument for abandoning civilization to heal—” He must see my eyes glaze over. “TLDR: Langton’s going to fail her if she doesn’t change the subject of her essay.”
“Can he do that?”
Callan shrugs. “He’s a tinpot dictator.”
The sound of raised voices comes from the office and I press my ear to the door.
“Just fail me,” I can hear Denny shout. “I need to go!”
“You’re not excused!”
“I won’t change the subject of my essay. You shouldn’t have given us the choice if you?—”
When her volume lowers, I turn to Callan. “Shit. She’s telling him to fail her.”
He grimaces. “Maybe if I distract them, you could change her mind?”
“What kind of distraction?”
“I don’t know. I speak jackass. I’ll figure something?—”
“How am I supposed to talk her out of flunking?”
Callan rolls his eyes. “Do I have to think of everything?”
Another shriek sounds from the office, followed by an, “Oh, my god, I’m so sorry!”
Concerned, I knock on the door and don’t wait for permission to enter.
Sticking my head through the crack, I take in Denny, on her knees, a?—
“Denny, what are you doing?”
Callan’s hands rest on my shoulders and I feel him jumping up behind me for a better view.
“Why is she cleaning his armchair?” he mutters.
As perplexed as he is, I shake my head, then I see the tinge of red on the tissue in her hand and the fact that Langton’s about to make the sign of the cross on his chest.
Jeez, tell me the guy’s single without telling me the guy’s single.
I step into the office and shrug out of my hoodie. When she turns around, I see the extent of the situation. She keeps her face angled away from me, but her cheeks are practically glowing with embarrassment.
“Denny.” I amble closer with the hoodie held out. “Let me?”
Though she gnaws on her lip, she nods. I help her stand then wrap the arms of my hoodie around her hips and tie them into a knot.
“May I be excused now, professor?” she bites off as I douse her hands in sanitizer. “Or do you want to humiliate me further?!”
“Yes, of course,” Langton, the asshole, bleats, equally as discomfited.
