Page 59 of Solo

Fuck me.

This is not the way I imagined this would go.

I drop to my knees and join Katherine on the floor, mopping up the soggy mess. With her back to the class, she gives me a what the fuck? look. I answer with an almost imperceptible shrug.

“Thank you for your help, Miss Brenner,” I say as coolly as I can muster so as not to sound out of character. “Go ahead and take your seat.”

I spend the rest of the hour returning assignments and fielding questions about the upcoming oral exams. When I excuse them, everyone leaves. Except, of course, for Katherine.

“What the hell was that?” she hisses, barely above a whisper.

“What?” I ask innocently.

She considers me carefully before speaking again.

“Is it safe to say you saw what happened in the dining hall this morning?” she asks with some irritation.

Deny, deny, deny.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Brenner,” I inform her coolly.

“Oh, please, I was late. You can’t tell me you didn’t notice that.”

“Whatever happened to delay you this morning, I’m sure it won’t happen again, Katherine,” I continue. But suddenly I can’t hold it together for another second. I burst out laughing. “And I really am sure. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if those idiots start going to the cafeteria on the other side of campus from now on.” I chuckle. “They will if they know what’s good for them, anyway.”

But Katherine does not look amused.

“You can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“You know what. Just because they can be nasty doesn’t mean they’re stupid. You don’t think it’s going to strike one of them as strange that you did your little accident re-creation in here? When one of them puts two and two together, they’ll be wondering why you would do something to defend me. It is just so out of character for you, that someone is bound to notice sooner or later,” she scolds me.

“Katherine…”

“Stop it! Stop calling me that,” she hisses softly as if someone out in the hallway might here us. “You know as well as I do what a risk you’re taking every time you call me by my first name. Huge red flag there, Dr. Markham.”

I can’t suppress the grin that creeps across my face as she grows more frustrated with me. This only makes her angrier.

“Listen to me,” I say, trying to sound more serious. “You’re absolutely right. And, yes, I saw what happened this morning.”

“Why were you even there?”

I reach into my pocket and pull out her phone, holding it out for her to take.

“That’s where it is! I’ve been looking all over for this!”

“I found it under my bed last night when I called you to see if you got home okay. I thought it might be better to get it to you in the dining hall rather than in the music department…but, well, you see how that turned out.”

She looks down at the phone then up at me again.

“Why does this say I have text messages? Did someone text me last night?”

“Yes,” I inform her. “I did. I wanted you to have my number in your phone. But I did take the precaution of entering my name as D in your contacts. Just in case someone sees your phone. Or mine for that matter—I’ve just got K for you in mine.”

She’s rolling her eyes but I can tell she’s trying to hide her smile.

“Well, thank you, Dr. D. I don’t suppose you’ve come across a silver bracelet in your travels? I thought maybe I’d left it somewhere in your house.”