The Way You Make Me Feel [ J.J ]

26.

By the time my meeting with Dean Strauss rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. Elle and Emily came over to help me look as best as I could, finding me a blazer stuffed in the back of Emily's closet that she said I could have. I paired it with a pair of black work jeans and my favorite tennis shoes, deciding to go business casual rather than full business. I pulled my hair back into a slick half up half down look, smoothing down the stupid little fly-aways that always somehow found a way to escape. I did light makeup, knowing that less would be better. I looked at myself in the mirror, smiling as I saw the person in there that I would hopefully be by the end of the year. I turned back to Elle and Emily, who gave me their proud mom smiles before sending me off, promising to hang out with me tonight with a bottle of Bacardi if everything went to shit.

I walked myself to the building that housed Dean Strauss' office, running into JJ in the lobby. They must have had both of us coming around the same time, most likely to gauge how we acted in the office. We stood apart, shooting each other a supportive glance and a nod, making sure to sit a couple seats apart while we waited for Dean Strauss to come out. I was shaking with nerves, and it was obvious. I couldn't even do my own makeup earlier, so Elle had to do it. It was clear that I was a nervous wreck, and I absolutely did not want to be in this room. I just wanted to be back at JJ's apartment wrapped up in her arms while we watched stupid movies and kissed every five seconds because that was where we deserved to be right now. Not sitting in the office of the Dean trying to defend the feelings we had for each other. We shouldn't be here. And we were only here because of Rosaline.

Fuck Rosaline.

"Y/N, Dean Strauss is ready for you."

I let out a shaky breath and nodded, getting up and walking towards the door. I waited until she opened it, giving her a nod as she let me come in.

"Y/N, sorry we had to meet under these circumstances."

"I'm sorry as well, Dean Strauss."

"You do understand the severity of what is going on today, correct?"

"Of course. You're just scared the University is going to get a Title Nine violation, which I can guarantee you I'm not filing one." I had no idea where the sass had come from, but I went with it. "Ms. Jareau is a wonderful and caring woman, and neither of us had any idea what we were doing would turn into what it is now."

"I'm not saying that."

"I'm aware you're not saying that, but I want you to know my side of the story before you judge me." I paused, getting ready to say my speech. "I'm very much aware of the internalized homophobia people have as well as the preconceived hatred about those who are in age gap relationships. Although Jennifer is ten years older than me, I have learned to care for her in ways that I didn't know were possible. I met her in that bookstore and knew from the second we locked eyes that we were going to click- and we did. We bonded over our love for Laura Weiss and The Little Prince, and I gave her my number so we could continue to talk about the one thing we had in common. Books."

"So what I'm hearing is that you met prior to the school year?"

"Yes. We met about a month give or take before the school year started at a bookstore in Downtown Richmond." I opened the manila folder, bringing out the doctored pictures. "This is the first text she sent to me. A simple book quote. Something to gauge my attention. Which she already had from the moment we met browsing the romance section when I accidentally backed into her while I was making room for someone else."

"You had no idea she was your teacher?"

"None. She introduced herself to me as JJ. And that's what I knew her as. JJ. Simple as that."