Earn Your Extra Credit

(9) Connecting

Two weeks later 

"Hey Jules.." Bucky said as he ended her class' lecuture.

"Oh hey." She said as she came down to his desk. 

"Tonight we are grading at my place because they are bringing in a exterminator to bomb the offices. Natasha accidentally left food in her trash can and didn't take it out. So we were all told to cancel office hours today since now we are all being infested by ants." He said 

"That sucks. As long as you don't get trouble I don't mind." She said 

"Great, here is my address. Let me know if you have any trouble finding it. We can door dash something for dinner." He said as he handed her a sticky note. 

"Thanks." She said as she put it in her bag. 

"See you tonight." He said with a smile. 

"See you tonight." She said with a smile. 

Bucky let out a breathe as the door shut behind her. "God that smile of hers." He whispered 

Later that afternoon Jules made her way to Bucky's place. She pulled in behind his truck as he stepped out. 

"Hey.." he said 

"Hey." She said as she followed him inside. 

The coffee table had stacks of papers that needed to be graded. 

"Chinese sound good?" He said as grabbed a bottle of water from his fridge.

"Yeah." She said as she bit her lip. 

He gave her a bottle of water as well. They picked out what they wanted on his door dash app and began to grade the history papers. He had them broken up into two different piles because she couldn't grade her own paper. 

They took a break once their food arrived then went back to work. After they were done grading papers. 

"Sooo..teaching was your fall back plan?" She said 

"Yeah..my childhood best friends were already here. I was the only one that went pro it was my dream. I just didn't know it was going to be so short lived. Or cause my marriage to collapse." He said 

"Oh.." she said 

"Yeah but what about you? I saw on your student file that you are pre med. What field of medicine are you going into?" He said 

She smiled. "Well, considering sports has always been a big deal in my family. I decided to go into sports medicine." She said 

"That's a good field. Just don't be rude and blunt." He said with a smile. 

"Sometimes you have to be blunt maybe not rude. But being blunt isn't such a bad thing." She said 

"No it's not. I'd rather someone be blunt and honest then sugar coat it." He said 

"Me too." She said 

They continued to talk and connect there was never any dead silence. Bucky had her laughing with stories from his NFL days and stories about him and his friends growing up. She had funny ones too. 

He saw the time on his watch. "Shit..it's midnight. I am sorry Jules." He said 

"It's fine. My first class isn't till 11 tomorrow." She said as she stood up. 

"Okay, well go home and get some sleep. And again I'm sorry." He said as he walked her out. 

"Time flies when you are having fun Professor Barnes." She said 

"Bucky..or James. When we are not in school grounds or we are in my office." He said 

She smiled at him. "Goodnight James." She said as she got in her car.