Talk To Me [Zarry]

NINE

"How's the wife?" Sanders asked his colleague as the two of them stood in line at the university's coffee shop, the both of them waiting for the iced americano they had just ordered. 

"Good, good. She's still angry I didn't take the tenure at that American college." George, the only fellow lecturer that Sanders could stand, answered as they placed a lid on their drinks and walked towards the staff room. 

"Well, in some ways I don't blame her. You would have been set for life mate, a guaranteed job that you can't get fired from." 

"Fair enough," George shrugged, "But you're forgetting that I'm a professor in Economics and Econometrics, the university that wanted me was a small community college in the middle of some random city in Idaho. I'd rather take an unstable job here in England than move all the way there and be miserable. Not to mentions, Sanders, I'm black. England may have its social issues but at least I know I can somewhat trust the law enforcement here. Emphasis on somewhat. " 

"You're right, I didn't think about it that way."  Sanders added, their conversation came to an end as  they rounded the corner into the staff room but before he could enter he spotted a worried Zayn, racing down the hallway as if his life depended on it. He frowned, eyes following him before he was out of sight and he made a mental note to ask Zayn if he was ok during their class later in the day. 

"To be fair if I were to pick any of them students, I'd pick him too."

"I don't even swing that way but even I can admit that he's a good-looking bloke alright. Sanders' got a keen eye." A group of two or three colleagues were laughing loudly when he finally entered the room and Sanders frowned at the mention of his name. 

"What's this about my eye?" He asked and the group dispersed, two of them were red in face out of embarrassment from being caught. The other one remained in his position, staring Sanders' straight in the face with a sly look. John Levins was a right pain in the ass, one of the few people Sanders absolutely hated interacting with. He was known to pick on students, collect bribes and marked unfairly. These were things Sanders absolutely despised, although it may seem to many that he favoured Zayn, when it came down to it, Sanders always knew how to separate friendship from work. He had failed Zayn on multiple occasions and he wasn't afraid to do it again if Zayn didn't put in the work.Sure Zayn was one of his closest his friends, practically family,  but at the end of the day he was still his student. John sipped on his coffee in a way that seemed like it was meant to taunt Sanders and Lord knows it worked. 

"Nothing to worry about mate, we're just talking about how lucky you are with your selection of students. You seem to be well favoured. " He said with a shrug and Sanders sent him a false smile. 

"Well, considering I don't teach Math, Physics or Econometrics, it's not hard to see why I might be well favoured compared to some." He said referring to the three teachers that had been talking about him. "Speaking of students, how are your classes going? I heard your hours have been lessened due to students opting to take George's class instead." George almost spat out the coffee was drinking as he tempted to stifle his laughter while John grew red in the face. He put down his empty mug and walked out the staff room, but just before he left John lowered his voice and said something meant for only Sanders to hear. 

"I look forward to seeing Zayn in my class." Sanders frowned, looking at John's retreating figure. Zayn took no scientific classes, let alone math or physics, and so there should be no reason for John to be seeing him. He doubted Zayn even knew who he was. 

***

"Zayn?" Louis called out, waving his hand in front of his friend who was anxiously bouncing his leg, biting his fingernails as he stared at the doors leading to where they were sitting, waiting. "Zayn!" Louis yelled and Zayn finally removed his gaze to face Louis.