PLAY THE PART | mileven

bonus chapter (i)

set 3,5 years before the epilogue —
while mike is still a teaching assistant.

**

"can you explain that again? i'm not sure if i understood it fully."

the girl, a psychology student in her second semester, batted her eyelashes at mike and leaned even more forward on her table with twinkling eyes.

the two other girls next to her nodded their heads in agreement, copying the action by leaning further on the table.

usually he'd be glad over people asking him to help them, to show interest and effort in understanding everything he's trying to explain about certain topics.

but those three in particular seemed interested in anything but the topic. they wiggled in their seats, played with their necklaces to draw attention to their cleavages or tried to seductively (?) twirl their hair with their fingers.

he gave them a tight smile as it's required from a teaching assistant, knowingly flexing his engagement band before nodding. "sure, feel free to interrupt me if you don't understand something so i can explain it without further confusing you."

the girl smiled, eagerly nodding her head. "of course."

he once again started explaining the basics of biopsychology to introduce them to the topic, using easy terms to not overcomplicate it — but after several minutes, he realized that they, again, weren't listening.

they simply stared at him, palm against their cheeks as they whipped their feet back and forth.

he sighed. "are you sure you guys are following?"

"mhm." one of them hummed. "i think i got it this time, thank you."

the other girl nodded her head, smiling at him brightly. "you explain everything so much better than professor williams." 

he nodded, knowing very well that they actually haven't even tried understanding or truly listening. "good — in case you have questions, you can always ask me."

"thank you, mike." the girl giddily said his name, "you're the best."

he shot all of them a smile over before turning away, just as he was about to leave, they called for him again. "uhm, mike, would you like to grab a coffee with us? — if you're free of course."

ah, that wasn't unusual for him either; to get asked to grab coffees together.

he politely shook his head. "that's sweet of you, thank you guys, but i have to get home."

they pouted, disappointment on their faces. "maybe next time?"

absolutely not.

but he opted against the harsh answer and shrugged as a response.

when he wanted to take steps away again, he was stopped by one of them standing up, nervously looking at him while it seemed like she was about to explode out of all the courage she mustered up. "how about friday? i throw a little party with only a few people, we'd love it if you came."

he raised his eyebrows, that was a far bigger invitation than the usual coffee request. he tightly smiled at them again. "thank you for the invitation but i have to decline, i hope you have a great time together though."

this time he didn't stick around to see the disappointment on their faces or make them stop him from leaving.

he let a long breath out when he was out of the auditorium, impatient to go home and find comfort in his fiancée's hold.