Bitter (wlw) (txs)

eighty-two

"Okay, that was not how I imagined starting my college year" I caught my breath as I got off Sam's desk and grabbed my pants from the floor.

"You shouldn't have come in my office two hours earlier, then. In both senses" she shrugged, putting her blazer back on and leaning back in her chair.

"I didn't say I didn't like it" I laughed. "Your hair is all ruffled, you look so hot"

"Shit, I need to fix it. I have a class in ten minutes" she groaned.

"But you look-"

'I am not going to teach one hundred students looking like I just ate someone out"

"That's what you just did, though" I said, sitting on her lap.

"Yeah, whatever" she rolled her eyes at me. "Do you have any breaks between classes?"

"Yeah, but I think I'll be with Mei during them. We haven't seen each other in a long time"

"Oh, fair enough. I finish at seven, if you want to stop by later. We can go home together"

"Sure" I smiled, wrapping my arms over her shoulders and kissing her.

"I can't believe it's almost been a whole year since we started all of... this" she said.

"I first sneaked in here in December, like three months after you started to teach my class. You had me waiting" I joked.

"Our situation wasn't exactly easy and you know it" she hit my arm with a laugh.

"I know, I was kidding" I said. "I need to go now"

"Enjoy your new classes" she kissed me again. "I love you"

"I love you too" I said as I got up. "You also enjoy your classes" I added, walking out of the office.

Being back in that corridor felt weird, it had only been a little more than two months since I'd last been there but it felt like way more for some reason. Overall, I was happy to be starting classes again. I'd kind of missed the routine of it all and feeling like I was studying something I genuinely enjoyed.

And I was also happy to see Mei, since we hadn't seen each other since July when I was back home, and I wasn't really in the best of conditions. We'd texted and called a few times, but seeing each other in person was different.

I didn't even need to pretend I didn't just walk out of the professor's side of the building, or made up excuses for it, which felt very good. One less cause of stress.

I immediately spotted Mei waiting for me at our usual spot, wearing her signature ripped jeans and a beige flannel.

"Hi!" I said as soon as I was near enough.

"El! Hi!" she hugged me. "How are you? It's so good to see you"

"I know, I'm really happy too" I smiled. "I'm good. You?"

"I'm good too" she just said, looking at me like she was both trying to figure something out and trying not to laugh.

"What's wrong?" I laughed.

"You have a lipstick stain on your neck. And your shirt is buttoned up the wrong way. And your face is weirdly flushed"

"What?" I said, almost choking on my saliva and looking down to see that my shirt was indeed buttoned up the wrong way.

"Miss Collins is making good use of her office, I see" she winked.

"Don't call her that" I hit her arm.

"Well, I don't know her well enough to start calling her Samantha, or Sam" she shrugged. "Why does your wrist look like some animal just clawed your skin? She must have long ass nails. How does she-"