Looking Back

Chapter 32

Avery

The weekend has passed far too quickly for my liking. North and Silas had left on a flight early Monday morning to London. Victor and Luke would be leaving later in the week while Erin stayed with Fiona's parents. Kota and I were leaving right after my Wednesday class ended. I only had two courses this term on top of the doctoral and one TA section. Luckily, I'd managed to avoid night classes this time, so we would leave before three that day and arrive in time for dinner with everyone before the showing.

I was currently sitting in a small cafe working on a bibliography assignment when I heard a voice. "Avery? Hi, um, may I join you?"

I looked up to see the guy I was in a group with for my development course. "Oh, yeah sure. It's Shane, right?" I moved my bookbag to the floor giving him a spot to sit.

"Yeah, that's me. Are you working on the assignment?" he asked, sitting his drink on the side table away from my papers.

I sighed, "Sadly, no. I have a benchmark coming up for my doctoral so I'm working on my lit reviews and bibliography. It's frustrating how much drivel passes for academia these days."

He laughed, "I'm sure. I didn't realize you were already working on your thesis. I won't start mine until next year."

"I have a personal timeline and have sort of doubled up. I should graduate this spring if all goes well," I grinned. I reached for my cup and frowned when I realized it was empty.

Shane said, "Oh, I'll grab another for you."

"No, that's okay. I don't have time to finish it. I'll never be able to sit through class if I drink anymore, but thank you." He gave me an odd look, but I just brushed it off. "Well, it was nice visiting with you, but I've got to run."

He stood as I packed up, "Uh, yeah...maybe we could get together and work on the project sometime soon?"

"I'm out of town for a family situation for a bit - had to get an approved leave, but when I get back we could meet up in the library. Maybe we could even get the others to join us," I suggested.

"Sure, that sounds good. Have a safe trip," he said and handed me my umbrella.

"Thanks, see you, Shane."

"Yeah, see you, Avery," he said as I headed out the door. I felt his eyes still on me, but didn't want to turn around just in case I was right.

Making my way to class, I pushed open the door and groaned as I dropped my bag in the chair. The noise echoed across the empty space and I jumped, my hand flying to my chest, when I heard Kota's voice behind me. "Avery? Are you okay?"

I let out a breath, "Yeah, just a bit on edge." His green eyes bored into me as he raised an eyebrow. My shoulders dropped. "I just had an odd experience. A guy in my foundations class ran into me, and I don't know, it just felt off. I mean he didn't say anything inappropriate, but I still felt uncomfortable, so I left and came in early. Sorry, I didn't know you were even here yet."

He put his hands on my shoulders, "Don't apologize. And if the guy makes you uncomfortable then trust your gut and avoid him. You don't owe him anything."

I groaned, "Yeah, well, he's in my group for our developmental stages project. He asked if we could work on it. I suggested we get the group together at the library, but he seemed a bit put off by that idea."

Kota frowned, "Avery, if this guy really makes you that uncomfortable, then maybe you should talk to your professor about switching groups."

I shook my head, "No, I'm probably overreacting. But I promise I'll say something if he does anything that bothers me."

He started to say something but the door opened and he took a quick step back, giving me a concerned look as the rest of the class began to funnel in. I dug out my notebook and sat as he began outlining our next few steps and calling students up to speak with them about their progress. Of course, I already knew what I needed to do, but for appearance's sake, he called my name. I grabbed my binder and moved to his desk. "Yes, Dr. Lee?"

His eyes gleamed as he opened my binder. "I see you've gotten several of the reviews done already, Ms. Dorman. May I ask why you chose to remove these from your resource list?" He tapped the section I had listed as not relevant.

"Well sir," I started, then paused with a slight smirk as I noticed him shift in his seat. I have no idea why that affected him so, but I did love taking advantage of it. "I felt the content in these sources was not fully supported. I couldn't find current peer-reviewed support, so I removed them as viable sources for my purposes."

"Hmm, interesting. Well, even without these, you seem to have a rather substantial list already. Just remember to eliminate those you do not use when you reach the final benchmark." His fingers ghosted over mine as he closed the binder and handed it back to me.

"Yes sir, thank you," I said and went back to my seat. Kota sighed and took a long drink of his water before giving me a hard stare, and then called the next name on his list. I couldn't help but hum to myself as I continued working on the reviews.

Author's Notes:  a bit of foreshadowing...

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