Academic Temptations

Chapter 35

"Explain yourself. Who's that girl you were with?"

"She's a friend from another department, and I just showed her around," I responded, feeling puzzled that I had to explain myself.

"It seems to me that she's more than just a friend," she commented, her grip on the steering wheel tightening. I glanced at her hand, wondering what might be bothering her.

"I don't understand why it concerns you, Professor." I shifted my gaze outside the window. Hindi ko na kinakayang tignan pa siya dahil nanghihina lang ako. I want to hold her hand and comfort her. She looks exhausted. I felt her eyes on me as I said that.

Nakita ko bigla si Thea habang paalis na kami ng parking lot. She's heading to her car.

"Professor, wait. I'll just ride with Thea po," I declared, not waiting for her to reply. I opened the door, leaving her with no choice but to stop the car. I jumped out of it and made my way towards Thea.

"Isla! How was your date?" she asked as soon as she saw me approaching.

"You mean my date with a freshman student?" I saw her eyes widen in surprise.

"To be fair, I only found out she's a first-year when we were at the café." I rolled my eyes at her. I'm not mad at her since I had a great time naman.

"I'm never going to have a double-blind date with you again." Muntik pa akong magkasala at makipag-date sa minor.

"Where's your date?" I asked, kasi mag-isa na lang siya ngayon.

"Oh, umuwi na siguro. I brought my car so he wouldn't ask me to go to his place." Smart, but why would he ask that on a first date? Is that how it is now?

"Where did you guys come from?"

"He took me to the arcade. We ended up making out in the photo booth." I covered my ears right away when she started giving all the details. They made out at a place meant for kids!

"Althea! Isla!" We both turned to see my cousin, Hailee, coming toward us. What is she doing here in school on a weekend?

"Bakit ka andito?" Tanong ni Thea sa pinsan ko nang makalapit sa amin.

"Research." Sagot niya. We have Research 1 this semester. Unfortunately, Hailee and I are not in the same group. I was assigned to a group of freeloaders, which is okay with me because I prefer working alone but it might become a problem during the final defense next semester since they have no idea about our research.

"What are you two doing here? Bakit bihis na bihis kayo?" Nagtatakang tanong niya sa amin. Nagulat ako nang bigla akong akbyan ni Thea.

"We went on a date," she said.

"With each other?" I was about to say no, but Thea tightened her arm around me.

"Yes," she answered for both of us. Kunot-noo ko siyang tinignan, pero hindi niya ako pinansin.

"Really? So, that hickey on your neck is from my cousin?" I looked at Thea's neck, and she had two hickeys. One on the side and the other on her collar. I cringed at the sight, knowing she got that in a photo booth at an arcade

Thea looked surprised and immediately covered it with her hand, but it was too late already.

"Y-yeah. I was uh--helping your cousin with her gay crisis." What the heck? My jaw dropped at what she said. Why is she lying? Did she just tell Hailee that we made out? Us?