Next Semester

6. inappropriate

1109 words

Josh let out a deep sigh as he parked outside of his small townhouse. It was a little after 11pm and he was exhausted. He willed himself to pull his messenger bag off of his passenger's seat as he got out of the car, stretching slightly as he felt more fatigue wrack his body. His eyes were strained and droopy as he dragged his feet to take him to his front door.

His phone rang in his pocket as he twisted his key, causing him to groan, "Hello?"

"Joshua William Dun, please tell me you're not still at work."

A tired smile formed on his face as he set his bag down in his kitchen and shuffled his way upstairs to his bedroom, "No, mom. I just got back to my place." He was relieved to hear the familiar voice of his best friend, Andrea (who only responded to the name Andy). The two had met during their sophomore year of their undergrad and even went to the same school for their masters degrees. He hadn't seen her since she was hired by some big company to be the Executive Creativity Director and Corporate Art Consultant (whatever that meant) and moved the entire way to Arizona.

His best friend let out a laugh over the phone, "Ew, dude. Do not 'mom' me you're literally older than I am."

"Barely! I'm older than you by like 8 months!" Josh scoffed playfully. He set his phone down on speaker phone as he began to change out of his work clothes, a little dizzy from just how tired he was.

"Whatever. I just wanted to talk to you before you ghost me again for 2 weeks."

"Andy, I didn't mean to not talk to you. I have just been so busy and I just got all this new shit dumped onto me because one of the other professors up and quit because they opened an investigation into her embezzling money from the school," Josh sighed, now clad in thick grey sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt, "I'm just getting burnt out already and next week is only week 3 of the semester."

"Did you tell them you couldn't take all of that other professor's duties? Can't they be split up among your department?"

"I wish. I'm the youngest professor in my department, so I'm always the one that gets stuck with everything. I always work weekend events, get the extra classes no one wants, take the meeting notes... I just gotta work my way up in seniority, I guess. I've only been there for 4 years, And. I can't expect them to not treat me like the new kid." The man sighed, rubbing his face as he grabbed his phone and laid down in bed, letting out a relieved sigh as his body relaxed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you deserve to be killing yourself at work," she sighed and shuffled and Josh could tell that she was laying in her bed too, and it reminded him of the times they'd laid together and complained to one another when they lived together. Her voice broke him out of his memory,"How are you going to manage that all?"

Josh found himself smiling, "I hired one of my students as a my research assistant. He's actually been a huge help."

"Research assistant? Never in my life would I think you would hire someone to help you... you're the suffer in silence type," Andy laughed, "So you like him?"

"Yeah, I really do. Well, like, in a business, professional sense... not like in a weird way... just like-" Josh rambled.

"Okay! Chill out, dude. That's not even what I was asking, but now I think you do like him like that." Andy joked.

"I just didn't want it to sound weird." Josh grumbled, putting his hand over his face as he laid in his bed.

"It didn't until you made it weird, you loser," Andy laughed again, the sound bringing a small smile to Josh's lips, "What's he like?"

"Honestly, he's just really great. I would definitely be friends with him outside of school if I weren't his professor. He's super intelligent and interesting... I never know what he's going to say or do. He also has incredible music taste. Oh, and his writing is just amazing, Andy. He's so gifted." Josh gushed. He really did like Tyler as a person. Moving from Ohio to Maine was a rough transition, and it was refreshing to finally meet someone so far away from home that he clicked with so well.

"He sounds like your kind of person, Spook," Andy said and Josh smiled at the nickname, "Is it like illegal to be friends with students...? It's not like you teach high school, Josh. He's an adult just like we are."

"Yeah, but I just feel like it's weird. I don't know... I think we get along really well, but I probably won't talk to him outside of our time together in my office or in class. I just feel like there's a boundary there that is venturing into inappropriate." Josh said, scrunching up his face. Even the thought of asking Tyler to hang out outside of school made him feel gross.

"You turned into such a goodie two shoes. What happened to Spooky J stealing the street signs from campus?"

"Oh, please do not remind me of how I used to act." Josh cringed. He was not proud of his college career. He barely remembered most of it from how often he and Andy went out.

Another beautiful laugh came from Josh's phone and he found his heart aching to be with his best friend, "You are such an old man now. Loosen up!"

"I am exhausted, Andrea," Josh said, smiling when his attempt at making her groan worked, "I fucking hate when you call me that."

"I know," his smile was apparent in his voice, "I love you and miss you. You have to fly out here sometime soon."

"I should be able to relatively soon. This project that I'm working on right now is gonna be dying down, so I'll let you know when I can book a flight," Josh could hear that she was smiling too, "I love you too, Spooky. I'll text you tomorrow, kay?"

Josh chuckled, shaking his head at the nickname, "Talk to you tomorrow, Andy."

As soon as Josh hung up, he was out cold. He had never been so overwhelmed with work in his entire life, and he was starting to feel that pretty heavily. At least he had Tyler to help him out.

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a/n

leaving you guys with another small update before i go away for 3 weeks </3 this is the last one until the beginning of july im SORRY

i promise im not abandoning this fic, i just literally will not have internet until i get back LOL

very small peak into Andy and Josh's relationship & Josh's opinion on Tyler :)
give me any feedback you may have!!!

-mare