Unexpected Encounters

Chapter 6

I turned around and went to walk up to where she was still standing.

"Bailey wait, don't" Gabbie said as she grabbed on to my wrist.

"Don't what? Introduce myself?" I asked, "I think that's kind of why we're here Gabs, I'm not sure I have a choice."

"But can't you ask them to reassign you or something?" She asked.

"Not sure," I shrugged, "it might be kind of fun though, who knows."

I think I was trying to tell myself that too, because I started to feel a nervous pit forming in my stomach as I walked over to her. She was turned around as I approached, and I quietly cleared my throat.

"Hello there, professor," I said.

"Oh, hi I'm - " she stopped mid sentence when she turned around to see me standing there.

"What um, what exactly are you doing here?" She asked me under her breath.

"I go to school here of course," I said as I grinned at her.

"Right," she said, "well we probably shouldn't be talking too much right now."

"Right, right," I nodded, "but hey, what's your paper say there? Who is your TA?"

She gave me a confused look before she found the name in front of her.

"Bailey Dawson, why?" She asked.

"Yup," I nodded as I held my hand out to her, "pleased to meet you Professor Lawrence."

"What - you're - no, this is not going to work," she stuttered.

"Sure it will," I said confidently, "strictly professional here, don't worry."

I wasn't really sure that I meant that, but I was trying to sound convincing.

"Look," she said as she took a step closer to me and spoke quietly, "I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but this can't happen, I just got this job."

"I'm not trying to pull anything," I said, "I was as surprised as you are, I just found out this was a thing when he introduced you."

She looked at me like she didn't quite believe me, but I could tell that she was considering it.

"I don't know," she sighed, "I really think you're going to have to find someone else to work for this semester."

"Oh come on," I said as I took another step closer, "don't get shy on me now babe."

I spoke so only she could hear me as I repeated what she had told me on the cruise. I smirked at her as I tried to figure out if she was amused or if she wanted to slap me.

"Don't say that," she mumbled.

"Sorry, seemed like the perfect opportunity," I said.

I definitely wasn't sorry, she deserved that after how much of a tease she'd been to me before.

"Alright, fine," she finally said, "but no one is going to hear about - well, you know. That needs to stay between us."

"Yes ma'am," I said as I grinned at her.

She sighed again and shook her head like she was already regretting her decision.

"So uh, how exactly does this work?" I asked her, "I've never done this shit before."

"Yeah I had kind of gathered that," she teased.

"Just come with me," she continued, "my office is right over here."

I followed her over to the other side of the building and into her office as she shut the door behind me. I looked around at everything that still seemed out of place, she definitely was new here.

"I'm still not sure that I believe that you didn't plan this," she said as she looked at me and crossed her arms.

"If you really think I'm that much of a mastermind, then you're going to have another thing coming when I start helping you with this class," I said to her.

I sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk as she looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Are you going to tell me what you need me to do or do you just want to stand there and admire me some more?" I asked her sarcastically.

"I'm not admiring you," she responded as she rolled her eyes and sat down in her chair.

"What were you doing then? Day dreaming about when we fucked?" I asked as I leaned across the desk.

"Jesus Christ," she said, "no I wasn't doing that either."

"Don't tell me that you haven't thought about that again since it happened, I know I have," I smirked.

"I um -" she started as she shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"You're like a completely different person than you were that night," I said as I studied her.

"Of course I am," she said, "I was drunk on vacation and was trying to get laid."

"Okay, that's kind of fair," I shrugged as I sat back, "but still..."

"I'm starting my first full time job as a professor, obviously I'm not going to act the same way that I did when we first met," she said.

"So you're just pretending to be someone else in order to land a job, huh?" I asked her.

"I didn't say that," she responded with a slight bite in her tone, "do you want to keep this job, or not?"

"Alright, fine," I sighed, "yes I do, so can you please go over everything with me now?"

She nodded as she filed through the stack of papers on her desk and began to explain everything to me. I tried my best to listen, but she was making it hard to focus.

It wasn't that I had forgotten about her, but being in such close proximity was definitely bringing back more vivid memories.

"You got all of that?" She asked me.

"Oh," I said as I tried to pull my focus back to where it needed to be, "yup, totally got it."

"Uh huh," she said, "we'll see about that, especially since you don't really seem like you want to be here."

"I didn't," I admitted, "but maybe I do now."

"Bailey, I don't know what else I need to say to make it clear that nothing can happen between us," she said sternly.

"And even if it could," she continued, "I have a boyfriend now."

"That's great, because I do too," I said as I crossed my arms in front of me.

"You do?" She asked in a surprised voice, "you don't really seem like the relationship type."

"I could say the same about you," I shot back.

She closed her eyes as she shook her head at me.

"Fine, I asked for that one," she said.

"Sure did," I grinned.

"So you have a boyfriend but you're still determined to keep this position and continue flirting with me?" She asked.

"Who said I was flirting?" I asked, trying to sound surprised.

"Give me a fucking break," she grumbled.

"Now that, that sounded more like you," I said as I pointed at her.

She rolled her eyes as she stood up from her desk and walked towards the door.

"Come on," she said, "let's go back out with everyone else before you get any other ideas in your head."

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