Unexpected Encounters

Chapter 7

We walked back out to the main area of the building where the rest of the professors and students were still chatting. I caught Gabbie's eye as we got closer, and she gave me a concerned look.

I gave her a discreet thumbs up, and she shook her head at me but seemed to accept that everything was fine. I really wasn't sure that it was, but at least I had convinced her.

We joined the rest of the group and I eventually made my way over to where Gabbie was standing.

"It was nice to meet you," she said to the professor she'd been talking to.

"Hey, can we leave now?" I asked her.

"Can we leave now? That's all you're going to say after you just disappeared with a professor that you hooked up with a few months ago?" She asked under her breath.

"It's not a big deal Gabbie," I said, "I was just in her office for a bit."

"Don't tell me you -" she started to ask the question that I knew was coming, but I cut her off before she could finish.

"No, come on now, I'm not that terrible," I said.

"I'm not saying you're terrible, but -" she paused.

"I know Gab," I grinned, "but nothing happened, promise, we just talked."

"So you're still going to be her TA?" She asked hesitantly.

I nodded as the worried look returned to Gabbie's face.

"Gabbie, it's fine," I reassured her as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and started to guide her towards the door.

"She has a boyfriend, I have a boyfriend, she's a professor, I'm a student," I said, "we covered all the ground rules."

"Well I'm still going on record that this isn't a great idea," she said as we walked out.

"Yeah but do you ever think anything I do is a great idea?" I asked her.

She stopped walking for a minute as she looked at me and thought about her answer.

"Nope," she said, "not really."

                                         ***

We got back to our apartment a few minutes later, and Kaia was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"How was it?" She asked.

Gabbie briefly glanced over at me, like she was waiting for me to tell Kaia what had happened.

"That girl Bailey slept with the last night of the cruise is a new professor here and Bailey is her TA," she blurted out.

I turned and gave her a look before I watched Kaia's eyes widen in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kaia asked.

"Thank you for that Gabbie," I said.

"Sorry! I couldn't hold it in," she said as she sheepishly grinned at me.

It was pretty much impossible to be mad at her for anything.

"Okay excuse me," Kaia said, "can we go back to the part where the girl you fucked is the professor you have to work with??"

"Uh right..." I said, "yeah, that about sums it up."

"Fuck," Kaia said.

"Wait," I quickly said, "before we continue to discuss this, is Tanner still here? Probably should've started with that."

"I don't think he would care," Kaia laughed, "but no, he left a while ago...now explain yourself."

"I know he wouldn't, but it's still a little weird," I said, "and I don't know, it's not a big deal."

"Don't let her kid you," Gabbie chimed in, "she was freaking out."

I glared over at her and rolled my eyes, she was really asking for it.

"I wouldn't say that I freaked out," I said, trying to defend myself.

"Oh so you didn't almost spit your coffee out when you saw her?" Gabbie asked as she grinned at me.

"Sounds like you kind of did," Kaia said from the couch as she gave me a sarcastic smile.

"Okay, okay," I said as I put my hands up, "I may have freaked out momentarily, but I'd say I composed myself pretty quickly. She seemed way more freaked out than I was."

"Well fill us in then," Gabbie said as she went over and sat next to Kaia, "you never told me what exactly happened when you went to her office."

"Oh you had office hours with her already, huh?" Kaia asked as she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Shut the hell up, not like that," I said as I sat in a chair across from them, "this isn't the porn fantasy that you're picturing."

"Damn," Kaia said as she slumped her shoulders.

"We just talked a little bit," I said, "and we did actually go over the TA shit, but aside from that she doesn't seem to want much to do with me."

"Aww, did she hurt your ego?" Kaia teased me.

"No, I don't mean it like that," I said as I shook my head at her, "I just meant it should be fine that I'm still working with her."

"Yeah we'll see about that," Gabbie said.

"You two have zero faith in me, don't you?" I asked as I looked between the two of them.

They glanced at each other quickly before they both started to laugh.

"You're the worst," I laughed.

I honestly would've been concerned if they hadn't given me shit about this, it was the type of relationship that we had.

"Oh yeah," Kaia said, "so I know we're currently on your shit list or whatever, but don't we have that party tonight that your brother is throwing?"

"You're always on my shit list," I said to her with a grin, "but yeah, I mean he's not throwing it, but he invited us."

"Oh right, that is tonight, isn't it?" Gabbie asked, "I think Carson is coming with us too."

"Fine with me," I said, "but he'll be the most decent guy there by a mile...most of my brother's friends are douchebags."

Carson was Gabbie's boyfriend of about two years, and he was just about as sweet and innocent as she was. They were a perfect match. I wasn't sure how he dealt with us either.

"Austin isn't that bad," Kaia said.

"He's not, but his friends are," I said as I rolled my eyes.

Austin was about five years older than me, and although we got along well, it was true that he didn't have the greatest friends. I didn't always like dealing with them, but he got us in to some pretty great parties, so I didn't want to complain.

"At least they're all hot," Kaia shrugged, "including Austin."

"Don't even think about it," I said as I pointed at her.

She'd never gone for any of them, but she enjoyed giving me shit about it way too much.

"Uhh I don't think you're allowed to give me romantic advice over there Mrs. Professor," Kaia said sarcastically.

"Fuck off," I laughed, "I'm going to get ready."

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