Instant Message * AU

@InTooDeep

When Carey wakes up the next day she is filled with a sudden sense of determination to seek out her admirer/stalker. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have any classes until Monday.
"This is quite a predicament," she proclaims to the walls of her room. She almost quite literally hops out of her bed and decides to go into town to cure her boredom or to pass her time, at the very least.
Carey takes a detour through the quad on her way to town. She passes by the fountain, turning her attention from the path in front of her to admire it. Of course in her distracted state, she walks right into someone, a man by the sound of it and quite tall compared to her.
"Yikes! I'm so sorry, let me help," she squeaks as she rushes to pick up the books he'd previously had in his arms.
He chuckles at her as she stands up, her petite arms almost overflowing with books. Suddenly her eyes flash with happy recognition as she sees, in front of her, one of her favorite teachers.
"Hello, professor! My, what a coincidental cliché this is, isn't it?" she snickers as she carefully dumps his books back into his arms.
Mark grins slyly as he accepts his books. "Indeed it is. How lucky I am to be graced by your inattention as to where you're walking."
He says the words kindly but nonetheless, they make Carey's face flush bright red in embarrassment. She tucks a couple strands of loose hair behind her ear before she inquires, "Ah... so, professor, what are you doing out and about today?"
He tilts his head up toward the sky before sitting down on the bench by the fountain; Carey follows suit and sits beside him. "I was returning some books to the library and putting some away in my office. After that? I'm not sure," he chuckles.
Carey taps a finger against her chin before stating, "You can grade our last assignment! That's something to do." She gives him a thumbs up, wiggling her hand for emphasis.
Mark groans at her suggestion. "Thanks, but no. Fortunately, that's done."
"Oh," she murmurs. The two stare out at the passing students for several minutes. "Do you want to come into town with me after you drop off your books?" she questions suddenly. "I'm going to go shopping, I think."
He thinks for a few seconds before agreeing. The two stand and begin walking towards the library.

Carey winces imperceptibly when she and Mark walk through the doors and almost immediately the librarian greets them loudly. She side-eyes Mark when he gets chatty with her.
"Greta," he says. "You're looking marvelous today!"
Carey rolls her eyes, but Greta blushes and asks him if he's checking any new books out today.
He replies, "No, not today. But please keep an eye out for that book I requested, please?"
Greta and Mark chatter on for a couple minutes, much to Carey's finely masked chagrin. As she watches them laugh and talk very friendly, a sharp pang of emotion emanates through her chest. She furrows her eyebrows at the weird feeling but shakes it off rather quickly.
Carey tugs on the sleeve of Mark's flannel shirt, much like a jealous child, and reminds him that they've other places to be.

On the relatively short walk up to Mark's office, Carey notes how beautiful this part of the campus is. She'd rarely ever been this way, so she made sure to remember every beautiful tree or bush and definitely the little gazebo surrounded with flowers.
"Hey, Professor Fischbach. How come there's nobody over here? Its so gorgeous."
He briefly gazes back at her before shrugging. "Probably because its sort of out of the way. That, and its mostly just offices over here."
Carey clicks her tongue. "Ahh."
Mark flicks the switch on in his office as the door glides open, allowing her the privilege of peering a little more into the professor's life. The walls were, surprisingly, decorated very colorfully with many posters of different animals and other assorted diagrams. One in particular that catches her eye has an array of different species of frogs on it.
She stands in front of it, studying them all, while Mark pushes his books into their proper places on the shelves. When he's done, he turns around to tell Carey that they can leave but he pauses at the sight of her. Her wonder-filled expression and sparkling eyes fill his stomach with butterflies and he holds his breath. Mark turns around quickly to face his desk, steadying himself by placing both of his hands on the surface. In the process, he accidentally knocks off a small wind-up toy tree frog which startles her from her joyful daze. She jerks her head towards him then rushes towards him, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Oh man! Professor, are you alright?"
He nods and turns around to face her sheepishly. "Just a little out of breath." She tilts her head, confused. He asks with a smile to diffuse his embarrassment and deter her from questioning him further, "You like my posters?"
The young woman nods fervently as she clasps his hands between hers. His heart jumps a beat as she speaks, "I love frogs! They're my favorite animal, but I had no idea some of these existed." She turns and points at the Amazon Milk Frog and continues, "This one is my absolute favorite species of frog. I think they're very cute." She giggles and Mark chuckles nervously with her.
She walks around him and bends over to pick up the little toy he'd dropped. "Tree frogs are pretty great, too," she remarks as she sets it back in its spot of the desk.
"Shall we get going?"
He nods, speechless. Carey exits first and all Mark can think as he locks the door to his office is, "I've definitely gotten too many feelings for this girl. I'm in too deep."

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do u ever get rly happy when the content of a thing uses the title in a sentence? bc I love when that happens.

sssorry it took soooo long to update. I made this chapter longer than my usual short ones to make up for it. I'll try to continue making them longer. I hope y'all like this chapter!!