Tinder | tayley ✓

Questions

[ dedicated to the birthday girl gotta-let-it-happen ]

After their long day, Hayley and Taylor shared a night of several rounds of rough sex.

The second Taylor rolled out of bed the following morning, he felt excellent. That feeling of positivity was drained from him as soon as he checked his emails, though.

There was an email from the university.

"Dear Mr. York,

A source, which has chosen to remain anonymous, has reported an inappropriate relationship between you and a student of yours. Normally, we would be looking into this claim for evidence before contacting the involved parties because these actions are unacceptable on our campus. But this source has supplied evidence that you and your student, Miss Hayley Williams, share a relationship beyond what any teacher and their student should share.

We request for you to cancel all classes that you have scheduled for today and report to the campus at 2 PM. The disciplinary board will ask you several questions involving the relationship between you and your student. We have contacted Miss Williams as well and will interview her separately.

Vanderbilt does not condone this behavior and we refuse to allow it. Any further contact between you and Miss Williams from now until the meeting may result in your immediate termination.

Sincerely,
Vanderbilt University Disciplinary Board"

Taylor immediately woke Hayley up.

"Good morning to you too," she groggily mumbled.

"Did you tell them?" Taylor asked. He was already yelling.

"Tell who what?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Did you tell the school board? Did you tell them about us? You've got to be kidding me. I'm going to lose my job. See? I warned you. I knew that this was going to happen."

"Calm down, what happened?"

"Calm down? I can't calm down," Taylor exclaimed and handed his phone over to display the email.

Hayley carefully read the email, her eyes widening when she discovered that they had been caught.

"We need to go in. There goes my career. What do I do now? What university is going to hire me now? I'm screwed."

Hayley didn't respond. Normally, she would do her best to comfort him. But she had nothing to say. She knew that Taylor was right.

—

Hayley sat in front of several old men — five, to be exact — all of whom worked for the university she attended. Each of them were reading from what appeared to be an identical paper.

The man who sat in the middle removed his reading glasses and set his paper down. He cleared his throat before he finally spoke.

"Miss Williams, we are going to ask you numerous questions and we need you to answer honestly. Understand?"

She nodded.

"How long did you know Professor York before your relationship became sexual?"

Hayley was hesitant to respond. With all ten old-man-eyes focused on her, it was scary. "I knew him before he was my teacher. We found each other on a dating app. Neither of us disclosed any information that hinted at there being any future between us."

"Please answer the question," the gentleman requested.

"A few hours," Hayley answered.

The man raised his eyebrows and scribbled something down on his paper.

"Has this affected your education? Have you received better grades due to your relationship?"

"No," Hayley answered bitterly.

"Have you been forced to perform sexual acts on Mr. York in exchange for, say, better grades?" He asked again.

"I already said no."

Her anger was obvious. "We're not the enemy. We want to know why he was doing this," the man said.

"And I'm not a victim. I consented to this. I encouraged it. If anyone is in trouble for this, it should be me." The second Hayley spoke those words, she regretted it. She didn't want Taylor to be in trouble, but she also didn't want to be in trouble. How would she explain this to her parents? She'd be disowned in a heartbeat.

"Mr. York is older than you. He's in a position of power over you. He's the one we're paying, understand? You may not be the victim, but he is guilty."

A silence filled the room as Hayley processed those words. She was torn from her thoughts when she heard someone say, "Please call Mr. York in. Hayley, you may go home for the day. We will contact you when we decide when we will be meeting next."

Taylor entered the room as soon as he was told to. Hayley left.

Taylor had been sweating and crying. The latter was more obvious. He was terrified of what could happen.

"Good afternoon, Mr. York. For the entirety of the time you've worked here, we've heard nothing but positive things about you. Excellent educator, always willing to help students, even being friendly. These positive comments are exactly what's raised your income, as you are likely aware. But now, we wonder if these positive comments are all from students you've been intimate with. When did your romance with Miss Williams begin?"

Taylor gulped before admitting, "Early August."

"And how long did you two know each other before your relationship became intimate?"

"Maybe two hours. I don't remember the specifics."

"Taylor, I'm going to be blunt in asking this. How many other students have you shared a similar connection with?"

Taylor furrowed his brows as he looked at the older man who had asked that question. Taylor was momentarily speechless.

"None."

"No romantic relationships with any of your students, prior to the one you've shared with Miss Williams?"

Taylor shook his head, which caused the old man who had been speaking to jot a few things down on his paper.

"Okay, Mr. York. We're going to take a break for today. We would appreciate if you prepared a final statement. Unfortunately, we cannot promise you that you'll end the semester working here. We request that you cancel all of your classes until further notice. Lastly, we expect you and Miss Williams to terminate all contact."

Taylor looked down at his hands, but he soon nodded.

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

He silently left the room. Hayley stood from the chair she had waited in, following behind Taylor as he walked in the direction of his parked car.

"What happened?" Hayley asked. No response.

"Taylor, what happened?"

Still, no response.

It was only when Hayley tugged at Taylor's wrist that he stopped walking.

"Stop it. We can't do this. I have too much to do tonight, I don't feel like getting fired and ruining the reputation I've built for myself," Taylor spoke angrily.

He stomped away before Hayley had the chance to respond.