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I glanced over at Jesse and saw that he wasn’t paying attention to us. He was tracing the lines of the pizza box with his fingers while eating still. “Jealous?”
Caleb grunted. “Yeah. Knock it off.”
Andrew scowled at both of us. “Both of you can…kick rocks…”
That’s the cutest picture I’ve ever gotten. I think I’ll print it off and hang it on my fridge. And I am paying attention!!! My professor just spent twenty minutes going over the expectations for behavior in his class, though, so I think I’m good.
“Did she just text you back?” Andrew leaned over the table. “What’d she say?”
I pulled my phone to my chest. “Back off, man. Some things are private.”
“Private?” Caleb leaned into my space, too. “How private?”
My phone vibrated again and I looked down at it, expecting to see another text, but instead it was a picture. I opened it without realizing that Andrew and Caleb were hovering over me. A picture of Olive appeared on my phone screen, and in it she was making the cutest bored face with her tongue sticking out.
“Damn.” Caleb sighed. “She’s beautiful.”
Andrew nodded. “So damn pretty.”
I brushed my finger over her blonde curls and let out a low whistle. I loved words. I read religiously and I was majoring in English with plans on becoming a professor. I never found myself speechless. Staring down at her wide green eyes, though, I couldn’t think of anything other than what Caleb and Andrew had already said. Pretty. Beautiful.
Another picture popped up and we were all staring at her bright red face while she sank down in her chair. She looked like she wanted to crawl out of her skin she was so uncomfortable.
I have to drop this class. The professor just caught me looking at that picture you sent and tried to make me show him but I got weird and now everyone thinks I was staring at a dick pic in the middle of class. I hate this place.
Caleb’s wicked grin was instant after reading the text. “She’s mine.”
Shaking my head, I looked between my two best friends and frowned. “Seems like we need to have a talk about this.”
11
***Olive***
“Ilookedyouup,Ms. Oakley. Your scores from your last college were impressive. I know you can be one of my top students if you apply yourself.” Professor Allen held out his hand and nodded at me. “We’ll start fresh next week?”
I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Since that didn’t seem to be a possibility, I shook his hand. “Again, I’m really sorry, Professor. A couple of guy friends are watching my son and they sent me a picture of him. I should’ve been paying attention, though. It won’t happen again.”
The man’s eyes lit up. “How old is your son?”
The rest of the class had practically run out of the auditorium so Professor Allen and I slowly made our way out of the building while chatting. “He’s six. He started at the elementary school just off campus this week and when I tried to get him to into the childcare center tonight, he wasn’t having it.”
“I have twin seven-year-olds. They can be a handful, can’t they?” He stopped on the sidewalk in front of the building and smiled at me. “My friends are probably a lot older than yours and I don’t know a single one of them I’d leave my kids with. The twins would eat them alive.”
“There’s no guarantee that Jesse hasn’t picked the meat off their bones yet, but there’s three of them and only one of him so I’m hoping for the best. They’re also big, strong football players. I don’t think that makes them tougher, but it would take my son longer to eat them.” I looked at my phone and saw that it was already past Jesse’s bedtime. “I need to go relieve them of their babysitting duties. I promise I’ll do better, Professor Allen.”
He hesitated for a moment. “Olive… So many of the students in my class don’t have any real-life experience with children. Educating kids is foreign to them and so much of educating kids is understanding them and how they work. You’re already ahead of the game, as far as I’m concerned. I expect you to be one of the best in the class, but if you ever need to miss a class or take an extra day here or there, let me know. As a fellow victim of kids between the ages of six and eight, I understand. As long as you talk to me, we’ll always figure it out. Okay?”
I groaned when tears burned the backs of my eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so emotional lately. Ignore me. What I mean to say is thank you for being so patient and understanding. I won’t let you down.”
“My wife is the same way. Don’t apologize. Just go save our football team from your son.” He laughed easily and patted my shoulder. “I’m an education nerd and the science of reading gets me wound up, but I’m a football fan through and through. I’ve had to stop myself from asking which team members you have babysitting half a dozen times.”
“Olive?”
Professor Allen and I both turned and watched Taylor confirm it was me before waving away a group of his friends. When he started walking my way, Professor Allen winked at me and excused himself. He seemed excited by the presence of Taylor, the school’s quarterback. I tried not to hold it against him.
“Olive, hey. What’s up?” Taylor strutted up to me, stopping just a foot away, and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at me. “I saw you tried to call.”
Frustration tinged my voice as I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, a few dozen times. You’ve blown Jesse off all week.”
