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Chapter 1
Ruslan
“I’m really into the pizza flavors we’ve been working with this round, but the pineapple…I feel terrible for saying this…but I’m not sure it goes in macaroni-and-cheese.” I winced as boos and laughter went around the room.
I loved the members and I loved all the interesting ideas that popped up, but voting was the hardest part of advising the most delicious club on campus. “I’m going to have to vote no.”
Ugh.
How had I gotten roped into judging again?
Every semester I said I wasn’t going to do it because it was too stressful, and every semester I somehow ended up doing it again.
College students were pains in the butt sometimes.
This could not be my fault.
Somehow I just needed to channel some Daddy energy next time and not the little energy I had to be radiating.
As the laughter and teasing died down, Elliot, the very quirky freshman who’d put forward his creation without bothering to remember that it was supposed to be anonymous, shook his head. “You just don’t understand amazing cooking, Teach.”
He had more confidence than common sense, but I kept that to myself because it was time to judge the last entry in this round.
It wasn’t any better.
It looked like it was wiggling.
After being disqualified on a technicality because all of the entries were supposed to be cooked, I was saved from having to try a very interesting seafood option.
“Alright, we’re going to give the judges five minutes to confer and then they’ll announce the winner that will go on to the finals.” Jamie, a bubbly sophomore who was the ultimate Type-A take-charge leader, nearly bounced around the room. “Feel free to come try the entries, and dessert is over on the back table. Thankfully, it is not the chocolate mac-n-cheese monstrosity thatsomeonetried to make us eat last week.”
It wouldn’t have been polite to agree with her, so I quickly stepped back from the judges' table and moved to the front of the classroom where we’d been holding our club meetings so no one could ask me my opinion.
Several of my fellow judges smirked, and Mike, the other faculty advisor in the club, nearly laughed. “You know they’re going to fuck with you about it. You nearly turned green last week.”
I was too polite and one day it was going to end up giving me food poisoning.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ignoring his ridiculousness wasn’t the best move, but it was all I had at the moment.
I was really good at staying big and professional when I was doing my regular responsibilities as a professor on campus, but Mac-n-Cheese Club just brought out my little side. The first reaction that wanted to escape was to stick my tongue out at him and tell him I wasn’t eating anything yucky.
He probably wouldn’t have been surprised, this was the most open University in the entire world when it came to kink stuff, but we’d never had that kind of relationship. We were grown-up friends and that was it.
“Now, voting.” As the other two student judges came closer, it was easier to push my little side back again. “This round was definitely interesting, but I don’t want that to influence us.”
The two roommates laughed and Gavin, the more outspoken one, shook his head. “They were so interesting it’s definitely going to influence us. But I’m voting for the supreme. That first one was really good and I liked how they put it on a pizza crust instead of just making it pizza flavored.”
I had to agree with him, but I let everyone else go first so I could hear their thoughts. My little side loved the pizza and mac-n-cheese mix, but I wasn’t sure that was a good reason to vote for something. Just because it made me want to clap and laugh didn’t mean it was the best entry.
“So we have a winner?” Looking around between us, Mike took charge of the announcement because he knew it made me uncomfortable.
I understood that we needed a winner, but there was a big part of me that hated disappointing anyone, even the guy who was pouting that no one was eating his wiggly entry. That just showed my sub side was a bit too close to the surface because logic had left the building.
But, doing my best to look like a confident grown-up, I smiled as Mike moved back up to the judges' table and laughed as the one we liked best was down to just crumbs…no seconds for me. “I’m pretty sure you guys know who we picked as the winner.”
Laughter filled the room and good-natured teasing leapt between several of the older students. It was hard to tell which had won this round they were all so excited. They were competitive but still nice to each other, which was good to see. We’d worked hard as a club to make sure everyone knew we were having fun even if they wanted to win.
Some semesters were harder than others to maintain that balance, but we’d been lucky to have a great group for the past two years. Part of that was definitely because of the steadying influence of the students from one of the master’s programs that were currently an active part of the club, and I couldn’t help but wonder how things would change when they graduated in the spring.
