Page 18 of Somewhere Between Falling

“I hope you were nice,” Alex said pointedly.

“I was too stunned to be anything but. You know, she has never reached out to me before. We’ve only actually spoken to each other a handful of times, and even then it wasn’t exactly full-on sentences.”

“Maybe she’s shy?”

“Or maybe she feels guilty for being a homewrecker,” I mumbled under my breath.

Chapter Ten

Other than the extensive amount of reading and writing associated with taking Russian lit, I did actually enjoy the material, even if it was confusing sometimes. I didn’t want to admit it, but I definitely wasn’t used to struggling this much in a class before. I knew the answer to my problem with my latest assignment was to just take Tobias up on his offer to help, but actually forcing myself to ask for it was a whole other story. Making up excuses to stay after class was one thing; seeking him out outside of class was a whole other level.

“Stop being stupid,” I said out loud to myself. “Just go ask for help.”

With a deep breath, I grabbed my books and shoved them in my bag with my laptop and notebook so I could head over to his office—well, Dr. Kiuchi’s office that Tobias was occupying temporarily. I sent him a quick email before I headed that way.

Mr. Clark–

I thought he would get a kick out of the formality of addressing the email like that. I continued:

I have a question about the upcoming assignment. I’m heading your way now if you have a moment to help me?

Thanks,

Tamsin Seger

I grabbed my things and made my way across campus. I was more nervous than I wanted to admit, but my need for academic excellence outweighed my anxiety.

The door was open, so I knocked twice on the door and stuck my head in the doorframe “Tobias?”

Much to my dismay, it was definitely not Tobias sitting at the desk.

“Sorry, he’s not due back for another thirty minutes. Can I help you?” He was an elderly man, with thinning black hair streaked with silver and glasses with a prescription so thick it made his eyes look twice the size as normal.The cast on his leg gave away who this stranger was.

“Dr. Kiuchi?” I asked.

“Yes, are you in one of my classes?”

“Yep, Intro to Russian Literature.”

“Fantastic, I look forward to catching up and getting to know all my students now that I’m back. Did you need help with something?”

“I, uh, no, I was just going to thank Tobias for the recommendation. It helped a lot. See you in class tomorrow!” I hurried off so quickly that I ran face first into a warm body who, thankfully, reached out instinctively to steady me before I fell.

“Hi.” Tobias smiled widely. “I got your email.”

“Yeah, I guess I should have waited for you to respond,” I managed to say just loud enough for him to hear.

“Still need help?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yes,” I admitted, lowering my eyes.

“I know a place we can go.”

Of course he does. I nodded. “Okay.”

“Follow me,” he said with a smile.

He drove about twenty minutes outside of town to a place called The Salty Dog, which didn’t look like much from the outside, but after my last outing with him, I knew not to let that dissuade me. He held the door open for me and we were greeted by a wave of coffee and fresh-baked pastries.

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