Page 209 of Out of Bounds

With a hard shake of my head, I made Adam swallow his words. We had to keep Kassie’s professor moving. I cleared my throat. "It’s been great seeing you, sir. I hope you have a pleasant evening."

"It has been good seeing—I haven’t heard a response from Kassie."

"A response?"

He beamed. "She has the email waiting in her inbox. But I’m sure she’s been busy with final projects."

"What email?"

"A job offer, remote work!"

"A job offer?" I stood there, not sure I’d heard him correctly. "Kassie, my Kassie, has a job offer in her email? Are you sure? For…is it time sensitive?"

"The project isn’t until February, but they’re looking to sign on people early."

It took me a couple of seconds to process his words. I knew how much Kassie adored him. If it was one that her professor wanted to pass along, it had to be something good. Something worthwhile. And remote work? Kassie could go anywhere.

Not just Florida.

"Thank you, Mr. Ishisaka. I’ll make sure she finds out."

"It’s appreciated." He smiled.

I was glowing probably as much as he was. Back at the wall, I took a deep breath, watching over the scene. I finally had a way to put everything together.

"Man, I love professors at the end of the semester," Adam said. "It’s late as shit, we’re all in black, and he did not care. The man just wanted to go home. I respect that."

Sneakers hurried down the stairs and Kassie and Zariah emerged with a heavy box that they could barely carry between them. I easily pulled it away from the girls.

"If you’re getting that, I’m opening the car door!"

"Don’t you dare—Kassie—I’m being serious—shit—" I pushed past her on the skinny path towards the car. Kassie wasn’t lugging around the box but I still easily beat her. "Stop trying to overtake me.”

“Why don’t I get my door opened?” Adam complained. “We risked our necks too.”

The ride back to my dorm was shorter than usual. No traffic and no morons playing catch in the parking lot. Inside, we pushed all the living room furniture to the side and started putting everything together. Kassie wove between the set up and her laptop.

“Pizza should be here in thirty," Zariah said.

“Normal pizza?” Adam pushed through, grabbing for her phone. “Or Ryan pizza?”

“Both.”

They could laugh all they wanted but I still had an extra-large pizza coming my way, another hour free, and my hot art girl walking up to me with a sealed package in her arms.

If I didn’t know any better, Kassie was trying to give it to me.

I stared down at it. "I’m not wearing this."

"Yeah, you are."

"No, I’m not."

"Yeah—you are."

"I’m not. You’re wearing this."

“Do these grab at the crotch?” King asked. “It’s not a dealbreaker, I’m just wondering.”

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