Page 9 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Um…” I waved my finger over him. “Do you maybe want to put on a shirt?”
I couldn’t imagine that it would be considered appropriate to be alone with a student while shirtless. Then again, there was a student in here without his pants on, so maybe they did things differently at Renfrew.
“Oh,” he looked down at his bare chest and cleared his throat. “Yes, excuse me.”
I waved my hand, indicating that he should do what he needed to do.
When he grabbed his shirt off the floor, I remained silent. There was no need to draw attention to his obvious embarrassment or the condom lying next to it. Who just tossed a condom on the floor? There was a garbage can right there.
The dean went about getting dressed, and I considered turning around. The proper thing to do would be to give him his privacy, but I was so far past proper at this point. That, and I wasn’t sure if I trusted him enough to turn my back.
Thankfully, he dipped his head and avoided eye contact while buttoning up his shirt. Staring at each other would’ve made the awkward situation even more uncomfortable, if that were even possible.
“This must seem strange to you?”
Strange wasn’t the word I would use. “It’s none of my business.”
And what was more, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t care why those guys were here, and I certainly didn’t want to know why one of them had his stuff on full display. Who, by the way, walked out of here without covering himself up. Modesty wasn’t important to some people, I guess.
“It was nothing nefarious, if that’s what you’re thinking?”
Not sure why he felt the need to clarify that? “Okay.”
“Those boys were in here to uh… switch their schedules.”
What? Renfrew College was an Ivy League school with top-tier educators, and that was the best explanation he could come up with? Suddenly, the state school I transferred from didn’t seem so bad.
When I walked in on one of my professors making out with his TA, he said it wasn’t what I thought it was. I respected that more than Dean Richards said.
I could’ve come up with a better lie, and I was a horrible liar. I busted myself all the time when I was a kid. My mom would call me down and I’d immediately blurt out, “I didn’t eat the cookies.’
“Things got a?—”
I cut him off, “I honestly don’t need to know.”
“All I’m saying…” Dean Richards held up his hands, “is you shouldn’t take anything those boys say seriously.”
The only time someone said something like that was when I should take someone seriously. Was the dean doing something to the one without bottoms? Did he force him into something,and were the others protecting him? It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened at a college.
Positions of authority had a way of bringing out the worst in people. Three of my former professors offered me a chance for ‘extra credit’ two weeks into the semester. One of whom got forceful about it. That was when the self-defence classes I took with Mom paid off.
“They are liars.”
That was an ironic statement coming from him. Did he not hear the excuse he came up with?
Tipping my head, I searched Dean Richards' expression.
Shame hid behind his fake smile. It was a common emotion to see in victims. The guys who walked out of here didn’t display any guilt at all. Perhaps I was looking at the real victim right now? He did ask me for help.
No, Georgia, don’t get involved.
“Listen, I don’t care why those guys were here, or what you may or may not have been doing with them?—”
His chest puffed out. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
That was a tad defensive.
“Again, I don’t care what they were doing here.” I clarified for him as much as for myself. “But I would like to get settled.”
