Page 10 of Learn Your Limits
CallMeCal:What are you up to today? Are you ready for the school year to start? I don’t think we ever even discussed where you work or what you teach.
Our conversation last night became heated far faster than I anticipated—not that I’m complaining—and we skipped over some of the most basic details. I didn’t even ask about the pronunciation of his name.
“Reid! What the fuck were you doing outside, man?” Wes asks as I step back inside, slipping my phone into my pocket.
“Just checking my email,” I tell him. It’s not necessarily a lie, just a little stretch of the truth. But what am I supposed to say?
Oh, just talking to this hot older guy I met online last night who may or may not be a professor at OU.
Yeah, no thank you. I’m not ready for that conversation. At least not before I know where things with Milo will go, if they’ll go anywhere at all. Neither Wes nor Matt have ever said anything that makes me think they'd be unsupportive, but I still want to keep this piece of me to myself for now. At least until there's something to tell beyond just having met someone on a dating app. I've yet to even show Milo my face. Initially, it was toprevent myself from being recognized. Now I'm just worried that Milo won't be attracted to me.
My phone vibrates in my pocket with a notification, and I quickly pull it out.
“Email, huh? Must be important for you to grab your phone that fast,” Wes teases.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, ignoring his stare and swiping a finger across the screen to open Milo’s message.
JustMilo:I’ve been in back-to-back meetings since this morning, and it has me working on my fourth cup of coffee for the day. I’m a sciences professor at Oakhart. It’s funny how we might have run into each other at one point and not even known it.
My lips tug into a smile as I think of Milo, so bored out of his mind that he has somehow managed to down four cups of coffee in an attempt to stay focused. I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker myself. As bad as they are, I prefer to get my caffeine fix from energy drinks.
My smile falls into a slight frown when I read that he’s a science professor.Damn.I was kind of hoping he would end up being one of my professors for the first semester at least, but I don’t have any science courses on my schedule. I’m down to finishing up degree-specific courses and a few electives that would likely come in handy when I become a school counselor. One of those electives being the Cognitive Psychology course I signed up for. Considering that my major is quite literally the study of human social relationships, behavior, and change, taking a class on the way people think seems like it would be beneficial.
CallMeCal:Oakhart, huh? Guess we might run into each other after all. I’m a little disappointedthat I don’t have any science courses on my schedule for this semester.
CallMeCal:Was kinda hoping you would be my professor *smiling devil emoji*
So much for taking things back to the basics and establishing a friendship first.Apparently, flirting with Milo is inevitable.
The rest of the afternoon passes by in a haze, hours blending together as the guys all yell at a television screen as though they can change the outcome of the games. By the time Wes, Matt, and I finally make it back to our apartment, I’m desperate for some solitude. It’s been a few hours since I’ve heard back from Milo, but he did mention being in meetings all day. It’s a little strange to think that while I’ve spent the day essentially doing nothing, he’s been stuck at work.
With him being a science professor, I doubt we will ever even be in the same building. I can’t remember off of the top of my head how far away the science building is from the sociology and psychology building, but it can’t be too far. With any luck, I’ll have enough of a gap in between classes to run over and pay him a visit. Part of me wants to send him a full picture of myself, but he hasn’t asked. Maybe he’s enjoying the mystery behind not fully knowing who I am.
I swipe my tongue over my lower lip before pulling it between my teeth, a smirk painting my lips as I imagine what it would be like to surprise him on campus. What would it be like to be seen in public with him? I’m sure there’s some kind of rule prohibiting professors from entertaining a relationship with a student, but would the rule still apply if he weren’tmyprofessor?
It’s nearly seven at night by the time I’m sitting down at my desk to sketch, hair still wet from the shower, when I pull out my phone to send Milo another message.
CallMeCal:I hope all those meetings weren’t too terrible. How much coffee did you end up having to drink just to stay awake?
Chapter ten
Emiliano
I end my Saturday workday feeling exhausted. I know every start of the semester has its bumps, but this was a particularly large one.
One of the staff members had a family emergency that will keep her out of office for the first few weeks of the semester. Thankfully, myself and the rest of the psychology department will be able to cover syllabus week in-person to lay a solid foundation for students and take shifts to virtually teach the Developmental Psychology class for a few weeks.
It would increase our workload for this semester at the very start, but it’s not anything we can’t handle as professionals. Still, the scheduling and constant debating we had in our impromptu planning session took it out of me today.
I find I can’t really call it a bad day. Not when I had that breakthrough with Cal earlier. Though I know there might be bumps along the way with him if we choose to pursue what’s building between us.
The chance to breathe presents itself when most of my colleagues are leaving for the evening. I shouldn’t be pullingtwelve-hour days like this, especially when the semester hasn’t even begun.
Leaning as far back as I can in my chair, I’m basically lying down at my desk when I take my phone out of my pocket and read through Cal’s messages. I was hoping with our conversation earlier that he would understand it’s been an exhaustingly busy day, and I didn’t intend to not reply to him.
I read through his messages from earlier in the day, directly after our mutual declaration of still being interested in each other. A smirk pulls at the corners of my lips when I read how he wishes I were his professor. As unethical as that situation may be, it stirs my cock just the same.
My mind flashes for a moment with the image of Cal bent over this very desk. Because I still haven’t fully seen his face, my imagination isn’t aslivelyin conjuring the image, but it’s one that I can appreciate all the same.
