Page 8 of Chosen Road

She was red-faced and practically trembling with rage.

“Hey,” I murmured.

“Yes?” She bit out, sitting back against her seat.

I folded my hands on the table in front of me. “I was going to ask if you’re okay, but you’re obviously not. Who can I beat up for you?”

Her eyes flicked quickly over my face. I could not tell if I’d passed inspection or been dismissed. I’d never met someone so unreadable.

“I can fight my own battles, thank you,” she said evenly, her chin tilted up to meet my gaze.

Even slouched down in the chair, I still had a few inches on her.

“I have no doubt.”

We entered a stare-off. I sat patiently, waiting until she decided on her next course of action.

Without breaking my gaze, she explained, “One of the professors I work with made a comment that I disagreed with. I respectfully,” she emphasized, “countered and he,” at this she paused to take a breath and rolled her shoulders back like a boxer preparing to enter the ring, “commented that it was perhaps my being female that affected my viewpoint.”

She continued to study me.

“Did it?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What?” She bit out.

“Did it affect your viewpoint?”

She opened her mouth to, I’m sure, tear a strip off me, but I quickly continued.

“If a man challenged the professor with the same facts you did, would the professor have taken him seriously? Or was your argument something that refers to something uniquely experienced by women?”

She sat back in her chair. “No, it definitely was not, at least, it should not be an experience unique to women.” She rolled her lips between her teeth, then dipped her head towards me momentarily. “Let me ask you what you would say.”

I sat forward and folded my hands on the table. I knew that any chance I had with this woman depended on my answer, and for some reason, I desperately wanted a chance.

She briefly outlined the situation, asking me the same question that her professor put to her.

I thought about it but could see only one clear reply. I didn’t have a university education, and my answer was simplistic to my mind. I sighed internally and resolved myself to her disappointment. “I’ve got to be honest with you. I only see one appropriate response to this issue. To me, it’s common sense.”

She looked defeated, and I knew I’d lost my chance. I gave her my answer and watched as her foot stilled and she rolled her lips inside her mouth. After a moment, they escaped the grip of her teeth. She smiled, and my heart leaped.

“That’s what I said.”

I grinned at her. “I bet you were pissed when I sat down here offering to beat him up for you,” I teased.

She laughed, and the sound made me inexplicably happy. “Your timing could have been better.”

“How about if I hold his arms and you beat him? Would that be acceptable?”

She smiled and her eyes twinkled. “That I could work with.”

My mind snapped back to the present as I opened my laptop with one lingering thought remaining: when did making her laugh stop being the highpoint of my day?

Amber

I had no intention of falling in love with him.

I’d fallen in and out of love so many times by that point I’d lost count. In the beginning, I was always so sure. I jumped in with both feet without checking the temperature of the water and my cold feet pushed me out just as quickly.

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