Page 14 of Falling for Mindy

“I’m not a predator, Ham.”

“I know that,” he said. “And I’m trying to ensure that things can be set up in a way that makes everyone comfortable and keeps you out of any kind of compromising situation.”

“I’m not trying to seduce her or anything. It’s awful being near her because I’m fighting against this attraction, but I’m not going to do anything. There isn’t—I don’t need surveillance or a chaperone to keep me honest. There’s nothing to worry about besides the fact I’m having a hard time,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“We didn’t think you were going to cross that line,” Rick said, surprising me again with his thoughtful, not boneheaded-as-usual response. “We just want to help if we can.”

“You guys are the best. I kind of thought you’d give me shit about this.”

“Oh, we will. A hundred percent,” Aaron promised. “For the record, you still need to get laid. It would get you out of your own head over this. So when you meet one on one with Goldilocks, you don’t have such a hard time. See what I did there? Hard time?” he laughed. The other guys got a good laugh out of it too.

“I’m with Aaron. I can be supportive and everything, but a nice hard ride would set you up for the week,” Rick chimed in right on cue.

“I just have to take my hat off to Rick who got through that without saying ‘hot piece of ass’ and getting the wrath of Kyle about feminism,” Hamilton said.“Thanks,” Rick said. “I’m growing as a person or some shit.”

We all laughed at that. Another round of beers and more joking around with the guys made me feel so much better. I could do this. I really could.

“How’s the room change going, Drake?” I asked.

“It’s not bad,” he shrugged. “I still like a smaller class, but it’s not the worst, filling an auditorium. They all showed up to hear me talk about criminal justice. They had decent questions, and it seems like I have a good group for that class. Also, I’m gonna stick it to them with a group presentation assignment I added to the syllabus. No sense wasting the auditorium when I could make them stand up and face the audience to talk.”

“That’s diabolical,” Hamilton said. “I love it. Plus, that’s how many days you get to sit in the front row and give out grades while they have to hold the stage?”

“A class that big, at least three class periods.”

“Is it a once-a-week section?”

“Twice a week. But they’ll have reading assignments, too.”

“They have homework even on presentation days? I thought I was a hard ass,” Rick said, “and I only do one presentation project. A lot of mine is essay testing, here’s the product or organization, write me out a marketing plan. That sort of thing.”

“Well, I think it sounds boring, but it’s not like you don’t have the street cred. I guess I would’ve liked essay questions better coming from someone like you, that was doing classes and freakin’ TED talks after building a company and making millions,” Aaron said.

“So you’re saying he knows what he’s talking about and we don’t?” I asked.

“Nah I definitely know what I’m talking about,” Aaron laughed out loud. “And Hamilton’s a real live lawyer. Drake was a cop. So---I guess you’re the only one I wouldn’t have wanted homework from.”

“Because I was a social worker first?”

“Because the rest of us have an outside job in our field. You’re just Mr. Full Tenured Professor of Women’s Studies. No side hustle. No real-life experience being---a woman, I guess? I don’t even know what a job in your field would be.”

“Fine, take the piss. Go for it. But I’m pretty sure the job in my field is being a professor. Unless I ran a nonprofit or something. So I’m successful in my field. I have a book deal.”

“He’s right. That publishing contract is serious,” Hamilton said, “I went over the contracts. It’s a major project. It’s a three-book deal for a treatment of twentieth century American history through the lens of women’s studies.”

“I’ve barely scratched the surface on my research, but it’s pretty exciting,” I said.

“Okay, fine, you’re legit, too,” Aaron chuckled, “I’ll even read the books. Any chance you’ll do a graphic novel version? With some pictures?” he joked.

“I actually spoke to my agent about trying to get the company to option a young adult graphic novel of an abridged form of the first book. Get some real history into the hands of preteens instead of teaching them to recite the names of the US Presidents in order,” I said.

“Did anyone really do that?” Rick said, “I know we were supposed to…”

“I did,” Hamilton admitted, surprising no one.

“I was playing sports and getting laid and didn’t have time to memorize that kind of thing,” Aaron said.

“I was probably at the library. Or doing my online graphic design classes. I was a total geek,” Rick said.

---