Page 82 of Endeavor

“What is happening?” I look up at him.

“Just let me hold you for a minute,” he murmurs against my hair. Dean leaves us alone in the foyer. After a long minute, I relax into his embrace.

“Tell me,” I urge.

He explains what happened all day since I went to class this morning. The busy record stuff, the meeting with security, finding his dad’s things out on a dresser, cops, more security, and now me arriving home. His arms stay tightly wrapped around my body as he speaks. I can feel his heart pounding in his chest.

“What are we going to do?” I ask.

“I don’t know. We can’t run, clearly. I…maybe we could go far away. I could book us a flight to Mexico or Hawaii.”

“But…school,” I remind him.

“Fuck.”

“And I still am filming the documentary. I have about three more interviews to go,” I explain.

“Then, we’ll stay put.”

“But…” I trail off because I don’t know what else we can do.

He kisses my forehead. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Grady, I don’t think this is something you can just figure out.”

“Well, it’s going to have to be,” he says as he finally lets me go. I step back, and we stare at each other.

“Come shower and eat. I ordered food, in case you were hungry,” he says.

I shake my head. “I’m not very hungry now,” I admit.

Without saying another word, he takes my hand. I follow him to the bathroom where he draws me a bath filled with bubbles and Epsom salts. I get in it, and he sits on the edge.

“You’re not getting in?”

He shakes his head. “Relax. I’m going to talk with Dean.”

I grab his hand as he stands to leave. “It’ll be OK,” I insist. He gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes as he walks out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts and worries as I sit in the oversized bathtub in the pristine, white bathroom. Everything in here screams calm, but inside my head, it’s chaos.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Three days of insanity. It’s been three very long days. I’m starting to lose my mind, between filming four hours a day, classes, my TA responsibilities, having security protocols for everything I do, and trying to be there for Grady, I’m burnt out and ready for a day off.

To make matters worse, I really want to be alone. I need to edit. I have two more weeks of filming scheduled but today is my last day this week. I have booked an editing studio at school for the entire weekend. If I can make good progress over the weekend, I’m hoping I’ll feel less jittery about this project.

“Miss Baldwin?” Dr. Elliott’s voice cuts through my thoughts and my eyes snap up to find him staring at me. “The video, please?”

“Uh, sure. Right.” I stumble over the words as I go to the audiovisual cupboard to turn on a video for the students. It begins to play, and I huff at the fact the man can’t even turn on a video without my assistance. He’s teaching a film class for God’s sake!

I feel him behind me, and I turn to look up at him.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, an air of concern in his voice.

I shake my head. “Just feeling the pressure of my project and classes. I’m fine.”

“Good. Then please try to pay attention. I need my TAs to be alert in class.”

I nod, biting my lip as I walk back to my seat. I sigh and sit down, glancing around the room at the students watching the film clip. I’m jealous of these undergraduates. They are just doing school stuff without any real cares in the world. Fine, maybe some of them have issues, but right now, I’m having a pity party and firmly believe mine is far worse than any of theirs.

---