Page 8 of Crushing On Dad's Best Friend
“I know. My mom would schedule when people were allowed to pop a tic-tac if she could. That’s why she’s so good at her job. College kids need to bemanaged.”
Her mom is a high-level administrator at a well-respected public college in Brooklyn and takes her job very seriously. She deals with student affairs and most of her job, from what she’s told me, involves giving informal lectures to kids who have broken the rules and then giving them pep talks about how they could be their best selves if they just applied themselvesmore.
“How was your semester?” I whisper toher.
“Hey, shut the hell up back there!” one of the guys in the first row says, startlingKatherine.
The opening of the movie starts. It’s slasher flick from the 80s, one I’ve seen a milliontimes.
She just fake-cringes and rolls her eyes, then turns to look up at me. Her bright brown eyes are shining even in the darkroom.
“What is it?” she whispers, tucking a hair behind herear.
“Nothing,” I whisper back, my lips curling up into a slightsmile.
When I’m finally able to tear my eyes away from her and focus on the screen, she leans her head on myshoulder.
I can’t tell her to take her head off my shoulder. She’d think she were doing something wrong, which she isn’t. Unless she’s going around putting your head on mens’ shoulders to get them hard on purpose. But then, if I say something, she’ll know she’s having an effect on me. Abigeffect.
“How old were you when this movie came out?” she asks, nuzzling incloser.
I’m temporarily unable to do simple math in myhead.
“Shh,” I whisper, putting my finger over my lips to deflect her question. “You don’t want your mom to yell atus.”
I swear I feel a shiver go through her, and as I turn my eyes back to the screen, I try my very hardest to pretend Katherine isn’t already driving me halfway tocrazy.
