Page 19 of Directing You
“Yep,” she shrugged and hopped off the stool. “One of the guys works almost every night but Friday.
“Funny,” I said through gritted teeth. “You didn’t mention that earlier when you invited me out tonight.” And by ‘invited,’ I meant barged in and forced me out.
She shrugged. “I totally forgot about it until now. But we just ordered this bottle of wine. You two should stay and drink it. Be a shame for it to go to waste.”
“A crying shame,” I repeated, glaring at my best friend, which she ignored like a pro, running out of the bar.
I sighed, looking at Reid. “You don’t need to stay,” I said, grabbing the cash she had tossed down and pulling it closer to me so no one would grab it while walking by. “I’m sure this is against some sort of school bylaw.”
He huffed a humorless laugh, swirling his whiskey. “Probably. But it’s not like we arranged this. We’re both employees of the school, and I assume you saw the flyer about the faculty discount, too?”
I nodded. “Guilty.”
He gestured to the bartender for another wineglass. “Then…since this is innocent, just two people who ran into each other outside of class, is there really any harm?”
Yes, I wanted to scream. I didn’t think Professor Dercy would see it his way if she walked in right now. This was a terrible idea. I could tick off all the reasons why, the main one being that we could both lose our jobs. And he could ruin his reputation. I opened my mouth to tell him no. To remind him of all the reasons we couldn’t sit here drinking together. But my heart—my stupid heart—betrayed me as I answered, “No, no harm,” with my traitorous mouth.
