Page 103 of Faking It Right
Bryce’s head snapped up so fast I was surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. “Excuse me? There’s a hot new professorcoming tomydepartment, and nobody told me? Spill the tea. Give me a name. Now.”
“Professor Bennett. He’s teaching Advanced Fashion Marketing Strategies and the Fashion Merchandising Practicum next semester.”
“Those are both required for my major,” Bryce said, his eyes widening with delight. “This must be the universe rewarding me for all my good deeds.”
Fenway snorted. “What good deeds? Last month, you told a freshman his pants made him look like a deflated balloon animal.”
“Thatwasa good deed,” Bryce insisted. “He needed to hear it before he embarrassed himself further. I’m practically a fashion humanitarian.”
“Anyway,” Senna continued, “he’s in his early thirties, never married, and according to my cousin, has the kind of jawline that could cut glass.”
Bryce dramatically fanned himself. “Stop, I can only get so excited in public.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Gage warned. “He’s a new hire, so he’ll be extra careful about crossing any lines.”
“Lines are made to be crossed,” Bryce countered with a dismissive wave. “Especially when they stand between me and a hot professor with a glass-cutting jawline.”
“Seriously, Bryce,” Gage added. “The guy’s career would be over before it starts if you go after him. Is that worth another notch on your bedpost?”
“Bold of you to assume I still track my conquests with a bedpost. I ran out of room on that thing in high school. Now, I have a spreadsheet, color-coded by profession and performance rating.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you do.”
“What? I’m a Fashion Merchandising major. Organization and aesthetic presentation are literally part of my curriculum. And I’ve been looking to add a professor to my data set for research purposes.”
“Research purposes,” Harley repeated, using air quotes. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“The pursuit of knowledge takes many forms. Some more horizontal than others.”
Fenway, who had been unusually quiet, finally spoke up. “If you’re serious about this professor, you might want to rethink your usual approach.”
“What’s wrong with my usual approach?” Bryce demanded.
“You mean besides opening with ‘Either you’re going to fuck me on this desk or gag me while I suck your dick’ to seduce a guy?” Senna joked.
His cheeky grin made everyone laugh. “That line has an eighty-seven percent success rate, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, with drunk frat boys and visiting businessmen,” Jagger argued. “A new professor is going to need a bit more finesse.”
“Fine.” Bryce sighed dramatically. “I’ll use my subtle approach. I’ll even wait until the second class before I make my move.”
“Such restraint,” I commented dryly. “Truly impressive.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Bryce said with a confident smirk. “By midterms, Professor Bennett will be giving my D an A+.”
Gage shook his head. “This is going to be a disaster.”
“Or the greatest love story ever told,” Senna countered. “Only time will tell.”
“Who said anything about love?” Bryce scoffed before gesturing at me and Harley. “I’ll leave the romance to the nauseating lovebirds.”
Harley pivoted the conversation. “Since you had to work through spring break, how’s the EMT training going?”
Gage perked up at the topic change. “Actually, we had an intense scenario yesterday. We responded to a simulated multi-car pileup, and I had to triage six ‘victims’ with varying injuries.”
“Congrats on being the guy who’s going to be saving lives while the rest of us are still trying to figure out how to adult.” Fenway raised his beer in salute.
“Speak for yourself,” Bryce sniffed. “I have my life completely figured out.”
