Carpool

by Noelle Adams

  I’ve really got to stop acting so petty and thinking the worst of him. They probably gave him a one-course release because this is his first semester.

  He hands me a printed sheet of paper, and I stare down at it in surprise. It’s got his teaching and office hours printed out.

  “What if I said I was teaching different hours?” I ask.

  “I had a couple of other schedules worked out.”

  Evidently he’s one of those kinds of people. Always organized. Always planning ahead. Always uptight about even unimportant things.

  Just perfect.

  Exactly the kind of person who gets annoyed by my personality. He probably already dislikes me.

  I thank him for the (unnecessary) printed schedule and turn toward my computer. I’ve got to adjust dates and page numbers on my syllabus. I’ve got to change a couple of assignments that didn’t work well last time I taught these classes. I need to get ready for a new semester and not worry about my annoying new office mate.

  It sounds like we have opposite schedules, so maybe I won’t have to sit in the office with him for long periods of time. Maybe he’ll make himself scarce.

  I’ll come in this weekend to rearrange my pretty things on my side of the office. One side will be pretty, and one side will be boring. That much is clear.

  I’m not going to worry about it. It’s just a year. I can tolerate anything.

  I’ll keep making a few efforts to be friendly, but if he doesn’t reciprocate, I’m not going to keep running into a brick wall.

  He’s my office mate. He’s not even in my department.

  I don’t have to like him.

  It’s a good thing because I already don’t.

  YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE about Office Mate here.

  About Noelle Adams

  NOELLE HANDWROTE HER first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she writes full time, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

  She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com.