by Harper West
“So? Why are you telling me this?”
“Because it’s insane,” I said. “Like... it’s meant for him, for sure. Apparently, he sent one of his TAs an email asking her to not wear a short skirt, and she went off on him. He was basically telling her to practice modesty.”
“Oh, shit.” John said. “That’s not okay.”
“I know that, and you know that,” I replied. “But Professor Kennedy is a million years old and a bit seedy, and he doesn’t know that.”
“Yeah,” John said. “I think you’ve mentioned him before.”
“He’s a pain in the ass with antiquated ideals,” I said. “And he has a smoking-hot TA.”
“Oh yeah?” Now I had John’s full attention. “Like how hot?”
“Like she looks like Jessica Rabbit, but her hair’s more pink, than red.” I said.
“Nice,” he replied. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, I should forward this email to Professor Kennedy,” I said. “And see what he says. Maybe take it to HR.”
“Not about the situation,” John said. “About a TA that looks like Jessica Rabbit. You don’t have any hot TA’s.”
“No, I don’t. But that shouldn’t…”
“Reed, you are killing me,” he moaned.
“What?”
“Don’t pull that boy-scout shit on me now. She’s a TA, a hot one, which means she’s a smart woman who knows what she wants. And right now, she’s unhappy with one of her current professor’s and is probably looking for a new one to work for.”
“And?”
“And, that’s our in.”
“Our in?”
“Yeah, I mean think about it,” He paused, and I could hear that enthusiastic determined tone in his voice. The one he usually got when he was about to close an amazing deal. “This isn’t some young ingenue. She’s a woman, long into college, who knows what she wants—and she looks like Jessica fucking rabbit. If you could sleep with her, would you?”
“Well, obviously.” I shook my head, “But these sorts of things can get complicated. She’s a student—”
“A grad student.” John corrected.
“And I’m faculty. It’s definitely frowned upon—”
"But not forbidden.”
“Quit cutting me off.” I ran a hand threw my hair, “if my ‘in’ is making her my TA, that triples the complications. I mean just look at professor Kennedy.”
“Yeah, but he’s a dirty old man looking to take advantage of his position over his TA’s. That’s not what you are doing here.”
“That’s not the point, John.”
“We’re just talking about sex between consenting adults.” He said.
“Exactly. Sex is always complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be. We can test the waters. See if she’s open to it. I mean, after all she sounds like a modern woman with modern ideals. Sexual freedom and all that.”
I hated to admit when John’s ideas started making sense. I hadn’t had sex with someone I admired in a long time and I really wanted that. God, that made me sound like shit, but it was true. Knowing our minds were compatible was such a huge fucking turn on. Besides she was a grad student which meant she probably wanted something casual. It wasn’t the worst idea. If anything, I’d get a highly intelligent woman as my new TA. Win-win.
“OK, OK,” I grinned. “But this has to be handled carefully.”
“Of course,” John said a little too quickly.
“I mean it. This job may suck to you, but it’s everything to me. And I don’t want a woman who doesn’t want me. If she seems even in the slightest bit ‘off’ about the idea, we pull back. Understood?”
“Absolutely.”
“Alright,” I said, “I’ll see about reassigning her to my courses. That way, everyone wins.”
“Well, not this professor Kennedy,” John said. “He loses.”
“That’s true,” I said with a grin. “But he loses from the beginning. Damn, he really is so out of line with this email.”
“Are you going to talk to him? Like, tell him he’s an asshole?”
“And then tell him I play to bang his TA at the same time? I mean, probably not,” I answered. “What do you think?”
“You should,” he replied, and I chuckled.
“I'm not you, John,” I said. “I can’t just saunter into a room and offer a woman sex and have it accepted.”
“Why not?”
“Because...” I said. “I don’t know. I’m not you.”
"You underestimate yourself, partner.”
I shrugged, “Maybe I do.”
“Yeah, you absolutely do. What’s this hot TA’s name?”
“Natalie,” I said. “Or Natasha. Whatever. I already closed the email.”
“Oh my God, not knowing her name is probably the issue,” he said. “Women don’t like it when you call them the wrong name.”
“Thanks, I got that,” I answered. “Now, what do you actually want?”
“Nothing now,” he said. “How fast can you re-assign a TA?”
“I don’t know, but soon likely” I said. “It’s all high tech now, but I’ll need to check in with the resources department for sure.”
“Great, then I’m coming by to see her as soon as its set,” he said.
“Oh, really?” Sometimes John’s ego was even too big for his own head, “And what time is she going to be here?” I joked.
“No idea yet, but you make that happen, and I’ll come by,” he said. “Thanks for taking one for the team.”
“I don’t really think I’m taking one for the team here.” I said, but John had already hung up.
I opened the email again. Her name was Natalie and it looked like Professor Kennedy had laid into her pretty hard. Not that I hadn’t heard rumors about him and his ‘unconventional’ behavior at times. But when you’re a dinosaur, with a huge ego, and tenure to match, I’m sure you think you can get away with just about anything.
I’m fairly certain I had seen her around the day he was complaining about, and I didn’t think she was wearing anything worth freaking out over. Besides, the girl couldn’t help it if she was gorgeous. It was just second nature. She was born looking like a playboy bunny, and it didn’t matter what she wore. Besides blaming a woman for being a sexual distraction was just pathetic.
I sent the email off to HR, and got up to head to class. Like most jobs, there are parts you love—and parts you equally hate. My late morning class was the latter. A preposterous study on human ethics that most students didn’t give a damn about. It was draining when the audience wasn’t the least bit engaged, and since it was a ‘required elective’, engagement was somewhere close to twenty-percent.
“Hey, Professor Baron,” I looked up to see Caitlin, one of other TA’s in my department walking down the hall. I was pretty sure I’d seen her around Natalie quite often. I needed to make a mental note of that. Caitlin was a beautiful girl, but she wasn’t my type. She was friendly and easy to be around, with short hair and wide hips, and she had an edgy vibe that I appreciated. She told it like it was, which was something that was rare in the university setting these days. But still—Natalie was the one who held me attention long before I even knew her name.
“Hey,” I said to her. “Are you off to TA?”
“Nope, I actually, just finished.”
“What if I slid a couple of credit hours your way today?” I asked. “Like, right now?”
She looked confused. “Why?”
“I really don’t want to teach this humanities class,” I said. “And there are a few things I have to do.”
“Oh,” she looked like she hadn’t expected that answer. “Yeah, sure.”
“Really?”
“Why not?” she said. “I like a challenge. Give me the details.”
“Cool,” I said. “It’s a two-hour class.”
“But?” she asked.
“But?” I repeated.
“It’s a two-hour class
,” she said. “But you’re going to give me…”
“Ah,” I said. “But I’m going to give you three credit hours.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” she said, and sauntered off down the hallway.
With my time now free, I headed to HR. I wasn’t going to let Kennedy get away with being a total piece of shit, and I didn’t want this to turn into a ‘he said/she said’ scenario. If I could give my two cents and sort things out, along with making sure Natalie ended up my TA, I’d be satisfied.
An hour later, I left the HR department in a good mood. Diana, the head of HR didn’t seem the least bit surprised by the email—or if she was, she was hiding it well. I didn’t however show her Natalie’s reply. I felt that was something the woman could choose to do on her own.
She agreed, far quicker than I expected, to move Natalie over to my schedule. Her logic had been that if Natalie had felt ‘safe enough’ to forward the email to me, then she must trust me. I didn’t mention that I thought her sending it my way was more a mistake than a call for help, but who the hell knew the truth.
Part of me felt guilty, like I was no better than Kennedy; but then I reminded myself that I would only ‘approach’ Natalie if she seemed interested and I’d never cross the boundary if she didn’t want to. Nor would I punish her for not being interested. The differences between us didn’t sound huge, but they were distinct.
“Reed,” Professor Kennedy’s screechy voiced called out to me in the hall. He said my name as if it annoyed him. He often had a sour expression permanently on his face, so I couldn’t be sure if his mood was good or bad. “Have you seen my TA, Natalie? She’s late—again.”
“I uh...” I could’ve said no, but I wanted his pervy-ass to get what was coming to him, and I wanted it to happen sooner rather than later. “She’s in HR, I think.”
“She is?” he asked, confused and slightly put off by the idea.
“Yep,” I said. “Diana’s office, I think. She was looking for you.”
“Hm,” He tapped a wrinkled finger to his mustache, “Thank you,” he said and strolled off.
I smirked and sent a text to John.
Deed is done. I’ll update you when the meeting is set to happen.
Sounds good, he replied. Sound I bring condoms?
Christ man, not at the first meeting.
It was a joke, he texted back, but I wasn’t so certain.
He really did have all the luck and charm when it came to women. Maybe she’d fall for him and not me. Why did that cause such a twist in my stomach?
A few students walked out of a nearby lecture hall and I stuffed my phone quickly into my pocket. If anyone got a hold of our texts, they might get the wrong idea and send us to HR, too.
All I wanted was to talk to her and see if she really was crying out for help with me. If she was, I was certainly going to help her, and maybe in more ways than one. I straightened my tie and walked down the hall grinning like a fool.
Chapter 3
John
I remember meeting Reed in school and thinking that he was a shy, self-conscious kid. I mean, he didn’t necessarily look like the kind of kid to have confidence issues. He was fit and I knew more than half the girls in school thought he was a stud, albeit a geeky one.
I also didn’t expect him to be heir to approximately a billion dollars. It must be more by now, because it was sitting in a trust fund, waiting for him. When he told me he wanted to get his PhD and teach, I thought he was crazy. I told him professors were boring and poor, but luckily, like most things in his life, Reed just shook his head, smiled at me and forged ahead to get exactly what he wanted.
I appreciated that, and it was what made us such good friends. I could talk my way into almost anything, but while I was talking, Reed would find 10 other ways to do it without saying a word. I was often reminded of when we were teenagers, trying to sneak into clubs. I’d be up front, convincing the bouncer that we belonged in the club, and he’d already be inside, through some back exit, and come to let me in.
We were best friends and polar opposites, and the only thing we had in common was the fact that we both liked women, almost too much. Our heads would turn like in the cartoons, and our worlds would spin when a pretty girl walked by. It didn’t matter what we were doing. What mattered was whether we could get the girl into our beds...or our bed.
There had been more than one occasion where Reed and I had shared a woman, and I wasn’t opposed to it, although I didn’t actively seek it out. We were best friends; we shared everything.
Two days had passed since our conversation and I’d had plenty of fantasies about little Ms. Rabbit over the weekend, to leave me hard enough to cut glass. His new TA was due for a meeting with him at 12, so the plan was that I would come in at 11:30 and just sort of chill out. To not be totally obvious and awkward, I had brought lunch. We weren’t fancy guys, even if our bank accounts spoke differently, and our feast consisted of burgers and fries.
“Hey,” he said to me when I walked into his office without knocking. He was sitting at his desk, absorbed in some dusty old tome, like normal. “What did you bring?”
“Clary’s, of course. I only choose the best.”
“Yum.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that,” I said. “So, I brought us two each.”
“You know me too well, man,” he said, with a grin.
I put my feet up on the desk and pulled the burgers out of the bag. “How was your day?”
“So far, pretty good,” he said. “That old coot is suspended.”
“Professor Kennedy?” I asked and he nodded with a grin. “Awesome. You’re ruthless.”
“I just…” Reed shrugged. “I don’t think he should talk like that, to anyone.”
“I mean, maybe he was just pissed that she wouldn’t sleep with him.”
“I guarantee you that’s part of it,” he answered. “His wife left him like 20 years ago and he’s known for being a little creepy.”
“A little?”
Reed smiled, “More than a little.”
“While yelling at women about their clothes?” I raised my eyebrow. “Kind of contradictory, if you ask me.”
“I know,” Reed said. “Which is why it was such a big deal. Apparently, he was in HR for like 4 hours. I bet you she’s not the only person who has had a complaint.”
“Wow,” I said. “Like... you hear about people like this, but you don’t think you will ever actually meet them.”
“You haven’t met anyone like that?” he asked me, and I shook my head.
“No, dude. I mean, there might have been some HR complaint in the company, but I don’t really deal with it.”
“Well, good on you then,” he said. “It happens in the university setting more than you think.”
“Well, duh,” I said.
Reed grinned and took a bit of his burger. He must have grown up on the most expensive food, but he always seemed content with fast food. He was halfway into his second one when the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, peeked her head in and knocked on the door.
Reed was right.
She did look like Jessica Rabbit—but hotter. She was so beautiful, unique, I couldn’t believe that she was an actual person. She had curves in all the right places, with wide eyes and long wavy hair that was likely once blond, but now a gorgeous pink. She was dressed modestly today, but it didn’t do a thing to hide her figure.
“Professor Baron?” she asked. “You wanted to see me.”
“Natalie, come in,” Reed said, and slid his chair back. “Sorry, we were just finishing up lunch.”
“I can come back later?” she offered, but Reed shook his head.
“This is my best friend, John,” he said.
I reached to shake her hand and her eyes widened.
“I know you,” she said. “Don’t you own Starlight?”
“I do,” I said. Starlight was one of the most extensive entertainment companies in the world, and I didn’t hide my face
from it. I was surprised, however, that she knew it. The average person on the street didn’t recognize me, unless a big magazine feature had just come out or something.
“I almost did my internship there, when I was an undergrad,” she replied. “I know that it was a little out of my field of study, but it always seemed like such an awesome company.”
“Well, thank you for the compliment,” I replied. “If you ever want to do an internship again, let me know, and I’ll be sure to set it up.”
She smiled and turned to Reed. “Did you want to talk about my new position that just appeared?”
“Yes,” he said and pointed to the spare chair. “Do you mind if John stays? He’s just in between meetings and…”
“Oh, that’s fine,” she smiled and crossed one leg over the other. She put her hands on her knee and sat up a little straighter. “I’m used to people watching me. When you’ve got pink hair, you kind of stand out.”
“It may be because of that but likely probably because you’re beautiful,” I blurted out. Sometimes, my blunt approach didn’t work, but I had a feeling that it might with Natalie.
She laughed, “Oh, I doubt it’s that. They’re probably just overtired and then my hair is like an eye magnet,” she said with a grin. “But thank you.”
“I just tell it like it is,” I replied and waved to Reed to indicate that he should go on.
Reed cleared his throat and pulled a piece of paper out of his desk. “So,” he said. “If you accept a TA position with me, I’ve made up a schedule of courses I’d like you to take over.”
“You have all these courses available?” she asked. “And a spot as my new advisor? That’s an awesome coincidence.”
We both knew it wasn’t, but we didn’t say a word.
“Indeed,” he replied. “It turned out that the schedule was not being covered as much as I would like. Students were complaining that weren’t enough seminar spots anyways, so this is perfect. As for being your new advisor, it’s no trouble. After I saw that email…”
“I’m sorry about that, again,” she said. “I really didn’t mean to send it to you.”
