murmurs and talk of skipping the rest of their classes, Carter walks over to the table and pulls out something from his bag. I’m grabbing my things the same time he’s holding out a plastic card toward me. Hesitantly, I take it and examine the words on the front.
“Why am I holding a gift card?”
“So you can eat at the restaurant you left before getting your food,” he answers simply, turning away to pack up his things.
What?
Staring at his back, I begin to reply when one of his students walks up to us. “Professor Ford? I was wondering if I could set up a time to talk to you about the first writing assignment.”
Carter turns to her with pressed lips. “It isn’t due for almost two weeks.”
The poor girl’s cheeks redden. “Yeah, but … uh, I wanted to make sure I’m understanding it. My scholarship depends on my grades, so I need to keep them up.”
Pressing my lips together, I stare down at the gift card while Carter tells her to meet him during office hours tomorrow. She nods and then looks at me with a timid smile before leaving. I can’t help but feel bad for her.
“She was flirting.”
He pauses. “What?”
I bob my head. “I don’t care how important school is to someone, you don’t try getting one-on-one time with a professor two weeks before something is due unless you want time alone with them for another reason. I’d know. I used to be that person.” Eyes widening, I quickly backtrack. “I mean the person who always got work done early, not the person who wanted special one on one time with a professor.”
There’s no refraining my laughter when his face scrunches with discomfort. “I’m practically old enough to be her father.”
Shrugging nonchalantly, I readjust my bag and try handing him back the card. “I’m sure you are, grandpa, but people don’t care about that if they think you’re attractive. My best friend is obsessed with Jeff Goldblum. See my point?” I shake the gift card at him. “I’m not taking this. I can go back there and eat whenever I want with my own money.”
He sighs, not reaching for the object I want him to take back. “Piper, the restaurant insisted on me giving it to you. I think they assumed the worst when you left before receiving your meal. I’ve had it for a while and just never got a chance to give it to you.”
“Oh.” Slowly, I lower my arm. “Are you sure you don’t want it? My time is kind of limited, so I don’t go out very often.”
Cringing at how pathetic that sounds, I play it off by giving him a friendly smile. He’s probably figured out as much considering I have a little girl to take care of on top of school.
“It’s yours,” he insists, draping his bag over his shoulder and nodding toward the door. We’re quiet for a moment as we walk toward the exit, before he says, “Why does she like Jeff Goldblum?”
Snickering, I shake my head. “She’s obsessed with the Jurassic Park movies. I keep telling her that the guy is creepy, but then she just spams my messages with pictures of him. One time, she drunk dialed me and started rambling on about what a Zaddy he is because she’d binge-watched all the movies after consuming her weight in rum.”
He stops. “A … what?”
I throw my hands up. “I don’t know!”
He scratches the back of his neck. “Huh. I thought I was finally catching up on new terms, then weirder ones appear.”
“Right?” He pushes open a door and holds it for me. “Jesse used the word salty once, and I stupidly assumed he meant something was actually salty. Shouldn’t I be the one using words like that? I’m such a grandma.”
His bellowing laughter shakes his broad shoulders. “You’re not a grandma, Piper.”
“Is this the part where you tell me that I could be your daughter too?” Rolling my eyes, I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
He purses his lips and glances at me with eyes I can’t quite read before he murmurs, “I can honestly say I never considered you that.”
My lips twitch upward. “That’s because I was the annoying little sister. I used to bug you guys all the time. It’s kind of embarrassing.”
When I notice him looking at me, it’s with narrowed eyes that makes me squirm. Neither one of us says anything for a long moment as we stop out in the