Chapter 10

                                    

                                          
Later that day, around half past six, Brian found himself in Chrissie's office, occupying one of the two chairs positioned in front of her desk. He'd spent the remainder of the day after returning to his classroom to finish administering his exam. The students didn't ask him directly about what had happened, though they did give him strange and worried looks while they handed in their answer sheets and test booklets, as did the other professors while passing by the headmistress's office on their way out. 
                          
Brian and Chrissie hadn't spoken a word to one another since they parted ways earlier, with the latter suggesting the former come to her office after the exam was done. She was busy with her own work and Brian distracted himself with a cigarette he got out of her desk, smoking it in hopes of numbing his pain. He hated the taste, and every breath of nicotine he took sent him into a coughing fit, but he decided that it was better than confronting the elephant in the room.
                          
The headmistress glanced up from her papers and bit her lip, worried about the professor. She'd never seen him so upset before, and he refused to tell her over what. It killed her. She set her pencil down and stood up, planning on getting herself a cup of tea from the teachers' lounge and parting her lips to ask Brian if he'd care for one too, when the notorious blonde appeared in her office's doorway.
                          
His eyes flickered from Chrissie down to Brian, who'd awkwardly looked over his shoulder to see who the visitor was—his cheeks growing red as he received his answer. The professor quickly turned his back to him and took another long drag, trying to disguise the coughs under his breath as Roger returned his attention to the headmistress and asked, "Is this a bad time?"
                          
She sighed and put her hands on her hips, replying as pleasantly as she could manage, "No, not at all. What can I help you with, Mr. Taylor?"
                          
He held up a stack of papers. "I just wanted to let you know that I finished these, and I came to ask what you wanted me to do with them. Did you want me to give them to you, to hang them up around the school...?" His voice trailed off as he waited for her to finish the sentence for him and give him instruction in regards to what to do.
                          
Chrissie took a quick look at the professor at her desk and heaved another sigh. "You know what, Mr. Taylor? Why don't you and Mr. May post them around the school?" 
                          
Brian nearly choked at the headmistress's words, meeting her concerned gaze with wide eyes. She dismissed his outburst with an eyeroll and glanced back over at the instructor. "I think that sounds like a great idea, don't you? That way the students will see them first thing when they come back on Monday, and hopefully we can start getting you and the program some attention."
                          
"Sure," Roger agreed, looking down at Brian who continued to face away from him. "Well, Mr. May?" he asked, a teasing undertone to his voice, "Ready to go?"
                          
"I'm not feeling well," he grumbled, hoping Chrissie would reconsider her plan. He would've much rather stay with her and try to finish smoking the cigarette whose smoke he was appalled to be inhaling. He just wasn't sure he could control himself around the blonde; after all, it was him who'd sent him in this downward spiral in the first place. He was doing just fine until he showed up.
                          
"I think you've just got a lot on your mind, Mr. May," his girlfriend strongly expressed, walking over and snatching the cigarette away from him, "A walk might do you some good, don't you agree?" 
                          
The curly-haired professor looked up at her with pleading eyes, eyes that went ignored as she turned away from him and smashed the end of the white stick into the dish on her desk. Brian, knowing it best not to argue with her, picked himself up out of the chair and trudged out of the room, Roger stepping to the side to let him through. 
                          
The blonde jogged after him and joined his side, holding the stack of posters close to his chest and saying in a playful kind of way, "And so it seems we meet again, Mr. May." 
                          
"Don't call me that," Brian muttered unhappily, holding his hands out, "Let's just get this done with so we can go home."
                          
"Someone's in a rush," Roger murmured, the corner of his lip perking upward into a smirk as he divided the collection of papers into two and gave them over, "Did the lady of the house promise you a visit to her boudoir?"
                          
The professor scoffed. "What? No. That...That's inappropriate." He paused, the two of them walking down the hallway in silence for a bit before he blurted out, "And besides, even if she did, that's not something I would share with you."
                          
A wide grin stretched across the blonde's face. "Oh, so she did."
                          
"No!" Brian exclaimed, the red in his cheeks intensifying as he repeated himself less convincingly, "No..."
                          
Roger just smiled, loving how flustered Brian got at the mention of sex. He seemed so innocent, so pure—the exact opposite of himself. In fact, it's what attracted Roger to Brian, aside from the fact that he was the only person here who wasn't a student that was close in age to him. Plus, he was everything Tim wasn't. He was kind, he was smart, and most importantly, he had no idea about his past. He was a clean slate.
                          
"These posters are pretty dull," the professor commented bluntly, snapping the instructor out of the daze he'd fallen into.
                          
"Hey, I worked hard on them!" the blonde tried to defend himself, but he couldn't kid himself. He'd barely put any work into them, spending most of the day pestering other professors and flirting with some of the female students, only to remember the task at hand at the last minute when one of the teachers was organizing her desk and was straightening a collection of papers she had. 
                          
"More like hardly worked on them..." Brian muttered, glancing over at Roger and grinning ever so slightly. Roger matched his facial expression and blushed a bit, turning his head away. They continued their trip down the hall in a pleasant silence, the two of them speaking more and more as they finished the daunting task nearly an hour later. 
                          
They would've finished sooner had Roger not made a mistake and had to correct all the posters, and then find something to put all the flyers up with. It wasn't his intention, of course, but he wasn't complaining about the extra time they had. The professor didn't seem too enthralled about the prospect at first, but he didn't mind it either.