Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
“Gabriel,” someone yells from behind me. I stop walking and turn around to see Dean Carlton waving at me and quickly approaching.
Dean Carlton was a fan of my work before he hired me to work at the university. Ever since I've been working there, he and I have had a good rapport. He always seems happy to talk to me, to pick my brain about different stories and how I wrote them. Today, he doesn't have any of the eagerness on his face that he normally does. I know I’m actively doing something against the university's code of conduct, and a pit forms in my stomach.
“Ian, how are you?” I ask as he approaches, extending a hand to shake his.
“I’ve certainly been better,” he says, sighing at me. “I just sent you an email, but I saw that you were on the schedule, so I figured I'd come grab you. You and I need to talk as soon as possible.”
“Is everything all right?” I ask, feigning ignorance in the hopes it isn’t about Grace.
“Let’s just go to my office.” He tilts his head for me to follow him.
I'm not in a position to argue and tell him I won't go as much as I want to. Immediately, I'm aware that I very easily am about to lose my job because of my relationship with Grace. The two of us could be reckless at times, but for the most part, we were very careful to keep what we had under wraps.
The more I think about it, the more worried I get for Grace. I’m in a good position with the university, and my teaching there happens to be a big draw for students looking to study English or creative writing, so I know I have some sway. However, if it comes back to Grace at all, I’ll feel terrible. If she’s in any kind of disciplinary situation, it could impact her scholarship, threatening her chances of even staying at the university. That’s going to be unfortunate for everyone because there’s no way I’m staying here without her.
I don’t want to quit my job, but if it all comes down to choosing between my teaching career and Grace, I won’t ever hesitate to choose her. It will always be her above all else.
We get to the dean’s office, and he closes the door behind me, gesturing for me to take a seat in front of his desk. I set my briefcase down and take a seat, crossing my legs casually and folding my hands across my lap to appear as calm as possible.
“What's this about, Ian?” I ask, wrinkling my eyebrows at him.
He takes a deep breath and leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him as he stares at me with a frustrated look in his eyes. “I wanted to talk to you about this before anything else happens,” he begins, slowly contemplating the words before saying them. “It's been brought to my attention that you might have an inappropriate relationship with a student.”
“Inappropriate?”
Ian sighs and looks down at his hands, shaking his head back and forth. “I had a student come to my office yesterday to tell me they saw you engaging in sexual activities with a student in a classroom on campus.”
Right away, I know what he’s saying is true. Grace and I had sex for the first time in the classroom where we met moments after another student left. On top of that, there had been several other times after when she stayed late to fool around with me. There are several incidents that could be in question, and I know that if I admit to one of them, I'm admitting to all of them, which will only hurt my case.
“You don’t seriously believe this, do you?” I say, laughing under my breath and leaning back as if hearing it is the most ridiculous thing ever.
“I don't have to believe it,” he says, taking another deep breath while he types something on his computer. “I have evidence of it.”
He turns the computer around and shows me a video that appears to have been taken on someone's cell phone camera—of Grace sitting on one of the desks in the classroom while I go down on her.
“After seeing this video, I took the liberty of accessing security cameras on campus and found many more just like it,” Ian says as he clicks out of the video and turns his computer back around. “What am I supposed to do about this, Gabriel? You know how much I like you, but this is far beyond something I can stick my neck out for.”
“I know what it looks like, Ian,” I begin, trying to think of some way to smooth this over. “Both of us care about each other a lot, and this is just an expression of the love we feel.”