Chapter 2 #3
We moved over to the new designated spot. A round of fresh coffee occupied the table in front of us, but no one had even so much as taken a sip. Instead, Professor Blackwell encouraged me to continue with my personal set goals for a career that didn’t even exist yet.
It felt a little silly at first, but soon enough, I began to unwind, my self-consciousness dissolving the more fired up I got.
For the first time, I wasn’t rushed as I spoke about my passion. None of them interrupted except to add something, and by the time I became self aware enough to note that I’d been speaking for most of the duration of the conversation so far, I was almost out of breath.
Guilt and embarrassment washed over me, my face heating up as I apologized and quickly took a sip of now-cold coffee.
“Don’t do that,” Professor Blackwell said, shaking his head.
My brows knit together in confusion. “Don’t do what?”
“Apologize. You have a tendency to do that whenever you take over the conversation,” he said.
“Well, I have been the only one that’s been saying anything for a while now. Feels kind of selfish,” I admitted.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a little selfish every now and again,” Professor Locke said. He had a gleam in his eye, and I wished I could understand what that meant. “I can see why Lucas has taken such a liking to you. He gravitates towards idealists like himself.”
“And needs someone to bring him back down to Earth on occasion, too,” Professor Reed interjected, lifting his own mug to his lips. It was the first time that he’d really gotten involved in the conversation. “That’s where my pragmatism comes in handy.”
“That’s a fancy way of saying that you’re boring,” Professor Blackwell retorted.
I blinked in surprise, my eyes flitting between the men. Their dynamic reminded me of my friendship with Madison, how we were each other’s mirror and counterbalance. It felt like a side of them that I wasn’t supposed to see as a student, but I couldn’t help but enjoy.
“So tell me, Miss Price, has any other major appealed to you?” asked Professor Locke.
“Engineering and Ecology actually would’ve been my second pick,” I said. Reed’s eyes shone with interest at the answer. “But my brain isn’t quite wired for handling that much data at any given time.”
Professor Blackwell looked pleased. “I think you’re in the perfect course.”
“Of course you do. You’re just happy to find someone whose brain works like yours,” Professor Locke countered. “And I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that the person who shares those ideals is as beautiful as she is intelligent.”
Shock almost slacked my jaw but I recovered quickly. The men continued on with the conversation, organically picking up where I’d left off as though Locke hadn’t just called me beautiful.
But oddly enough, the compliment didn’t leave me spiraling into anxiety or nervousness the way I thought it might.
It came surprisingly easy, passing conversation back and forth between the four of us until we found a rhythm that felt almost comfortable. I learned a little more about each of them as well.
I learned that Blackwell and Reed have been friends since high school, despite the former being two years younger.
It checked out with his aforementioned early graduation.
But interestingly enough, it was Professor Reed who’d initially struggled with the numbers and science bits of urban planning and Blackwell who’d tutored him.
His foray into the ethical concerns of the field was something that made me look at him differently. Just like in class, he spoke with passion and conviction, but now there was an additional layer that seemed to have been dropped. A more unguarded sort of excitement. It was fascinating to watch.
The two of them met Ronan Locke, an academic titan in his own right, when they started their careers at NEU.
He’d been born into a family of scholars and it was something that bled into his demeanor.
Not arrogance, but a confidence in his capabilities that was alluring, to say the least. Like he’d earned his place, not just been handed it down.
And all of them together, bouncing ideas off of each other and inviting me in…
That energy was intoxicating.
I didn’t even notice when coffee mugs turned to wine glasses, and lunch turned to dinner. We’d barely moved and time seemed to collapse into itself. It became easy to forget demarcation lines and questions of authority when I felt so at home among them for the first time ever.
“So you think June will be your mentee, Lucas?” asked Ronan.
I was surprised to hear them address me by my first name but they’d asked me to use theirs a few glasses ago as well. I’d dropped the “professor” accordingly, though it felt strange as hell. Lucas smiled at me.
“If that’s what she’d like, then yes,” he answered.
Oren gave me a look of warning. “Be sure to know what you’re getting into with choosing him as a mentor. He’s a perfectionist when it comes to students he thinks have potential.”
“Says the man whose every decision is backed by data analysis,” said Ronan. “I wouldn’t be throwing stones from glass houses, friend.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to poach my student,” Lucas said easily. But there was a bite of something else behind his words, and I wasn’t sure if it was just the wine making me hear things.
Ronan looked at Lucas, then at me. “I’m not a thief. But if June finds herself needing another mentor when she starts her PhD program, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”
There wasn’t anything inappropriate about his words on the surface. But his tone…
The smoothness behind what he said, the lazy smile he offered me was enough to send a rush through my head. Was I imagining this? Because surely there was no way someone like Ronan Locke would be seriously flirting with me at a table right in front of two of his colleagues and friends?
“I might just take you up on that offer,” I said over the rim of my wineglass. His eyes snagged on mine like a trap. “I’m a fast learner.”
Where the hell did that come from? Did Madison’s spirit somehow possess me through the wine?
But Ronan merely winked at me before continuing to conduct the rest of the conversation. By the end of the evening, I was very, very tipsy. One of the men called me a cab back to campus despite the fact that it was only a five minute drive.
As they walked me to the car, I felt high on both the wine but also the intellectual stimulation I’d received for the night. And as I climbed into the backseat, I thought I caught Ronan’s eye for a few moments longer than was necessary to say goodbye.