The Heart Wants Ch. 18-21

Chapter 18

Laurel leaned in, kissing my neck, her lips hitting just beneath my ear. I turned away from my book, raising an eyebrow at her, "Hey, watch the PDA please." I told her jokingly.

We were sitting on the same couch in the CU we had been sitting at the first time I had asked her out...

Laurel smiled at me, her eyes lighting up. This time she leaned in and gave me a playful peck on the lips.

She held her fingers up over her mouth, "Oops. Sorry, I slipped."

I gave her a tired smile as my fingers drummed on the book in my lap...

She tilted her head, giving me lopsided smile as she reached over, gently closing the book I was desperately trying to cram from. She ended up having to pull my hand from the middle of the book.

"Baby. Stop trying to cram in every little tiny bit of studying in that you can. You either know it, or you don't. Relax." Her voice was quiet and calm as she tried to settle my nerves.

History was a subject I always struggled with, but that, combined with the constant distractions that Laurel and Rachel were pushing into my life made the work doubly hard. Add to that the extra time and work I was putting in doing my consulting work and my life was getting real complicated, really fast. My study time, and my schoolwork in general were starting to suffer for it...

All I could do was take a deep breath and rub anxiously at my face.

Laurel leaned in and rubbed my shoulder, "Baby, you'll be fine."

I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, "I'm starting to really stress. I have a meeting with my advisor today to talk with him about what I'm going to do with the next few months." Sighing, I shook my head as I tried to figure out what I was going to do, "I'm starting to regret promising Rachel I'd help out with this project."

Another thought hit me, "And I promised you I'd start working on your videos and your promotion-"

She grabbed my shirt and gave me a gentle shake, "Hey. Stop that. I'll be fine. Trust me, I'm doing okay... my stuff can wait."

She put her head on my shoulder as she wrapped her fingers between mine, "I think it's really sweet that you're helping Rachel. Plus, it's good money for you." She looked up at me, smiling, "And a good opportunity doing something you really love doing."

I shook my head, trying to figure out what I was going to do...

She gave me a little kiss on the cheek, "Babe, we have to go to class now. Just calm down, okay?"

I shook my head, worried about how I was going to do on this test...

Then a thought hit me, "Fuck. I need to drop by the campus post office. It's been like a week since I've checked my mail. Fuck, I need to pay bills too..."

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Campus post office?" She laughed, covering her mouth, "You mean like a PO Box? What the fuck do you need a PO Box for?"

I bumped her with my shoulder, "Well, not all of us are independently wealthy, glamourous internet celebrities. Some of us live in what is affectionately referred to as," I made air quotes, "rough neighborhoods..." I smiled at her, just to let her know I was giving her a hard time, "Assholes there steal your mail. Trust me, the first time some dipshit steals your credit card bill and makes you late on the payment, a PO Box gets to be something you're willing to spend money on pretty quickly."

She held her hands up, "Oh, excuse me, I didn't think you were one of those, 'I pay my bills on time!' kind of people!"

I shrugged, "I know, it takes a little away from my bad boy image..."

She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, "I still love you."

Hey, on the plus side, at least I'd made some money, I suddenly realized, which was going to take the sting out of paying the bills this month. I mean, yeah, it would be a few weeks before I actually got paid, but that meant that I could just use what I had tucked away in savings to pay the bills this month...

She pecked me again on the cheek, "Okay. Check your mail, and meet me in class, okay?"

For a second, all I could do was stare at her, my brain running in circles. She smiled at me and I felt some of the tension melt out of me...

She leaned in, kissing me and I felt the rest of the tension slide out of me...

She smiled again, "I'll grab us a coffee on the way, okay?"

I smiled, nodding, "Thanks, beautiful..."

We parted and I ran over to the little campus Post Office. Calling it a Post Office was pretty generous, it was really just a little cubby that someone sat in with the parcels and such, with a row of little locked mailboxes along the wall. Going to my unit I opened it and pulled out a nice fat wad of junkmail and bills. As I pulled it out, a little yellowish orange card fell out of the stack, fluttering to the floor.

Cursing I leaned down and picked the little card up, giving it an inspection as I did so...

Reading the little card, I found it was one of those, 'You must sign for a piece of mail' cards...

"Who the fuck is sending me registered mail?" I wondered aloud, as I turned the card over, trying to see if I could find a place on the card that told me where it was coming from.

No luck.

Sighing, I jammed the rest of my mail into my bag.

I went over to the little cubby, where I found a bored college student, a book open on the little counter in front of her.

She looked at up at me, giving me a tired smile, "Yes?"

I really didn't have time for this, and for a split second considered bailing and running to class. The more I thought of it though, the more I realized that would just mean I'd have to come back later...

I held the card up, "I guess I have to sign for something?"

She took the little card from me, had me sign it, and then ran and grabbed the letter from the back for me.

I opened the envelope as I started walking to class.

I had to read it twice...

Thirty-day notice of eviction! The letter read in bold letters at the top of the page...

I turned the notice, printed on a bright orange piece of paper, looking at the back, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I wasn't thriving, wasn't rich, but I paid my bills on time, well, mostly. I certainly paid my rent on time every month! Well, mostly...

I was never more than a few days late at worst, and certainly never enough to warrant evicting me!

Grabbing my phone, I called my landlord. This had to be some kind of mistake! The phone rang and rang, eventually going to voicemail, "You've reached Greg Tully, I'm not available, please leave a message after the tone..."

"Greg, this is Link. I just got the weirdest notice in the mail, well, Certified Mail, it says I'm being evicted? I don't understand. This is super important, please, call me back as soon as you get this message. I'm sure it must be a mistake. Please, call me soon." I could feel panic clamping down on me...

My phone ran about half way to class. Looking at the caller id, I found it was Greg...

Answering, "Greg. Oh, thank god!"

The line was quiet...

I took a studder-step, looking at my phone to ensure it was connected. It was... which my brain decided immediately was bad news.

"Hello? Greg? Are you there?"

Greg was an older guy. Tall and lean. He had always seemed like a good enough guy...

His voice was gravely as he answered me, "Yeah. I'm here Lincoln."

I walked a little slower, my panic rising, "I... uh... I got your letter. I was, uh, just... um... wondering why I'm getting evicted?"

Greg sighed, his tone not impatient, but the sigh of a person that was having a conversation that he really didn't want to be having, "Look, Lincoln. I'm sorry. You seem like a really good kid, but I sold the house and the new owners..." I could hear him stopping, reconsidering what he was about to say. In the end he just settled on silence, which I have to admit, was seriously starting to piss me off...

Sighing, I asked him, "Greg. I really can't afford to move right now." I pinched the bridge of my nose as my anxiety ratcheted up. My brain was starting to really categorize the fifty-million things I had going right now. School. Work. A very complicated relationship I was still trying to wrap my brain around. "Please. Help me out here. Can I at least have the new owner's number? Maybe I can call them and work something out with them. Keep renting from them or something?"

He chuckled...

He actually fucking chuckled. A spike of rage speared through me and it was all I could do to not start screaming at him...

"I... uh... the new owners are the school down the street, or more accurately, the School District. They're going to tear the house down and build a parking lot there..." He paused a second, "I really don't think there's any way that they're going to let you keep renting there, even if they don't plan on tearing the place down tomorrow..."

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I walked, feeling overwhelmed, "Great. That's fucking great... Greg? How can you do this to me? How could you sell the place without even telling me you were looking at selling it?"

I could hear defensiveness in his voice as he answered, "Well, I mean, kid, I'm sorry, but I couldn't afford to have you move out and leave me holding the bag."

I nearly started screaming at him...

It was all I could do to keep my cool. Considering I was about fifteen steps from my classroom, I just barely managed to clamp down on it...

"Thanks Greg... leave me holding the bag. I appreciate that. At least you're in good shape."

"Hey. It's my house kid. I can do with it what I like, and if you don't-"

I never let him finish. I hung up the phone, turning it off and slipping it into my bag as I stepped into the classroom. All I could do was shake my head as I found Laurel, sitting in our usual spot near the back...

She smiled at me, and I have to admit, that little smile was probably the only thing that kept me from either screaming and starting to turn things over around me, or just plopping down and freaking out...

I dropped into the seat next to her, stuffing the letter into my bag.

She rubbed my arm, sensing something was off, "Hey, what's wrong?"

For the briefest of seconds, I considered telling her. Considered dumping my burden on her. Then I realized, we were both about to take a test. It was bad enough that I was now going to be freaking out, worrying while I tried to concentrate. There was no sense in doing the same thing to her...

So instead of telling her, I just shook my head, "Nothing. I'm just stressed."

I say her eyes narrow and I could tell by her look that she caught my little lie...

The professor started handing out the tests, and I dug in my bag to get a pencil out. As I looked back up, Laurel handed me a piece of paper, folded up in a neat little envelope...

I took it from her, "What's this?"

She smiled at me as she told me, "I missed the whole, slip your boyfriend notes in class, stage, figured I'd give it a shot!"

She held her finger up in front of her lips, "Now, shush! I'm trying to take a test here..."

All I could do was smile as she took the little stack of papers, from the person next to her, took one out and passed the rest down the row...

I opened the little envelope she had obviously very neatly folded, and read:

Do you like me? She had printed in neat little letters.

Below that, she had printed, Yes or No.

I felt my heart melt a little, feeling stupid for such a little thing to make me start feeling better...

Below that, she had written:

I mean, LIKE, like me?

Again, she included a little space for me to circle yes or no.

I circled yes to both really quickly and handed the paper back to her.

She took the little note back, opened it, read my responses and pressed her hand to her chest dramatically, before fanning herself real quickly with her hand. Quickly, she reached into her bag and pulled out another note and handed it to me.

I smiled at her as I realized that she had made a whole little plan out of this little thing. Such a little thing, and it was amazing how good it made me feel...

Opening this note, the first line read:

After class, what say we play hooky for the rest of the day? We can head back to my place, order a pizza, and spend the rest of the afternoon making out? I might even be willing to let you get to second base...

I felt my heart soften further as I looked at her, wondering how in the fuck I was lucky enough to find a woman like her, and furthermore, how I was lucky enough to trick her into loving me...

I wrote real quickly on her note:

Sorry, I can't. Too much to do...

Passing it back to her, she read it real quick and handed me a new note from her bag.

I thought you LIKE, liked me?

I rolled my eyes, looking at her. How did she know? How did she know I was going to make an excuse? How did she know me so fucking well...

God, I loved this woman.

Reading on:

What if I put out?

Again, in neat, clear letters she gave me the chance to answer yes or no...

Reading lower:

P.S. I really want to put out for you...

Do you want me to put out for you?

Again, she gave me the chance to answer, yes, or no...

Much as I wanted to be turned on, much as I wanted to be a little horn dog, the thing that meant the most to me was the fact that she had taken the time to see that I was struggling, to see that I was having a bad day, and then come up with a really fun, really sexy little way to cheer me up. To make me feel like everything was going to be okay again...

She stopped and gave me a sexy little smile as I looked at her...

I read the last little line on her note:

P.P.S. I really love you and want you to know how special you are! I believe in you!

I smiled at her again, this time as she rubbed my leg reassuringly.

Then I proceeded to bomb my test...

I finished early, and had to guess on a fair number of answers. In the end, I just wrapped it up and grabbed my stuff before turning the test in and heading to the exit. The next thing on my list was a meeting with my advisor, and I figured that I may as well just head over now. I would be early, but I figured maybe I'd get lucky and he'd be in and I could just get it over with...

Chapter 19

Doctor Clark was my advisor, and I had to admit, I really, really liked him. He was of about average height, a little overweight and had thick, unkept black hair. He was one of those rare men who was brilliant, and passionate, but that somehow never managed to come off like an asshole. He was the head of the School of Business at the university, and I was extremely lucky to have had him agree to take me on...

As I walked into his office and knocked quietly on his door he looked up from a pile of paperwork he was reading over and gave me a big smile.

"Link! How are you?" His voice was filled with energy, a trait that served him well as he taught. A trait that kept him engaging, and energetic.

I shook my head, feeling a sudden sense of weariness push down on me as I walked into his little space, "Not good..."

He sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers over his tummy, a look of concern spreading across his face, "Oh? Not good. What's going on?"

I dropped my bag next to the leather backed chair in his office and plopped myself down, "I think I bit off more than I can chew and now I need some help to figure out how I'm going to get myself out of it..."

He smiled at me, "So why don't you give me an idea of what you're up against?"

I took a deep breath, shaking my head, "I kind of took a job to help out a friend. It didn't seem like such a big deal at the time, but I'm going to need to do some traveling to finish it up, and with school, that's going to be tough..."

He shrugged, "And this job? Does it pay well? Is it worth an extra bit of work?"

I thought about it for a second, "Yes. Yes to both. It pays, really, really well, and it's the kind of job that could continue once I graduate..."

He scrunched up his face, raising an eyebrow at me, "And that's all? That's what you're worried about?"

I was a bit taken aback, "That's all? I'm going to need to miss a bunch of classes. Maybe at the end of this term, and probably for a bunch of next term too..."

He smiled at me, "That's not that big a deal. Keep up on the coursework, get with the instructors and get ahead of the classes. Next term is your last. Most of that is just working with me on your final project and all of that will be with me. Complete the work, keep me in the loop on what's going on. Worst case scenario, you take an incomplete and put off graduating for a term. It sounds like financially that would be worth doing."

I nodded, "It would be. I made five grand for the work I did last weekend. It won't all be like that, but there's a good bit of money involved."

His eyebrows went up, "Five grand? What are you doing, running cocaine across the border?"

I smiled at him, "No. Internet security work. It's stuff I really enjoy doing. I've done a bit of it in the past but a friend hooked me up with her company. She's doing PR work for them and the security angle kind of worked itself in."

I knew I was being pretty vague, but also knew that keeping a customer's information proprietary was important.

He smiled at me, "Her? You have a lady in your life too?"

I knew it was an intensely personal question, but I also knew that Doctor Clark was more than an advisor to me. He was a mentor. He knew a fair bit about my life, about my childhood, and he also took an intense interest in my wellbeing both in the classroom, and out of it.

I gave him a shy smile, "That is a mess unto itself. One I don't even want to get into."

He gave me a broad, knowing grin, "Bit of advice?"

I nodded, rubbing at the back of my neck. I valued Doctor's Clark's advice. He had a good head on his shoulders and quite a bit of wisdom and worldliness over me. I figured every little bit of help I could get was never going to hurt me...

"Sure."

He sat back up, putting his elbows on his desk, "Deal with your personal stuff first, and take it seriously. I've seen a lot of students come in here, and almost universally, the things that get them in trouble are not the schoolwork, or the financial stuff. It's the personal stuff. Nobody can go it alone, or at least they can't all the time. Take the time to work on your relationships with people and take time to let them know they're important to you."

He paused, and I could see the gears in his head turning, him deciding how much to say, and how to say it. He must have decided to push on, because he added, "I think for you, that's more important than it is for most."

I sat and thought about that for a second...

"And learn when it's time to let someone give you a helping hand." He finished.

I sighed, thinking about what he was telling me. Granted, it didn't solve all of my problems, but I was in a hell of a lot better of a position than I had been when I walked through the door...

Nodding, I really thought about it. Briefly, I considered talking with him about my housing situation, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to feel like there was nothing that I could really gain by talking with him about it...

I grabbed my bag and standing, shook his hand, "Thank you. I've got a lot to think about."

He smiled at me, "Keep me in the loop. Just let me, and your other instructors know what's going on. If you have problems with any of your instructors, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help smooth the road. Don't make any big decisions about school, or your classes without talking with me, okay?"

I nodded, "Will do."

He clapped me on the arm, "You got this kiddo."

Giving him another big smile, I nodded again.

Stepping out of his office, I was surprised to find Laurel waiting for me in the little common waiting area outside his office. I felt my face light up the instant I saw her, "Hey you! I really didn't expect to see you! I thought I'd have to come find you."