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ONE

jaime

Sergio was going to skin me alive.

Well, he wouldn’t—but he would if he had his priorities straight.

The knowledge didn’t stop me from pressing on the buzzer by the thick wooden door. Over and over. Sure, there was a chance Tony wasn’t even home, but it wasn’t as if he had a huge social circle. No, it wasn’t a nice thing to say—or think.

“Who the fuck—” Tony stopped mid-sentence after his eyes roamed down and up my body. “What are you doing here?”

Aw, he recognized me.

Most of the time he saw me while I wore a rubber suit and a yellow puppy hood. It had been a legitimate concern, but I wasn’t like Eli, who only ever showed up in full gear. I also went to more munches than they did, but Tony didn’t go to those. Well, I think he came to one, a couple of weeks ago? No idea. I’d been with Sergio, which meant keeping our distance.

Anyway.

Back to the reason I was here.

“Read this bullshit.”

I’d been carrying my laptop out of my backpack—it wasn’t raining for once—and I already had the window open, so I just opened the laptop and shoved it in his face.

Sure, not very classy, but I wasfuming, okay? I had an excuse.

“Uh…”

Fuck.

Yeah, this was anticlimactic now. Of course the stupid laptop wanted my password or fingerprint or whatever first.

Ugh.

I rolled my eyes while pressing my finger to the keypad and then turned it back to him. This time, I checked that the screen was showing the stupid email I’d gotten.

“Why…” Tony’s eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. I really didn’t understand why he wasn’t fuming already. “You… came all the way here to show me a university email?”

I clicked my tongue.

“More like a stupid email from a stupid professor that you’re going to help me answer.” I huffed. I didn’t think it was so complicated. “And can you let me in? My laptop is fully charged, but standing here is kinda awkward. Just saying.”

Tony’s eyes widened before his perpetual frown settled back in place. “How did you even know where I live?”

“Cece.” I rolled my eyes. In my head, this had gone more smoothly. He let me in the second he saw me, he shared my contempt for my moronic professor, and by now, he was typing the perfect response for me while hunched over the coffee table in his living room because he didn’t have the time to trek to the office upstairs. Not that I knew what the distribution of his house looked like from the inside. I’d fantasized about it, though. Maybe. “Y’know, pup at the club, she/they pronouns, pretty hair? They came to help you set up some Wi-Fi thingy.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers before he shook his head and stepped aside. “Right. Come in, then. And explain yourself, for real this time.”

“What do you mean?” I swallowed. That came out higher pitched than I’d planned. “I already explained. My professor is an asshole who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about, and he has it out for me. But I don’t know how to respond all fancy, so you’re going to help me with that.”

After returning the laptop back to me—without reading the entire email thread, mind you—Tony crossed his arms over his chest. If the professors at my college had his physique, I’d be ten times more motivated to not skip as many classes as I did.

“Claims of whether or not a professor has it out for you aside… Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m right, and you care about academic integrity?”

Yeah, this had gone way more smoothly in my head.

“Do I?” Tony cocked his perfectly shaved head to the side.