knockknockknock

Lana’s head fell forward, closing her eyes on the pile of Freshmen midterms in front of her and prayed for patience. Take the Resident Assistant job, they said. Free room and board, no roommates and all she would have to do is make sure no one on her floor died. Easy peasy, they said.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

What everyone failed to mention was that the RA job was a 24/7 gig. Roommate disputes, noise complaints and a revolving door of freshmen and sophomores who locked their dorm key in their room. Or left it in class. Or lost the damn thing all together. It always seemed to happen at the most inopportune time and midterms were the absolute worst. First years breaking under the strain of their first real university exams, sobbing at the end of her bed that they ‘just, like, couldn’t handle being an architecture major’ exacerbated by the non-stop party going on in the room down the hall.

Speaking of which…

knockknockknockKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

“Yes I’m coming,” Lana said with a sigh as she pulled her door open to find Wilma Vandersot clutching her chemistry book to her chest with tears welling in her muddy brown eyes.

“I’ve got it,” Lana said with as much kindness as she could muster, nudging past Wilma to bang her open palm against the door across from hers.

“AYALA TURN THAT GODDAMN MUSIC DOWN!”

The bass cut out and the door swung open to reveal a short stocky kid with close cropped dark hair who grinned as he took in Lana’s annoyed expression.

“Hey Lana,” he said leaning casually on the doorframe.

“It’s quiet hours Trace. You gotta keep the music down,” Lana replied not even bothering to keep her tone civil. She was well acquainted with the boys across the hall.

Trace tapped his head and then shook it. “Sorry, I forgot. I’m done with my midterms.” He grinned widely again and Lana fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Sorry Wilma,” he added as he looked over Lana’s shoulder and the small girl clutched her book tighter and scurried down the hall and back into her room. Trace watched with amusement.

“You think she’d go out with me?” Trace asked and Lana finally did roll her eyes. “What I’m serious! The quiet ones are always freaks… Speaking of which…”

“No, Trace,” Lana deadpanned, turning her back on him and moving to trudge back into her room.

“I’ve always been in to older women,” he said, skirting around her to block her entrance back to her room. “And I’m leaving for break this afternoon.” He leaned against her doorframe grinning lasciviously. “So this might be your last chance to get at this before the holidays.”

“I’ll risk it,” Lana replied pushing him out of the way and moving back into her room. She turned to shut the door watching him shuffle back into his own room and added “Make sure all your trash is taken down to the dumpster before you go. And empty your damn fridge I don’t want a repeat of last break.”

“Hey that was Justin not me,” Trace argued and Lana rolled her eyes.

“Sure, the moldy jello shots were your roommate’s.” Lana said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on her doorframe. “Because it’s not like he would be kicked off the basketball team if the coach found out that he had alcohol in the room-”

“You know I’m sick of you blaming everything that goes on in our room on me-”

“-since he’s underage and the coach has a pretty severe no tolerance policy for that kind of thing,” Lana mused and Trace’s face went blank. “Isn’t your roommate on scholarship?”

“Alright I’ll take out the fucking trash, GOD,” Trace groused, throwing his hands in the air and turning to stomp back into his room.

“Thank you, Trace,” Lana taunted, smothering a laugh as he threw a hand in the air to flip her the bird before slamming the door behind him.

Lana slipped back into her room, shutting the door behind her and leaning back heavily against it. Just two more days of mayhem and winter break would start, she just had to hang on for two more days.

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

“LANA! I NEED SOME TRASH BAGS!” Trace yelled through the door and she let her head thump back hard against the particleboard, dreaming of snowy silence and the pile of books on her bedside table.

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

“I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE. DO YOU HAVE ANY BLEACH? I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS STUFF IS BUT I’M PRETTY SURE THE ONLY THING THAT WILL KILL IT IS BLEACH.”

A moment of silence and then softly knockknockknock “Lana… are you… like… you know… because I can come back later… or if you wanna let me in I mean I can join yo-”

Lana snatched the door open and unleashed the full heat of her glare, one she had perfected during rush week and for some reason never seemed to work on Trace. He grinned widely at her as she grabbed the caddy of trash bags, cleaning supplies and sponges she kept by the door for just such occasions.

“I expect that smell to be gone by the time you leave,” Lana said handing it over, her nose wrinkling at the pungent aroma that was now wafting from his open door.

Trace rolled his eyes. “Jesus, you sound just like Justin.” He pitched his voice high, “’Trace if you don’t do your smelly ass laundry I’m locking you in the closet with it’” He snorted.

“Oh thank god are you making him do his laundry?”

Lana turned to see Trace’s roommate shuffling down the hall, a backpack slung over his shoulder. A chorus of “Hiiiiiii Justin,” issued from a girls’ room as he passed and he raised a hand throwing them a tight smile as he passed, running a hand over the short stubble of his hair self-consciously. Trace snorted shaking his head.

“Got em lining up around the building and you’ve been at the damn library all morning,” Trace said with disgust, reaching a hand out to thwack the strap of Justin’s bookbag.

“Dude, you know I have that English midterm at four.” Justin snapped and Trace threw his hands in the air.

“Yes, yes the ungodly Sophomore English midterm. The horrors of which I can only imagine.”

“Yeah because you flunked Freshman English,” Lana deadpanned and Justin smothered a laugh as Trace let out a squawk of indignation.

“Hey my TA was a bitch. Luckily my boy J here hooked me up with you,” Trace said grinning as he threw an arm around Lana’s shoulders and raised a fist for Justin to bump. Justin shook his head, turning to go into their room and Lana elbowed Trace hard enough in the ribs to knock the breath from his lungs. “Ow. Hey did you grade my test yet?”

“Yes in my copious amount of free time I plucked out your test and graded it just so you could have it before you left for break,” Lana said and Trace blinked at her.

“You’re being sarcastic aren’t you?”

“Clean. Your. Room.” Lana said, glaring with all her might as she jabbed her finger at his doorway and Trace rolled his eyes, stomping his way inside.

“And do your laundry!” she yelled and was startled to hear Justin’s voice join her own as he stepped back into the hallway, minus his backpack but with basketball shoes in hand. They shared a smile.

“YES MOTHER.” Trace yelled back and both Justin and Lana shook their heads before she turned back into her room and Justin headed off for practice.

Lana’s day got decidedly better once Trace was out the door. She wasn’t even that mad that he managed to steal a kiss under the mistletoe on his way out and he took the punch in the ribs like a man, wheezing out a Merry Christmas as he stepped out into the winter chill.

Lana walked back down the hallway to her room, listening to muffled laughter and the low hum of music behind closed doors, just waiting for one of her wayward charges to stop her and ask for something but somehow she managed to make it back to her own room without incident. She shut her door and sat down at her desk, pulling the pile of papers in front of her, thinking that with the hall’s problem child finally out of the building she might actually get some work done.

knockknockknock

Lana groaned, flopping back in her chair and letting her head hang back.

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

“I’m coming,” she snapped, standing up and swinging her door open and the stench of sweat assaulted her senses immediately causing her nose to wrinkle.

“Yeah I know,” Justin said, pinching at the front of his shirt and airing it out causing the smell to billow around them. “Rough practice. Our shower isn’t working.”

“I’ll put in a maintenance request,” Lana said, moving to shut the door but he brought a hand up to stop her from shutting it.

“No, I have a midterm in forty-five minutes!” he said an edge of panic lacing his words and she sighed.

“Then you’re gonna have to use the freshmen showers downstairs,” Lana replied and Justin’s eyes widened.

“I… I can’t do that,” he said shaking his head and Lana leaned on her doorframe giving him a look. “They’re co-ed,” he muttered shifting uncomfortably, his eyes drifting down the hall and a giggle floated from an open door as if for punctuation.

“I didn’t realize you were such a delicate flower,” Lana deadpanned and he gave her a wry smile.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up. I just don’t what my junk posted all over Facebook a’ight,” he sighed, running a hand over the short stubble of his hair and glancing down the hall again. “Please Lana,” Justin begged and then cupped his hands together. “Please I’m begging you.”

“I don’t know what you think I can do,” Lana replied, reaching for the tool box next to the door, also left there for just such occasions, as she nudged past him and shuffled towards the open door across from her. Justin let out an audible sigh of relief hurrying after her.

“You fixed my lamp remember?” Justin said encouragingly as he followed her into his room and stood in the doorway to the bathroom as she pushed back the shower curtain. “And you fixed Trace’s bed after he spent that night with the Delta Sigma Theta girl-”

“I knew it was a girl,” Lana yelled rounding on him and Justin’s eyes widened. “He told me you broke it jumping onto his bed while you idiots were playing nerf basketball.”

“What!” Justin exclaimed with a look of outrage and when Lana raised her eyebrows he blinked. “I mean, yeah, that’s what happened.”

“You two are the biggest pain in my ass you know that?” Lana snapped, reaching to fiddle with the knobs but to no avail.

“It’s an honor,” Justin replied. “See, nothin’” he said with a sigh as she tapped at the faucet with the flat of her palm.

“Yeah,” Lana muttered, grunting as she reached to twist on the showerhead. “This isn’t the standard issue showerhead.”

“Huh?” Justin said leaning around her to look at it.

“It’s got spray settings and stuff,” Lana said poking at the different spray nozzles in the head. “Did you guys switch it out?”

“No that’s what was here when we moved in,” Justin replied and Lana sighed.

“Sometimes these things get stuck in between settings. It probably just needs to be twisted more or something. Hand me that wrench.”

Justin handed it over and she struggled to reach the overhead fixture. She planted her foot on the side of the tub, fitting the grooves of her wrench over the thumb tab and clamping down. She twisted, a few beads of water dribbling down her wrist and wetting the arm of her sweater. She cursed under her breath, moving to stand fully on the side of the tub, grasping the wrench with both hands and attempting to pull.

Before she could even register what happened she was falling backwards, the wrench slipping off and the showerhead clattered to the bottom of the tub as water blinded her, filling her mouth and nose.  She heard Justin curse, her head knocking into the back of the shower wall but not nearly as hard as she was anticipating, feeling a strong arm catch her around her back as a large hand closed around her wrist, lowering her slowly into the tub.

“Goddammit,” Justin gritted, wrestling with the knobs and Lana coughed and sputtered, drowning under the heavy spray before Justin finally got the water turned off.

She looked at him through slow blinking eyes, rubbing the back of her head gingerly. She blew water out of her mouth, both of them breathing heavily for a moment before he seemed to come back to himself, springing unto action.

“Are you okay?” Justin asked as he reached for her arms and attempted to bring her to her feet.

The slick tread of her sneaker slipped against the wet bottom of the tub and she nearly went sprawling again, hands raking against the shower wall for purchase. Justin pulled her sharply forward, her forehead smacking into his chin and both grunted in pain.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied, shaking her head and wrinkling her nose, trying to pull away from him. “God, you smell.”

“Thanks,” Justin replied and she gasped as he lifted her clear off her feet and over the side of the tub in one smooth motion, not letting go until he was sure she had her footing.

“I’m… uh…” she stuttered reaching to wipe the water from her face and he handed her a towel that had been sitting on the vanity. “I’ll put in your maintenance request.” She dabbed at her face and neck, moving back into the bedroom

“But-!”

“Look, you can use my shower okay,” she exclaimed toweling at her hair and a low throb was starting at the base of her skull.

“Wow, you hit your head pretty hard huh?”

“Shut up asshole,” she snapped pulling the towel from her face. “I’ll send you down to the freshmen showers and alert the pep squad.”

“Shutting up,” Justin said quickly grabbing the pile of clean clothes from his bed and hurrying after her across the hall and into her room.

As she nudged the door closed behind her she felt a tingle of apprehension work it’s way down her spine. RA’s weren’t supposed to fraternize with their residents, not that that is what they were doing but if anyone were to come by, the likelihood of that being nearly 100%, she would have a lot of explaining to do.

“I seriously can’t thank you enough,” Justin said, slipping past her and making a beeline for the bathroom, snapping the door shut behind him. “You’re going to be getting something very nice for Christmas.” he added through the door.

“Just don’t let Trace start anymore science experiments in his fridge,” she hollered as she heard the water start up and she could barely hear his chuckle over the sound of the water and the door between them.

“You know one of those was an actual science experiment.”

“Is your midterm at Patterson?” Lana asked, pawing through a drawer for a dry shirt.

“Yeah,” he said and she eyed the door before quickly pulling off her wet sweater and then, deciding her bra was thoroughly soaked too, discarded that as well. “You know Delaney Roteray?”

“Yeah,” Lana said with a laugh, wondering how Justin Timberlake, basketball prodigy, would know Delaney, hater of all athletes, as she searched her dresser for another bra. “Wait, is she your TA?”

“Yeah,” Justin said and suddenly the water cut off and Lana panicked, tossing clothes aside before her fingers finally fell on the lacy fabric of what she called her “date bra.” “She’s… uh… different.”

“Really?” Lana asked, an edge of panic in her voice as she fumbled with the latch, ripping the straps up her arms and trying to wrestle her respectable Bs into cups that turned them in to vavavoom Cs.

“Well, different than you,” Justin said.

She heard the doorknob turning and she threw her shirt over her head, scrambling to get her arms in the holes. When her head popped out she saw Justin standing in the doorway looking a little bewildered in freshly laundered jeans and a MU Tigers hoodie, his dirty clothes balled at his side. They blinked at each other before Lana unfroze, unrumpling the hem of her henley from around her waist and smoothing it down to a more respectable spot. Justin gave his head a shake.

“Uh…” He reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “Thanks for the shower. I used your body wash.”

“I’ll consider it a donation to the good of mankind,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest as awkwardness settled over her.

Justin chuckled. “Yeah, you’re a hero Lana Messinger.” She could feel his eyes holding on her as she reached for a hair tie on the dresser, busying herself with trying to wrestle her wet hair into a ponytail. “SHIT is that the time?”

Lana jumped seeing Justin’s eyes bulging at the clock on her bedside table and he literally ran to the door.

“I gotta go. I’m gonna miss the bus,” he said, his voice dropping low in panic as he flung her door open. “Thanks again Lana!”

And just like that he was gone and she was left blinking behind him, wondering at how her day had become that kind of eventful instead of just the regular kind. Her head gave a nasty throb.

She began to gather her things then, shoving the papers she needed to grade, along with clean copies into her bag for the midterm she was administering herself at four. One good thing about her TA gig was that it gave her an excuse to neglect her RA gig and this afternoon would be supplying her with two and a half hours of silent work time, with nary a thought spared for her charges.

But of course, she should have known, she had spoken too soon. She was waiting at a stoplight, having just pulled out of the gen access lot next to the dorms when her brow furrowed as she watched an MU bus gliding along the slushy street. She leaned over the steering wheel as her eyes fell on a young man running at full speed behind it, waving his arms and shouting for it to stop. He had the hood of his sweatshirt up against the cold so she couldn’t see his face… but surely not…

She rolled down her window, sticking her head out into the frigid air, hollered “Justin?” and sure enough the young man who was staring forlornly after the departing bus looked in her direction. They blinked at each other for a moment before the light turned green and she pulled a wide left hand turn on to Southern Avenue. She could see him in her sideview mirror, trotting to catch up as she slid up to the curb.

He was breathing hard as she lowered the passenger side window, leaning down to look at her, his blue eyes panicked and his cheeks pink and chapped from the cold. She sighed.

“I’m going to Patterson, too. Come on,” she said, reaching over to push the passenger door open and she could barely make out his audible groan of relief as he hurried to fold himself down into her car.

“Thank you Lana,” Justin said, bunching and unbunching his shoulders in an attempt to stop shivering. Lana reached to turn the heat on full blast.

“Yeah yeah,” she muttered, looking into her rearview as she slid into afternoon traffic. “What were you doing trying to take the bus anyway? I thought you had a truck.”

“I do,” he said pulling his hood down to rub at his ears and that’s when she noticed the notebook in his lap. His frozen fingers fumbled with the pages.

“Break down on ya?” Lana asked knowingly, slowing to a stop at another light and tapping her fingers on the wheel impatiently.

“No,” Justin replied, looking over his notes and Lana looked over at him. He glanced at her in time to see her raise an eyebrow and he shifted uncomfortably, turning a page in his notes. “My mom took it away.”

“What?” Lana asked her voice pitching high and she was about to laugh when she saw his ears burning pink and this time it wasn’t from the cold.

“I had a D in English when quarterlies came out and she took my car, okay?” he snapped, flipping a page in his notes with a little more force than necessary, “And she told my coach if I don’t ace this midterm she’s going to make me quit the team. “

“Are you serious?” Lana asked in disbelief and she was so busy goggling at him that she missed the light turning green. “She can’t do that. You’re like the star of the team!” He looked over at her his eyebrows raised. “Aren’t you?” she tacked on more to soothe her embarrassment than to ask for confirmation.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” he muttered, but she could see the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

A horn honked behind them and Lana shook her head, pressing lightly on the gas. “She can’t make you quit the team though. You’d lose your scholarship.”

“…which means I would have to take out loans. And get a job until my grades came up at which point they’d start helping me again. So I got a lot riding on this test.” He sighed, rubbing hard at his face before looking down at the notebook in his lap and focusing just about as hard as Lana had ever seen anyone focus.

“That’s shitty,” was all she could think to say and he snorted, nodding vigorously. They were quiet for a moment, pulling to another stop as the arms of the railroad barricade came down signaling that the 3:50 train was making it’s way through campus.

“OH COME ON!” Justin yelled, his hand smacking against the dashboard in frustration before flopping back in his seat and covering his eyes with his hand.

“What’s the problem anyway?” Lana asked and he peeked out from behind his hand to regard her with a look that said he had limited patience. “I mean you always did well in my class.”

“You were a good teacher,” he sighed, looking down at his notes again and it was Lana’s turn to smile.

“No seriously Justin it never seemed like you struggled.”

“I didn’t!” he exclaimed and then sighed in frustration. “I dunno I mean I… I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’m putting twice as much work into this class as my others. I’m doing all the readings, all the extra credit reading. I’m having the English majors over at the writing center proof all of my papers, even the stupid question/answers she gives for homework. I can’t seem to make anything higher than a C-“

He gave a frustrated sigh, watching morosely as the train gate swung up and the line of cars slowly crossed over the tracks, Patterson Hall looming large over the gen lot next to the tracks. Lana swung quickly into the lot, eyeing the last spot available.

“Oh that is yours, girl,” Justin said, placing a hand on the dash as she zipped down the parking lot. “Uh oh,” he added, seeing a blue neon turn in as well, racing her down the other lane. “You got this. Don’t give it up. Lana if you back off this spot I will disown you as my RA. Don’t you do it…don’t… YES!” He fist pumped as Lana whipped into the spot and she busted out laughing as he did a little victory dance in his seat. Athletes. She shook her head.

“Tough luck bro,” Justin said, stepping out of the car and tucking his notebook under his arm. He waved at the car as it idled past them. “Better luck next time.”

“Stop it,” Lana chided but couldn’t hide her chuckle as she pulled her bag from the back seat, snatching her attendance notebook from the back window.

She jumped as she felt his hand brush hers on the strap of her bag. He took it from her, hoisting it on to his own shoulder and tucked her attendance log under his arm with his own notebook. She blinked at him. He grinned at her. They each shuffled their way towards the steps of Patterson Hall, Lana feeling awkward and Justin’s stomach churning with apprehension. They walked side by side into the building, Justin receiving high-fives and pats on the back from their fellow students and then looking at Lana with a shrug and a shake of his head as if saying, No idea who that was.

“This is me,” Justin said as he slowed to a stop in front of one of the lecture halls, jutting his finger at the door.

“You made it,” Lana said, checking her watch, “with three minutes to spare!”

“Shit I better get in there,” he replied, handing over her things and she actually did laugh at him then as he was opening the door to the lecture hall. He paused to look back at her, their eyes meeting and when he smiled she felt her cheeks heat up.

“Hey Lana.”

Lana jumped turning to find Delaney walking down the hallway, a large book tucked under her arm and a smile on her face. Her smile faded when she took in the two of them standing together: Lana’s wet hair, Justin’s fresh fruity scent. Her eyes narrowed.

“Justin you better take your seat,” Delaney said sharply and he nodded, giving Lana a tight-lipped smile before disappearing in to the lecture hall. “Well now I get why he passed Freshmen English,” she muttered under her breath and Lana felt her jaw literally drop.

“Excuse me?” Lana asked with widening eyes and Delaney shrugged a shoulder casually, slipping into the lecture hall and leaving Lana to blink dumbly after her.

By the time she had settled her freshmen in to their midterm some of the shock had worn off and paved the way for seething anger that pervaded Lana’s thoughts making it impossible to work. She reached for her attendance notebook thinking that she could at least do the busy work of transferring the sign-in sheet to her log when she realized that, of course, Justin had handed her the wrong notebook.

She began to flip through his notes then, meticulous in their clear blocky script. He was one of those people that wrote in all caps for everything, something that made her cringe. His graded assignments were tucked neatly in the pocket of the back cover, stacked in chronological order and as she flipped through she could see that his first few weeks of class he was getting 5/5 on all homework assignments and received an A- on his first short essay. After that, he never made anything above a C, red ink bleeding all over his essays and getting minimum credit for homework. When she began to look closer she could see a marked difference in his work, the transformation astounding except, despite the grades he received, his work was changing for the better. When she reached the papers from the current month he was expounding on topics that she considered master’s level and, much to her chagrin, doing it better than she herself could probably do.

Lana didn’t consider herself a confrontational person. It wasn’t any of her business how another TA graded and when it came right down to it she didn’t have any pull over any other professor but her own, but as she was packing up her things she couldn’t stop the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was the head injury but she needed to talk to Delaney.

She found the other TA working in the Writing Center as she was wont to do between classes. Lana took a deep breath and shuffled her way over, trying not to disturb the others that were being tutored.

“Hey Delaney,” Lana said and the other woman looked up from her grading to blink at Lana slowly. “Can I talk to you about one of your students?”

Delaney sighed, dropping her red pen to the table top with a loud thwack and leaning back in her chair. “Let me guess this is about Timberlake?”

“Actually yeah,” Lana said, pulling out a chair across from her and settling into it. “I had him for 101 last year and he was always a really good student-”

“I’m sure he was,” Delaney said with a wry smile and Lana gritted her teeth, forcing a smile in return.

“Yes... Um, he left his notebook with me and I was looking at his essays-”

“You are not trying to get me to give your boyfriend a pass,” Delaney snapped looking at Lana in disbelief and Lana’s own expression mirrored hers.

“Um. He’s not my boyfriend,” she said with a chuckle meant to underscore the absurdity of the statement, “And I’m not asking for a pass for him I just-”

“You just want me to change his grades?” Delaney accused and Lana pressed her lips together in frustration. “I’m grading him as fairly as I grade all my students. He’s a pretty boy who thinks he can skate by on his charm and his athletic ability. In fact I’m grading his midterm right now and by the looks of it he didn’t even try.”

“He’s been studying for days!” Lana exclaimed hotly. Delaney raised her eyebrows and the smirk on her face all but screamed and how would you know that? “Look it’s been a really weird day for me, but I ended up spending some time with him and trust me he put everything he had into this test. His scholarship is on the line.”

“Last time I checked as long as the athletes remained eligible the coaches didn’t care what kind of grades they got,” Delaney replied, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance.

“Yeah well his parents seem to give a little more of a shit about his education than them and are going to make him quit the basketball team if he doesn’t ace this test. Which means he’ll lose his scholarship. Come on Delaney.”

“No you come on Lana,” the other girl replied hotly. “Look, you may have been taken in by his charm and the glamour of fucking a student athlete but I have not, okay.”

“Really because that’s not what I heard,” Lana snapped back and she felt a tingle of rage fueled adrenaline run down her spine, raising her voice. “Wasn’t it you that got one-and-done’d by one of the seniors on the ball team last year?” Delaney’s mouth popped open, looking around the room scandalized. “Yeah we all know about that. And it’s no reason for you to flunk every athlete that comes through your class.”

Delaney sputtered, her cheeks turning an alarming shade of pink as she tried to ignore the fact that every eye in the room was on them. “His work-”

“…Is way beyond that of an undergrad, yeah,” Lana spat pulling his notebook out of her bag and slamming it onto the table between them with a loud smack. “I read every essay and two bit extra credit question/answer sheet you gave him and the difference between when he started your class and now is ridiculous.”

Lana pawed through his notebook and plucked out a paper that was covered in red ink. “This one on who really benefits from the lottery and how the practice exploits the poor? He drove to Atlanta to talk to the guy that runs the place where scratch-offs are printed. Masters-level students don’t even do that for a paper that isn’t their thesis!” She threw the paper down on top of the notebook and flopped back against her chair. “Frankly I’m jealous you got this good of work out of him and I couldn’t.”

“Oh I’m sure it wasn’t for lack of trying,” Delaney snarked with a wry smile and Lana sat up straight again.

“You wanna accuse me of preferential treatment of the ball players then that’s your right. Take it up with my professor. But you better get ready for the shit storm that’s coming your way. Because if you don’t give him the grade he earned on that midterm I am walking my happy ass up to your professor,” she picked up Justin’s notebook threateningly, “with this and asking for an inquiry.”

“I’m sorry, that sounded a lot like a threat,” Delaney said with a snort of disbelieving laughter, leaning forward in her chair.

Lana mimicked the motion, setting her jaw and unleashing the full heat of her glare. “Good. It was.”

Delaney swallowed hard as Lana stood up slowly. “You decide what you want to do. I’m going to make copies of his assignments to leave with you. In case you want to give them a second look. See if maybe you were a little red pen happy.”

And with that Lana turned her back and thought head injuries were extremely satisfying and if it weren’t for the throbbing head ache she wouldn’t mind having more of them. Then she decided that with that revelation it would probably be a good idea to stop by the school clinic to get checked for brain damage.

Two weeks passed before Lana saw Justin again, winter break spanning two snowy weeks of quiet with nothing but last minute grading to accomplish and a stack of novels to devour.

She arrived back on campus a day early hoping to minimize the culture shock of Spring Semester starting up again but by noon on the day the dorms opened back up she was already flipping through her calendar checking the dates for Spring Break.

knock knock knock

Lana turned towards her open door, expecting yet another request for a screw driver, or toilet paper or God only knew what else and instead found Justin leaning casually against her doorframe, a grin pulling at both their lips as they laid eyes on each other.

“Hey!” Lana said, setting down her calendar and making her way across the room to stand in front of him. “How was your break?”

“Good,” he said nodding digging his hands in his pockets as he surveyed her face. “Good. I uh… I got my car back.”

“You did?” Lana asked and he nodded again, still grinning.

“Yeah uh…” he shrugged his shoulder casually, running a hand along her doorframe with disinterest. “I uh aced my midterm.” He cut his eyes at her then and grinned.

“Really!” Lana exclaimed and reached out to hit his forearm with the back of her hand. “See, I knew you’d be fine.”

“Yeah also,” he said digging a hand into his pocket, “my TA adjusted pretty much every grade she ever gave me for the entire semester.” He pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “Saying that,” he paused to unfold it, “’the next time I have a problem with my grades I should talk to her directly instead of,’” his eyes met Lana’s for emphasis, eyebrows raised, “and I quote, ‘sending your girlfriend to threaten me with accusations of impropriety.’”

Lana stared at him wide eyed as he refolded the piece of paper meticulously, his eyes never leaving her face. “You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” he asked slipping the paper back in his pocket and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I didn’t even know you had a girlfriend,” Lana replied and Justin laughed, nodding.

“Neither did I,” he said, his eyes still holding hers and she felt her cheeks begin to pinken. “Look I’m just giving you a hard time. I don’t know what you did but thank you.”

Lana was just about to open her mouth to reply when, “LANA BANANA I MISSED YOU!”

Justin let out an oomph as he was shoved aside and Trace snatched Lana up in a fierce hug.

“GET OFF OF ME YOU IDIOT!” Lana yelled beating against his chest and when he finally released her and grinned she narrowed her eyes and sniffed. “Have you been drinking?”

Trace’s face went serious taking a somber step back as he crossed his arms in front of him, the very picture of propriety. “Why no ma’am I have not.”

He cracked a smile but quickly smothered it and Justin rolled his eyes grabbing on to his roommate’s shoulders. “Alright Trace time to go inside,” Justin said steering him back into their room. “Oh hey Lana can I get my towel back?”

“Why’s she got your towel?” Trace asked, latching on to the statement like a bloodhound, trying to worm his way around Justin again but Justin wasn’t Memphis’ star shooting guard for nothing.

“Don’t worry about that,” Justin muttered as Lana handed it over, grimacing as he mouthed sorry and she smiled shaking her head.

“How’d she get your towel?”

“Hey you gonna come to the game tomorrow night?” Justin asked over his shoulder, still trying to wrestle Trace into their room.

“Game? Her? Why?”

“It’s at the forum,” Justin added, shoving Trace past their doorframe and then blocking him from exiting again. Lana laughed as Trace poked his head over Justin’s shoulder. “We’re playing Louisville.”

“You said that game was sold out.”

“I can get you tickets,” Justin said nodding at Lana and Trace glared at him

“I don’t wanna take your tickets…”

“Hey can I get a coup-” Trace started and Justin stomped on Trace’s foot causing him  to break off with a curse.

“I have plenty,” Justin said with a smile. “So you’ll come then?” he asked and Trace looked up at his friend with narrowed eyes.

“Yeah… uh… yeah sure. If you want me to,” she shrugged noncommittally and Justin smiled, elbowing Trace, who was frantically tugging on his shirt, in the ribs.

“Yes,” Justin said just as Trace whispered not at all quietly in his ear “oh my god you LIKE her” and Justin elbowed him so hard Trace doubled over, staggering over to his bed and coughing dramatically. “I do. I’ll have them waiting at the box office for you okay?”

“Yeah. Um… great,” Lana said a blush threatening to set her face on fire and all they could do was stand and grin at each other stupidly.

“Great,” Justin said but it was nearly drowned out by the sound of Trace retching behind him and he closed his eyes scrunching up his face.

Lana’s brows drew, standing on tiptoe to peer over his shoulder as Trace hollered weakly, “I’m good.”

“I better  uh…” Justin said jutting his thumb behind him and Lana nodded giving him another nervous smile, which he returned before turning into his room.

And as Lana turned to go back into her own room she couldn’t help but grin as she heard him say “Way to ruin a moment asshole.”