Ethically Speaking

1.4

•- Quincie Jackson -•

It was like she was everywhere.

In the halls of the University, in the halls of my apartment building, Katie was always lurking about with Elijah not too far behind.

Her constant need to be with him had set us back even further in our research and he hadn't scheduled another meeting despite my emails encouraging him to arrange them for the sake of our limited time.

While I was willing to drag this project into my second semester, I had a loaded plate of courses I intended to take that would already have me on a tight schedule, and overlapping this research project on top of my other studies was not going to be in my best academic interest.

Take now for example.

Our class usually lasted over an hour if we were lucky. Elijah would find ways to fill time and sometimes it meant individual coursework that sent us over the hour mark.

We were forty-five minutes into the class and we'd just reached our discussion when his phone began ringing. He'd try to ignore it and at first, he proved successful before the calls kept coming in and there was no avoiding the interruption.

And so he answered and our class was cut unnecessarily short.

How do I know it was unnecessary?

After the lecture, I went to the diner to visit Anthony who had been working his ass off as of late to try and scrounge up some extra cash. And who do I see sitting at a table for two in the most dimly lit section of the diner?

Elijah and Katie.

I hiss out a sigh in annoyance as I'm sat at the island counter with a spew of textbooks at my disposal.

"Quince, stop staring. It's creepy."

Anthony was drying out a glass as he spoke and he wore a humored smile as I drop my pen to my notepad and nearly give up on my studies altogether.

"No," I reply as I keep my eyes strained on the happy couple.

Elijah's back was turned to me and while I was sure he was enjoying himself, Katie seemed to be having an amazing time.

Her arm rested on his bicep and her painted lips tugged a smile. It was ridiculous how happy she looked.

No one is that happy.

"I need a drink," I groan as I finally peel my eyes away.

"Hate to break it to you, Q, but they don't serve alcohol here," Anthony jokes and despite my irritated expression, I did enjoy his company.

Which I had forced when I decided to show up during his shift in a sad attempt to distract myself.

I was distracted alright.

Just not in the ways I'd intended.

"I'll do you one better, Quince," he laughs before disappearing into the kitchen.

I turn my attention back to the couple for a split second to find Katie staring back at me. She had a smile that like all others in my presence was unnecessarily forced. Instead of kindly waving in my direction which would be the polite thing to do, she turns back to Elijah and pretends to listen to what he was saying with her head rested in her other hand while the other traces circles on his forearm.

I wanted to scream.

I know my reactions seemed out of jealousy and I'd have to admit to some degree it was.

But not because I was romantically interested in him despite what Grace and Fletcher thought.

Was I a fool to assume Elijah to be a friend? Yes, he was my professor and that gave him power over me but we had spent enough time with the other between emails and texts to meetings that I suspected we'd have become at the minimum acquaintances.