Teacher's Pet || A Joseph Quinn AU

The Warning Signs

Going back to campus the next day was hard. They hadn't done much else that weekend other than spend time together and get to know each other. She learned a lot about him, but she also found it strange since he wasn't exactly acting like it was a relationship. Or more accurately, saying it. Since he'd started out the whole proposition by telling her that it wasn't supposed to be romantic she didn't want to ask. He also wasn't really doing anything other than being friendly. It was fun getting to know him and spending time with him but she wouldn't have said it was anything like dating either, not her expectations of dating that was. It was hard to know where he stood on the issue. She could see how getting to know someone more intimately would help with a BDSM relationship in way of trust, though, so she also didn't think it was that impractical for him to do that especially if he was only going to be seeing her as a pet from that point on.

She tried to ignore her feelings because she didn't think they would be returned and she didn't want him to be put off by anything she said or did right after he'd made this choice and given her that collar. It seemed too risky. Instead, she tried to focus on the logical aspects of the relationship and why he was doing what he was doing. Starting class again on Monday wasn't easy either, and Gina had definitely noticed the choker she was wearing even though she hadn't said much about it. Now that she was seeing Joseph kind of regularly and they already had plans for the coming weekend she was starting to feel more confident about herself.

As he had suggested, she began to wear a uniform that fit her more appropriately. She also had been doing her makeup a bit more dramatically, not too much, but she didn't feel like she wanted to be a wallflower anymore either. With her hair more styled and her body shape more obvious to the people around her she was getting looks. Good ones. She'd never been noticed like this before and it surprised her because she didn't think she had changed too much about herself. Not drastically. On lunch that Monday she was sitting and looking over her notes for biochemistry when a guy approached her table. She knew who he was because she had a few classes with him and he was on the school football team. Not one of the star players but he was good enough and he was popular.

"Uh...hi?" She asked, confused as he sat down across from her. "I think you might have the wrong table."

"No, this is the right one." He said. His accent was Irish and she very much liked it, though it may have only been because it was different from the posh accents she heard all the time. Since she wasn't from money, her accent wasn't nearly as fancy as the others around her but she tried not to sound like she was absolute gutter trash either. It wasn't easy, especially not when she got frustrated with things. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"About what, exactly?"

"The dance."

"You mean the spring formal?" She asked, kind of shocked that he would bring that up at all. "Have you lost a bet?"

"No," He laughed, "Not at all. I just really enjoyed your story, the one you wrote for English."

"You read that?"

"Yes, I wasn't going to but when I saw it posted with the other presentations the summary caught my eye. I guess I'm just a horror fan is all." He shrugged, "Especially when it comes to ghosts and demons." She was surprised to hear that, and he was accurate about what her story contained so maybe he really had read it.

"What's it called then?"

"Saint's Prey." He said, "I promise you, I'm not just talking to you because I lost a bet." He knew the title, he wasn't wrong about that, so she guessed that maybe she could trust him but it still felt very random. She also hadn't thought the story was that good and she only got a B on it but the professor in that class was old and religious and she felt she'd probably offended him with ideas of demon possession and exorcism.