Professor C (camren)

29 - Allegory

***I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I am sorry this is late. I am still dreadfully busy and well, I have some personal matters to attend to. So, if this is disgusting. Sorry. Thanks for 2.3k!

Lauren had been having a dreadfully busy week and that day was no different. With graduation in the midst, she was more involved in career services and was assisting students in job applications and building CVs and gathering requirements for those who would like to further their studies and earn bachelor's degrees in other institutions such as nearby Purdue University.

She was not only knowledgeable and well-connected, she was kind and empathetic, which meant she was every student's refuge in the face of difficulty.

But while that day proved to be as hectic as the last, it had surprises up its metaphorical sleeve.

The first one came in just before she took her lunch break; graceful in their velvety texture and beautiful in their light shade. It was a bouquet of white roses held by a slim and long cylindrical vase; twelve and free of thorns, and days shy of its full bloom.

It had been in Camila's specific instructions. The afflicted poet Lauren knew would attach some sort of allegory to the gesture.

With its color, she hoped to convey pure, unadulterated love fighting everything that had stifled and manipulated it over those difficult years just as it would thrive in the succeeding days even after its stem had been severed. Its premature bud sought Lauren's patience and care with a promise that its glorious full bloom could be something she could be proud of.

Because in the midst of fear and doubt, Camila's confusion was never about whether to leave Lauren or not. It was if she was ready for her, if she was the right version of herself to be not just everything Lauren needed in a partner, but one she wanted.

And while the flowers may wither, what it represents was eternal.

Lauren was blushing when she typed her text message albeit oblivious to the full scope of the gesture. The mere fact that Camila thought of her meant the world to Lauren. Though as much as she'd like to express her gratitude or ask how Camila was doing in a phone call, she was pressed for time.

She would like to say she'd been too busy in the past week to miss the professor but that would be a lie. Her exhaustion wasn't helping her sleep better like she hoped and Camila showing up at her doorstep the previous night was only exacerbating her longing. She didn't understand if it was because they hadn't been intimate in weeks or because she was craving more out of what little she's been given; time, attention...love.

Perhaps, it was why she'd been opening folders she had been ignoring in the past few months, the urge stronger with every fleeting time she spent with Pebble.

With everything going on, Lauren would still notice the lingering essence of nicotine clinging to Camila's skin, her mouth. She would swear it attached itself to the professor's aura, and ignoring it was not an option any longer and pretty soon, the slightest sliver of free time she could was devoted to reading about flushing nicotine from the body.

That and everything else put a damper on her mood, worsening with every new day.

And Dinah (her second surprise) would easily pick up on it at the end of that work day in mere seconds after her entrance and her friend was still buried in the pile of documents. She might have reacted crassly with a text message she sent without much thought. Although, she would claim the impulse was encouraged by Lauren's dry greeting, uttered with a heavy sigh.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just really busy." Lauren motioned towards the stacks of folders before her, hoping to downplay the vase perched by the upper left edge of her desk. She read through another student's application letter, pen in hand and was armed and ready to make corrections. "I need to finish most of this before their final grades are in so my students can find jobs faster. Some already have interviews lined up while others are still about to send in their CVs."