My Professor's Secret

07|

seven

The sky had faded to almost complete darkness once my last lecture was over. I didn't even bother heading to my dorm because it would only take up more time and I was already on edge about walking to work by myself in the dark. It took ten minutes tops for me to get to Hinkhouse on foot if I jogged, so I did.

If I hadn't recognized Professor Thornton's black Toyota Camry in the lot, I'd have thought the place was empty. The restaurant looked pitch black from the outside, but the door opened when I tugged on it so I headed straight for the kitchen.

Professor Thornton was there with his hands submerged in a sink full of dish water, slowly working his way through the dirty dishes piled to the side of the sink. During my day shift when he was indistinctly discussing kitchen etiquette, I recall him mentioning how he preferred washing dishes by hand rather than loading them into the dish washer.

I didn't agree, but my mom used to be the same way. She was always raving on about how machines couldn't get the job done well enough. Realistically it was her only way of coping with the diagnosis. Reminiscing the best parts of my mother seemed to always keep me afloat in times I needed her most, but the clinking of silverware hitting the bottom of the sink snapped my mind back in time and I walked further into the kitchen.

Every time Professor Thornton and I were in close proximity, there was this unshakably mortifying sensation of embarrassment haunting me. It was obvious he didn't feel it which made more sense as to why he asked if I'd be able to handle the situation as a mature adult. Clearly I was failing; miserably.

"Professor Thornton?" It came out more as a question then I intended it to. "Good evening, sir. Where do you want me? Should I help you with those?"

He acknowledges me immediately by turning around. "Alexandrea, Good evening to you," he smiles, sounding more chipper than he did earlier today despite the fact that it was two hours until midnight. "I've got these. I'll talk you through a few procedures while I finish up with this and then we'll switch to meal prep," he ends, scoffing out a slight laugh. We'd obviously have to clean the dishes again anyways.

Professor first talked me through every possible worse case scenario when attempting to diffuse a messy situation with a guest. According to him, staff were never right. If a costumer said we messed up their order, we were to remake it. If a costumer didn't enjoy something on their plate, we were to remake it. Quite frankly if anything was wrong with our service or the food, the costumer had free reign. No questions asked.

Hinkhouse's legacy meant the world to Kevin. He ran this restaurant pridefully—rightfully so—Professor T always made sure to through in if his conversation seemed to discredit our boss in even the slightest.

In a matter of two hours, he successfully lead me through the dining layout, explained server etiquette, and made me memorize and recite the menu back to him—twice. Not to mention we'd been on our fifth dish tasting for the night. It went without saying that time affected our ability to enjoy the meals in their entirety. Plus there was only so much a person could eat per training session. He brings it to an end soon thereafter, submerging our dirty dishes in to the sink with a disappointing sigh. As expected, Professor rejects my offer to help, but even through his persistent objections, I blot the clean dishes dry and put them away for tomorrow's use.

Perhaps it was redundant continuously bringing up last nights turn of events. Whatever it was, I never gave him a proper thank you. So much of my focus was centered around how screwed up the situation was that I missed how genuine and honest his intentions truly were.

"I-uh. After our ride yesterday..." I dragged, tossing the damp towel in the soiled linens after Professor finished the dishes and I dried them all. "I realized there were a few things that could've been handled more maturely. The first being me not properly thanking you for helping us—me—in the first place when you certainly didn't have to. So thank you."

Professor signals me out the kitchen, flicking the light off behind himself. He heads to the lounge with me following close behind. 

"You're welcome. Accountability is definitely necessary on my end as well. I've never been in your position so it was insensitive to assume immaturity was your response. The situation was stressful and I had no right making you feel like you had to be embarrassed or question your learning abilities when you were suffering Taylor's irresponsibility. So I apologize."

Suddenly the heaviness begins to diminish. I needed to hear him say that more than I cared admitting to him. I watch him grab a set of keys and hydro flask from the locker he was rummaging through before giving me a half smile.

"She speaks very highly of you, you know?" I didn't. My relationship with Taylor was great but it seemed to exceed that of a roommate. "And that's saying a lot because she rarely likes anyone. She didn't even like me when we first met."

I find that hard to believe.

A laugh escapes my lips following one from him and he guides us out the lounge and out of the building, locking it up behind the both of us.

One in the morning was quickly approaching and campus was merely a ghost town despite a few stragglers —including me and the professor. Instead of walking off to his car, he lingers near me for a moment.

"You need me to wait with you until your ride gets here?" Professor questions.

"Pat and Charlie are the only ones I can rely on right now, Professor T. If you're concerned I'll end up at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, don't be. I know the way home from here."

Professor Thornton let's out a genuine laugh. It was amazing how refreshing his company was when I hadn't been so focused on the minutia his title held.

"Seriously," he laughs again. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with myself knowing you walked home alone this late and I didn't even make an attempt to offer you a ride."

There was no point in trying to debate or argue away his offer for a ride home so I didn't even bother. We rode to my dormitory in a silence that was actually peaceful this time as sleep was the only thing on my mind. We said our goodbyes and he mentioned he looked forward to seeing me in our next lecture before we depart.

Shadowing and training at Hinkhouse for the remaining days of the week went as smoothly as I could've expected. Considering Professor T wasn't supposed to train me made sense as to why the remaining days were left to Josh and why he hadn't been back since that night.

»

"So what did Presley say when you told her about the key? Did she buy it?" Lynn, Taylor and I mindlessly window shopped around the mall.

When Taylor was able to get into our dorm after we'd been locked out she met with our dorm advisor. The story of her key mysteriously disappearing out her pocket wasn't convincing enough to evade the charges it cost to replace it.

It was me that convinced her into talking with Presley about misplacing the key in the first place because of my irrational fear someone breaking into our dorm. Regardless of how long Taylor waited to tell the truth about her key, she'd have to eventually because it was etched with our room number and had to be turn back in anyways.

It was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

"Well, I kind of embellished a little," she says through gritted teeth. "She said there are twelve rooms with the same room number as us so they'd have to go through all of them to find our room and that wasn't likely. Despite that, people normally turned in lost keys. Their policy for theft is expulsion."

"Wait, embellished?" Lynn butts in before I had the change to say.

"My words exactly. What did you tell her?"

Taylor's cheeks flush and before speaking, she uses the straw of her frozen coffee to delay her response. "That I had an ex who stole it just to be malicious. She didn't make me pay so I think she believed me," she ends with a shoulder shrug.

Perhaps it would all work itself out.

——
short chapter.
don't forget to vote and comment. your support means the world to me 🥰🤍.