“All right Kayden. This is getting out of hand.”

In the millisecond it took for her to peel her eyes from her desk, Kayden’s mind teleported to the worst-case scenario: Kaiser was about to lecture her for her attire.

Sure, she’d been wearing shorts or crop tops for the last five weeks, but usually she didn’t wear both at the same time. Even after abandoning all of her former religious convictions about modesty, she still wanted to maintain some semblance of professionalism. Today was just an anomaly—a risk she felt like taking since it was hot outside and the course was nearly over.

But maybe that had been a mistake, since Kaiser himself never wore anything but slacks with a button-up tucked into them. Except on Fridays, when he instead tucked his dress shirts into jeans.

Her fidgeting leg ceased as she peeked up to her professor from her usual second-row seat.

He held up her most recent and final pop quiz at eye level. A broad closed-mouth smile graced his lips and wrinkled his eyes. Another perfect score.

She huffed in a relieved chuckle, tense shoulders relaxing. Of course he wouldn’t say anything about her clothes. It’s not like there was a dress code. Besides, she’d dress all professional-like once she started her position as a teaching assistant in the fall.

Josh scoffed from behind her. “Again?!”

“What exactly is your secret?” Kaiser flipped through the stapled pages, glancing over them as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Grinning widely, she shrugged a shoulder to her ear. “It’s you.” She quickly straightened her slouch when Aisha jabbed an elbow into her arm. “I mean, you’re just such a good teacher.”

One of his eyebrows lifted as he closed the packet and plopped it atop the rest of the stack. “If that were the case, then it wouldn’t have taken your tutoring groups for everyone else’s grades to improve.”

She grimaced. “So…you knew I was doing that?”

He chuckled.

Suki, the only other woman in the class besides Kayden and Aisha, winced and peered at Kayden from the end of the front row. “I’m sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?”

Kayden waved her hand. “No, no, it’s fine.”

“I just want to know why your tutoring has helped so much.” Boy was he persistent.

She blushed invisibly as she bit her lip and shrank back into her shoulders. “You caught me. I’ve taken trig before.”

Aisha joined the handful of students who shot her disbelieving glares and huffs. “What? You didn’t tell me that!”

Kaiser folded his arms. “Ooh, the truth comes out.”

Her hands went up defensively. “Hey now, it was in high school, like… almost a decade ago. I didn’t think I’d remember anything.”

He cocked his head ever so slightly and barely narrowed his eyes to study her face.

Josh verbalized the confusion at least a few others probably felt. “Wait, a decade? How old are you?”

“Almost 25.” She watched a guy in front of her start counting on his fingers, which made her chuckle. “I took it in junior year, so, eight years ago.”

“Dang, you’re old.”

Her jaw dropped as she hissed playfully over her shoulder at Josh, exaggerating offense. Was he lashing out because she’d rejected him the week before?

Kaiser held up a hand and sternly pointed a finger. “Okay, none of that. We do not shame others for their personal timelines.”

Josh recoiled into his seat. “Sorry.”

She lightheartedly stuck her tongue out at him with a grin before facing the front of the room again.

“Well, Veteran Mathematician Kayden—“ Kaiser’s smile returned. “—Would you like to take half of this stack and hand them back to your peers?”

Her eyes widened then darted to Aisha, who just shrugged, like she couldn’t offer permission even if she wanted to.

“Oh, uh, sure.” Kayden swiveled the seat sideways and swayed her way around the other chairs to descend the center steps.

As he halved the stack and extended it to her, he added, “If you’d also like to go over these with those who need it, I’d appreciate it.” This was the closest they had been without a desk between them. His eyes were even brighter up close, and she could see specks of silver in his beard.

Suddenly her head felt like it was spinning, so she averted her gaze to avoid looking at him any longer. She hugged the heap of papers against her chest. “Of course!”

Hopefully it wasn’t too obvious that she sashayed her hips when she headed back to the center aisle. She tossed her own test at her spot before beginning to look over names and pass the corresponding tests to students.

Kaiser handled the rest. “We only have two more days in this room, and of course, the last day will be the final. I’m confident that you all will do well.” He stepped up the center and reached out to Aisha, who took her test gratefully. “Honestly, these scores were the best each of you has ever achieved. You should be proud of yourselves.”

They grazed shoulders as they swapped places on the incline. Goosebumps climbed up Kayden’s skin.

“And you should thank Kayden for helping those of you who needed it.”

Another student piped up, “We should have a pizza party tomorrow instead of cramming. That’ll be a good thanks.”

Several people chuckled, some agreed.

Kayden flinched. Should she be a mood killer?

Not to worry: Aisha came to her rescue. “Oh, she can’t have dairy or wheat…so that would mostly just be torture.”

“Awww, dang it,” the student lamented.

Kaiser glanced down the risers at Kayden to study her. As she scanned for another student she met his eyes. “What about breakfast food? Catering?”

She blinked a few times. “What? You’re offering to cater?”

He handed his final test to someone and stepped down toward her. The room fell jarringly silent. “I think a party is an excellent idea, but I want to make sure everyone here can participate.”

Her mouth went agape sort of stupidly. “Wait, so after five weeks of quizzes and tests every Monday and Friday, you’re telling me that you support a party in this classroom?”

His eye twitched. It was subtle, but she was sure it was a wince. “You are calling me a hard-ass.”

Someone snorted.

Smirking, she broke eye contact and stepped up, shoulder to shoulder with him, in order to hand her final test to a student on the aisle seat. “No, I’m just saying I’m surprised. But, yeah, I can eat most breakfast foods as long as the ingredients are separated.”

“Does anyone here object to ordering catering from the Golden Eagle Diner?” He scanned the room, and locked eyes with Aisha, the only obviously Muslim person present.

She waved her hand. “I can eat vegetarian there.”

Kayden’s shoulders tensed as she peeked across Kaiser’s chest at her roommate. That diner was where she worked, though she did not feel like sharing that information. He’d have to call the restaurant later to place the order, and she would be the one working. She shook her head at her friend, discouraging her from saying anything about the coincidence.

Aisha nodded subtly with understanding.

Some students shrugged, but most seemed enthused about this compromise. No one objected.

Kayden smiled and rested her palm on Kaiser’s upper arm in order to pass him. She just about jumped out of her skin with the contact. His eyes met hers and she quickly yanked her hand away. “Thanks for considering me.”

“My pleasure.” His voice was low and soothing.

She quickly moved passed him to settle in her seat, heart racing and heat creeping up her neck.

One hand in a pocket, Kaiser strolled down the remaining steps and to his desk, where he retrieved his master copy of the recent test. “Let’s split into two groups, one with me, one with Kayden.” He stepped to his left, in front of the column of seats opposite of Kayden. “Go where you please. I’ll be over here. We’ll go down each problem, discuss them and address issues. That’ll be sufficient for today.”

Students quickly shifted seats, more than half scurrying over to Kayden’s side and filling the empty chairs around her. Her face reddened more than usual. She sheepishly met Kaiser’s eyes and he smirked before winking at her. He broke eye contact first, and she struggled to calm her pounding heart.

“Tomorrow, come in at 8:30. I’ll have to pick up the order first thing.”

Kayden really wanted to offer assistance, but she was beginning to suspect she was coming off as a teacher’s pet.

Suki—who preferred to be silent most days—spoke up again.  “Do you want us to bring stuff? Like, plates or drinks?”

He shook his head. “Thank you, but I’ll handle the flatware. How about we do a bring-your-own-beverage situation, to make things easy? Nothing easily spilled, please. And, it should go without saying, but please do not bring alcohol.”

Snickers rippled over the room again.

***

As she suspected, Kayden had been on shift when Kaiser called in the order, but he didn’t seemed to recognize her voice, thankfully. She’d found it endearing how insistent he was that no cheese touch the regular scrambled eggs.

The next morning, she and Aisha arrived to class slightly earlier than requested, but then again so did a few other students. The promise of food was a great motivator.

Kaiser was finishing stacking plates and utensils next to the myriad of hot food choices spread out the entire length of the first row table. It looked like it was probably too much food for everyone.

His usual polite and small smile stretched wider than normal as he greeted them. He was even wearing jeans… on a Thursday.

Kayden gasped playfully and pointed at them. “Oh my god, are you okay?!”

His head quickly shot down as he checked his legs. Realizing what she meant, his arms dropped to his sides, napkins in one hand, as he glared at her with feigned annoyance. “Hah, hah. Very funny.”

Giggling at her own joke, she slipped her tote bag off of her shoulder and dropped it on the floor behind the food table. Aisha followed suit with her backpack.

“Gosh, that smells good. I love eating at this place, but I didn’t know they catered.” That last part was a lie. Of course Aisha knew they catered, but she must’ve wanted to really sell the ruse.

They both reached for a plate and Kayden paused to examine the organic shape of it. They weren’t just paper plates. They had striations. She glanced up to Kaiser, who stepped back to allow the students to eat first.

“What are these?”

Kaiser’s hands went into his front pockets. “Oh, those are made from fallen palm fronds. Completely biodegradable, even in a landfill.” He gestured his shoulder toward the other end of the table where the utensils rested. “The cutlery is bamboo.”

“Oh, cool!” Aisha’s enthusiasm was short lived as she rushed passed her friend toward hot delicious food.

Kayden remained standing where she was, studying Kaiser. He shifted to sit on his desk in the front, unpocketing his hands and interlacing his fingers in his lap. Once settled, he looked to her again and simply held her gaze. After all the years of office parties back home, not a single person ever considered anything other than plastic for the dinnerwares. What motivated him to choose biodegradable?

The corner of her mouth dipped into a small grin. “Do you just have these specialty disposables lying around your house or something?”

His expression remained flat. “Yes, of course.”

Cute. Her hand rested on her right hip as she shifted her weight to it, studying his face. “What is your Doctorate in?”

A small smirk barely appeared. “How did my preference on disposables inspire that question?”

“I’ve never seen these before...I gotta know why you’re the only person I’ve ever met who buys them.”

He held her stare with slightly narrowing eyes, mulling over his response.

Other students passed Kayden to fill their plates, so she scooted over, closer to her professor. She overlapped her arms on her chest and perked one eyebrow. “What, is it embarrassing or something?”

The grin spread as he huffed a laugh. “No. Chemical engineering.”

 Her other eyebrow met its sister high on her forehead.

Some other students whipped their heads around in confusion.

“And you’re teaching…undergrad trigonometry…?”

He shrugged. “I do teach calculus and chemistry as well.”

She took another step closer. “Something tells me you might be incredibly over qualified for this position.”

Looking away, he huffed a small laugh. “I’m… comfortable.” His gaze went back to hers.

Just arm’s length away, she extended her hand and playfully tapped his shoulder with the backside of the plate. “Try to sound more convincing next time.” Her top teeth settled on her bottom lip with a smile.

Aisha parked in their usual spot and raised her voice. “Ahem. Kayden! Come eat your breakfast!”

Lips still pursed in a grin, she spun on her heel and got in line to load up her plate.

A hushed scolding began as soon as she plopped down.

“What the hell was that? It looked a lot like flirting…right in front of everyone. Right before the final exam.”

Kayden mixed her scrambled eggs and country potatoes. “What? No way. We were just talking.”

Aisha nudged her with her arm. “You’re lucky we’re basically done here and you won’t be seeing him again.”

The grin shifted into a pout. “Why does that make me lucky?”

She sighed. “Because no one will witness you flirting with him anymore. People won’t be able to get the wrong idea. Now you’ll just see him in passing. Like everyone else.”

Unlikely. Kayden’s algebra professor from her freshman year offered her that position as TA—which meant she would be seeing Misha Kaiser several times a week, since his office would be in the same place: right above this classroom.