Now barely ten days away from spring semester finals, Kayden tapped her knuckles on the cold metal frame of her boss’ open door. “Here are those assignments, Justina.” She wasn’t sure when she started calling Quiñones by her first name, but it made her feel more like her friend rather than subordinate.

Taking the welcoming smile as an invite, she stepped in and handed her the heap of marked papers.

Justina gratefully received the stack and placed them on her desk, tentatively peeking at the first few. “Thanks, Kayden. Any witty answers?”

Chuckling, Kayden waved a hand. “No, nothing exciting this time. There’s still finals, though.” With a smile she pivoted on the heels of her flats. “I’ll see you later.”

“Oh, wait, Kayden.” Justina scooted the stack of worksheets to the edge of her desk to address later. She nodded her head at the entrance. “Close the door and have a seat, would you? I’d like to talk.”

The way she said it gave Kayden pause. “Uh oh, should I be worried?” She tried to keep her tone light as she slipped into the uncomfortable wooden chair across from the desk.

Justina waved her hand dismissively. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that. You’re doing a great job. I hope you know that.” She smiled reassuringly. “It’s about me and my future here.” She leaned back in her office chair and clasped her hands over her lap.

Kayden tensed slightly in anticipation.

“I’m actually going to transfer up north next year.”

Disappointment mixed with delight overcame Kayden as she exhaled, slumping into the chair. “Aw, that’s…both great and sad.” She tried to make her smile seem more than half-hearted. “I’ll miss you but I know your family is up there, so congrats.”

 “Thank you. It’s definitely going to take some adjustments but I’m excited for it.” She fidgeted briefly with a pen. “I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you, though, so I’ve already ask another professor to take you in.”

Was Justina giving her…a coy grin?

“You’re in his calculus class.”

Heat rose up from Kayden’s chest as her heartbeat sped up. The cartilage of her ears burned, and she hoped that her cheeks also hadn’t visibly flushed. Trying to maintain composure, she calmly croaked, “You mean Kaiser?”

The grin widened as she intertwined her fingers on her desk. “The one and only. Damien is graduating this year, after all.”

Kayden wasn’t sure what to do with her hands, so she just clutched the armrests, trying to force closed her gaping mouth. “Wow, uh, thanks. That’s...kinda a lot of pressure though.” A nervous laugh escaped.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll do just fine. I heard you did great in both of his math classes.”

Sure but Damien also handles his chemistry class, and I can’t do that shit…

“Besides, you two already get along and it’s just better for you to fill in for Damien instead of him trying to go through applicants.”

Her expression must have given away that she wasn’t utterly convinced and confident because Justina’s smile faltered.

“You’ll be fine, I promise. Talk to him after class today.”

With a sigh, she stood and headed for the door. “Okay, I will. Thanks, and again, congrats.”

She passed Kaiser’s locked and empty office to collect herself in hers, closing the door as she reached for the water bottle on her desk. A long drink fixed her dry throat. Fanning herself with one hand, she snatched her phone up from the desk with the other and shot Aisha a quick text: ‘Quiñones is leaving this year and she told Kaiser to pick me for his next TA.’

Gathering her tote bag—finally void of textbooks this late in the semester—snacks and keys, she flicked off the light and locked the door. As she approached the stairs down to the first floor, she caught her reflection in the glass of a nearby picture frame to touch up her hair and straighten her blouse, which wasn’t even necessary since it was barely 9 a.m. and she hadn’t done enough in the day to earn an unkempt appearance.

Besides, Kaiser had seen her in sweatpants and unmanaged hair at the grocery store. Why was she suddenly fussing?

Arriving a bit too early to the empty classroom, she settled comfortably in her usual spot and retrieved her phone to read Aisha’s response.

Aisha: Holy tacos on a spicy pizza!

Aisha: But wait, does Kaiser even work with undergrad TA’s?

Aisha: No offense.

Kayden: I guess I’ll find out in a few hours after my class marathon.

Other students began trickling into the room and up the steps to their seats. Aisha offered to buy her a coffee and they agreed on a time to meet before she put her phone away.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep her focus.

This normally wasn’t a problem anymore. She had gotten used to the routine of three packed hours without anticipating that final class with Kaiser. They were much friendlier and comfortable with each other by now. She knew this.

Yet, today, she just kept checking the clock.

The last class before calculus dragged.

After doing a couple of stretches in the ten minute gap, she restlessly bobbed her heel up and down under the desk, fidgeting with her pencil to calm down.

Soon Vince was smiling broadly at her as he plopped his bag on the table next to her. “Hey.”

Relief overcame her as she beamed back. “Hey, Vince. Ready for finals?”

Vince chuckled as he retrieved his notes from his bag. “As ready as I can be.”

All that yoga she did seemed to pay off: deep breathing further slowed her heart rate to normal, just in time for her periphery to catch Misha Kaiser coming through the door after holding it open for a few students.

He glanced in her direction and, when he met her gaze, smiled warmly and winked. Again. Winking was normal. He always winked, and had been doing so for months at that point. So why did her heart flutter? Why couldn’t she get used to what basically boiled down to an asymmetrical blink?

So much for mastering her breathing.

The chatter of students settling in quieted down to whispers as Kaiser took his stance in front of the teacher’s desk. He half sat, half leaned on the surface, resting one ankle over his other knee. The bottom hem lifted with his bent knee, revealing those usual brightly-colored argyle ankle socks.

“All right, folks,” Kaiser called out. The room respectfully fell silent. “We are in the home stretch, now. There are only three—“ he held up his thumb, index and middle fingers, “—more classes before finals. You know what that means.” He paused for dramatic effect. “It’s crunch time.”