Professor C (camren)

16 - Jauregui (Part 1)

"Makes sense." Dinah nodded to accept Lauren's answer but wasn't quite ready to back down yet. "But if you were naked...it'd be easier for Mila to...you know, then."

Lauren could only narrow her eyes to hide the guilt riddling them. She chose not to speak with the knowledge that she would definitely not make sense while scrambling to come up with excuses. She feared repeating words, stuttering them and making her seem like a broken vinyl record – a lying, guilty one at that.

"I'm kidding." Dinah chuckled, waving her hand to brush off the apparent tension emanating from Lauren. "I would assume Mila got laid though because she has just been pleasant this week. She has not yelled at Luca yet, even Elf's nanny has been spared from the glare. She hates that chick." She let out a laugh, remembering their oddly peaceful situation in the Clausnitzer estate.

"There's a thing called masturbation, Dinah. Besides, she's married. She could freely fuck her husband."

Lauren's "vulgar" words rendered Dinah slack-jawed with the Polynesian's features painted with mock offense. Lauren waited with baited breath as she anticipated what Dinah would say next. Lauren wasn't quite sure if she could say anything more to divert the conversation into something as casual as how their day went.

Lauren could only wish that Great Aunt Patty had not informed Dinah of the lack of intimacy in Luca and Camila's marriage. And even without Patty in the mix, Dinah could have picked everything out just by spending a day with the couple.

"I will never get used to how blunt you turned out to be." Dinah released an unbridled laugh. The only noise that the rest of the restaurant could hear from their table. "You were blunt in high school. You're just worse now."

Freed from her worries, Lauren laughed along with Dinah, craftily sighing in absolute respite. She decided she was more relieved to find Dinah clueless than hearing that she was finally a single woman once again. She concluded that being the subject of the conversation before Dinah's careless jabs was worse than facing the judge and her ex-husband in court.

Minutes shy of the 15-minute mark, their server made an appearance, bearing a large tray of the pair's meal. Dinah made sure to commend the young man, informing him of how hungry she was. True to her words, her gaze never faltered; staring at the dumplings dreamily.

"Eat up, Dinah." Lauren coaxed through a laugh. She regarded the server, who smiled at them while continuously moving plates upon plates to their table. "He won't think you're rude."

Without another word, Dinah happily grabbed a fork, foregoing the chopsticks and stabbed it on a piece of dumpling.

-

That afternoon, Lauren was back in her office, getting ready to meet one of the faculty with a tenure track appointment upon hiring. She was going to interview Professor Hubert Mueller, a jolly, old man in his 60's, who possesses a Doctor of Engineering and two Master's degrees. Prof. Mueller has been employed exclusively in Lafayette Community College for 11 years followed by his part-time stints in several other colleges while simultaneously running his own construction firm.

It wasn't necessarily an interview. It was more of the psychologist's appraisal; Lauren's professional opinion on whether or not the candidates would be an asset in terms of the institution's long-term goals. Apart from those blatantly written on their résumés, they needed some sort of a psychological and behavioral evaluation. With most everyone coming to Lauren to express their grievances, she had better knowledge of their tendencies - if their teaching methods are effective and whether they get along with the other members of the faculty or not. Most importantly, if they were bound to exploit their permanent residency or not.