STEEL BARS

Chapter 15

"Well, this is it." Adam smiles excitedly as he sees Chance approaching their cell, holding shackles for Tim. The brown eyed man nervously bounced his leg as he sat on his bed. "Come on, now. You'll ace it." Adam sat beside him, rubbing his back comfortingly. "But what if I forgot the formula again, or I mess up the signs?" Tim rambles on. 

"Relax, we studied, remember?" Adam smiles, biting his lips as thoughts of their steamy study session the previous night beginning to occupy his mind. 

 "Are you ready?" Chance asks, holding up the shackles. Tim nodded and exited their cell, with a soft kiss and "good luck" from his cell mate. As they walked through the cell block, several inmates turned their heads to see Foust being led away in shackles. "Yo, Foust, what is it this time?" Someone asks. "I f*cked your mother!" Tim shouts, earning him laughs, claps and "oohs" from the others. Chance chuckled quietly as he led the man to the Conference Room. 

 It was definitely more spacious than Clooney's office and more comfortable. Plus, it's further away from the cell block, giving Tim a more relaxed place to focus on his exams. Mr. DiCaprio smiles as Tim and Chance walk inside the room. 

"There's my favorite student." He shook Tim's hand, then Chance's. "Good morning, Mr. DiCaprio." "Morning, Tim. Let's get it on!" He laughs, leading Tim to the table. 

Tim put on his glasses and began analyzing the problems. Luckily, they were very similar to what Adam had made for him to answer. He smiled as he circled the factor of two binomials, signaling that he has finished the test. "I'm done." Tim announces with a proud smile. 

Mr. DiCaprio looked up from his phone. "Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows. "Certain as the sun." Tim winks. "Alright. Let's check your work shall we?" Mr. DiCaprio says. This focused expression shifted into, shock, surprise, and then amazement. "Timothy, is that you?" He jokes, giving Tim his test paper. "Well, yeah." He smiles shyly, looking over the problems that he answered perfectly. "That is a far cry from the C you got the last time." Mr. DiCaprio says with a knowing smile. 

"I just studied really hard. Why are you looking at me like that?" Tim asks defensively. 

"I just wanted to ask." DiCaprio smiles. 

"Ask what?" Tim asks. 

"If that charming rookie I've been hearing about has anything to do with this." He says with raised eyebrows. Tim turned a bright shade of rouge, knowing that his teacher wouldn't let it go without an answer. 

"He's a post-graduate student in MIT." Tim says quietly. "Ooh." DiCaprio smirks. "He's also married." Tim sighs. 

DiCaprio's smile drops, concern filling his eyes. "You been screwing a married man?" "What? No, we haven't, yet." Tim answers, shaking his head. The teacher nodded. Silence filled the room for a moment. "I have to go now." Mr. DiCaprio shook his hand firmly. "Thanks, Mr. DiCaprio." Tim smiles. "You're welcome. See you next month." He waves goodbye. 

Chance returns to the room a few moments later. "Well?" He asks with raised eyebrows. "I ACED it!" Tim smiles. "That's great." Chance removed his shackles and walked him back to his cell. 

"You know, you're gonna have to do something about that sooner or later." Tim broke the silence. "About what?" Chance furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "About Avi." Tim smiles as Chance did too. "Why? Is he cheating on me?" He smirks. "Of course not! I mean, it's very obvious that you have feelings deeper than lust. What are you going to do about it?" 

 Chance sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. "I love him, alright? I might talk to Uncle Ian about it." He says. They reached cell number 207, where Adam waited for Tim patiently. "Thanks." Tim smiles. Chance waves before walking away.