Ian ended up stumbling into the dorm room later on that night, he found a place on the floor to sleep, I got comfortable in the bed and heard Lip walk in shortly after Ian passed out on the floor. He got onto the floor on the other side of the bed, keeping his respectful distance and I was glad for that. It was so I would trust him, that was obvious, and it was working at this point.
Ian ended up waking up first, he nudged me awake so I could scoot over for him, I wiggled over a little and he slipped into bed, "I need advice," He whispered to me, he was keeping his voice low so he wouldn't wake up Lip.
I propped myself up on my elbows to get a good look at him, "What's up?"
"Well, I'm going on a date."
"Oh? The fireman dude?"
He nodded, a smile on his face, "Mickey and I never went out on dates, Ned never took me out... And well, Kash and I fucked in the back of a convenience store, and I don't think jerking off strangers in a nightclub counts, so..."
I let out a small chuckle, "Dean was the only one who ever took me out on dates," I mentioned, "It's not that hard, go out to eat, get a drink, maybe bang all night... Nothing crazy."
"What do you wear?"
"Um, something nice, I guess, a nice t-shirt, a black one, nice jeans."
I heard Lip yawn, he sat up and looked at the two of us, "What the fuck are you guys talking about?" He asked.
"Ian's going on a date," I told him, "He isn't sure what to wear."
"Wear clothes," Lip said as he stood up and stretched.
"Thanks, asshole," Ian tossed a pillow over to him.
"What time is it anyway?" Lip searched for his phone on the floor, I pulled out mine from under my pillow, holding it up.
"10," I said before I let out a sigh, trying to ignore the fact that the Gallagher house was no longer a thing at the moment. They had to find somewhere to live, and soon. My attention was drawn to the door as someone pounded on it, Lip stood up and walked over to answer it, "Yo," He greeted the guy that was standing there.
"Holy shit, dude," The guy said, "Been online yet?" He asked. Ian and I did our best to try to seem like we weren't listening in on the conversation.
"No, I just woke up, why?"
"The picture of your lady professor showed up on Gawker this morning," The guy told him. Gawker was some popular blog website, it gained a lot of traffic.
"What?" Lip leaned out of the door in attempt to cut off the radius of sound from the conversation, as if Ian and I wouldn't hear him anymore, but it didn't work that well, it only sounded a bit muffled, but the words were still clear enough.
"It's labeled not safe for work!"
Lip closed the door on him and walked over to his laptop, he logged in and pulled up his email, his demeanor quickly changed once he did so, "I've got 106 emails," He said, Ian and I exchanged confused glances. "The provost wrote me?"
"Uh... Sorry, babe, we have no idea what the hell a provost is," I said, not even thinking about the fact that I just called him babe. It flowed out naturally, I guess.
Lip turned to look at me, "Being asked to appear before a Faculty Disciplinary Committee," He said.
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Lip left the dorm to go find Helene to talk to her about everything that was going on. Ian had work, so that left me in the dorm alone on my one day off, I spent most of my alone time trying to figure out if I wanted to stay or go to something, but I needed to stick around for Lip. With everything going on at the moment, I figured he needed someone there for him, if he wanted that or not. I still cared for him, even with everything that had happened.
He came back to the dorm later, grabbed something and then stormed off, I rushed behind him to see what was going on, he wasn't in the right headspace to just storm off somewhere and do something stupid. "Lip!" I called after him, "Think about shit before you start it," He came to a stop in front of a dorm room and banged on the door, ignoring everything that I had just said.
"Amanda!" He shouted, "Open up, I can hear you!" He turned his head to look at me for a moment before he continued to shout at the door, "Look, tell the board you made a mistake, say you're a jealous cunt and you didn't mean to get her in trouble!"
That's when the door open, Amanda stood there with a confused look on her face, "What board?" She asked, then she saw me, "Oh... hi, Mabel," She gave me a fake smile, as if she was happy to see me.
"The committee?" Lip's tone was harsh, "The provost."
She shook her head, "No idea what you're talking about," She went to close her door but Lip put his foot out, keeping it open.
"What do you mean? They didn't ask you to come in?"
"Nope," Amanda said, "Excuse me," She attempted to close her door once more, but Lip pushed it back open.
"Okay, wait," Lip sighed, "Then... Then make a statement or post a retraction somewhere," He stuttered over his words, showing how frustrated he was, but he was also trying to keep his composure.
"Where?"
"Online!"
Amanda was watching my every move, watching as I shifted closer to Lip, the way I stared her down. I think she was scared of me in some way, but I wasn't sure why, and I don't think she understood why either, "Do you actually not understand how the internet works?" Her glanced shifted to look at Lip once more.
"I don't care how it works, okay? Helene could lose her job!"
Amanda tilted her head, a smug look on her face, "Maybe she should of thought about that before she started banging her students," She told him, "And maybe you should learn how to treat girls that you sleep with better," She looked at me again, "I think Mabel would agree with me on that one, right?" Her stare fell back onto Lip, "Anyway... Ever heard of the campsite rule?"
I didn't say anything to her, "The what?" Lip asked her.
"Leave the area in better shape than you found it, asshole, now move!"
Amanda picked up a suitcase that was near her door, it was obvious she was packed up and ready to leave, "Wait," Lip looked down at her suitcase, "Where are you going?"
"The feminazis are after me," She explained, "Accused me of trying to destroy a high-status female because I've internalized my own gender oppression," She heaved her bag to her side then shrugged, "2,000 comments on my Facebook page, including death threats, my parents want me to leave campus until it blows over," She forced another fake smile, "You're on your own, Lip... Well, I guess there is Mabel, you seem to have her in a chokehold, don't you?" She tilted her head to the side before she walked away. I looked over at Lip, for once I was analyzing him, not the other way around.
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Lip went to his hearing the next day, I hung out in his dorm room, waiting to find out what happened. When he came back, I could tell the meeting didn't go well, he slammed the door and fell onto the bed next to me, I shifted my body to look at him, "I figure that it didn't go well?" I spoke up first.
"Just some bullshit," He mumbled, I nodded. He finally looked over at me, "Why did I ever fuck shit up with you?" He said out of the blue, "You look so innocent all the fucking time," I could smell the alcohol on him, it was obvious that he had been drinking, and probably pretty heavily, "Those eyes are what made me want you in first place. You're the only girl that I kept around."
I laughed softly, "And you're doing a shitty job at it, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am."
"At least we're on the same page for once."
There was a long pause, "I want to do a better job. I want to keep you around this time..."
"You have some shit to figure out, don't you?"
"I'll get it sorted."
"I hope so, Phillip. I fucking hope so."