The 'road trip' that Caleb had so excitedly coined consisted mostly of heated debates over what genre of music to play and Ashly indulging the other two in overly TMI stories involving multiple drunken nights gone wrong.
"So Marie..." Caleb began to ask, his eyes still on the road. "I've been meaning to ask... do you have a boyfriend?"
Marie was taken aback by the question, glancing back at Ashly in the backseat nervously. Marie had no intentions of leading Caleb on and hadn't meant to give any signs of romantic interest.
"Caleb, look." Marie hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "You're a great guy - "
"Shit, I know how I sound. I'm just genuinely wondering..." Caleb glanced over at Marie. "I actually have a girlfriend."
Ashly immediately interrupted the conversation. "What? Caleb, you've never mentioned her!"
Caleb looked flustered, even blushing. The two girls had never seen him like this. "Just high school sweethearts. You know, freshmen year homecoming to senior year prom."
The two girls awww-ed, making Caleb blush into a deeper shade of red. Marie wondered why Caleb had never brought her up before...?
"I'm sorry, this is super awkward," Caleb continued, his eyes not leaving the road. "I just... it's hard to talk about this with the guys in the frat."
Caleb was clearly holding back something, so Ashly pushed on. "Are you having doubts?"
"No! Not at all. Grace is amazing. She really is. We're just... we're waiting till marriage. That's not weird, right? I don't bring it up with the boys."
"Not at all," Ashly responded. "She must mean a lot to you, Caleb."
"She really does. I'm willing to wait for her."
Caleb gave Ashly and Marie a sweet smile that lit up his eyes, tugging at Marie's heart.
Marie grappled with her response, which was mostly in awe. Marie self-admittedly struggled with emotional intimacy; her past exes would attest to the fact. To be in a relationship bound by genuine love and respect for the other... and nothing else...
It wasn't for Marie. But seeing Caleb's expression light up when he said the name 'Grace' pulled at a part of Marie she didn't know she had.
It was never something she wanted; to be vulnerable and open with another mind like that. It required a strength Marie didn't possess. A strength occasionally she wish had.
Marie had baggage - and made sure only she bared the weight of it.
"I would love for you guys to meet her. She'd love you two," Caleb offered.
"We should set something up!" Ashly exclaimed excitedly.
"You know..." Marie began to say, but faltered.
"Spit it out, girl." Ashly nudged Marie.
Marie caved in. "Next week is my birthday. On Friday actually. My 21st."
Ashly squealed and Caleb blurted out the obvious. "We have to get hammered, M."
Marie smiled at the thought but hesitated. The last time she got drunk she ended up with a certain psychology professor...
"I don't know, I feel like Marie might have plans for a Friday night," Ashly pointed out, giving an all-too-knowing look to Marie. Marie blushed.
Caleb chuckled. "True. Also, Grace isn't really the one to go bar hopping with us. How about lunch after psych?"
The three of them settled on that, Caleb promising to bring and introduce his girlfriend.
For once, Marie looked forward to her birthday.
✥ ✥ ✥
The event was extravagant - much more than what Marie was expecting.
The three students looked slightly out of place amongst the older and more mature crowd. Marie reminded herself to thank Ashly for forcing her and Caleb to dress more business formal than casual. Ashly donned a fitting formal midi-skirt with a blouse, Caleb wearing a simple dress pant and dress shirt set. Marie opted for a modest, A-line navy dress that flowed gracefully at her knees.
The three friends checked in at the front of the venue, which was a grand establishment just outside the city. They were given name tags and their assigned seating spots, all together at one of the many organized tables.
The center grand room of the venue was packed with white-clothed tables, highly important-looking people mingling, and an impressive stage towards the front. It looked more like an elite charity event than some lame research conference Marie was expecting.
Thanks to Ashly and Marie taking much longer than promised to get ready, the three were already late and got to skip the socializing before the event. They introduced and talked a bit with the people at their table, which included two doctoral candidates and an engineering professor.
The event progressed in quite a blur for Marie. Ashly had been right about a number of academic figures from around the world attending, as Marie recognized a plethora of accents from different countries speaking. Nevertheless, there was one certain professor of abnormal psychology that the student was patiently waiting to see...
Marie unconsciously bit her bottom lip at the sight of Nathaniel confidently making his way to the stage in graceful strides. He wore an all-black suit which was only highlighted by a silver pocket square. His brown waves were parted and styled elegantly. But it was his tall build that dominated the stage with ease that had Marie - along with others in the audience - staring with their mouths slightly agape.
The middle-aged woman who had introduced the professor handed over the microphone, obtrusively eyeing Nathaniel up and down. Marie had to look away and stop herself from rolling her eyes.
Nathanial commanded the stage with no effort, effectively introducing himself and his area of study.
"Now, I know a lot of you are already familiar with my work, but I was told to keep this event PG," Nathaniel snidely commented, garnering a respective laugh from the audience.
The rest of Nathaniel's talk was just a captivating as the man himself. He spoke about the intersection between psychology and law when it came to the insanity plea, a familiar defense seen in fictional crime shows to infamous trial proceedings involving big names in media. Nathaniel spoke about the role of psychology in these cases, going into the work being done to standardize and better understand the controversial subject to aid both defendants and prosecutors.
He ended the presentation by crediting the lawyers working alongside him in the project and - as expected - garnered the loudest round-of-applause of the day.
Nathaniel's talk had concluded the event, with closing remarks and donor gratitudes taking place after. Yet Marie's mind kept wandering...
She could feel herself getting restless. It frustrsated her the extent to which the professor had an effect on her. Along with the antipicaton for whatever he had planned after...
Marie tried to shake the thoughts from her head. She needed some space.
"I'm gonna head to the lady's room," Marie informed Caleb and Ashly as the main portion of the event now ended, the remaining time being for networking. Marie began making her way around the grand room in hopes of finding an exit to get some fresh air.
"Miss Mor, I presume."
Marie's head swung back at hearing her name called out. Who...?
Marie stilled. Approaching her was the current president of Wentworth University, President Richard Stinton. How did he know her name? It was a small school, but not that small.
"Ah, I apologize." Stinton continued. "I talked with your professor - Dr. Dameron. I found it very inspiring of him to select a handful of his students to invite here and I thought I should introduce myself"
Marie shook the man's hand. He seemed much older than her and visibly aging. Why was Marie so unsettled...?
"What do you think of Dr. Dameron as a professor?" Stinton asked.
Marie didn't lie. "He's hard on us but he really knows his stuff. I respect him a great deal."
Stinton just humphed. Marie never dabbled in politics but she wondered if this line of questioning had anything to do with Nathaniel's plans to be president next year.
She had figured Stinton would voluntarily step down... right?
Any further interrogation was put to a halt by the man himself. "Richard."
Marie glanced to her side to find Nathaniel standing before her and President Stinton.
"Good evening, Nathan!" Stinton greeted, overly enthusiastic.
The professor corrected him. "Nathaniel."
Marie wanted to bury herself into a hole from the obvious tension between the two men.
Stinton went on. "I was just saying hi to one of your students. She seems very bright. I'll lookout for the other two."
Nathaniel nodded and the two exchanged curt parting words.
"What the hell was that?" Marie questioned, turning to face Nathaniel.
"Language," the professor shot back in warning. "And none of your concern."
Nathaniel wanted to move on from anything involving Stinton.
Thus, he changed the topic. "There's somebody I want you to meet, Marie."
With her interest peaked, Marie followed behind Nathaniel as he weaved through the slightly dense crowd. She struggled to keep up with the man's stallion strides.
Finally, he came to a stop at a small standing table towards the other side of the room.
"Theodore," the professor greeted with a stunning smile.
Marie hesitated. The name...
Oh. He was the man the professor was on the phone with while Marie stripped in front of him.
Marie threw silent daggers with her eyes at Nathaniel. The son of a bitch.
Nathaniel introduced Marie to the man but she found herself slightly zoned out as she shook Theodore's hand. He was ruggedly and expensively handsome. He had short hair and smooth, rich skin... Marie was mesmerized.
Snapping out of it, Marie caught Nathaniel's introduction. "Marie, this is Theodore Holmes. He's a highly successful real estate agent and property developer here in the city. I know you're an economics major and Theo's a very good friend."
Theodore gave a dashing smile. "Marie... the name sounds oddly familiar."
Marie blushed. But Theodore seemed oblivious... or the man was a really good actor.
He continued. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Mor. Nathaniel has a... good sense at spotting potential in students. It would be a pleasure to have you under my wing at my company."
Marie let a smile play on her lips. She turned her entire body away from Nathaniel and towards Theodore. She'll show him.
"I greatly appreciate that, Mr. Holmes. I would love to stay in contact and take advantage of any opportunities."
"Call me Theo, please." Theodore handed Marie his business card, throwing a sly smile in Nathaniel's direction after catching onto Marie's subtle dig.
Nathaniel felt a vein in his forehead start to throb. "Marie will be heading out now. It was nice seeing you, Theo."
Nathaniel had to control himself from grabbing Marie's arm and yanking her out of the crowd to drag her to his car. He was already treading a line with Theo, even though he knew worse secrets of him - and vise versa.
Nathaniel didn't give Marie a chance to say anything, knowing whatever came out of her mouth would set him over the edge and make a scene in public. "You have 5 minutes. Say goodbye to your friends and meet me in the back. A car will be waiting. Clear?"
5 minutes? To find Ashly and Caleb amongst this crowd?
"What if I'm late?" Marie asked.
Nathaniel smirked. "Let's just say you're already at 10."
"10 what?"
"15."
Marie shut her mouth. She had taken double that during her session in Nathaniel's office over his knee... except she had a dark feeling he wasn't planning on using his hand this time.
With her countdown started, Marie dissipated into the crowd to find Ashly and Caleb. Luckily, she found them quickly.
"Hey, Marie! We were looking for you! We're gonna head out now, you good to go?" Ashly exclaimed.
"Umm..." Marie hated lying, feeling a pit in her stomach each time. "Professor Dameron actually introduced me to some business guy and I'm gonna talk to him some more. I'll Uber back, no worries!"
Marie was frantically checking the time on her phone. Ashly and Caleb seemed like they both wanted to say something.
Marie didn't let them. "Look, I gotta get going. I can't keep him waiting. Get home safe!"
Ashly and Caleb said their brief goodbyes, stunned at Marie's disheveled state but disregarding it quickly.
Marie allowed her feet to move as swiftly as they could amongst the crowd. She made her way to the back, behind the stage, opening a series of doors she hoped would lead to an exit outside.
Finally, she reached a hidden driveway in the back with a black Audi waiting, Nathaniel leaning against the car looking at his watch.
His gaze fixated itself on Marie as he opened the backseat door.