Lead Me Home by Shannon O'Brien

Author:Shannon O'Brien [O'Brien, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642471991
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2021-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

I’m antsy.

Allison drummed her fingers on the windowsill. Toni was late to their weekly meeting, a first for her usually dependable TA. The workload had become nearly manageable thanks to Toni tackling the recent flurry of papers from her overwhelmingly ambitious First-Year Seminar students. After a bumpy start, most of them had settled in and found something in the course that piqued their interest. There had been a few that dropped the course along the way, but Allison was pleased with their collective progress. She was even more impressed with Toni’s ability to handle her TA duties and her insightful comments on various colorful sticky notes that she interspersed through the papers. She looked forward to her notes and often used many of her comments on the papers when she reviewed them for the final grade.

She heard a rush of movement in the hallway and then Toni rushed through the office doorway, out of breath but clearly apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Professor Chandler. Am I horribly late?”

“Not horribly. I was just about to call Campus Security to track you down. It’s not like you to be so tardy.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry about that,” Toni mumbled as she collapsed into her usual chair.

“Is everything okay?”

Toni sucked in a breath before she responded. “Mikaela and I had our meeting with ResLife today. It didn’t go as well as I hoped.”

She looked utterly defeated and was clearly tired. Her hair was missing its usual coif and she had some deep circles under her eyes.

“No new roommate, then?”

“No,” she sighed. “But I think some people in my dorm will be going abroad in the spring and some single rooms will open up. I’d rather have a roommate, but being alone would be better than my current situation. It’s going to be okay. Just a few more weeks until January Term.”

“A few more weeks?” Allison spluttered. “Surely they can do something about it before that.” It sounded to her like Toni was in an unbearable situation. If ResLife wouldn’t do something about it, then she would have to find a way around them.

“Apparently not. Neither one of us wants to be the one to move. We’re both stubborn, which is part of the problem. But I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll muscle through.”

“An impasse. I see,” Allison hummed.

Toni nodded sadly.

“Well, this isn’t the end, if you ask me. That was just one meeting with one person. I’m sure we can figure it out. In the meantime, if you need somewhere to get some peace and quiet, I recommend the fourth floor of the Art Library. It’s a dead zone up there. Perfect for napping. And if you ever want to talk about it, or just need somewhere to go to get away, my door is always open,” Allison offered, a gesture to the office around them.

“What about when it’s locked?” Toni asked with a renewed spirit.

“Well, then you’re shit out of luck.” Allison shrugged.

Toni laughed at her unexpected foul language. Allison never treated her students with kid gloves.

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