Studious

Erik trudges through the university grounds, a single bag strap slinged over his shoulder as he makes his way to the library. Typically, at this time he would’ve been on his way to Mrs Revers office but according to an email he got from her earlier, there was a roof leak, one of the pipes above her office burst and semi flooded her office. Allegedly, Mrs Revers wasn’t the only victim but regardless, she instructed him to meet him in the library, specifically one of the study pods. Today they would be going through his last assignment. Erik feels good about it, he studied hard and proofed the document he submitted three times… Three times more than he usually would for any other class. Maybe Mrs Revers teaching tactic is more effective than expected.

As he approaches the library he hears her familiar, deep and sharp voice around the corner to the entrance of the library.

“Honey… again?… many times?! -ot fair!”

Erik pauses at the door, he shouldn’t. He should go inside and wait for her. This is private business for her. It doesn’t involve him.

He steps silently to the wall, pressing close against it, doing his next impression of silence, he peers around the corner and sees Mrs Revers leaning against the wall, a frustrated look on her face as her arm on the same side of Erik holds her phone up to her face.

“You can’t just change your mind!” She snaps into the phone, feet shifting slightly. “You said you were okay with this!” Erik notices her free hand clutching her skirt tightly, the knuckles whitening. “What’s the difference now? That he’s young?”

What the fuck is going on here?

“What difference does it make?!” She growls into the phone, turning slightly into the direction of Erik who leans back around the wall and strains to keep listening.

“So what? You get your fun and now you demand I stop? How is it my fault she doesn’t want to fool around with you anymore?”

‘Was I getting played here?’ Erik ponders as he strains his neck to hear better, ‘I mean, I suspected from last time but wow..’

“So it was fine when you ‘pretending’ but not when I do?” Mrs Revers growls, her voice getting lower, “That’s not fair, Leon. I was never going to go that far… You did… And I was okay with it…” Her voice cracks.

‘Damn.’ Erik feels a pang of hurt and defeat at her private admission to her husband.

“End of discussion?! How dare you!” Mrs Revers voice goes tightens more and Erik takes that as his queue to retreat, feeling even more that this discussion sin’t for him.

——-

“Hello Mr Doe.” Mrs Revers says flatly, closing the study booth door behind her. Erik looks up and smiles innocently, he can’t help but notice that her face is frigtheningly neautral, her eyes a bit red. “I apologise for my tardiness.”

“Not at all Mrs Revers.” Erik had decided earlier to not push her today, and maybe give her some time and space and just actually focus on academics today… But he can’t help but probe just a bit, “Everything okay?”

“Yes.” She snaps. Uncharacteristically harshly. She catches herself, “Sorry. Yes. It’s been a long day.”

“I understand, sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?” He queries, only half with ill intentions.

“No.” Not quite a snap, but carrying an air of finality, “Give me a moment to connect my laptop to the big screen, and we’ll go through your assignment.”

“Any initial remarks?” Erik asks hopefully.

Mrs Revers doesn’t reply, her eyes betraying her annoyance and frustration as she swtiches between her laptop and the large mounted monitor. “Vaffanculo.” She mutters silently.

Erik is taken aback as Mrs Revers growls in frustration, leaning back and pinching her nose, an error message appearing on her laptop screen as it refuses to connect to the monitor. Erik grimaces, standing up, not only did he not know that Mrs Revers is Italian, or knows it, but he’s never seen her in such an agitated state. Definitely not going to mess around today, he thinks to himself.

“I can try and fix it?” He offers. She pushes her chair back and gestures silently at the laptop.

Erik bends over in front of her and navigates to the settings panel, after adjusting some settings the screen goes black for a second before reappearing up on the monitor, the screen successfully duplicated, and for a moment he see’s Mrs Revers messenger app, obviously connected to her phone, a message from ‘Amore (husband)’ is open that reads, ‘I love you Amelia, we’ll talk about this mroe when you’re home, this is not a convo we should have over the phone, okay?’ Erik quickly steps back and smiles, averting his eyes from the message.

“Thank you.” She says, a tight smiles on her face as she reaches out for her mouse and closes the messenger app.

“Happy to be of service.”

The vibes are definitely off. Mrs Revers is kind but snappy, praising Erik for his work but never slipping into the teasing persona she had used previously. Erik is sympathetic but disappointed since it’s clear that this is not going to go anywhere else today, or ever again. He feels a bit of pride at his impressive grade though, a solid 94% on the assignment. Clearing his highest grade for an official-non Mrs Revers side project submission by quite a margin.

Erik is smart enough to not make it obvious that he knows something is off because of his eavesdropping, but has to show Mrs Revers that he’s ‘okay’ with nothing happening today due to her general mood throughout the session.

“Thanks for that session, Mrs Revers.” Erik says kindly, “I didn’t think it was possible for me to actually improve to this degree.” He chuckles, trying to ligten her mood.

“Ha. I’m glad. I’m proud of your progress.” She pauses. Erik braces himself. Here it comes. Mrs Revers eyes dart to her screen, no doubt taking another look at the message from her husband.

‘We will have to adjust going forward. I think it’s best we don’t continue with our sessions in the way that we have.’