I'm a college professor. That's my day job. I teach math, of all things.
Unfortunately, teaching math doesn't pay all that great. I, like so many of my colleagues, have another job to help with the living costs here in New England. Some of my colleagues tutor, or write admission essays for rich international students. One guy is a bouncer. Me, I like to think outside the box. We'll get to that in a minute.
It was Wednesday afternoon, and I had a mild headache. Not enough coffee. Or was it too much? Hard to tell. Yulia, from my sophomore class, was in my office.
I liked to keep an open door for students, because I know math is awful until the moment when a concept clicks, and reaching that moment takes a different amount of time for different people. Yulia was having trouble with homework, and I was explaining the intricacies of matrix multiplication the best I could. She was a bright student, and I was sure she'd get it with just a little bit more time.
Unfortunately, I didn't have that time.
"Apologies, Yulia, but we have to stop here. I'm afraid I have another commitment," I said.
"Oh, okay," she replied, her big eyes looking at me with a hint of disappointment. "I think I'm close to getting this."
"Yes, you are! Just have to remember when you go by rows and when by columns. Why don't you come here tomorrow morning, and we'll go over the rest of the material. That'll give you enough time to finish homework."
"That's so nice of you, professor! I'll see you later then!"
She jumped up her chair, waved at me, and sprinted out the door with youthful vigor that I envied.
I kept looking at her behind a little bit longer than was professional. See, Yulia was hot. Like, really hot. Maybe it was her Russian mother, who had forced her to do gymnastics from a young age. Or maybe it was his overprotective father, who literally drove two hours to see me at the beginning of the semester, and made it very clear that I was to tell him if any boys made any kind of gestures toward his precious Yulia. I didn't bother to mention to him that we hardly had any guys in this school. Maybe it was her gazelle-like (Patriotic people might call it 'Gisele-like') physique, with long legs and a nice waist. Either way, it was undeniable this gave Yulia a kind of a magical, innocent aura.
I know what you're thinking, and no. I'm not in the business of dating students, and while I think she maybe had a slight teacher-crush on me at one point, I'm doing all this extra teaching mostly to get tenure. Being an assistant professor is bullshit. Long hours, crappy pay, and no job security. I need great evaluations from students, and I genuinely like to see them do well in my classes. Thus, I help the students as much as possible.
But still, my rent wasn't going to pay itself. I'd be late from my second job if I continued this internal monologue much longer. I ran to my car, and drove to the nearby city.
---
"Hi, Josh!" Aly, our receptionist, welcomed me. Using the main entrance was risky, but I had seen that the customer parking lot was empty. It would be a serious breach of ethics to see a client, or have them see you. I quickly walked into the staff changing room before the first clients of the evening started to arrive.
Since it was early and a weekday, there was just one colleague present. Her name was Michelle, and she was a great lady. Early 40s, so a little bit older than me. Short and a little bit round, always wearing a smile with a bright-red, short and spiky hair. She was probably a lesbian, which was to be expected of people in her line of work. We didn't really talk about that kind of stuff here.
"Hey, Josh. Quiet today, huh?"
"Seems so. Do you have reservations?"
"Yep, I have regulars for the whole evening."
"Lucky you. I'm on reserve, again."
"Man, that sucks. At least you can grade homework or something and hope someone shows up."
"Yeah, but that reserve pay barely covers the cost of commute. How do you get so many regulars anyway?"