Drmalaleeds:

drmalaleeds‌:

“That’s the spirit.” Mala grinned, pleased that he hadn’t sent her a look of disbelief and immediately turned his back to her. Instead, he’d played along - with a sense of humour nonetheless. “I’m not paying for your company, I’m bribing you for your company, there’s a very fine line between the two but they can have vastly different meanings and reasons behind them.” The woman couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she spoke to him, shaking her head in amusement as she waited for the bartender. “Did you give yourself this C+ grade? I think I’m going to have to regrade you after this, give you an honest outside opinion on your conversation skills.”

“Well, you’re bribing me with a payment, so I think you are paying for my company through bribery,” he retorted. Obviously the boy was joking. “Hey, there is no shame in having a male escort. There should be no double standard in this world regarding escorts. Women should be allowed to have as many male escorts as she pleases and not be judged.” Once again, Aiden let out a laughter, indicating he was not being serious one bit. “Well, you know how there’s Rate My Professor? My friends decided to make me a Rate My Convo because they claim that I’m too introverted. I guess people give me ratings on how well I can carry a conversation. Apparently, some people have given me the red pepper, which indicates they find me handsome. I think they need to see an optometrist.” Aiden wasn’t much of a drinker, but today he decided to take the edge off a little and went a little too far. It explained why he was much more talkative and humorous than usual.

noralopcz‌:

           “Thanks for the save back there, who knew how gullible I can be.” Nora cracked a joke, in all honesty she probably wouldn’t have assumed the man was a little insane in the head. Nora tried to see the good in people these days but it appeared that was hard to go by. 

“Yeah, of course. It’s always good to help someone out of a weird situation. I’m Aiden.” He introduced himself. The girl was someone he had never met before, but he figured he’d be a nice guy, not that that was anything new for the boy. “Are you okay?”

abbyrchrds‌:

“Ah, I wish it were that simple. This summer she’s apparently started doing summer care at school, or whatever. It’s a basic day camp. So now she has no break. My aunt apparently tried to get her to get an actual break but she just ‘doesn’t want to disappoint the kids’ or whatever.” She rolled her eyes. She had all but effectively cut her family off when she moved to Wilmington. She didn’t want to have a dozen people attempting to call and text her everyday (not that they didn’t already) and implore her to go back to Seattle. “Well they are high schoolers. I wasn’t much in high school either. Though my humor still hasn’t changed.” Abby shrugged, though she nodded as Aiden mentioned the Jane Austen novel being a favorite of his mother’s. She gave him a warm smile. “It’s my favorite too, honestly. In college I took a class that was themed entirely around it and any adaptation that was out at the time. So let’s see, that was 2014? It was pretty great. Do they read any banned books?”

“Summer care at school? That does not sound fun. So does she pretty much babysit a bunch of kids or something? Yeah. Sometimes it’s hard to give yourself a break because you feel like you have to please other people. I mean I guess if I hate summer school, I’ll ljust never agree to teach it again. I also want to make a good impression. There’s a couple people on maternity leave as well so I know that they can’t teach.” He sighed, kind of stressed at the thought of dealing with a bunch of students and them going crazy. “Yeah. That’s true. I need to understand that. I think I need to learn to be their friend and their teacher and keep a good boundary so they know that they can come to me, but also that I need to be respected.” He took a couple sips out of his drink. “Oh wow. That was already 5 years ago. Feels like 2014 was just yesterday. No, they aren’t allowed to read banned books. If I was caught teaching them banned books, I’d be fired so fast. I can’t stop them from reading whatever they want at home though.” He winked.

stephlenox‌:

“Brainwashed by everything not Disney?” Steph asked, giggling a little at the idea. Her parents hadn’t been big into Disney for the reverse reason – despite the generally good morals in their content, everything Disney was more than a little interconnected. There was a movie and a doll and a t-shirt and a hat and an enamel pin and, of course, everything at the parks had on offer to boot. It was a marketing empire neither Lenox parent had any interest in falling prey to. “Brainwashed to do what? Worship Satan and say yes to drugs?” The teasing lilt left her voice as she nodded agreement. “That’s a good idea. He’s a good baker, too.” This, she knew firsthand – having received a few deliveries of I felt like baking and I know you’re busy so please eat these muffins/brownies/loaf bread baked goods the first few months after New Year’s. “At least they aren’t getting there at seven or eight in the morning like they’d have to during the regular school year?” she offered. Still, a month and a half was both not very long and also the majority of summer vacation – barely enough time to learn anything, she assumed, but also long enough that students were unlikely to feel like they’d gotten any summer vacation at all. Her face lit up at Aiden’s offer– “Really? I’d love that, honestly. Just don’t blame me if your pups start liking me more than they like you – the dog beach being the way to the dog’s heart and all that,” she finished with a teasing grin. “Wow, that’s such a … responsible breakfast,” she said with a chuckle. For her part, Steph survived on coffee and toast, or sometimes a granola bar eaten on her way out the door. “Now, now, there will be no disowning over non-dairy milks, no matter the outcome.” She couldn’t help but smile, though, at the mental picture of Aiden bringing a cup of milk over to her apartment.

“Yeah, my mother was such a huge Disney fanatic. She pretty much made my room her Disney dream room. It’s because my dad didn’t let her have her own space for Disney so she figured she’d make a Disney nursery. I’m surprised I don’t hate Disney so much.” Although Aiden really didn’t watch as many Disney movies as much, maybe it was because it made him think of the trip his parents were going to take him on, the trip that got cut short, Aiden still tried to hold onto the good memories. It was what his parents would have wanted. Aiden refused to step foot into Disneyland though, viewing it as some curse, a curse that took away the two most important people in his life. “I honestly don’t know. I think my dad was ready to let me watch something that wasn’t Disney, but my mom was definitely alpha and he was definitely beta,” he laughed, remembering the loving dynamic of his parents. “Yeah, he is. The amount of times I’ve called him asking stupid questions about baking is ridiculous. I’m surprised he didn’t just scream at me for being so dumb about this. You would think that being an English teacher means that I can read and understand recipes. Well, I really can’t.” There have been times where Aiden forgot to set a timer or even prebake the oven and he’d just put his baked goods in there, wondering why they werne’t cooking on time. “Well, that’s true. I think we start at ten  and end around two or three so it shouldn’t be bad. Maybe if they bribe me with food, I will consider letting them out early.” He hoped he’d be allowed to do that, but he knew there would be parents and fellow faculty coming into his classroom with pitchforks. “Well, if they love you more than me, it just means that you have to come over to see them more often and then we get to hang out. So I think it’s a win win for all of us. I mean how can anyone not love you? You’re a great friend.” He laughed at her comment about him eating responsibly. “You should see what I have for dinner then. Boiled eggs.” He joked. He definitely enjoyed take out too much and had no patience when it came to those things. The amount of times he practically ripped the boil egg in half just trying to rip off the shell was humorous. “Okay, fine, I won’t disown you, but I might reconsider how often I visit you at work.”

shayowens‌:

A small but sweet laugh followed his words, and Shay nodded at the good point he made. “That would be smart, however, the objective is to draw attention.” Her ex needed to notice that she had someone on her arm, that he wasn’t the only one with a supposed upgrade. Which, out of all he said and implied, that was what had gotten under her skin and attacked her pride. Shay wasn’t vain or a narcissist, yet all the upgrade comments had gotten to her, as though she was being whittled down to nothing. “I am,” came her proud return. His words painted a smile on her lips, it was what she loved hearing most, people loving and enjoying Stella’s. The caffe was where she had directed so much passion and love, not to mention countless hours of hard work to get it open and running as she had dreamed. A few years of success under her belt now felt like the greatest accomplishment. “That means the world to me.” Shay’s hand draped over her heart and her smile only grew. “Well, where do you work now? You could always quit your job and come work for me.” She sent him a wink. “I can teach you coffee the Stella way.” Her earthy hues turned off of his visage for a moment, simpered lips and a nodding head as he fumbled through his words. There was a feeling people didn’t tell him that too often, and Shay thought it to be quite a shame. “Thank you, and I understand. I realize it sounded somewhat like a proposition, and the reality is that I’m just asking for help.” Her pride needed it. “It’s a pleasure,” she extended her hand, “I’m Shay.”

Aiden was taken aback that she would request that he come be her date to draw attention. If anything, Aiden hated attention, which was ironic considering he taught students. But it was different. It was a different dynamic. He didn’t want to be the person that everyone was looking at. What if they judged his hair? His eyes? His bone structure? He didn’t know these people, but yet he wanted to be there for this girl he had just met. It was confusing for Aiden. “Um, should I wear the glasses or lose the glasses then? Would glasses draw more attention to my piercing eyes?” he joked, trying to make the situation a little less weird. “Honestly, I might as well give you my whole bank account considering how often I come there,” he joked. He wasn’t even trying to be nice or anything. He loved local businesses. The quality of the coffee was far superior in comparison to Starbucks. Plus, he enjoyed trying the different coffee beans. Who would have thought that Aiden would become some coffee connoisseur? “I actually work as a teacher. Trust me, I want to quit my job, but I definitely could not support myself on a minimum wage salary, but I’d definitely love to learn how to make coffee. We can make a little trade off then, how about you allow me to come learn how to make coffee and I’ll hold your purse at the event,” he offered. It seemed like a good deal. Aiden wasn’t sure if he needed some food handler certificate or something. Maybe he could watch. Aiden wanted to be more well rounded. All people knew him as was the nerdy teacher. “Well, sorry I was giving you a hard time. We will make your ex realize what he’s missing. We’ll dance the night away too. We can even choreograph a dance. Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself,” he chuckled. He shook her hand back, ”Pleasure is all mine, Shay.”

delightfuldelilahx‌:

Delilah caught the sudden twinkle that came about in Aiden’s eye at the mention of her being a teacher. “Wait, really?” she questioned first, before smiling at the man again. “I’m actually a professor over at UNC, I teach Human Memory,” she stated before she brought her hand to the blue textbook beside her and slid it over to the center of the table. “Which is why i’m actually reading Essentials of Human Memory, one of the textbooks I assign to my students.” she tapped her finger against the hard covered book before drawing back and taking another sip of her now almost empty cup of coffee. Delilah soon found herself giggling at his rambling, finding it funny that someone else had the same issue as she did. “Mmm,” she started, thinking for a few seconds. “Vanilla bean cappuccino on days that I am not as stressed out. Plain, cold brew coffee if I am. What about yours?” 

“Oh, you’re a professor? Should I be addressing you as Dr. Delilah then?” he asked, letting out a slight chuckle. “That’s pretty awesome. What inspired you to get into that field? I can’t imagine doing anything scientific or even closely related to scientific. Chemistry One was such a pain in the butt. I think my lab partner wanted to switch partners because I had no clue on what I was doing the whole entire semester.” Aiden was definitely not good at science, to say the least. Maybe it was because books made him feel closer to his parents and science felt like he wasn’t honoring his parents. Then again, young Aiden did everything he could to still feel like his parents were there. As an adult, he wishes he tried harder in other subjects, maybe life would have been different. Maybe he could’ve done research or something. “Oh wow. I’m definitely an iced soy latte kind of guy, even when it’s cold as hell outside. I can’t do hot drinks. My tongue is way too sensitive and I can’t have dairy because my stomach is too sensitive. Do you just drink cold brew without any creamer?”