This time I really did have to school my expression.

“I am ‘heated’ in my tweets, Brad.” I actually made air quotes. “I tweet about angering things. I also make it very clear in my account that all my opinions are my own and nothing to do with my employer. Which I don’t even mention in my bio, by the way. I know the department is well aware of my Twitter presence, it came up in my interviews.”

He just stared at me with that self-satisfied look on his face, like he was super happy he’d pissed me off.

I was getting very close to leaning into my general annoyance with this guy when Ted, another faculty, popped his head in my office and saved me from myself.

I stood up and walked over to the door, feeling deeply grateful for Ted’s timing. “Hey man. Good to see you.”

Ted was in the sociology department. He’d gotten tenured a few years back, but unlike Brad he was the opposite of pretentious. He was also Jude’s friend and an all-around good guy.

“Hey, I was about to go to the coffee shop downstairs.” He cast an icy look in Brad’s direction and then turned his attention back to me. “I was wondering if you wanted to walk down together.”

I was not one to show emotion, but at the moment I hoped the expression on my face could convey just how grateful I was to be rescued from this shit show of a conversation.

“Sure. I could use some caffeinating.”

Brad got a clue for once and stood up. But not without adding, “Coffee break already, it must be nice to be in a field where the pressure to publish isn’t as rigorous.”

Ted only nodded and kept talking to me. His wife Carmen’s salt must’ve been rubbing off on him. “The barista that makes the good lattes is there today, Patrice.”

Yeah, that ice he was sending Brad’s way was all Carmen.

Brad made a big show of shoving the chair back and popping up. “I should get going, I’m almost done with that revision I’ve been working on.” I loved how all of a sudden Brad was Mr. Hustle when he’d been sitting in my office like he had nothing but time for the last ten minutes.

Ted shook his head as we started for the stairs. “That dude is a fucking pill. I can’t stand him. I wasn’t even going to get coffee, but when I walked by and saw his ass parked in your office, I figured you needed some rescuing.”

I just nodded, not wanting to get into how the conversation with Brad had annoyed the hell out of me. One of the reasons why I liked Ted was that I didn’t need to explain to him why certain things people said landed poorly with me. He was a good ally and a mindful listener, and I appreciated having him around.

As we walked to get our coffee Ted didn’t push me to talk, which I respected “Speaking of infuriating things, did you see the story of the two students that got stopped by the police yesterday?”