“Doc, please, when do I miss your office hours?” Jerome replied with an adorably petulant roll of his eyes, completely oblivious to what had just almost happened.

“Deja.”

“See you at the meeting,” she said and darted down the hallway.

He wanted to run after her, but that would be very dramatic and very unprofessional. He gave it serious consideration, nonetheless.

“So, y’all dating, huh?” Jerome asked.

Alejandro sighed.

Twenty-Seven

Deja rushed down another flight of stairs to Toni’s office. Her door was open, and she peeked inside to see Marie sitting across the desk. She exhaled and slumped into the room without knocking.

“Hello, please help me.”

Toni put her hand up. “Marie’s just about to share some news.”

Deja plopped into the chair next to Marie. “What’s up?”

Marie’s mouth stretched into a tight smile. “I heard back from the committee.”

“Holy shit,” Deja breathed. She didn’t know what the news was, but she was ready to picket outside of the Ethnic Studies department in a heartbeat.

“And I got it.”

Toni’s office was quiet, and Deja blinked.

Marie’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked back and forth between them. “Hello.”

“Can you say that again?” Toni breathed.

Marie frowned. “I got the job. My job. I’ll be tenure track starting in the fall.”

There was another delayed moment of quiet before Toni and Deja jumped up from their chairs with squeals and pulled Marie up so they could hug her.

“God, I hate hugging,” Marie mumbled, but she let them hold her.

“Congratulations, you downer,” Deja said.

“You deserve this,” Toni added.

Marie’s body softened into their holds at those words.

When they pulled away from each other, Marie’s eyes were rimmed red. “Let’s change the subject.”

Deja wanted to tell her no, they still had to celebrate, but Toni stopped her with a surreptitious squeeze of her arm.

“So, what do you need help with this time?” Toni said.

Deja rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

“Oh, it’s about Alejandro,” Marie said.

“Oh my god, shut up.”

“Girl, just tell us what cute shit he did so we can get to this terrible meeting.”

“Hey, I’m running the meeting.”

“Okay,” Toni said. “Do you not know this meeting is about to be terrible?”

Deja rolled her eyes but didn’t refute her. “I almost told Alejandro I loved him.”

“Y’all ain’t did that yet?” Toni shrieked, shaking her head. “Pathetic.”

“We’ve only been dating for a few months.”

“Girl, so what? That man is fine, and none of us is getting younger.”

“Very, and I don’t even like dudes like that,” Marie said.

“And he doesn’t talk all the damn time,” Toni said, grabbing her laptop from her desk.

“Mike doesn’t talk that much,” Marie countered.