Normally, she would have been able to avoid her annoyance by simply ignoring this kind of dry presentation, but her laptop had died, and like an idiot, she’d left her charger in her office. Marie was grading a small batch of quizzes to her right while Toni was tweeting about the latest Supreme Court decision to her left. And all Deja could do was check her email on her phone and watch as that battery died as well.

So, to preserve her cell phone as long as she could, she decided to people-watch instead, and thankfully, the Faculty Senate was full of nothing but personal interest stories. She looked around and spotted a few faculty members watching the presentation with rapt attention. Deja couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes at their nerve, even if they were only a small fraction, because no one should encourage this kind of boring behavior. Most of the faculty Deja saw were either dozing quietly or working on their computers, and she rolled her eyes at them too because she was jealous of their productivity.

She sighed quietly to herself as her eyes continued moving around the room until she found him. Alejandro’s laptop was open on the table in front of him, obscuring Deja’s view of his bright white shirt and midnight black tie, both far too well-tailored for this entire campus. By contrast, his computer gave off a much less serious vibe than his clothing. There was a sticker of Rigoberta Menchu on the upper right corner and a Che Guevara decal over the Apple insignia.

Deja sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. She knew she should move her attention elsewhere, but she didn’t want to, and if she couldn’t grade, she wanted to look at Alejandro for a little bit longer. It wasn’t like she had anything more interesting to occupy her time. Besides, as far as she was concerned, there wasn’t anything more interesting than his five o’clock shadow, so she gave herself permission to stop pretending and enjoy the view.

Deja wouldn’t fully admit the depth of it to Toni or Marie, but her crush on Alejandro was much more intense than they knew, despite the teasing. She’d first met him at a faculty of color mixer a month into her first semester as a newly minted PhD and assistant professor. It had just been a quick introduction and handshake — nothing to write home about — but to Deja, it had been something to remember. And once she knew he existed, she felt like she saw him everywhere; she couldn’t escape just a glimpse of him across the Oval or down the hall. Not that she wanted to escape him.