He rushed to the student union with the goofiest grin on his face. As soon as he stepped into Go Brews! to grab an espresso before the meeting, he saw Deja. She was last in line, her cell phone in her hands, fingers flying across the screen, looking stressed. Deja always looked stressed. Now that he was around her more, he realized that she tended to fill every down moment with work. She woke up early some mornings to grade, even if she hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before or she never went to sleep at all, she worked through weekends unless they had plans together, and she responded to student emails while waiting in line for coffee, and all he wanted to tell her was that she could just…not. She could let an email sit in her inbox for an hour or two, or twenty-four if it wasn’t urgent. He wanted to tell her that it was okay to prioritize her mental health and give herself some slack, but she was pre-tenure and sensitive about any feedback on her job performance or ability to cope with the demands of the job, even though she knew the demands were sometimes outrageous. And Alejandro had been struggling to find the right balance between concern and overbearing and figure out the best way to support her the way he wanted.

He rushed into line behind her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her, but she’d hate that, and he’d promised to keep his hands to himself after last month. They’d agreed to be discreet while on campus, yet another reason why it had been difficult to spend time together.

He looked around to make sure that he didn’t see anyone that he readily recognized before clasping his hands behind his back and leaning over her shoulder.

“Te extrañé,” he whispered into her ear and felt her shiver.

She turned to him with wide eyes, and it made his blood rush. It had only been a month, and that wasn’t enough time for the excitement at finally being able to flirt with her the way he wanted to fade, even if he still couldn’t touch her in public.

“I don’t know what that means,” she whispered.

“It means I missed you.”

She bit her bottom lip to try and hide her smile. It didn’t work. “Someone might see us,” she mumbled.

He stood up straight and shrugged innocently. “We’re just talking.”

She bit down on her lip, and he had to look away, or else they wouldn’t just be talking. “Line’s moving,” he coughed.