I Didn't Plan This, c

A very small world indeed.

Nina didn’t say a word as Jacques ambled into his office with an obscene amount of papers. She assumed they were for his Writing 101 class. God how she did not miss those handouts.

Her violet eyes met his. Ninetta noticed that he recognized and remembered her. Well at least there was that. It would have been a little to completely forget a girl that one made climax—what?—five, maybe six times. But still he hadn’t called or texted, and she got it. Jacques wanted it to be a one time thing, a great bang, and that’s it.

Her eyes followed him as he rounded around his desk and sat down while she remained silent. Normally she would have said something along the lines of ‘Hi! How are you?’ But that just didn’t seem to cut it at the moment. So she let Jacques have the first word, and true to form he got right down to business. It made Ninetta wonder if he had any other setting.

“I have a paper on Beowulf due at the end of the week. Would you mind reviewing it, please? It’s worth half my grade,” she explained politely, maybe giving a bit too much information. She offered him the ten-page paper and waited as patiently for him to read over it and mark it up with his red pen.

“Uuuhhh…” Nina stammered, taking back her essay. “Thank you.” She honestly did not know what to say. She guessed she had improved from Writing 101, but then again she had always been better at exploring and dissecting lives that were not her own… Lives that were filled with symbolism and allusion and were usually works of fiction.

Ninetta thought about his constructive criticism for second. Spelling and grammar she could fix. As for expanding on her thoughts, well she had this particular habit of rambling. She always had to stop herself short before she went on a tangent of her own personal commentary. Then again maybe if she went off on her tangents by tonight, she could bring it back again and someone could just cross of whatever was unnecessary… Or maybe she could just email it to Jax directly. Nina immediately nixed that idea. That would be rude to ask for a personal favor when she was sure he had his own work do to and his own life to live.

She sighed annoyed by her own thought process. Honestly sometimes Nina wished she thought less… like right now. She had been so absorbed in her own mind that she almost missed his question. Dammit, she needed to learn how to get out of her head, and she was the one who had made the appointment so the least she could do was pay attention.

“I always thought of it as a deus ex machina, thought in this instance it’s God who is intervening, which goes along with the Christian theme,” she explained easily enough. “Honestly what woman, not matter how much of a monster she is, would keep the bane of her very existence by her bedside… Though on the other hand, maybe she kept it close so no one could use it against her? Maybe she thought no one would be brave enough to challenge her in her own domain?”

Yea this is what she meant. Rambling. Tangents. Just more questions that didn’t have answers. Nina shifted into a more comfortable position in her chair, ignoring the fact that the hem of her skirt was slowly riding up her thighs. She had uncrossed her legs and sunk into the chair a bit. Her mother would have scolded her for not sitting up straight. She was calmer, more relaxed.

Then Nina had a question of her own. It did not escape her notice that his pen was blue, which was a change from her freshmen year. So curiously and without hesitation, she switched the topic, and asked, “So why blue? I remember in my Writing 101 class you used your red pen with a vengeance.” Jax had also used blue ink to pen the words sun, moon, stars, and rain into her stomach. She still hadn't figured out what the line meant, but the switch in color made her wonder all the more.

Ninetta smiled playfully, not believing a word that came out of his mouth. As she remembered, Jacques had taken great liberties with his old red pens. She still had her old drafts in a box in the back of her closet that were black and white and red all over. Indirectly calling Jacques out on it, and said with a soft laugh, “Aw, how many scathing class evaluations did it take before your administrators that to come to the poor freshmen’s’ defense?”

Of course, Nina meant for her little question to be a joke. She didn’t understand their generation; they think just because they did their best that they deserved a good grade. She agreed with his sentiments and added, “And even less can fail, pick themselves up, and learn from it… Then again we live in an age cheat codes and walkthroughs."

The Jacques did something totally unexpected. He shifted their innocent conversation away from literature and writing completely to the subject of her clothes of all things. Now why would he be interested in the way she dressed of all things? ‘Probably because the last time he saw you, he ripped them off of you,’ her subconscious answered snarkily. Touché to that.

“Why do you want to know, Mr. Devereux?” Nina asked with a teasing smile. Hey, he put the ball in her corner; she was going to damn well use it. “Do you not like the way I dress?” she added, pouting her bottom lips, which he had enjoyed biting and tugging only a week and a half ago. Then her violet eyes rolled up to the ceiling as if she were in deep thought, her cheek cradled naturally in her hand, her elbow resting on the arm of the chair with her legs spread just a touch. Then as if she were thinking aloud, she said casually, “Yet the university doesn’t really have a dress code, so I guess I could wear all of those little, skin tight outfits to classes. Probably wouldn’t have to work as hard too. I do have that one dress that’s held together with a bit of ribbon… But then I couldn’t wear a bra or panties. And my mindset would fly right out the window, and I would just be another skank on campus.” There. She had circuitously answered his question. Nevertheless, Nina hoped he’d have fun with the rest.