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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.
“You only think that because you tune him out. When I tell you that man has never met a thought he didn’t want to share...” Toni shooed them out of her office.
Deja squinted at the back of her head while she locked her door.
“So y’all aren’t going to help me?” she asked.
Toni turned around with a frown on her face. “With what? You got a fine boyfriend, all those cliquey white women in the English Department are jealous as hell, and your hair looks great today. Some of us have real problems, Deja Evans.”
“Yeah,” Marie said with a smile on her face as they walked away.
“I truly hate both of you so much,” Deja frowned at their retreating backs.
“You can practice saying you love us, if that’ll help,” Marie said over her shoulder.
Deja’s mouth fell open in shock as she jogged to catch up with them. “Not even fully on the tenure track and you’re already being an asshole.”
Their laughter filled the Political Science hallway.
***
Alejandro wasn’t rushing, but he was rushing.
He’d hoped to get Jerome out of his office early enough to get to the meeting before everyone else and talk to Deja, but when he rushed into the conference room, he deflated. He was the last one there.
“What’s up, man?” Mike called. He was sitting next to Toni, who was sitting next to Marie. They were across the table from Layla, Caroline, and Keith. Dean Stampp was sitting in the chair closest to the door, and across the room was Deja, an empty seat next to her.
“There’s a seat here,” Layla said.
“I’m good,” Alejandro replied without looking her way. Mike tried — and failed — to cover his cough of laughter.
Deja didn’t look at him as he walked toward her, but he watched her. He set his laptop down on the table and then lowered himself into the seat next to her. Their arms brushed. She still didn’t look at him, but he saw the shiver roll through her body.
As soon as his butt hit the seat, Deja looked up at the table. “Okay, let’s get started. We sent out the agenda two days ago, and—”
“Actually, I’d like to talk about our mission,” Caroline said, interrupting Deja.
Alejandro saw red as half of the table flinched. He opened his mouth to tell Caroline that the time to add something to the agenda was at any point between the last meeting and today, but Deja beat him to it.
“No,” she said firmly. A complete sentence.
“Excuse me,” Caroline said, with that high-pitched voice and elitist head tilt thing older white women did all over campus.
“Our entire last meeting was devoted to identifying our mission. You should remember since you dominated that conversation, even though Alejandro and I are the co-chairs. We’ve covered the mission. It’s in our shared folders. If you’d like to return to it, please let us know through email and we’ll put it on the agenda for the next meeting. This month, we’ll be identifying student organizations and offices we can partner with for Welcome Week outreach. I hope everyone came with ideas,” she said, smiling at the table as if she hadn’t just set Caroline firmly in her place.
They were all silent for a few seconds — except for Caroline’s shocked, flapping gums — until Mike broke the ice.
“I talked to the Students of Color Art Collective. They’re new and want to focus on recruitment next year, so they’re definitely open to whatever we put together,” he said, each word full of barely suppressed laughter.
“Uh, yeah,” Toni added, “same with the NPHC and NABJ.”
Marie coughed announcing her tentative intention to speak, as if she was worried someone - Caroline - would interrupt her. “I talked to the International Students Association, and they want to make sure that we don’t forget them since international students usually get here before move-in day and don’t have as much support.”
“That’s a great point,” Alejandro said, smiling at Marie and then turning to Deja. He really just wanted any reason to look at her. “We didn’t even think of that.”
Deja looked at him, finally, with a nod and a small smile. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I love that idea.”
He felt warm all over at her words. It was probably ridiculous, but he could have sworn that she’d said that sentence for him.
About him.
“Get a room,” Mike coughed.
The meeting continued.
***
“Ooooh, Caroline hates you,” Toni laughed as they walked from Mark Hall to the faculty parking lot.
“She’s gonna run and tattle on you to the Dean,” Mike laughed.
“Good,” Deja said.
They were walking slowly. Their classes and meetings were over, but none of them were in a hurry to get home where they would probably have to keep working for another hour or two.
Marie was the first person to peel away.
“See you guys tomorrow,” she called with a wave.
“We’re celebrating on Saturday,” Deja said.
“Celebrating what?” Mike asked.
“Marie got the job!” Toni yelled at Marie’s retreating back.
“Alright. Chill out,” Marie said, turning and walking backward.
“Only until Saturday, then we’re going all out,” Mike said excitedly.
“Who invited you?” Toni asked, drifting away toward her car.
“Me,” Mike said, following her.
“Congratulations,” Alejandro said to Marie.
Marie smiled wider. “Thanks.”
“We’re all really happy for you,” Deja added.
Marie nodded and waved before turning and walking toward home.
Then it was just her and Alejandro, and the sound of Toni and Mike bickering behind them. “You want to spend the night tonight?” Alejandro bent down to whisper to her.
Deja was already smiling. “I spent the night last night,” she whispered back.
“That a problem?”
“No, just making an observation,” she replied coyly, leaning into his side as they walked.
He leaned further down, and his lips just kissed her ear. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready, too.”
She didn’t know it until he said them, but those were the exact words she’d needed to hear.
“I don’t deserve you,” she mumbled.
He looked down at her. “Let’s discuss that—”
“Over dinner?” she asked.
“In bed,” he corrected.
Deja sighed and unlocked her car door before climbing inside with a smile on her face.