Chapter 11: Chicks dig me...

Alex had walked into the Counseling Office and after waiting in line for the past half hour, he was finally able to talk to a counselor about his class load. As he looked at her, he had a premonition that things weren't going to go well. She gave off the appearance that she hated her job as Alex handed her his request form.

"You want to add three classes to your load," the heavyset counselor said without much interest. Her jaw was propped up on her hand with her elbow on the desk, looking down at the form in front of her.

"Yes, ma'am."

"You want Intro to Administration of Justice, Crisis Intervention, and First Aid/CPR?"

Alex nodded patiently at her thrilling demonstration of reading comprehension skills. Then he realized she couldn't see him anymore than he could see her eyes. All he saw was her mop of ragged, curly black hair. "Yes, ma'am," he said.

"And you've already got a full class load. More than a full class load," she noted. He wasn't even entirely sure she was awake. Her eyes didn't seem open, and besides the way her head bounced up and down slightly as she spoke, what with her jaw being held up by her hand and all, she hardly moved.

"I filled out the petition form there. I swung extra units last year, too, and I kept my GPA up with that. Dean's list. And none of these classes conflict with my current schedule," Alex explained in a helpful, polite tone.

"Are you switching to a major in Administration of Justice?"

"Um. Not really, no." In point of fact, his major was undeclared. As a kid, Alex dreamt of becoming a cop, but long discussions with several veteran cops on the topic of constantly dealing with human misery had turned him from that. He had toyed with the idea of law school once, but then Keating & Rose made him think twice about the lawyer's life. Most recently, the idea of being a high school teacher had some appeal, but Lorelei and the affect her presence in his life had on him and women around him killed that idea entirely. He wanted to avoid underage girls at all costs for his own good as well as theirs.

"This represents a serious increase in your class load."

"I can handle it," Alex nodded. "And First Aid isn't even a full course."

"It wouldn't be the first time I've heard that." Without moving anything but her right hand and arm, the counselor reached for a stamp, pushed its ugly, red "Denied" imprint onto his form, then held out the form. She didn't look up.

Stunned at her complete disregard of him, Alex took the form back -- he didn't even know why he needed it now -- and wandered out of her cubicle.

Back in the counseling lobby, Alex wondered what to do. That whole "meeting" had seemed incredibly rude. He wasn't even sure why she saw him. Was that old crank trying to keep up some sort of stats on how many students she met with?

Alex started to walk out in frustration but thought, was there some other counselor who might actually, perhaps, counsel him? The place was really busy as he looked around.

Alex decided it was worth a shot. He got back into the queue of students waiting at the front counter of the counseling office. The line was at least moving at a decent clip for once... but he wasn't sure if it would move fast enough. Alex kept his eye on the staffers behind the counter.

Eventually, he spotted a young Asian woman working on a computer at a "closed" window behind the counter. She was cute, too. After checking the time on his cell phone, he decided to go for broke. Alex left the line and approached her. "Hey, sorry to bother you," he smiled softly and trying not to stare down the small opening in her mostly-modest shirt, "but can I just ask you a quick question?"

"Sorry," she said without looking up from her paperwork right away, "this window's... ah..." she looked up at him, and found herself smiling back shyly. "Hi," she said seductively.

"Hi," he said. Holy shit, is this happening again? He wondered. Maybe it'll help? "Wow, you've got really pretty eyes."

"Oh, do I?" the woman blushed, and looked away. Then she shrugged and admitted, "Contacts."

"That color really works for you," Alex pressed on anyway, holding her gaze. "You've got good taste."

"Thank you."

"So, um... Ugh. Sorry to be all creepy like that, I totally apologize. Way inappropriate."

"Oh, no, it's not creepy," she said, still blushing and now pulling shyly on a lock of hair. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I just saw a counselor for a course change, and she didn't even listen to me before stamping denied on my form here." Alex held up the form to show her. "Is there someone else I can see about that?"

"Really? Hm," the girl frowned. She took the form from him and looked it over for a moment. She looked back up, "She didn't even talk to you?"

"Not so much. Didn't even look at me."

"Huh," the girl said. She glanced up at Alex again and ran her eyes over him soaking up his appearance, blushed again mumbling, "I would do more than look." She then turned to her computer with the form in hand. Alex watched as she quickly called up his student record, and then switched to a database screen with lots of numbers and letters in codes he couldn't understand and began typing. "Let me see if I can help you with that," she mumbled as she worked.

Alex's jaw dropped in shock. Was she seriously going to--?

"There you are," she said quietly, "your course changes are approved. But, oh, darn," she added as she promptly put his denied request form straight into the shredder, "I guess I must have misplaced your form somewhere. Oops. I'm such a dingbat," she smiled teasingly.

"Wow," he breathed.

"Did you want a print-out of your new schedule?"

"Sure?"

"Not a problem," she muttered again. "Lemme just make a note here. Done. Okay, here you go. Please let me know if you need anything at all. I'd be glad to help you. Anytime too."

His class schedule now bore the handwritten note: "Theresa. Call me. 555-4689."

Alex stared at the note wistfully as he exited the counseling office. She was really cute. But did she seriously want him that badly, that quickly? Maybe not. He realized that it probably really was that easy to get away with such shenanigans in the counseling office.

But to just throw it out there like that... was she looking for a wild fling? Something serious? He could go for the one, he realized, but not the other. Oh the thing he could do to her...

"Hello, Alex," a sweet, almost musical voice called out.