Office Hours

Derek sat at his desk, finishing up his department’s teaching assignments for next semester before submitting them to his boss, Adrienne West. Once again he scrolled down to his own schedule. He was teaching one of the three Fundamentals of Acting sections, which would be his largest class by far. He was also teaching Advanced Acting, Stage Directing and the Stage Combat unit of the Special Topics In Acting course he co-taught with two other instructors, in addition to the Fencing, Tai Chi and Eagle Claw Kung Fu classes that were very popular among the many Wagner Academy students who didn’t enjoy conventional athletic activities but who nonetheless had to meet the state’s requirements for PE credit. Plus he was directing next year’s musical. He’d had to give up the Shakespearean Acting classes for this year, as Adrienne insisted he get more involved with fundraising and recruiting activities during the coming year, but he knew Alice Chang would do a great job teaching the kids how to bring the Bard’s words to life. Unfortunately, there was no way to avoid this choice pissing off two of the other instructors, both of whom had been here a lot longer than Derek had, but that was they way things worked when one was a department head, and particularly a young one.

“There’ll probably be rumors Alice got the nod by sleeping with me,” he thought to himself, while knowing there was also no way around that. This despite the fact that it had been two years since he and Alice Chang had last slept together. He still slept with more than a few of the Academy’s instructors, but none in the Drama department since being named department head. He knew that Adrienne’s support wouldn’t be enough to save his job if he screwed his way into a relationship – however brief – with one of the instructors he supervised, and the last thing he wanted – for either the school or himself – was even the remote responsibility of a sexual harassment suit.

“Better to think about non-harassing sex,” he mused. Which got him thinking about last Sunday night’s tryst with the first-year sculpting instructor, Diane Morrow. It wasn’t likely to become a regular thing, what with her engaged to marry in June and all, but it had been nice. He jotted a note in his day planner to remind himself to get Diane and her husband a nice wedding gift.

As Derek was about to turn back to the class schedule, he was interrupted by a knock on the frame of the open door. He turned his chair around to see one of his Advanced Acting students – Lauren Kingsley, a junior – book bag in tow. He glanced at the digital clock atop the bookcase next to the door, then met Lauren’s eyes. “You’re a little early, Lauren,” he said.

The girl shrugged shyly, walking in, dropping her book bag on the floor and taking a seat one of the two empty chairs in the office… though not before scooting it a bit closer, Derek noticed. “Mrs. Underwood let us out of comp earlier, so I thought I’d see if you weren’t busy, so we could talk about … my problem, then have some extra time to go over those lines from the Chekov play I keep messing up.”

“Fair enough,” Derek said. “I won’t even tell Principal West it’s your fault I’m going to be late submitting a report." When he saw Lauren’s eyes widen at that, he waved his hands and shook his head. “No worry, Lauren. That’s a joke.” He smiled, and she returned the smile, beaming. He maintained his smile on the outside, despite that sinking feeling in his heart.

Lauren’s problem, as Derek knew all too well, was that she either froze up or just plain fumbled any lines or scenes with the most limited sexual or romantic context, no matter how chaste or innocent. He’d really wanted her to play Juliet in last year’s production of Romeo and Juliet, because she could handle the Shakespearean language very well and because her angelic looks would have made her a truly stunning Juliet, but it was clear from her audition that was not going to work. Unfortunately, things hadn’t improved a bit over the past year, and “her problem” was definitely going to limit her options for future rolls, and would spell disaster for her if she continued her acting career into college.

Derek agreed with the opinion of the school counselor to whom he’d referred the girl. Lauren’s problem was due at least in part to the fact that she was not only a virgin, but she had in fact never dated, and never even been kissed – and that only in the most cursory and uncomfortable manner – outside of a dramatic scene. Simply put, it was hard for her to play something she had no real experience with. Like the counselor, Derek knew that the best solution to her problem would be for Lauren to start dating and maybe find a boyfriend, and while at least 50% of the boys at the school (in other words, almost all of the straight ones) would probably risk injury for that chance, Derek knew the problem there – the reason that natural solution wasn’t happening, despite Lauren being almost sixteen and charming and just plain beautiful – was him.

Even without his knowledge of the Spring contracts, Lauren’s crush on him – if one could even summarize such strong desire in so trivial a manner as “a crush” – would have been painfully obvious. Her doe-eyed stare as he lectured about Stanislavski, the awkward pauses and blushing and foot-shuffling whenever she stopped to talk to him after class, and lately the tendency for her to show up at his classes with her top few buttons undone… Lauren’s young lust was not exactly a subtle thing. Ever since Lauren’s “problem” had become obvious, he had often thanked the Wyrd that Lauren favored fairly strong perfumes and his keeper hadn’t made him a Beast of some kith with an enhanced sense of smell, because he knew he could do without being able to detect the scent of her desire along with seeing it in her eyes and her posture and the way she sat, hearing it in her voice and feeling it color the results when he tried to cast Cupid's Eye on someone else when Lauren was anywhere in the same room.

Derek also knew that, sadly for Lauren, her feelings were as obvious to her peers as they were to him, and that several of them teased her about it. Unfortunately, that didn’t do a thing to lessen her feelings. She didn’t want to date because she was fixated on an adolescent fantasy of being with her perfect lover, with her having – unfortunately for both of them - cast Derek in that role.

For about the thousandth time, Derek made a mental note that he really did need to improve his knowledge of the Spring Court’s contracts to a degree that would allow him to redirect her desires to someone more appropriate. He also knew there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going anywhere near Lauren’s suggested solution – that they try her running through some of her “problem” scenes with him – and the very fact she’d suggested that idea was why he would only have his one-on-one meetings with her in his office, with other instructors nearby and across the hall, and with the office door open. She’d asked to close the door the first time she dropped by to discuss the problem, and the sad look she gave him when he said that wouldn’t be appropriate might have broken his heart if it wasn’t for the simple fact that his doing otherwise could easily have torpedoed his career.

So, here he sat, talking to Lauren about things she might try but which he was 98% certain wouldn’t work, and subtly insinuating she talk to some of the many boys in her classes who he knew were smitten with her while knowing it was almost as certain that she wouldn’t give that suggestion a try. Most of the time these sessions, head-bangingly frustrating though they were, at least served at least to keep his reserves of Glamour topped off, but with it being springtime at a residential academy full of teenagers there wasn’t really any lack of desire in the air for him to tap into, and he was full up at the moment, even with it having been several days since his romp with Diane Morrow.

So here he sat, more aware at any time since his own teenage years that as much as teenage desires were a natural and often a beautiful thing, they could also be a huge pain in the ass.