Guidance and Discipline 2 (Patreon)

When Mark took his usual spot in the library —a nice spot concealed between two hulking bookshelves that kept him the low-key boring craziness of the school— the events of the day before were barely in his mind. After all, he had barely spent ten minutes with Laura while making sure that she gathered herself to avoid a horrible accident. In a life crowded with the presence of the fairer sex, that was not even a blink. 

So, when he heard a shy, trembling greeting, he was quite surprised. “H-hi,” stammered a cute voice. 

He turned to see Laura standing in front of him, her baby-blue eyes brimming with enthusiasm despite her shy tone, two cups of coffee in her hands. And while he was rather uncaring, he wasn’t actively mean enough to push away a young woman who was going through a vulnerable period. “Hello,” he said simply, but made sure to wear a more open posture. 

“I brought you a coffee,” she stammered. “Would you prefer black, or latte with sugar?” 

“Definitely black,” he answered, as the last thing he wanted was the empty calories from sugar. Those empty calories were entirely dedicated to his scotch cabinet. But also, he had a feeling that Laura actually preferred latte, and didn’t want to force her to drink something she didn’t enjoy. 

“Sure,” she said and passed the coffee, but then, rather than turning back, she stalled with a hesitant expression. If it were his younger days, he would have assumed it was about his spectacular handsomeness, but a decade as a —fake— lawyer taught him to read people perfectly. And her hesitant glance toward the library suggested that she didn’t want to walk back to the library to suffer under the enthusiastic gossip of the others. 

It took a great effort on his part to suppress an exhausted sigh. “Would you like to take a seat?” 

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “Wouldn’t it be disturbing to…” she said, her voice disappearing in shame as she glanced toward the main section of the library, clearly worried that gossip might affect him. 

“Maybe it would have been if I had cared about what the pack of rejects think about me,” Mark said cuttingly. 

“That’s not nice,” Laura said sharply, reflexively, which actually put a smile on his face. Then, she blushed sharply. “Sorry-” she started. 

“No need to worry, just take a seat,” Mark ordered, but smoothed out with a smile —a tone which he used successfully against many overenthusiastic, overachieving interns successfully. It was like calming an energetic racehorse, the tone and the confidence were everything. 

Just like he expected, it worked perfectly. Laura took a seat and put her stuffed bag on the desk. She stayed silent for a moment before whispering. “Thanks for yesterday,” she murmured, her eyes on the floor as she took a sip from her coffee.  

“Not a problem, saving such a cute girl is always its own reward,” Mark said, reflexively using flirting as a tool to dispel the awkwardness. 

“Thanks,” she murmured with a blushing red face, Mark realized the mistake he had committed. He didn’t want to deal with the hero-worship of a girl barely outside the cusp of her teenage years, even if she was in legal age, which could easily transform into an enthusiastic crush.  

He decided to nip it in the bud. “Can I ask you a question about the Biology homework?” Mark asked in an effort to change the topic. Maybe, if he acts like an idiot unable to learn a few simple formulas, it would blunt her sense of awe, or at least, feel like she helped him back to pay for his emotional support. 

“Of course, let me take a look,” she jumped in enthusiastically as she pulled a notebook filled with many colored note papers and perfect calligraphy, and they started studying… 

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When Mark decided to act like he was in desperate need of leeching off Laura’s academic credentials in order to lessen her hero-worship, he wasn’t counting on acquiring a permanent study partner who insisted on hanging with him every single opportunity. If it was another person, he would have dismissed them immediately, but somehow, Laura managed to worm herself into his heart. 

As he got to know her better, he understood the reason for his gradual acceptance. Laura was a surprisingly refreshing bundle of childish mannerism and dark jadedness, somehow managing to maintain her optimism. Considering what she had survived her father leaving, her mother kicking her out, rehab, and becoming a social pariah not only in her high school but also in college, Mark couldn’t help but admire her. Kicking addiction under such adverse conditions with no support was nothing short of amazing. He had many clients who failed to resist the temptation despite their huge support network —and consequently screwing hard enough to need his services, which came with a four-figure hourly rate. 

He only survived his problems by delving deeper into jaded selfishness. 

But that fondness came with its own problems, such as a certain sense of responsibility when he saw his new acquaintance talking with a shirtless hippy. Her face bright with excitement while the annoying hippy flirted with her with the comfortable ease of a womanizer, something Mark easily recognized as a fellow womanizer. 

Normally, Mark would have let it play out, glad that Laura’s attention finally finding other targets. The problem was, however, he recognized the hippy after a debacle earlier the year, where he had actually written a song that humiliated the sexy activist blonde in his class, which made her life hell for a long while. 

That man was one of the cruelest men Mark had ever seen, but people ignored that because he hid it behind the flowery speeches about earth mother and eternal soul friendships. 

Which meant that Mark had a very difficult conversation to explain. 

So, at the end of another study session, Mark decided to breach the subject. “Laura, can I talk to you about something serious?” he said calmly, once again using the tone he used to talk to witnesses whenever he wanted to prep them for a difficult conversation. 

“Yes, Mark,” Laura said, but her expression stiffened. She was smart enough to realize that whatever that was going to come next, wasn’t going to be pleasant. 

Mark took a deep breath, and forced himself to relax. He felt tense as he prepared himself to do something he hated, he was about to intervene in someone else’s private affairs.  “I’m going to give you my opinions on something that I’m not supposed to, and it’s going to make you very angry. I want you to think about my words rather than react in anger, okay?” he said, trying to keep the discussion grounded in rationality, despite knowing its futility. No girl in her age handled being told to stay away from a guy they fancied, and the fact that she still had an obvious crush on Mark didn’t make things any less complicated. 

“Go on,” she murmured. 

Mark decided to pull the band-aid in one swift move. “Dating that shirtless homeless guy is not a good idea,” he told her. 

“Why Mark!” Laura answered immediately, anger immediately on her face. “Can’t I date someone unless you approve it? You’re unbelievable,” she started, followed by several choice insults. Mark let her rant angrily, but never let his expression shift or said anything, not feeding her anger. Soon, without the flames of an argument, she was silenced. “Why?” she whispered, exhausted after failing to find a response to her angry statement. 

“Because he’s a cruel man,” Mark said immediately. 

“What!” Laura countered in shock. “That’s nonsense, he’s the kindest, most love-filled man I had ever talked to. And you don’t even know him.” 

Mark could have given a dozen examples just from his mannerism, barely hidden by the hippy exterior, but he said nothing, just pulled his phone, and pressed play, replaying that horrible song. “That - that doesn’t - count,” she stammered. “She must have done something,” she stammered, trying to defend her crush. 

“Maybe,” Mark answered, not wanting to delve into a blame discussion. He was far too familiar with that pattern from all the divorce cases he had handled to know that in the end, it would only make her stick to her opinion even stronger. “But he still chose to turn it into a merciless public spectacle.” 

Seeing her determination stiffen, Mark realized even that wasn’t going to cut it, and in that mood, giving more evidence would make her dig deeper, so he chose to apply another strategy. “I want you to do me a favor. While chatting, ask about the song, but don’t do it like you want an explanation, or that you blame him for it. Just ask him offhandedly, and listen to his response with an open mind.” That hardly helped her expression. 

“Just ask him,” he added, and she nodded with a stony expression before hurriedly gathering her stuff, about to dash away. “And don’t forget, regardless of your decision, I’ll be here. Feel free to drop by whenever you feel overwhelmed.” 

He watched as she disappeared with a sigh, knowing that, whatever she chose, there was going to be a lot of pain in his 

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Laura was once again feeling like a stupid little girl that thought extra pills would help her handle college application stress as she walked away from her ex-boyfriend, doing her best to keep her tears in. The last thing she needed was to have another public breakdown to start another round of gossip, which would ruin the last scraps of her reputation. 

She had been so confident when she walked to find him, still angry at Mark, enthusiastic to prove that his jaded ways were wrong, that her boyfriend was a nice man. She wanted it to be true so much. But when she mentioned the song, and truly listened to his response, she could hear the childish grudge in his tone as he mentioned just how many hits the song gathered, and gleefully speculated on how humiliating it must have been for his ex, and how it was payback for his bleeding heart. Of course, it wasn’t the words he had used, using his flowery, free-loving phrases to conceal the fact, but Laura was smart enough to read the subtext. 

But in the depths of her heart, she knew that she would never listen to that carefully if it wasn’t for Mark’s warning. 

She shook her head in disbelief. No doubt he treated her like a child, she really was one, falling in pieces just because a cute guy flirted with him, ignoring enough red flags to cover the whole school. She was already in the library as the first tear slid down her cheek. Luckily, it was too early for the library to be crowded, so it wasn’t hard to hide behind the shelves. 

She wanted nothing more than going back to her apartment to cry, but she found herself unable to. Mark had asked her to come back if she was feeling overwhelmed, and she was definitely feeling overwhelmed. She found him still at the same desk, concealed from the others. He raised his head, their eyes connected, and when he opened his arms invitingly Laura felt herself losing the last semblance of control. 

She dashed forward, her arms wrapped tight around his torso as she pulled tight, crying a river. Minutes passed, but Mark did nothing, just hugging her in a lazy manner that filled her heart with security. “Why?” she murmured. “Why do I keep falling for that kind of lie, baring my heart only to be stabbed again and again?” 

“It’s all learning experience,” he murmured, the way his chest trembled helping her to calm down further. “You have gone through much more difficult situations and got away stronger. This is just a bump on the road.” 

Laura hated the feeling of calmness that spread in her body. She was attracted to Mark, and wanted to prove herself as an adult, but how could she when he calmed her with just a touch and a pat on the shoulder. She was no different than a child throwing tantrums. “Maybe it is, but I’m feeling so vulnerable,” she murmured. “Like I joined the game late, and everyone but me knows the rules, waiting to take advantage of me. I trusted my high school boyfriend, and he turned out to be gay. My high school crush managed to ruin my college life without even thinking after everything I had to do to recover my life. And lastly… Well, the less it said, the better.” 

Mark said nothing, just tightened his arms around her. His stupid, muscular arms clamped around her like the world’s sexiest prison, forcing her deeper against his steely chest… And suddenly, Laura’s most dominant emotion wasn’t sadness, but insidious arousal. Then, suddenly, she lost control over her lips, and a sentence escaped. “Can you teach me?”

“Teach you what?” Mark asked, but from the sudden tenseness in his tone, he clearly understood what she was asking for. 

She pulled out of the hug, and faced him with a serious expression. “Teach me the physical side of things, so I won’t fall the next predator enthusiastically,” she said, even as panic filled her insides, wondering she had made a huge mistake in her hurry…