When the Student Teaches the Teacher [Emiko]

For a brief moment Amelia's bashfulness in the face of teaching one of her professors took a backseat at hearing Emiko's attempt at the word "délicieux." Was the other woman getting the language? Oh certainly. But accents and pronunciation were a whole other beast entirely. There was, for a split second, a faint trace of an amused smirk on the petite woman's features. "Délicieux." The younger woman corrected perfectly. "But close." It was probably the only time the tiny mouse had gotten the courage (or was just feeling sassy enough) to do something even remotely teasing towards the older woman.

But any trace of that mischievous side was gone in an instant: Wait she was wanting to buy for Ami?

The girl was flabbergasted. Before she could say anything Emiko was already away from the table, leaving Ami to scramble somewhat out of her seat to follow. What in the world? She could pay for herself! Ami quickly shut the book she'd been using and just reached Emiko when she mentioned not worrying about price even! This was not a date! The tiny mouse was already feeling flustered enough by this whole arrangement so doing this was just making her feel even more embarrassed. "P-Professor I don't-"

But before the petite woman could even finish her sentence they were at the front of the line. Wait what? Emiko had already ordered and now two sets of eyes were on Amelia. Wait... What? Ami blinked once, which was about how long it took for her to register what had happened.

Oh gods dammit.

Glancing over at the professor, the pinkette's cheeks were burning rosy but her eyes and expression were set in a glaring pout. It probably didn't make sense from an outsider's perspective as to why she was peeved about getting free food, but she was. Stupid high-heel wearing, conveniently placed, blonde-haired professors. The younger woman turned her attention towards the worker with a little huff. "...I'll get the frontega chicken panini too, please. But with just water." She eventually grumbled, a feeling of defeat washing over her. For some reason letting this woman- her professor- pay for her food was really irking her. She felt like she'd somehow lost. It was infuriating her despite the fact she felt like with anyone else she'd have been fine (at least with Diya if the Surajan had actually offered to pay for a meal the tiny mouse definitely would not have argued at all). It was weird and only making her more flustered and bothered.

Wonderful.

Though she did suppose a thanks was in order. Even a grudging one. "...Thank you, professor. But you really didn't need to do that; I had money myself." Ami mumbled, finding she wasn't quite as able to directly confront the other woman on it like she probably would have prior to the order having actually gone through.

Dammit this whole situation was... frustrating.

Amelia didn't know how she was supposed to act. Especially now that they were on a break. At least during the tutoring part she knew what her role was. French tutor. Easy enough. But now? They weren't exactly friends. Well, Amelia didn't think they were friends. Not in a typical term. This was her professor after all.

Yet there her professor was grinning over her glasses at the tiny mouse and reminding her an awful lot of a certain Surajan woman for a split second. Ami's expression near automatically set itself into a narrow-eyed, heatless glare once her brain made that connection. Stupid professors and stupid best friends. "...No, nothing too important." The petite woman eventually answered in a grumble. Nothing important other than her free time. Though she supposed she'd simply be doing exactly what she was about to.

Reaching down into her bookbag, Amelia took out the next text in her series. Whom she'd finally discovered the book thief of. Which in turn meant she'd finally been able to move along in he series until she was catching up towards the current book out. Her plans had originally been to keep reading through the series until she was completely caught up but, well, Emiko had happened and threw a wrench in that plan. Or was it a stiletto? Seriously, Amelia had no idea how she walked in those things.

Curiosity about shoe capability aside, Amelia cracked open her text to the bookmarked page (her bookmark was a metallic one so she'd never have to worry about replacing the dang thing) and got to reading. Once she was doing that her whole body seemed to relax. The minuscule tension that was there from having this... odd interaction with her professor (whom she still was unsure how to react to) was gone. Once again, she was getting sucked into her own personal book dimension. Which in turn meant she had barely any awareness of her surroundings.

Fortunately she'd basically trained herself to idle eat when reading just so she wouldn't starve herself in the process (her sisters had helped with the development of this particular habit). While holding the book in one hand, she fed herself with the other. There were a few times she outright missed her actual food, but she did manage to eat it all. Only there was one issue: see she'd learned how to identify when food was before her during this state, but she'd never gotten good at recognizing when it was hers or another's. Which meant at some point she may have accidentally reached out to take some from Emiko's plate without even realizing what she was doing or even glancing away from her page.

It wasn’t until Emiko spoke that the petite pinkette would finally stir from the trance she’d gone into. What was that? She was being addressed? Right now? Surely that much time hadn’t passed and they weren’t going back to tutoring again? But then again this was her teacher. With that mental reminder the tiny mouse did eventually pull her eyes away from her book. It took a bit, but eventually her amber gaze left the page to look at her professor.

Wait, why was she talking about enjoying the food here? And what was with that expression? As pretty as the woman before her looked while smiling, it unnerved the younger of the two. Shoot, what had she missed? With minor confusion playing across her features, Amelia looked down at their plates. They were both done already? Ami looked at her plate; yep, completely empty. Then she looked at Emiko’s plate and… yeah empty too. Okay, so why did it feel like her comment was pointed for some reason? Not mean but… amused. Like Diya’s would be whenever the tiny mouse did something she’d call “funny.” Which wasn’t exactly something the pinkette thought of as good.

So wait, what could she have done while in her little pocket book dimension that would have been…

Oh.
Oh no.

Realization would come a few seconds later. No… No wait did she accidentally…? Well she’d trained herself to basically eat without thinking when reading just so she didn’t starve to death doing so. But Ami had never refined the talent down to be selective. Meaning this such occurrence had happened before with her other friends. Friends who knew her well enough now to get her attention when she did it. Unlike the professor before her who clearly seemed to find it funny more than anything. Which might have been better than the alternative- anger- but still.

A flush worked its way into her cheeks again, turning them as rosy as cherries. Averting her eyes, the petite girl shut her book. “A-Ah.. yes, right. T-That sounds… fair.” Was all she could stammer out. By the gods… “Um… excuse me for a moment.” Before Emiko could even protest or get a word in the little mouse was already out of her seat and heading towards the bathroom. She managed to keep herself relatively calm as she stepped inside, checked to see if anyone else was in there, and locked herself in a stall. But once she was inside she lifted the bottom of her hoodie up to cover her face. Thank goodness the bathroom was empty, because for a few seconds muffled screaming could be heard from the farthest stall.

After a while the petite girl came back and recalled her seat. Her blush was still glowing hard but she’d managed to stabilize herself again. Er, well, enough to continue on for now. “…Sorry for that. And, ah… If I… ate your food.” The younger girl mumbled, still averting her eyes away. No way was she looking at the older woman now. “I’m trying to get better at that. B-But we should continue now, yes? Or no?” There wasn’t any food left to accidentally devour now so really it was up to the blonde.

After Amelia had given her lungs a good exercise and returned, she ended up returning to… wait what?

A plate was pushed her way after the apology and question. What? It was a peace offering; even Amelia could see that. The question on her mind though was; why? Why was she being offered desert? Especially after she’d eaten some of the other woman’s food? Oh yes she’d heard Emiko say "There wasn't much left.” And even if that were true, the fact still remained that the petite young woman had done it.

Gods above this damn professor!

What was she supposed to feel in this situation? What was she supposed to do? Most people would probably laugh it off; take the peace offering and completely forget something like this happened. Ah well, best just keep it in mind for next time. With anyone else, Amelia probably would have done that actually.

But this was a professor.

A professor who had, through a time span of only a few minutes, managed to turn Amelia’s insides into one rumbling, tumbling mess. She wasn’t sure if she was feeling elated or anxious; if that feeling in her stomach was butterflies or ice. And don’t get her started on the things going through her head. What were they doing here? Was this just a tutoring session? Was this a date? But no it couldn’t possibly be a date; yet why did it feel like that? Was she reading too much into it? Was she overreacting? Why did she simultaneously want to smile at the woman across from her but also yell at her in frustration? Why was she so frustrated in the first place? Why couldn’t she just calm the hell down and stop blushing!?

Some of the ideas in her head told her to take the peace offering; just take it and move on. Others wanted her to reject it and let the professor take the desert home- especially after Amelia had eaten her food (no matter home much or little of it she had). While other ideas were best left in the dark recesses of her mind where they belonged.

At the end of it all, Amelia averted her eyes and let out a sigh. Pushing her glasses up, she rubbed her face for a moment and took that time to get her thoughts together. While her mental capacities were in turmoil, her body at least knew what it wanted to do. Another blush had worked its way onto her face. The damn rosy hue was practically stuck there for the time being. But eventually Amelia readjusted her spectacles and looked back at Emiko. She’d managed to make up her mind. Or at least just pick one idea at random.

“…Thank you.” Finally she reached out to pick up a utensil and eat some of the tiramisu. Consider the peace offering accepted, though the mouse was not quite satisfied with herself. “….. I’ll buy lunch next time. And I promise I won’t accidentally eat yours either.” She continued in a subdued tone. By the time they finished off the tiramisu, Amelia had recovered somewhat. The red was mostly gone from her cheeks, though she briefly brought her hands to both with a little slap. As though she was trying to wake herself up from something. With another little shake of her head and adjustment of red glasses, the tiny mouse seemed ready to continue.

“Ready?"