Chidi always told himself that he didn't have a favorite student. And, honestly, he didn't.

Until Eleanor.

Eleanor was, by far, his worst student, and his favorite. It should've been an oxymoron, but here they were. She argued, she swore in class, she talked over him, she complained about the homework, she insulted Immanuel Kant to his face... but he couldn't help it. He liked her. He liked her earnestness. He liked her wit. He liked her out-of-the-box thinking. And, hell, a little part of him liked that she argued.

He liked that she was challenging.

So maybe that's why, after their next lesson, he said, "Can I walk you back to your hotel?"

Eleanor looked up, surprised. "Don't you have another class after me?" she asked.

"Not on Fridays," he said. "I managed to get a schedule that lets me leave campus early on Fridays. I'd be happy to walk over to wherever you're staying with you. Maybe we could pick up lunch on the way."

"Oh. Well. If you're sure," she said. "Maybe it'll be a good thing for you to walk with me. You know, gotta protect me from all the crime that's just running rampant around here."

Chidi laughed, rolling his eyes. "Right," he said. "If we get mugged, I'm using you as a shield."

"Hey, same to you, pal."

By the time they'd finished with lunch (and a conversation that had turned into a debate about the educational value of Celebrity Big Brother), it was the middle of the afternoon. It had, surprisingly, cooled down a bit, and the usually unforgiving sun was hidden behind some clouds, which meant it actually wasn't unbearable to be outside for a change. The hotel turned out to be an hour's walk, but honestly, Chidi didn't mind. It was an excuse to hang around Eleanor a little longer.

(The only reason he wasn't currently obsessing himself into a tizzy over the ethics of developing a crush on your student, unofficial or not, was because he'd taken that steadily-developing crush and crammed it into a cardboard box in the corner of his brain. Specifically, the box that was hypothetically labelled, "Damn, Haha, I'm Gonna Have to Deal With That Sooner or Later.")

(That box got used a worrying amount.)

"So I grew up in Phoenix," Eleanor was saying. "But I moved to Tempe after high school for college. Then - back to Phoenix."

"What'd you major in?" Chidi asked. "I went to undergrad school in Senegal, where I grew up, but got my PhD here in Sydney. Moral philosophy, of course."

"Of course," Eleanor repeated. "I didn't major in anything fancy. Sales. I'd already been working various shitty retail jobs since I was fourteen, figured I may as well major in what I was good at."

"Is that what you do now?"

"Uh... a week ago, I would've said yes, but in the name of being good and honest - I work for a Ponzi scheme within a Ponzi scheme. A Ponponzizi scheme, if you will." She glanced over at him, bright eyes wary, as if worried he would yell at her, or just look at her with judgement. (There was, he admitted, a teensy bit of judgement, but he did his best to force it down.) "But-but I'm gonna quit. As soon as I find someplace better. I can't leave if I don't have a steady income to go to."

"That's fair," Chidi admitted. "Ethics are great, but you gotta eat."

"And pay rent, and keep my car functioning, and pay for AC..." she continued. "Living in Phoenix is surprisingly expensive, given that it's... you know, Phoenix." Eleanor let out a small laugh, twirling a bit as she walked. Chidi smiled, too. Her joy was infectious. "It's been so nice to get away for a little bit. The last proper vacation I had was... I dunno, maybe three years ago? And it wasn't that great. I couldn't afford to do much. Shockingly, working for a crooked sales agency doesn't pay that well."

"How long have you been working for them?" Chidi asked.

"About six months, now," she said. "I actually worked for the same guy at a different Ponzi scheme for a few years before that, but when I was on my first do-good stint, I quit and worked for an environmental agency for awhile." Her face scrunched up a bit. "Ugh, I just remembered. My coworker there is another person I owe an apology to. I kind of treated him like crap."

"'Another'? Do you have a list?"

"Yes, actually."

They continued walking, talking about nothing in particular. It was nice. For once, Chidi wasn't over-analyzing everything he said, or obsessing over every little thing she said. Was this how normal people had conversations?

(Honestly, the idea of being able to speak to another human being without working himself into a panic attack sounded pretty fake to him.)

They could see Eleanor's hotel in the distance, when the sky opened up with a deafening clap of thunder. Shrieking, Eleanor and Chidi both began running, splashing through puddles as they practically tripped over each other to get indoors. By the time they got to the hotel's front door, they were both soaked to the skin. Chidi followed Eleanor inside, the AC sending a chill through him as soon as they stepped into the lobby.

Eleanor laughed out loud when she looked at Chidi. "You look so stupid!" she said, in between giggles.

"Well - I mean - so do you, probably!" Chidi said. He couldn't actually see Eleanor very well. She was just a vaguely blonde blob in front of him. His glasses were basically useless - he needed to find something to dry them with.

The Eleanor-blob moved, and a couple seconds later, she pressed a tissue into his hand. When he managed to clean his glasses off, he saw that Eleanor, who'd had the misfortune of wearing a white top and sandals, was causing a rather large puddle to grow beneath her. She was trying to shake her hair out like a dog, splattering water droplets all over everything nearby.

"Want to come up to dry off?" Eleanor said. "You can't change clothes but you can at least use a towel."

"That would be great," Chidi said.

With one last shake of her hair, Eleanor reached into her purse for her room key. As they made their way to the elevator, the most obnoxious part of Chidi's brain helpfully decided to pipe up with, Hey, did you notice that you could kind of see through Eleanor's shirt?

No.

What did Kant say about lying, again?

Shut up, brain. I didn't notice anything of the sort.

Hey, you're only human...

SHUT UP, BRAIN.

By the time Eleanor finished changing out of her wet clothes and into a nice, dry pair of pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt, Chidi had managed to use a couple towels to get semi-dry. The operative part of the phrase being "semi." The rain was still coming down rapidly, pounding against the ceiling like drumbeats.

"If you don't want to pay for a cab, you can wait out the storm here," Eleanor said, flopping down onto her bed. The hotel room wasn't huge; it had a bed, a TV, a microwave, a nightstand, and a cushy armchair that Chidi had claimed. "How long do these things usually last?"

"Oh, it could be anywhere from five minutes to a couple hours," Chidi said. "Normally, I check my weather app, but I forgot today."

"Yeah, I've been told I can be a distraction." Eleanor pulled her hair back into a ponytail, glancing over at him. "What do you wanna do? I can put on a Real Housewives marathon."

"I'd rather do anything else," Chidi admitted.

"Okay, how about a game of 20 questions?"

"...So, tell me more about these housewives."

Eleanor grinned, sitting up. "Too late!" she said. "I'll go first - when you'd go on your first date?"

Chidi let out a sigh, unable to believe he was actually going to go along with this. Had it been literally anyone except Eleanor, he wouldn't have. "Girl named Imani I knew when I was sixteen," he said. "We went out to eat, and her dad came with us. It was pretty crap."

"'It was pretty crap.' Summary of all my relationships thus far." Eleanor let out a laugh. "Okay, now ask me something. Go deep, or dirty. Or both. You know by now that I have no shame."

Chidi thought it over. "You ever been arrested?"

Eleanor snorted. "Of course," she said. "No felonies, but I am banned from sixteen establishments in Phoenix and one in Amsterdam. I'd ask you the same question, but I know you'd probably have a nervous breakdown if you ever did something illegal, so... has your anti-lying policy ever gotten you in trouble with a girlfriend?"

He cringed. "So many," he admitted. "Everyone says they want an honest partner, but... apparently there is such a thing as too much of a good thing."

"Exhibit A: Boots Guy."

"...Yeah." Chidi tried to think of a question that wouldn't be too personal or too inappropriate. Even with Eleanor's blessing, he couldn't bring himself to ask anything that might offend someone. Finally, he decided on, "Have you ever stolen from a friend?"

Eleanor shifted guiltily. "Yeah," she admitted. "Most of my boyfriends, I'd take a few twenties out of their wallets just before I dumped them. Just to, you know, really put the icing on the cake."

"Charming."

"I know. I'm a class act." She thought it over for a moment before asking, "What was your worst job?"

"That's easy," Chidi said, laughing a bit as the memory came to him. "When I was in undergrad school, I spent a year working at a diner on campus that was really popular for its hangover food. You know what's fun about serving greasy food to a bunch of drunk-slash-hungover college students?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

Eleanor laughed. "I feel like I should apologize, since in Tempe, I was one of those drunk-slash-hungover college students. I don't remember much of it, but I'm told I was a nightmare."

He let out a chuckle. "Was?"

"Hey!" But she was smiling.

"Okay... what is the worst thing you ever did at your job?" he asked He couldn't help it; he was curious at how deep the Ponzi rabbit hole went.

"Hmm..." She sat up, thinking it over. "Does it have to be my current job, or any job I've ever had?"

"Any job," Chidi said.

"Okay, so, about... eighteen years ago, I worked for a phone sex line," Eleanor said. "Wasn't fun, or the least bit sexy, but it paid a decent amount. And, honestly, at least my boss there wasn't a total scumbag. I'd probably still be doing it if the internet hadn't driven us out of business. Anyway, one day, I'm taking calls, and I get a woman on the other end, and I was like, Yes, finally, something different. But she said, 'I need you to end my marriage.'"

"What?!" he said, gaping at her.

"I know! I was totally stunned. But this woman said she wanted to divorce her husband, but the pre-nup said that unless he had an affair, she'd get nothing. Apparently, he made quite a lot, and she'd gotten used to a certain standard of living. So she said, 'He calls this line all the time, I overhear him, but because of the confidentiality rules, I can't get anyone else who works here to confirm it. So if I told the judge, it'd be his word against mine. He always gives the same fake name, so if you get him, you'll know. If you agree to help me, your job is to make sure he's so taken with you that when he calls again, he asks for you specifically, and then keep him calling back for a couple weeks.'"

"Jesus, she wanted you to play the long game."

"No kidding. This was back when everyone had landlines, so her plan was, once her idiot husband was lulled into a false sense of security, I'd let her know when he usually called, and one day, she'd set her daughter up to 'catch' him. While he was in the bedroom, talking to me, she'd be in the living room. She'd ask her daughter to pick up the phone to call someone for her aaaaaand..."

"...And you'd still be on the line, ready say something extremely incriminating," Chidi finished.

"Exactly. So it wouldn't be her word against his, and she wouldn't have to ask someone who worked for the line to release information about a client." Eleanor sighed. "Anyway, I thought it over, and I was about to say, 'Lady, first of all, I'm not sure calling a phone sex line would count as cheating to a lawyer, anyway, and second of all, why can't you just use your phone bill to prove he'd been calling, and third, I don't want to get dragged into your family's shit,' but then she offered me a bribe."

"How much?"

"5,000 dollars."

"Holy God." Chidi let out a whistle, shaking his head. "So, that's how much a marriage is worth?"

Eleanor laughed. "Hey, in my defense, the marriage was obviously on the rocks long before I got involved. The guy was a total sleazebag, and, frankly, the wife didn't strike me as too bright. I mainly just felt bad for their poor daughter. I tried to keep her from hearing anything too graphic, just... you know, just enough that she knew what was going on. I don't know if the accusation of cheating even held up in court, I just did my job and got my money. It took care of rent for months, it was great."

Chidi hesitated, suddenly thinking over something she'd said. "Wait, this was eighteen years ago?"

"Yeah," she said.

"How old are you now?"

"I just turned thirty-six."

"So this happened when you were barely eighteen?"

"Mmhmm."

"...Why were you paying rent already when you were barely eighteen?"

"Oh," Eleanor said. "Yeah, I, uh. I was emancipated from my parents when I was fourteen. I lived on my own until I went to college, and then I got some roommates. I would've started working for the phone line earlier, since it paid way more than the job I had right before that did, but of course, that was the one place in Phoenix that actually bothered to check your ID."

Chidi was frowning, trying not to come off as condescending, but unable to hide his worry. "Why'd you get emancipated? I mean, if you don't mind talking about it."

Eleanor shrugged. "They didn't want to take care of me," she said. "Some people just shouldn't be parents, and they were two of them. So, as soon as I could, I drew up the paperwork myself, had them sign, and boom. They owed me nothing, and I owed them nothing. It worked for us."

What was most distressing was the fact that she didn't seem sad. Or angry, or even like she cared at all. Whether it was genuine, or just a front, he wasn't sure.

"Eleanor..."

She gave a crooked smile. "It's no big deal, Chidi," she insisted. "Everyone's got baggage."

"I guess so."

Suddenly, he felt like he understood Eleanor better than he ever had.

"...Do you ever wish you hadn't done it?" he asked.

"No way. Obviously, I didn't turn out great, but I was much better off without them," she said. "I mean, they didn't hate me or anything. They weren't abusive, if that's what you're thinking. They just... there were more important things to them than raising a kid, I guess."

"When you have a kid, they should be the most important thing in the world," Chidi said.

"I know. That's why I don't know if I'd ever become a mother," Eleanor admitted. "I don't think I'd be any good at it. Selfish people don't make good parents."

"...And neither do the overly panicky and obsessive," Chidi murmured, half to himself.

Eleanor nodded ruefully, blue eyes casting to the floor. Finally, she cleared her throat. "This got too real. Let's watch some trashy TV," she said forcing herself to sound chipper.

Chidi nodded, still too stunned by what Eleanor had revealed about her parents to argue.

"Now, promise me you'll at least try to keep up," Eleanor said, finding a Real Housewives of New Jersey marathon on some reality channel that Chidi never watched.

"I promise."

He'd fallen asleep by the time they were five episodes in.

At least he tried.

The rain stopped several hours later. Once the constant patter of raindrops hitting the window had ceased, Eleanor shut off the TV, sitting up slightly on the bed.

Chidi was still asleep in the chair, snoring lightly. He was leaning against the wall, his glasses knocked slightly askew.

He looked fucking ridiculous.

Smiling, Eleanor tiptoed over to him, and paused, briefly contemplating waking him up.

It was late. There was no sense in making him head back now. It was too dark out for him to walk alone, and a cab would've been pricey, probably. There was no point to waking him. Right?

With that in mind, Eleanor grabbed a spare blanket from the linen closet, and draped it over him. She gently took the glasses off his face, so he wouldn't break them, and set them down on her bedside table. Smiling slightly at the way he continued to sleep, dead to the world, Eleanor crawled back into her bed, shutting off the lamp.

"Goodnight, nerd," she whispered.