The firewhiskey went a long way to settling things down again, and while he was still embarrassed he'd made such a scene, it didn't seem so bad now. And then things got even better as he started laughing at Charlie.
"For fuck's sake why would you even attempt that?" he asked, still chortling into his drink. "The man needs that stick yanked from his arse." He knew it wasn't polite to be talking about members of the staff this way, especially to another professor.
"But now that you've mentioned it, I have to know what happened. Did he look like you like he'd just stepped in horse shit?"