Chapter 2 #2
“Glitter was as bad of an idea as you warned me it was.” He had tried to talk her out of it twice before today. Once over a cup of hot chocolate after school and then again last night when he had called her. “So, what did you need to tell me?”
“Can I come get you tonight half an hour later than planned? My babysitter had a meeting for some school club come up unexpectedly and asked if it was okay. I said yes, but I can call her back if it doesn’t work for you.
” He took her hand and twined their fingers together. She liked it when he did that.
“Oh, no. Seven is fine. It’ll give me a few more minutes to try to de-glitter myself.”
“I don’t care if you sparkle. I think it’s cute.” He tugged her a little closer to him. “It means we might have to rush dinner a bit so we can make it to the movie on time. I can send you a link to the menu of the place where we’re going and that way we won’t have to wait to order.”
“That sounds perfect.” She liked how organized he always seemed to be.
He had planners and apps galore that he referenced about this or that thing that needed doing.
She could remember how discombobulated her father was after her mom left.
Mom had been a planner gal. Dad had been a show up when Mom said guy.
Mostly when he was supposed to, but not always.
Maybe if there had been as many apps then as there were now, he would have made it on time to her activities more often? No, probably not. Her dad was just not the super organized sort and his job made doing things on time challenging.
“Okay. Well, then, I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it.”
He leaned in and kissed her cheek before leaving. She wanted to sigh, but she didn’t. Silly teenagers sighed at sweet gestures in the moment. Grown up ladies waited until they were in the appropriate company. Fred was not the appropriate company. Even if he was her best friend.
He wore a smirk when she returned to her desk. “I might have lied to your students.”
Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“That kiss says girlfriend/boyfriend, and here I told them that you couldn’t be that yet since this is a first date.”
Esther’s cheeks grew warm. “Well, it’s not like we haven’t met up for coffee after school or talked on the phone. It’s just that this is the first real date.”
“Does that mean that can I come to class on Monday and correct my mistake?” he teased.
She swatted his arm. “No! I’m quite glad that you slowed Savannah’s roll on the whole Miss Adams is Madison’s dad’s girlfriend thing.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It felt weird to hear her say it and to know that my personal life is part of the playground gossip.”
Fred chuckled. “You can’t tell me that you didn’t expect that to happen.
I mean, you’re smart enough to be a teacher.
Surely, you know how the playground gossip machine works.
Teachers doing something deemed ‘un-teacher-y,’” he put air quotes around the word, “was the best kind of gossip when we were kids. Remember when our gym teacher was seen at Friendly’s buying ice cream? ”
Esther chuckled. “Yeah, I do remember that.” She shook her head. “Do you think in twenty years there’ll be adults sitting around saying, ‘do you remember when our teacher dated our friend’s dad?’”
“You have to ask? Of course! I mean, that’s better than a gym teacher’s secret obsession with ice cream.”
“Secret obsession? Seriously, Fred, it was a guy buying a carton of ice cream. That’s hardly an obsession.”
Fred shook his head. “I heard it happened more than once.”
They both laughed.
“So this is my future, huh?”
“Guess you should’ve thought about that before flirting with one of the parents to get him to go out with you.”
Again, she swatted his arm. “I didn’t flirt with Steve.”
“That’s not what I heard on the playground.”
“You were never on the playground with these kids.”
Fred shrugged. “No, but if I was, that’s how I’d probably hear it.”
She sighed. “Well, then, I guess I better not mess this relationship up, or there’ll be all sorts of stories.”
“You know that if any of the kids saw that peck on your cheek just now, the embellished stories would be flying on Monday. So, you better behave in the movie theatre. Do you remember when our high school English teacher –"
“Yes. Point taken. No kissing during the movie.” She put some papers to grade in her bag to take home with her. Then, she gathered the ones that needed to be sent home in the next weekly folder and went to file them.
“Did I make a mistake by agreeing to date him?” she asked Fred.
He shrugged but didn’t look up from what he was doing.
“That’s not for me to say. Only you can decide that, and I’m thinking it will take a few dates before you know.
” His shoulders rose and fell noticeably as if he had taken and expelled a deep breath.
“One more sheet.” He waggled the last sheet of paper.
“Told you I was good at this.” His smile seemed a little flat.
“You’re also really good at this friend stuff. I’m sure you’d rather not be sitting in a room cutting out circles and talking about the guy I’m dating.”
His eyes had returned to watching his scissors follow the line on the paper he held.
“That’s what friends are for, right?” Again, his shoulders rose and fell noticeably.
“That being said, to be honest, the fewer details I have to hear about your dating Steve, the better. Mandy would probably be more interested in hearing them.”
But Mandy wouldn’t be sitting here on a day off, cutting out art project things. She wasn’t always the put others before herself kind of person – especially when it came to manual labour.
Fred put down his scissors. “All done. Do you have anything else I can help with?”
“No, I’ve just got a couple of organizational things to do.”
“Want me to try to clean up some more of that glitter?”
“No. You’ve done so much already with giving up time to play for us and then, cutting those out. Go enjoy your Friday afternoon.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yep, I’m sure. Do you have any Friday night plans?”
He shook his head as he swung his guitar across his back. “Just a Christmas movie with the siblings and their significant others – whichever ones are available that is. It’s the last movie night before the holidays.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot that was tonight. I hope it’s a good movie.”
“I hope yours is, too,” he said with a laugh. “Have a good night. See you on Sunday.”
“You, too!” she called as he left the room.
With the last paper tucked into the proper folder, she returned to her desk to straighten it up before heading home.
On top of the neatly cut circles sat one with a lopsided smiley face. She picked it up and ran her thumb over the less than perfectly round edge. Of course, Fred would leave a smile behind. Not that he needed to draw one to leave it.
Her chest tightened. He had always been like this. Thoughtful. Steady. The kind of guy who made everyone feel special. And someone who had always – always – made her feel completely at peace. Even back after her mom had left, when peace had been hard to find.
His friendship had been, and still was, a blessing. At one time, she had hoped that their friendship might become something more, but then? Well, then, things happened, and her moment was lost.
She put the smiley face inside her desk next to the scissors, in her basket of little treasures her students gave her, before putting the rest of the circles in the art folder behind her desk.
“Father,” she whispered in prayer as she worked, “don’t let me bring any more chaos to Madison’s life by dating her father. Let me be as much of a blessing to her and her dad as Fred has been to me.”