Lovely Lunch Dates. #2
“Y’all always come bothering me at the weirdest time,” Zee laughs, shaking her head.
“And by weirdest times, you mean your lunch break?” Sai teases, and she waves him off. “Yeah, exactly.”
“Babe, you remember Sai and Adonis, right?” I nod, greeting them before turning my attention to the other woman. “And this is Winter. She just started last year, but I don’t think y’all have ever met.” I greeted her as well. “This is my girlfriend, Jakayla.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” she replies with a smile. “Zee is always so helpful, and the kids love her, but I’m sure you know that already.”
“Definitely,” I say with a smile, turning my attention back to Zee. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips. “She’s always been amazing since the first time we met.”
“Speaking of which,” Sai says with a smirk as he leans in closer. “How did you two meet?”
“Now, Sai, I know I told you that she and I were roommates for a few years back in college,” Zee chuckled.
“Ah, my bad,” he giggled. “I forgot.”
“Wait, really?” Winter asked, and we nodded. “Oh, so there’s lots of history between y’all? Got it. That’s actually kinda romantic that y’all fell for each other down the line.”
“Down the line?” I asked with a grin. When I glanced at Zee, she was avoiding eye contact, but she knew what I knew. “Your friend, Zee, has been obsessed with me since the first day.”
“Oh, like the feeling wasn’t mutual,” she snapped, playfully. “If I remember correctly, you couldn’t take your eyes off me that day. At first, I thought I was just imagining things, but now I know that you were feeling me just like I was feeling you.”
“Guilty,” I said, raising my hand in surrender. Zee giggled, and the world around me blurred as I took in the beautiful woman before me.
There have been plenty of times when I wished that I’d worked up the courage to tell her how I felt earlier.
But the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that it wasn’t the right time for us.
We both needed to go through some trials to appreciate each other as we do now.
I mean, I hated that her trials seemed to be more testing than needed to be, but I was thankful that I’d been able to be by her side the whole time.
I loved being there for her and Sera, and now, I could be the person they needed more than ever. Forever.
The conversations gradually shifted to other topics, and I sat back, enjoying the time spent with Zee and her friends.
They were funny as hell, and I could see why she liked them so much.
After their lunch break was over, I decided to stick around for the rest of the day to be Zee's assistant.
I was never the type of person who dreamed of being a teacher, but I admired Zeyah for it.
She was a natural in the classroom, and the children loved her.
I loved watching her in her element because you could tell that this was her calling.
From the way she guided the little ones with patience as they played their instruments, to the way she used songs to keep them on track with the schedules, to the way she praised them when they got things right and gently directed them back to the task at hand when they got a little overexcited; it was beautiful to witness.
By the time her last class had left and we started to straighten things up, I had an even deeper respect for her and her occupation.
“You are amazing, Zseyah,” I told her as we stacked the chairs so the janitor could mop. She glanced at me with a timid smile. “I can’t believe you’ve been working here for a few years now, but this is only the first time I’ve truly seen you in teacher mode. This really is your calling, love.”
“Thank you, Kay,” she nods, and she comes over to wrap her arms around me.
I do the same, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead.
“This is one of the places where I’m the happiest, and I’m so grateful that I get to live out my dream every day.
Seeing the joy on the children’s faces when they master a new song is what this is all about. It makes my heart soar.”
“I’m knowing,” I chuckle. “And they’re really good, too! I hate that I’m going to miss the Fall concert because I’m going to be out of town, but I’ll definitely be at the winter one if y’all have it this year.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” she assures me. We break apart so she can grab her things, and then we’re walking towards the exit.
Since she got off an hour early today, we’d decided that she’d go pick up Sera early while I pick up dinner for us.
“And we certainly will be having a Winter one. It’ll be the same day as our Christmas/Holiday lunch.
December 18th. Do you think you could take off and bring Sera? ”
“Of course,” I smile, taking her hand in mine. “Also, I’ve already cleared my schedule to be here to help with the school’s annual food drive in a few weeks. My moms agreed to watch Sera for the weekend, so we can stay and help for as long as you need us to.”
“God, you’re so amazing,” she sighs as we make it to her car.
We didn’t say anything as we stared at each other in silence.
Before long, her eyes gloss over, and I gently wipe the tears as they fall before pulling her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cry; it’s just that everything feels so surreal, and there’s still that constant nagging at the back of my brain telling me not to get too comfortable.
Every time I start to, Sasha pops back up, and the knowledge that she’s trying to take my baby from me is all too real once again. ”
“I understand,” I nod, pulling her into my arms. “But baby, she won’t. I don’t care how hard I have to fight. Sasha will never even get visitation rights with Sera, because I know she’s not doing this out of genuine care for her. I won’t let her tear this family apart, I promise.”
“It’s just not fair,” she whispers. “How many times is she going to snatch my heart and step on it? What did I ever do to her to deserve this?”
“You didn’t do anything. She’s just in her feelings,” I nod.
I pull back a bit to take her face in my hands, pushing away the tears.
“We are going to get through this together, okay?” She nods.
“You and Sera have me, and I’m not going anywhere.
Y’all have both of our families behind you, so you never have to fear being alone.
You and Sera have a village, so please trust us, alright? ”
“Alright,” she nods with another small smile.
“Okay,” I nod back, placing a soft kiss against her forehead. “How about this! You head home and rest while I pick up Princess and then go get dinner. Sounds good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Okay, I love you. Drive safe.”
We exchange kisses once more before she tells me that she loves me back and finally climbs into the car.
I watch as she pulls off before heading over to my truck.
It only takes about thirty minutes to go get Sera and then pick up dinner for us, but when we finally made it home, I could tell that Zee was way more relaxed and that her smile was genuine when she saw us.
We spent the rest of the night relaxing as the little family we’d always been.
And nothing or no one was about to change that.