Hot For Teacher(6)

As careful as I can, I rummage through the cabinets and refrigerator to see what they have in stock, grabbing the bacon, some sausage, milk, and other supplies to make biscuits and sausage gravy. I locate the coffee and get that going before I start cooking, the smell alone once it starts brewing urges me to grab a cup and have a little taste. Not bad.

While pulling out a couple of skillets, I’m not as quiet as I wanted to be because a pot comes crashing down making a loud thud on the floor. Shit! I stay crouched down for a couple of minutes to see if anyone comes running around the corner and am thankful that they don’t, so I get busy frying up the bacon and sausage and making the biscuits. It’s all coming together nicely.

“God, you cook, too?”

I scream a little, hearing a voice behind me. “You scared me. Why did you sneak up behind me like that?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. This house smells like coffee and bacon so I had to come see who was cooking. We don’t ever get up early enough to make breakfast,” Liam says, grabbing a mug from the cabinet and filling his cup to the brim. “Can I help?”

Help? I’ve never had anyone offer to help before. I was just always told to cook. “Uh…sure. If you want to grab some plates, it will be ready in just a few.” I turn back toward the stove, draining the extra grease from the sausage that I don’t need, and start making the gravy.

“Please tell me that’s gravy you’re making?” he says, with a hint of excitement in his voice.

I laugh a little at his attempt to not sound so excited over gravy. He comes and stands directly behind me while I’m mixing the flour in, trying to make sure all the lumps are out.

“Yes, biscuits and sausage gravy and don’t forget the…”

He reaches around me. “Bacon. I love bacon.”

He backs up a bit and gives me some much needed space. There’s only a few minutes of silence before he starts asking some questions. I answer most of them…the usual where are you from…again, did I have any siblings…things like that. I relax a little and ask him a few. We have a good conversation going and then it sounds like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs.

I look over at Liam. “Guess we don’t have to go wake them.”

One by one, they all round the corner as the timer goes off for the biscuits. They each grab a cup of coffee, thank me, and ask if there is anything they can do to help. I politely decline, because it’s all ready. They form a line and work it buffet style. After everyone has filled their plate, I make my plate, joining them at the table.

“Jesus, this is good.” Sam says, shoving her mouth full.

I get compliments left and right, and it makes me feel even more welcome than I did yesterday.

“Amen. You can cook any-time you want,” Brendon blurts out while he shoves a piece of bacon in his mouth.

Once again, there’s a welcomed silence, but I sit and watch everyone for just a moment before I dig in and eat. After everyone takes a few more bites, the conversations starts flowing…asking me what kind of work I want for the summer, what I like to do…what I don’t like to do. I don’t mind answering those types of questions, but I have a feeling that everything is about to change. Call it gut instinct, if you will.

Sam speaks up first. “So, last night you said that you’d never seen anything like this before when we showed you the pool.” She turns so she’s facing me a bit more before she continues, “If it’s too personal, then just tell me and I’ll mind my own business, but did you not do anything back home?”

I take a drink of my juice before I reply. “No. My parents, or my mother, I should say, wouldn’t let me do anything. She said everyone was the devil, boys in particular. I only had a couple of friends in school and less in high school. I was always the loner.”

They all sat there listening very attentively as I continued telling them about my life back home. They would occasionally take a bite to eat or take a drink of their coffee, but for the most part, all their attention was on me.

“Wow.” Jen speaks up this time. “I couldn’t imagine.”

It was pretty much dropped after that. No one asked any more questions; although, I’m sure they wanted to. Maybe they sensed that I needed to take a break and just let everything go. Maybe they plan to bombard me later with more questions. Either way, it doesn’t matter. They now know everything there is to know…well, almost everything.

They all offered to clean up since I was the one that cooked. That gave me time to run up and shower to get ready for the day ahead of me. The girls said they were going to show me around town and help me find a job, if that’s what I really wanted…and I did. I don’t want to spend every single day in the house. If I wanted that, I would have stayed home with my parents.