I put together my bag of clothes so I could shower once I got to the school. My thoughts immediately turned away from Holly’s beautiful backside to April. My hands started to get clammy again just thinking about her. I felt the urge to make sure I looked and smelled particularly good that morning, so I packed my favorite tie (pink with large white polka dots) and the cologne that always made Holly jump me. The tie got me compliments from everyone, male and female, no matter where I went, and the cologne often did the same. I usually only wore it for special occasions, but Wednesday at Lakefront was now a special occasion.
I stopped. What was I thinking? She was happily married, meeting her husband for lunch. I would probably just see her for a few more days and then never see her again.
I decided there was nothing wrong with wanting to look and smell nice at work that day. I had to let kids like Landry know that personal hygiene was important. I got to my classroom and there was no sign of April next door. The lights were out, and I breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief and sadness. I was nervous of how I would react when I saw her, so I was thankful I’d have another few moments to compose myself, but I also really wanted to see her again. I was trying to talk myself into the fact that maybe I thought so highly of her because she was the first new woman to enter my life in a while. Maybe, now that the initial “crush” wave was perhaps over, I’d be able to actually realize that she wasn’t all my mind was cracking her up to be.
As I was sitting at my desk, absently thumbing through papers, the door opened. My brain and my heart both froze for a moment, and I looked up. Only, it wasn’t April. It was Principal West. Once again, a sigh of relief and sadness.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Hey Luke,” he said, grabbing a chair in front of my desk and sitting down.
“What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to check in and see how things went yesterday with Mrs. Batista. I talked to her briefly yesterday afternoon, and she seemed to think everything went pretty well.”
“Yeah, I mean as far as I can tell things went just fine. I talked to her a few times throughout the day, and she never made mention of any trouble or anything.”
“That’s good to hear,” he said, stroking his stubbled chin with his hand. His eyes looked tired and he seemed perplexed.
“I certainly think she will do just fine while Robin is out. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to worry.”
“I hope so,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything from Robin or Walt. I’m going to assume no news is good news.”
I could hear the door open and then shut next door. April.
“That must be her,” he said, standing up. “I think I will go see if there is anything she might need today. Just keep an eye on her, will you? If she does well, I think we might have to find a place here for her.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. Absolutely. With her qualifications, we would be idiots to let her go.”
And with that, he was out the door and quickly into the next room. Within minutes, the bell chimed.
I didn’t get to see her before classes started, and the periods seemed to go by extra slowly. I was hopeful she would join my third period class again during her break, but as American Lit began, April was nowhere to be seen. This made the period drag by even more. I think even the kids picked up on how my mind was preoccupied. Preoccupied by a long-legged teacher who used big words and had a plump bottom lip. It’s all physical, I told myself. You’re a shallow ass.
Finally, lunchtime rolled around and the kids made their way downstairs to the lunchroom. I paused outside my door, wondering whether I should go into her classroom and see if she was coming to lunch, or just head down myself and let her do as she pleased. I opted for the latter.
I was halfway down the hall when I heard a door close behind me. I instinctively looked back, and there she was.
Blue was her color of choice today, and as much as I thought it was impossible to top the green from the day before, she had. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which almost seemed like a travesty considering how incredible her hair was, but it managed to looked sophisticated, sexy, and playful.
“You heading down to lunch?” I asked. I was trying not to overly ogle her. ”Or, another hot date today?”
She smiled, but it seemed forced a bit, almost weary.
“No, no date today. Guess I will be enjoying the spread here.”
“Oh, it isn’t so bad. They sometimes surprise us with something edible.”
She caught up with me and we began walking in silence toward the stairs. I suddenly found myself wondering if my cologne was still discernible, or if my tie looked absolutely ridiculous.