“Okay, just return my car in one piece.” She smiled.
“I can’t be blamed if it comes back with a few dents and bruises,” I teased. “Florida drivers are awful! What are you going to do today?”
“Well,” she frowned, “I’m meeting Kyle for lunch. He had said he wanted to see me. But, I’m going to break up with him.”
“Oh wow,” I said. “Really?”
“Yeah, I just can’t deal with his shit anymore. It’s exhausting.”
I had heard some of the stories and I was surprised she had even stayed with him as long as she had. Of course, there were always at least two sides to every story. Maybe he wasn’t all bad, but I would certainly take her side in a fight.
“So you’ll be back tonight?” I asked. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat hopeful her answer would be yes. And no, not simply because of the possibility of being jumped.
“Yeah, I mean, if that’s okay?”
“Absolutely. You know it’s cool.”
“Yeah, but you know if you ever get tired of me you can just say ‘Holly, go the fuck home’ and I won’t be offended or get all girly on you, right?”
“I know,” I smiled. “But you haven’t been nearly as annoying as other times, so your lease isn’t up quite yet.”
I winked, for the third fucking time in like a week. I was going to have to threaten my eyelids that they might be getting cut.
Then she reached up and placed her hands on either side of my face, pulling me in for a kiss. My hands went instinctively for her toweled waist. The kiss was slow and sloppy. Her tongue darted over mine, ever so briefly, as if teasing me for later. Her lips found my bottom lip and tugged it gently toward her as she pulled away.
“If I don’t leave now,” I said, becoming more aroused each minute I stayed in the bathroom, “I might as well not leave.”
“Go,” she said, pushing me out the door. “Now. But feel free to come back later.”
When I got into the car and turned the keys into the ignition, my face was greeted by an unfamiliar blast of air conditioning, and my ears were greeted by a slightly more familiar blast of Pink. Pink was one of Holly’s favorite singers on the planet, and ever since the release of her new album, Holly had admitted to listening to it on repeat. She could find a song she loved and listen to it over and over again for hours. It could be slightly frustrating at times if I didn’t like the song she was over-killing, but I had to admit it was a pretty cute quirk of hers.
I pulled out my phone, knowing I needed to text April back quickly. I reread her last text.
Oh god, I’m a terrible person. I’m sorry. Can you just text me if you get a free second and I will come find you instead?
Oh, you’re fine. No worries :-) Sure, I’ll text you afterwards if I don’t run into you, I responded.
I had no clue why she wanted me to find her. My mind could go in a million different directions and probably would. Maybe the distraction would be nice.
To my surprise, she texted back almost immediately. Perfect. See you soon.
The funeral was scheduled for 12:30, and I had been told that school was only scheduled for half day so that any students who wanted to attend could. Afterwards, there was going to be a reception type thing back at the church. I guess reception is what you’d call it? Celebration of life, maybe? I’ve heard that phrase thrown around from time to time, but I’ve never really been sure what it referred to.
The sanctuary was packed with family, friends, teachers, students, and anyone else who had been affected by her life. I sat near the front, directly behind the family. I wondered if April would come to the funeral out of respect, or if perhaps she would just hang out in the classroom until it ended. She could go home, I guess, but then she wanted to see me afterwards so maybe she was staying for the reception. Since I was sitting so close to the front, I couldn’t very well turn around and scope out the building.
Believe it or not, I hadn’t really given it much thought in the wake of what happened, but as I sat waiting for the funeral to start, I realized that there was a very good chance April could end up filling Robin’s spot. Perhaps not permanently—that would obviously depend on how well she was doing as determined by the powers that be. But, Principal West made it seem pretty clear the other day that April came very well-qualified, so the odds seemed to be in her favor early.
This would obviously mean that she and I would be working together closely, literally and figuratively. April would have the unpleasant task of taking over for a beloved teacher who had been at the school for as long as most of the students could remember. The only potential positive I could think of for April was the fact that the school year was still very early, and this year’s crop of students might not have developed quite the attachment to Robin as they might have, say by Christmas time.