Thou Shalt Not(98)

It reminded me a little of trying to catch a glimpse of boob or something even more graphic while watching scrambled porn as a teenager. You always hoped you’d get like thirty seconds of clarity, but it never came.

I could have stood at the door the rest of the day and not had a clue what they were talking about. Instead, I stood there for what seemed like the entire day, but in actuality it was only probably three minutes.

As I stood there, contemplating whether or not to walk to my desk out of a stupid fear that he might hear my footsteps and know I’d been eavesdropping on them, the door opened.

I jumped back, my heart stopped, and for at least three seconds I probably could have been declared legally dead.

April walked in, alone.

“Oh my god,” I said. “You scared me.”

She looked a little shaken.

“Where is he?” I asked.

She looked behind her, instinctively, like she was expecting him to follow her in.

“He went to get Landry’s baseball. And yours.”

“Did he say what he is doing here?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He said it was a surprise.”

“What the hell is his surprise?”

“How should I know, Luke?”

April probably needed to get over to her classroom before her husband got back with the baseballs. Unless baseball was a code word for shotgun.

My brain does that. I couldn’t help it.

Here I was, needing to call things off with her once again, and something or someone was getting in the way once more.

“Well, keep me posted,” I said quietly, for reasons God only knew.

April looked frustrated and a little flustered, but she gave me a quick nod and left.

It was a few minutes before I heard the door open to April’s room, and because there weren’t any other sounds in the building, I could tell they were talking. But, once again, I couldn’t make the words out.

I decided to walk over to Stephanie’s classroom, because I wanted to get a glimpse into April’s room while I walked by.

I didn’t know what I expected to see, but I knew I’d be more comfortable knowing he wasn’t strangling her or anything. Violence had to be on the back of anyone’s mind while Marco was around. Thankfully, he didn’t smell of booze though, so this wasn’t going to turn into drunken rage.

It was funny the things people will do when they think they are going to get caught doing something. I had been whispering to April even though Marco was in the parking lot. I had been trying to stand as silently as possible while I listened by the door, worried the slightest flinch would get me found out. And now, as I left my room and walked toward Stephanie’s, I found myself practically tiptoeing. Because, apparently seeing a man tiptoeing in his own goddamn hallway isn’t suspicious at all.

I casually turned my head as I walked by April’s room, glancing through the window that a few weeks ago had first exposed me to April in the first place.

God, so much had happened in such a short period of time since then.

I saw April sitting at her desk. It didn’t look like she was talking to anyone; her head was down and she was shuffling through papers.

The window wasn’t big enough to see the rest of the room unless I was going to walk up to the door and put my face right up to it.

I continued walking and reached my faux destination.

The lights were out, and when I reached down to open the door, I realized it was locked. I knew Landry had gone in there—the lights had been on and the door had obviously been unlocked.

I peered into the dark room through the window on the door, but saw empty desks slightly illuminated by the light of the hallway.

I guess the tutoring session had been a quick one.

I briefly debated walking the length of the hallway and then going back to my classroom, but I turned around instead.

The door to April’s room opened up, and out came Marco.

I stopped in my tracks, and so did he. I think we were both just briefly startled to see someone else in the hallway, but if anyone else had come across us, they would have thought we were engaged in some kind of Western standoff.

“Can you point me in the direction of the men’s room?” Marco asked. “Too much coffee on the plane.”

“Right there,” I said, pointing behind him to the bathroom that was conveniently located to the right of my classroom.

“Ah, gracias,” he said. And off he went.

The bell rang and the morning quickly got underway. I wasn’t texting April and she wasn’t texting me, so whatever was going on next door was a mystery to me. I had no idea if Marco was sticking around the school for the day, or if he had left, but I wasn’t going to risk asking her. So I waited.

When lunch rolled around, there was no sign of April in her classroom or in the lunchroom. I assumed they went to lunch.