“I think she’s still stinging about being left at the altar,” Karen said, a little hint of judgement behind her tone that made me not like her.
“Altar? She was engaged?” I scanned my brain trying to remember if in any of our texts she’d mentioned being engaged or recently unengaged, but nothing came to mind. That was surely something I’d remember. Then I wondered who the asshole was that would leave such a smart, witty, beautiful woman.
A muffled cough came from behind me and Becky.
I turned, and saw Holly, giving Becky the death stare. Becky smiled apologetically and laughed nervously for getting caught spilling the beans on her friend.
Me, I saw it as an opportunity. “Hey.” I smiled and pulled out the chair next to me. “Come sit with us. I’ll tell you how I was a rockstar with my students this morning.”
2
Holly
When I hid in my classroom to avoid Tucker, it didn’t occur to me that Becky would tell my life’s story and of the humiliation of being jilted at the altar. Of course, it should have. Becky was a wonderful friend, but she didn’t have a filter. It was one thing to be embarrassed at the realization that the man I’d been flirting with by text was only twenty-four, it was another thing for him to know that he’d been flirting with a woman who was almost old enough to be his mother and who another man walked away from. Before Tucker Marshall could avoid me, I avoided him.
Yet here I was, having him offer me a seat. I couldn’t think of an excuse quick enough to get away, so I took the seat he offered.
He grinned at me as he shared his science experiment. I could certainly see why the school district hired him and why all his students gushed about him. He had the energy and exuberance needed to teach ten and eleven-year olds. He had the energy of youth, I reminded himself, because he was young.
And good lord was he handsome with his dark thick hair combed back, his eyes were warm despite being so dark. His body was tall, and lean, yet strong. I knew from our text conversations over the summer that he was smart, witty, and easy going. He was the total package and I longed to be twenty-something so I could flirt with him. Instead, he was relegated to a fantasy now that I was single and my only source of any sexual gratification. The image of him always worked to get me off along with my little rabbit, but then I felt guilty because I was thirteen years older than him and really shouldn’t be thinking of him like that. Added to that, we were colleagues.
“Everything went okay, until Jimmy drew a huge dick on the plate—”
“Oh God he didn’t?” Karen said, laughing.
Becky rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised. You’d be amazed at all the phallic things he does in art.”
“It started floating around. And the thing is, more than float the lines can move, so the dick started to bend. It made me wince.”
I sucked in my lips to keep from smiling too much. I was amused, but I didn’t want him to think our flirting meant more. I didn’t want to give him a reason to have to tell me I’m too old for him.
“At least it didn’t grow,” Karen quipped.
“I did a quick castration and then encouraged him to do something else,” Tucker said. “That was painful too.”
“Did he do breasts next?” Becky asked.
“No. He drew a dog. He’s actually a pretty good artist,” Tucker said, crumpling up his napkin.
Becky nodded. “He really is, but I worry he’ll grow up to do graphic novel porn or something.”
Karen waved a hand. “He’s eleven. His preoccupation with T and A is normal.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Have you had something like that?” Tucker asked. His body was turned to me, and if I was ten years younger, I might have taken his attention as interest.
“She had a kid bring his mother’s dildo once,” Becky blurted, then laughed.
Tucker’s dark brows arched up and his eyes glittered with amusement. “No shit.”
“It was during the sexual reproduction unit, which at that time was divided so that all the girls were over in Ms. Langshire’s room. You replaced her. I had the boys. They each learn both genders, but we figured to avoid embarrassment and lewdness, we’d teach each gender separately.”
“Was it battery operated?” Karen asked.
Becky burst out laughing again.
“Dildos don’t have batteries,” Tucker said, with authority.