Hissy Fit (Southern Gentleman 1)

Once I was through, I quickly snatched my towel off the rack and walked to the mirror, smiling so fucking wide that I nearly cracked my face when I saw the note written on the glass.

It was written in a dry erase marker that I’d seen on the bar in my kitchen the day before. On it there were eleven words that made me impossibly happier than I’d already been.

You looked beautiful last night and this morning. Love you—Ezra.

Any happier and I just might burst.

This day was going to be perfect…I just knew it.

***

It wasn’t perfect. It was god-awful.

What I didn’t know was that while I was acting out last night, someone was videotaping me. And that video would be shared all throughout school by the time I arrived that morning.

I underestimated the power of a video, too.

Because by seven thirty, after I finished with the middle school drop off, I was the star of the high school campus—and not in a good way.

I hadn’t even made it all the way into school when I was stopped in the hallway by Camryn.

“Oh. My. God,” she whispered. “We’re on video!”

I frowned. “What?”

She pulled up her phone, and a grainy video of me and Camryn was on the screen, showing us rolling around on the mat with my head pressed to her breasts.

Moments after that, we separated, and I got on the bull.

The only reason I knew it was me was the bright goddamn blue cast.

I looked at the offending object and thanked God that I’d gotten it changed last night due to having some beer spill on it while at the bar.

Now the only thing on it was ‘I love Ezra,’ who’d signed it this morning on his way out the door.

I hadn’t even been aware that it’d been there until a middle school student that I’d helped out of the car started to giggle and pointed it out.

I’d grinned my stupid grin all the rest of the morning drop-off…until right now.

“Son of a bitch,” I whispered. “What the fuck?”

Camryn shook her head. “It’s too grainy to pinpoint either one of us. As of right now, it’s just speculation that it’s a teacher at all. I just wanted to warn you.”

The warning was a good thing, because I was able to more or less prepare myself when I was called into the principal’s office for the second time that week during my conference period.

I walked in like I owned the place and acted like I had no idea why I was there.

“Did I get another complaint lodged against me?” I asked, real worry in my voice.

Though not for the complaint, but for the video.

She didn’t know that, though.

Mrs. Sherpa’s lips twisted into a grimace. “No, I’m sorry. Quite the opposite in fact. Have you seen the video going around the school today?”

I blinked innocently at her.

“Ummm,” I hesitated. “No. What video? Is it of a fight?”

Oh, God. I was so going to hell.

Lying to the principal!

What had gotten into me?

“I have to say, Ms. Crusie, I’m quite disappointed in seeing this video,” Mrs. Sherpa noted. “I would’ve never expected these actions from you.”

I widened my eyes and stared at the grainy video yet again, frowning.

“What is it?” I asked.

Really, you couldn’t see a damn thing. All you could see were two women lying on the mat and hear them laughing. That was it.

Hell, I could make out Ezra’s back better than I could make out my face.

“It’s a video of two teachers at the bar ‘Ride ‘Em Joe’s.’ The one with the electric bull at it,” she explained.

I waited for her to go further into detail, but she didn’t, waiting for me to confess, I assumed.

I wouldn’t be.

She’d have to prove me guilty without me doing her any favors.

“I don’t see the problem,” I said honestly. “What is that video of?”

Oh, God. Could she tell that I was lying? My face felt like it was on fire. Absolutely burning up to a crisp. Any moment she’d call me on my lies. I just knew it.

Plus, without validation from the party in the video, she only had speculation and heresy.

Plus, my cast was entirely different than the woman’s in the photo.

Luckily you couldn’t see Moira’s largely-scrawled name on the cast due to the angle the video had been taken from.

“You should be more careful about what you do when you’re out in public.”

“That’s not me,” I lied. “And, even if it was me, from what I can tell, there’s nothing in that video that’s wrong.”

I hoped there wasn’t any more to the video than what I’d seen, because otherwise I’d just totally lied to the principal!

Mrs. Sherpa pursed her lips and then shook her head before placing the phone down on the desk in front of her. “I can’t prove that it was you, and I do agree. However, some parents have already called and said that they didn’t like how the teachers in this video represented themselves. How they’re supposed to be role models for their students…blah, blah, blah. Just pay attention when you’re…out.”