by Lee Piper
“Getting old, Dad?” I joked.
He shook his head, bemused, while taking off his leather shoes, gray socks and rolling his suit pants mid-way up his calves. “Ah, that’s better,” he sighed, wiggling his toes in the cool sand.
We both sat there quietly, taking in the clear azure sky and the sound of the waves as they crashed and rolled towards the shore. However, something in Dad’s silence felt off. Usually we could sit like this for hours and it felt so comfortable, but today I could feel something else, trepidation crawled up my spine like an unwelcome spider. I turned to look at him then and instinctively noticed that my mind wasn’t playing me for a fool. Dad had dark rings under his eyes that weren’t there on Wednesday and his skin was looking … oddly sallow. “You all right?”
It took him a while to respond. Though when he finally did, like always, he told me exactly what I needed to hear. “I am now, love.”
“Grace?”
I sighed, then turned my attention back to the present. Right. The conundrum of where to seat Levi. He was staring at me with a puzzled look on his face and I gave him a weak smile. I then turned back to the class. The students were all doing an amazing job of maintaining the facade of actually doing their work when in reality they were probably playing Grand Theft Auto or watching a downloaded TV show. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have let my mind wander.
I glanced behind me. The white teacher’s desk, covered in crap and for once not all mine, was stationed close to the entrance on the left-hand side of the room. An extremely uncomfortable teal colored plastic chair was tucked beneath it. This looked like as good a place as any to seat the guy. At least now I could move amongst the students, both distracting myself from his lip-smacking presence and the kids from their off-task behavior.
Perfect.
“Take a seat at the teacher’s desk.” Thank God, some words at last. “That way you’ll get to observe everything from there.”
“No problem.” He moved behind the desk and sat down, retrieving his own notebook and pen from a distressed brown leather satchel. I honestly didn’t know how I missed him carrying that. But I was willing to blame those stimulating shirt buttons that completely distracted me from this tidbit of crucial information. When Levi opened the notebook and started writing, I swear to God, it looked like the latest edition of Education Monthly had just got a hell of a lot sexier.
Before I could do anything that I would no doubt regret in front of my students, like straddle Levi’s lap and turn Education Monthly into a porn magazine, I quickly moved away. This caused a wave of fear to flow throughout the class as the kids frantically exited out of their games or TV shows and opened up their recount drafts before I reached them. Bless them.
Mercifully, I was able to ignore my raging female parts for the remainder of the lesson. Don’t get me wrong—they never once ceased shrieking at me like the harpy they were, but I found turning my back on Levi really helped. It seemed the only way I could actually get some work done was if I pretended he didn’t exist. So I sat with each of my students in turn, explaining to them in detail the comments I’d made on their drafts and the expectations I had for their final copies. Mark was absent which was probably why the class felt a hell of a lot nicer. At least I didn’t have to contend with his dickweed attitude the entire time.
Man, he was a jerk.
So when the bell rang, I was genuinely surprised at how well I’d dealt with the whole I-want-the-same-guy-that-my-more-deserving-best-friend-did-as-well thing. Sweet.
“Good work today everyone. I expect your final copies emailed to me by the end of the day.” I narrowed my eyes in warning at them. “Do not miss that deadline.” After letting the threat hang in the air for a moment, I then put them out of their misery by declaring, “Class dismissed.”
There was a mass thumping of chairs as they were hurriedly pushed back and then unceremoniously dumped behind the desks. The students then sauntered out of the room before swarming into the hall, no doubt eager to spread news of the magnificent Mr. Mondez. At last, the door swung closed behind them.
We were alone.
Guess it had to happen sooner or later.
I took a deep breath and turned to face Levi. He hadn’t moved from behind the desk and was watching me closely with an unreadable expression on his face. Once again, I lost the power of speech. This was going to become a real problem over the next six weeks if I didn’t get a handle on it soon and I desperately hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to communicating with him in other ways … like through interpretive dance.
Levi slowly stood, never once breaking eye contact with me. He put his notebook and pen away in the leather satchel before swinging it over his shoulder and slowly making his way towards me.
I gulped.
This man held me completely spellbound by the intensity in his gaze. And if I didn’t do something in the next few seconds to break the magnetic pull between us, I would either internally combust or beg him to put me out of my misery.
“We, ah, should really be heading back.”
Genius. Pure genius, Grace.
He completely ignored me and stopped a few inches away before slowly leaning down to murmur in my ear. “You were amazing.”
My brow furrowed and I stepped back, staring squarely up at him. “I was helping students draft their work, Levi, not solving the world hunger crisis.”
“When are you going to learn to take a compliment, kitten?”
“At about the same time you stop giving them.”
He smiled down at me and a small grin played about the corner of my lips. Parrying with him was growing dangerously enjoyable. I quickly turned and grabbed my belongings from the spare desk I’d dumped them on at the start of the lesson.
“We should really be going. I’ve got a double free period next but we’ll probably need that time to clear out some desk space in my office and find you a chair.”
“Yeah, that might take a while.”
“Look…” For some reason I felt the need to grow defensive over my non-existent organizational habits. Don’t ask me why. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to have a student teacher when I first arrived at school today, okay? And I sure as hell wasn’t ready for it to be you, so just—” I paused mid-sentence. Levi’s face broke into a grin of swoon-worthy proportions and I was having a hard time remembering where I was going with my rant.
He stepped towards me again and this time I didn’t move back. I mean, I honestly didn’t trust my legs with any given movement. So I also didn’t stop Levi as he gently brushed the backs of his fingers down the side of my face before tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “Relax, kitten,” he all but purred.
Easy for him to say, he wasn’t the one currently fighting a losing battle against gravity.
“We’ll get it sorted out. There’s no need to get your panties in a twist.”
My eyes popped open in shock. “Don’t think for one second that you’re having any effect whatsoever on my panties,” I growled out.
Liar.
He just grinned wider and brushed his thumb across my bottom lip.
I couldn’t help myself. I opened my mouth and bit down on it.
Levi inhaled sharply from my involuntary assault and his pupils dilated to an alarming degree.
Fuck.
What was I doing?
So, before Teacher Grace could appear and cane my sordid ass, I released his thumb from between my teeth, spun on my heel and wrenched the door open. To say I essentially bolted back to my office would not have been an understatement. And to be blunt, I honestly didn’t give a shit if Levi followed me or if he got lost along the way.
Chapter Five
Trapped in bright lights, it’s all right,
Moving forward to this side.
-MONDEZ, “Echo”
When I stepped through the open doorway, swaying slightly and looking like I’d all but inhaled a bottle of whiskey on an empty stomach, Carli immediately rushed over to me.
“Grace, are you all right? What happened?” Her hands gripped my shoulders and she shook me gently, searching my face for clues as to why I’d turned into crazy cat lady minus the cats.
My mass feelings of self-loathing must have culminated into one hell of a distraught facial expression because the girl looked seriously worried.
“I’m … I’m okay.” I bit back a hysterical laugh. “It’s just been a weird couple of days, that’s all.”
The bell rang for the next lesson but Carli didn’t move. “You sure you’re okay, babe? You look … terrible.”
I nodded my head, trying to appear more self-possessed than I felt and something in the gesture must have reassured her because she let go of me. Grudgingly.
“Right, we’re going out for a drink tonight and you’re not leaving until you’ve told me everything. Got it?”
I nodded again and the continuing irony surrounding my Smart Mouth not being able to formulate any words, biting or otherwise, was not entirely lost on me.
Carli’s eyes widened as she stared over my shoulder.
Christ.
“Carli, meet Levi. My new student teacher.”
She mumbled something vaguely comparable to a greeting and he muttered hey in return. Our students had no hope of expanding their vocabulary beyond grunts and monosyllabic utterances if this mode of communication was to continue for much longer.
Carli’s hazel eyes then returned to mine. She whispered pointedly, “We’ll talk later.” However, her gaze softened as she murmured, “Love you.”
A minute later, she was gone.
The door closed quietly behind her and the only remaining sounds were my labored breaths and erratic heartbeat. To be honest, I was pretty sure both could be heard from the performing arts building across the quad.
I’d seriously messed up with Levi back in the classroom. I mean, I’d stupidly dug a gargantuan hole and then carelessly hurled myself into it.
Teeth first.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry. Levi moved to stand beside me, and staring at the disarray in front of us, threw me a lifeline by asking, “Where do we start?”
I gazed up at him, gratitude etched all over my face. “We need a bin. A fucking big one.”
He looked down at me and smiled, his blue eyes clear. If only the world hadn’t conspired against me and I could let myself get lost in them. In another lifetime, I’d crawl right on in there, set up camp and never want to leave.
Levi’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Well, what are you waiting for, kitten? I’m getting old here.”
Outwardly, I huffed as I turned and ventured into the corridor, dragging back the largest dustbin I could find. But inwardly, I was attempting to fight off the warm fuzzies. They were threatening to seep through my extremities and thaw the coldest parts of me that had been numb for a solid year.
“Let’s just keep this as simple as possible and make two piles,” I said, standing next to Levi once again with the wastepaper basket to our far right. “Anything English-related, we’ll put there.” I pointed to a miraculously empty corner of the office. “Everything else we’ll put here.” I indicated to the bin.
Levi nodded, knelt down on the paper-strewn floor and began rummaging through the mountains of crap I’d managed to assemble throughout my one year at Geographe High. I followed suit, though somewhat restricted by my heels. Thankfully, my pencil skirt had some give in the material so it accommodated the movement a heck of a lot easier than I expected. After a couple of minutes, I gave up on any pretense of propriety and discarded the leather pumps. It was heaven. Though sadly, nothing could be done about the skirt. Levi also stopped, undid his cuffs and rolled up his shirtsleeves as far as his muscular forearms would permit.
I tore my eyes away from that G-rated, though no-less-captivating strip tease and practiced some deep breathing exercises. I’d all but nailed the whole meditation thing ever since meeting the man on Friday night. But being this close to him was agony. Pure and simple. Riley had better hurry on up and marry the damn guy before my raging hormones mutinied against common sense and made a spectacular mess of my waning self-control.
I sighed.
Levi’s eyes shifted to my bent frame but he said nothing. He then returned his attention back to shifting the countless folders, binders and loose-leaf papers strewn all over the floor.
After what felt like an eternity, I decided I had to say something. We couldn’t just remain there, kneeling next to one another and rifling through piles of shit in complete silence until the lunch bell sounded.
It was beyond lame.
I cleared my throat. “So, what made you want to study teaching?”
He smiled at my pathetic attempt at a conversation icebreaker. “For the paid holidays, kitten. Why else?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He smirked.
“No one in their right mind would become a teacher for the fucking holidays, Levi. For one, they’re few and far between and two, there’s way too much crap in the meantime to make the holidays alone worth it.”
“Relax, kitten, it was a joke.”
“Freakin’ hilarious,” I muttered under my breath. Though my grip on what appeared to be a first-aid certificate loosened and I vainly tried to flatten out the creases.
“It’s really a backup plan.”
“For what?”
“Well, if Mondez doesn’t end up kicking ass, at least I’ve got a real job qualification to fall back on.”
It was actually a really sound plan and I grudgingly mumbled, “Good idea.”
“I thought so.”
I narrowed my eyes at his arrogance but for once remained silent. The certificate would survive another day and I threw it onto the pile of English-related stuff.
“What about you, why’d you become a teacher? And an English one at that?”
“Because of my dad.”
Fuck.
I’d said too much.
“Your dad? Was he a teacher?”
I shook my head, pissed at being on the verge of opening Pandora’s box if this conversation continued any further. My family wasn’t something I liked talking about. Ever. It brought back way too many painful memories.
But I had to say something. I mean, the guy was staring expectantly at me. I took a deep breath. “He used to read a lot to me as a kid. The classics mostly. Poe, Conan Doyle, anything with a brooding subtext really. I guess they probably weren’t the most appropriate choices, but I really liked them.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Anyway, reading was something we’d both do together. When I was younger we’d share a book as soon as he got home from work and once I moved out, we’d meet at the beach to talk about the latest novel we were making our way through. Or other stuff. Either way, it was my favorite thing to do.”
I paused, my mind instinctively drifting back to just over a year ago.
The late afternoon sun was fierce and perspiration gathered on my top lip. I wiped it away with the back of my hand and then took a long sip of water. “Hey, Dad?”
“Hmm?” He was digging a shallow hole in the sand with a stray twig. He always did that when he was deep in thought.
“I was reading A Scandal in Bohemia last night—”
“Ah,” he interrupted, waving the stick around in the air like an orchestra conductor, “‘To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name.’”
“You seriously know them all off by heart, don’t you?”
“Don’t you?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “That’s beside the point. Anyway, as I was saying, I was reading the forward notes and apparently this professor guy from Oxford reckons Watson was a total player.”
“A what?”
“A player. You know, like a womanizer.”
Dad went back to digging his hole again. “Well, I guess there are passing references to his … conquests in some of the other short stories.”
“Only in
one of them.”
“You don’t agree then?”
I shook my head, “Nope. Just because the character mentions the desirability of others, doesn’t mean he’s off screwing everything that walks. It wasn’t like he was totally miserable with his lot and trying to find happiness everywhere else. I mean, he wasn’t anything at all like—” I paused, horrified at what I’d almost said out loud.
Dad snapped the stick in half and threw it in a graceful arc towards the ocean.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me gently before letting go. “Don’t worry about it, love. It was a long time ago.”
I jumped with a start.
Levi quickly removed his hand from my shoulder and watched me closely, his blue eyes impenetrable. “You okay?”
I nodded but he refused to look away. “What?”
“Your dad must be some guy.”
“He was,” I murmured, looking down at my hands. This growing melancholy had to stop. Like, now. I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself. Not in front of Levi and definitely not while kneeling on the floor, holding onto a damn leaflet. It contained the image of a leering, bald old man who was apparently a professor on cognitive learning theories. But he looked more like a sexual predator to me.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared up at Levi and blinked. The genuine empathy in his eyes made me feel like I’d just been kicked in the ribs by someone wearing five-inch stilettos.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat loudly, uncomfortably awkward, and looked away again.
This was simply too much.
He was too much.
And once again I was lost for words.
“How old were you when your father died?”
“Twenty-one. It happened last year.”
“What about your mother?”
“What about her?” I gave a bitter laugh. “She was gone a long time ago, Levi. Last I heard, she was on to husband number four and living somewhere on the Ivory Coast. Didn’t even make it to Dad’s damn funeral.”
