by Olivia Harp
CHAPTER 30
Audrey opened the door to Enzo's office but he wasn't there. That's two days in a row now he's missed work.
She checked the time, it was past noon, he was supposed to be there already.
"Looking for someone?" Darcy asked behind her, her face devoid of any emotion.
"I was looking for—"
"Maybe you should look for him on the courts."
"The courts?"
"The basketball courts, the ones next to our building, obviously not the ones under maintenance."
"Thank you, Darcy," Audrey said with a nod. For some weird reason, she couldn't wait to see what Enzo was up to now.
Yeah, more like you can't wait to see him, you liar.
She rolled her eyes, trying to hide the smile on her face.
***
There he was. The backboards outside were all missing a basket, except one, where Enzo played two-on-two with some students.
Some other kids sat on the ground, the moment they saw her they stopped their trash talk and behaved.
That meant kids respected her. Audrey smiled. That said a lot, especially about kids in this area.
Enzo passed the ball to Tyson, a black kid whose parents worked two jobs each, and the kid dribbled, did a three-sixty and threw the ball for a two pointer.
Everyone cheered.
Enzo stepped to position but the kids didn't follow, he turned to see where they were looking at and finally saw her. His face lit, then immediately faded into a regular smile. He didn't want anyone to see him.
But I saw.
To be honest, she was a bit worried she might have fucked things up not talking to him, or trying to contact him via phone or email or anything. Yeah, it was a stupid idea —a childish one— that something like that meant the end of the world, but she couldn't help herself. We're all kids inside, in a way, I guess.
"Yes, Miss Rodriguez? How can I help you?
"Hi, sorry to interrupt your game."
"No worries," he said, shaking his head.
"I was wondering if I could see you before the end of the school day."
He held up a grin.
"Sure, I'll meet you at your office in an hour if you're available."
"Great, see you there."
Some students made a teasing sound, looking away from her so she couldn't know who.
"Stop it," she told them in a firm voice, "you're old enough to know better."
The students grins instantly faded, all of them went back to their respectful stance, nodding. Enzo looked at her with his knowing half smile.
"I wouldn't want to teach you all a lesson," she pointed at the ball and a kid passed it to her.
Audrey stared at them, they think I'm going to take the ball away. She savored the moment, she'd be a bitch if she did so. But no, she knew better.
She squeezed the ball hard, as if she tried to burst it apart with her bare hands, everyone looked at her in silence.
Then she bounced it on the ground and took a shot. The ball went up in the air in a high arc, and fell clean into the basket. Three pointer.
Everyone either stared, yelled or jumped in excitement.
"Woah!" they screamed as she walked away from them, not even looking, as if that was a trick she could pull at any time.
She might be earning a reputation as a hardass... the kids thought so, at least.
But she was always fair. And cool, of course. Always cool.
***
Three knocks on Audrey's door. Her gut tightened, this was it.
"Come in," she said, watching Enzo come in his sports pants and skin tight shirt. He carried a big bag on his shoulder.
He was disheveled, sweaty and his hair was a mess. He looked completely delicious.
He sat down across her desk, looking around.
"Wow, this place looks completely different."
She hung a few photographs, fixed the lights, and rearranged the furniture. The office was much brighter now, which made it look more alive.
"A few touches here and there. And of course, a new coat of paint."
"You have good taste."
"Thank you—"
"But I already knew that," he interrupted.
She stared at him. Yes, he visited her apartment, but never mentioned anything.
"So," he continued, "you said you wanted to meet me?"
"You haven't been around."
He shrugged, "I had to move my appointments, I couldn't be here yesterday."
"Is everything all right?"
He considered. That's how she knew that the answer was no.
"Yes."
Silence. Awkward silence, actually. They could hear Larry mowing the grass outside her window. And that damned A/C unit. It started making noise again for a few seconds before it stopped.
"Sorry I acted weird the other day," she said.
"You mean cut me off almost completely?"
She pressed her lips, yeah she'd done that.
"No worries," he said.
She didn't reply immediately. His body language told her he meant it. He smiled easily and she hated him for that. How could he be so... relaxed about everything?
"I figured it was better if I stepped back," he continued, "at least until you realized you were being an ass."
Her mouth fell.
"I was not!"
"Not a little bit?"
She bit her lip, "maybe a little bit."
"Didn't take you too long though. You're even smarter than I thought."
"Smarter than you... who the hell—?"
"Wait. That came out wrong. I know you're super smart. I said smarter."
He scratched the back of his head, mumbling.
"You know what I meant, right?" he finally said.
She sighed, men. Always saying the opposite of what they mean.
"So, where are we now?"
He's the one who asked. Holy shit I was trying to get to that question and I don't have an answer.
"What do you mean?"
He licked his lips, fixed his eyes on her and shrugged, "you know. Do you want to keep this going?"
Her face turned bright red. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered violently. Fuck.
She tried to reply but no words came out of her mouth, yes, you want to keep this thing going. You want to—
"'Cause I don't know if I want to."
A bucket of cold —ice fucking cold— water fell over her.
"You don't want to..."
"Of course I want to. But enough with this hiding and shit. We have to act professional at school and around students, that's a given, but all this sneaking around is not really my thing."
"So, you're saying..."
"Let's go out on a date."
Her eyes widened. She wasn't expecting that. She wanted to say the exact same thing, but what the hell.
"I... I..."
"Friday, ice cream, nothing too serious."
"Have the students started to talk?"
Enzo's eyes narrowed to a slit, "what do you mean?"
"Joe saw us, have they said anything?"
"Not that I know of."
She sighed audibly, almost grateful.
"But what if they do?"
"I was worried—"
"Worried about what? That they weren't gonna take you seriously? Audrey, look at all the things you've done for this school. The repairs, the fund raiser, even the freaking halls themselves... are way cleaner thanks to your 'Keep-It-Clean' plan, you hired more help. What else do you want? The teachers are grateful you arrived, they needed the leadership."
She didn't know what to say. She kept busy but she was just doing her job, there was still much to do.
"So what if the kids talk?" Enzo continued, "they're kids, they're probably gonna talk whether you like it or not. We might as well let that go and focus on the things we can control."
"Like you and me?"
"I can't control that."
His tone carried a fi
re that turned her on instantly. He was her perfect complement. The Yin to her Yang. Whatever that meant.
"Friday?" she said, and that took him by surprise. He probably expected more fight out of her.
"Shall I pick you up at five?" he said in a funny British accent.
"Five o'clock shall be fine," she replied in kind.
He laughed, standing up. She shook his hand. Enzo leaned forward to give her a kiss but stopped instantly.
"Stay professional," he said, then looked at her from head to toe. The way his eyes studied every inch of her body made her shiver.
"See you then, Miss Rodriguez."
He turned around and left. She wanted to jump and cry out of joy. But that wasn't professional at all.
CHAPTER 31
It was too early. Why did she agree for him to come at five in the afternoon? Geesh, they barely just finished with school and he was almost there.
How was she supposed to take a shower, change and be ready so soon?
The doorbell ding-donged. No, no, no, no. She bolted to the window and he was there, waiting for her downstairs.
"I'll be right there!" she yelled.
Enzo looked up and waved "all right," then walked back to his truck.
Her hair wasn't dry yet, darn it, she fixed it up as well as she could, put on face powder, lipstick and off she went.
Enzo gave her a quick hug and opened the door for her. She was still feeling rushed, so she took a deep breath as soon as she sat down on the passenger's seat.
Why does he always look good? Not fair.
He wore simple, slim jeans and a t-shirt. Guys had it so much easier. He did look fashionably good for a date, but come on, his full outfit was those two things, and a pair of fancy Timberlands.
"I hope I didn't come too early," he said when she hopped in the cabin.
"It's okay, if I stayed there longer I would've probably fallen asleep or something. Where are we going?"
"I was thinking we could get a cone of ice cream and just walk around by the lake and chill out. The weather is great."
Sunny but not incredibly hot. It was that kind of Friday afternoon where you could sit down and enjoy because you knew you didn't have anything to do the next day.
Rosenberg, Oregon, was a quaint little town, with very few restaurant franchises or big chain stores. It had a great, retro vibe to it, and of course, a small lake near the town's center, surrounded by a big park.
She passed by it a few times since she arrived, but never had taken the time to walk around it. Besides... ice cream.
"That's a great idea."
***
The park was majestic, full of trees, little trails zig-zagging through the gardens, at least two fountains and a lot of benches surrounding the lake. It was the beginning of a perfect afternoon.
She tried her cookie dough scoop, Enzo had almost finished his chocolate one.
I hope no one sees us.
She still had her doubts about this.
Not that she was going to back off and run. She had made a decision. But it was scary anyway.
Enzo sat on a bench beneath a tree and she joined him, the crystalline water a few dozen yards away stared back at them, its stillness was soothing.
"How is it?" Enzo asked.
"Delicious."
"I told you this was gonna be the best one you ever had."
She thought about that.
"Is it?" he said, his confidence wavering for half a second.
"I think so, yeah."
He smiled, "glad you like it."
"This is too romantic," she said.
"I know."
"Sucks, right?"
He turned to her, "I was about to say the same thing. If we wait too long, we might even get to see the sunset. So cheesy."
"Oh my gosh I don't want to be a living cliché!"
"I think we're too late for that."
"There must be something we can do."
He looked around, trying to find a way out of their predicament.
"I know. We hop on one of those boats."
There was a stand next to a small pier renting pedal boats. Most of them were two-seaters.
"Do you want to kill me with your cheesiness?"
"Let me finish!" he said with a laugh, "I meant to say, we hop on a boat, each of us in a different one, and you know, have a race. I'll even let you win."
She grinned.
"You really think you can beat me?"
"I have a better chance than at basketball."
"You have no chance against me at basketball."
"By the way," he said, licking his scoop, "I didn't know you were so good."
"Why, because I'm not skinny?"
He almost choked.
"No, I mean..."
"I'm messing with you, silly."
"You know you make me crazy, I wouldn't want you to be skinny. Or skinnier."
"Oh really, are you sure about that, big man?"
She patted his arm. His bulging bicep seemed about to burst out of his sleeve.
"I swear! Can't a guy like a girl for who she is?"
She side eyed him, "you're so cheesy."
He took a bite of the cone, "okay. Truth is, just looking at you makes me fucking hot. What's wrong with that? I like what I like, I guess."
She turned to him, silently considering what he just said. Never, not once in her life did she think someone like him would be into her, a curvy from the Californian ghetto.
But the way he looked at her... the way he touched her and kissed her and made her want him...
Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it...
She smiled.
"So?" he asked, "how come you're so good at basketball?"
"I played point guard back in college. Got a full scholarship for it, actually."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes," she winked, "I never made it out of the bench, to be honest, but I was pretty good, though."
She finished up her cone, he looked at her as if he'd just discovered gold.
She stood up and ran to the lake.
"You wanna have a race, big man?"
"Hey, that's cheating!" he yelled, scrambling up, running behind her.
***
Enzo paid for the two boats, insisting that even if they didn't want to turn this date into a cheesy, romantic thing, he had to do it to feel less embarrassed after he won the race.
"Besides," he said, "it's a trick, you have to invite me somewhere next time."
Audrey rolled her eyes and accepted the deal with a smirk.
She was the first to hop on her small boat, pedaling away from him, yelling "last one to the bridge is a rotten egg!"
Enzo pedaled behind, Audrey already ten or so yards away, "seriously Audrey, 'a rotten egg'?"
She was so deliberately silly it made him laugh, the hardass, tough L.A. teacher saying stuff like that.
"Didn't want you to be something worse!" she replied.
There was a small bridge, a great place for pedestrians to take pictures and upload them to social media.
Do I let her win? Or do I take her over? She was really trying to win.
She turned back to Enzo, "you better play hard, big man, it's no fun otherwise."
That settles it.
He pedaled quickly, the distance between them getting shorter by the second.
Enzo grinned, "you're gonna be the rotten egg, tough girl!"
She didn't even reply, just leaned forward, completely focused on keeping him behind.
This was Enzo's last chance, she was getting too close to the bridge, and no, he wasn't gonna let her win.
"Are you ready?" he yelled, "time to teach you some respect!"
He gave it his all. The boat started racing faster than he thought possible, he was about five feet lagging behind her, the finish line less than thirty.
He caught up to Audrey, both laughing harder than ever.
Enzo was too good at this. When he passed her, she
took out her purse and fished for something, bad idea, that'll give me the win.
His boat hit something.
The boat rotated to the right, what the heck? He looked back and saw Audrey using her selfie-stick to push the back side of his boat and make him lose momentum. Enzo couldn't believe she was doing that.
Audrey was almost crying out laughing.
"You did not just do that!" Enzo said.
Then she did it again. He turned the direction lever to the opposite side but it wasn't enough, he was almost completely perpendicular to her, it would take him precious minutes to recover.
"Why? Is it against the rules?"
She came closer, about to pass him. Audrey tried to push his boat again but he grabbed the selfie-stick and snatched it out of her hands. He did it so fast she didn't realize what happened until she saw it in his hands.
"That's not gentlemanly!"
"Oh, really?" he replied, "what about this?"
He grabbed her boat and pedaled away, making his own boat regain its direction, and turning hers around. Audrey was now facing back to the starting line.
"Stop! Stop!"
Enzo laughed, "I'm sorry, is this against the rules?"
She grabbed his boat and pedaled as hard as she could. This was a duel.
"I'm still winning!" she said.
Yes she was. Her boat faced backwards but it still had half its body ahead of his.
Enzo used his strength to pull her back, his boat inching closer and closer to victory.
She touched his arm and a shiver ran all over his body. She locked eyes with him, both were mere inches away. The way she smiled, the way she was just crazy competitive, even more so than he was... everything told him that this moment was special.
Then she splashed some water into his face, and started pedaling backwards.
The two seconds that he took cleaning his face, were enough to give her the win.
She couldn't stop laughing.
Oh my God. I think I lo—
"I'm sorry!" she said amidst her laughter, "I'm sorry!"
He put his hand in the water and started splashing it at her.
"No! Please no! I won, the race is over!"
"Rotten eggs don't care about that!" he said as she moved away from him, pedaling as quickly as she could, with a face half laughing and half scared of getting wet.
CHAPTER 32
