Draw Me A Map

“This isn’t what I signed up for,” the young man argued, somehow feeling like it was a battle he was going to lose.

“You’re a teacher, Mr. Avery. Did you expect it to be easy?” The older man smiled at the man sitting across from him.

“No, it’s not that I think it’s hard. It is hard, but that’s why it’s so rewarding. That’s not what I meant,” the young instructor reasoned.

“Then what did you mean?” The old, weathered principal tilted his head down so that his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose slightly, allowing him to focus clearly on the newly hired educator.

“Mr. Johnson, you told me I was going to be teaching third grade math,” Mr. Avery said, pulling out a folder from his bag and setting on the desk in front of him. He didn’t want to get on the principal’s bad side, but he also wasn’t about to remain disgruntled and ignored. “These are all the lesson plans I came up with for a third grade math class. And now you’re telling me I’m going to be the kindergarten teacher? The day before the first day of school?”

“It’s junior kindergarten,” Mr. Johnson corrected. “And someone was supposed to tell you last week…” he noted, sifting through some papers to find proof of the exchange.

“It would have made no difference,” Mr. Avery continued. “I spent the entire summer under the impression you hired me to teach-”

“Third grade math, yes, I know. And that was the idea,” the principal confirmed. “But then Mrs. Schiffer, the junior kindergarten teacher came into some money and decided to retire a few years early.”

“So why not just hire a new kindergarten teacher?”

“Junior kindergarten,” Mr. Johnson amended once more. The younger man finally let this sink in. Junior kindergarten. Those kids were only like, four years old. “And I did,” the principal nodded. “You.”

When the frustration showed itself in Mr. Avery’s eyes, Mr. Johnson chuckled.

“Mrs. Schiffer announced her retirement two weeks ago. Hardly enough time to screen a new hire. I’ll be teaching the math class until they can get someone suitable. I think you’ll be in agreement that I am hardly in any shape to teach kindergartners.”

“Junior kindergarteners,” was grunted out.

“This could very well be temporary for you too, Sean,” Mr. Johnson smiled, using Mr. Avery’s first name as a sign of endearment. “Depending on who we hire, if they’re capable of teaching junior kindergarten , you can switch back to the math class, if you wish.”

Sean relaxed slightly, understanding that he wasn’t jilted on purpose. He slid back into his seat, running a hand over his face.

“I just…I’m not prepared for this,” Sean said. “My classroom’s bulletin boards and walls are covered with math related posters and shit. I was only going to be teaching during certain times of the day, and I’d have a new group of kids each period. Now, I need to redo my whole room, think up an entirely new lesson plan, and be prepared to keep the same group of kids entertained the entire day.”

“You’re a teacher, Mr. Avery. Did you expect it to be easy?” Mr. Johnson repeated with a twinkle in his eye.

--

Sean sighed as he stood in his assigned classroom, looking around at all the math adorned walls. He ran a hand through his short hair, wishing it was longer so he could pull at it a bit. It was entirely too short for his stress level.

He left the math room the way it was, because he figured Mr. Johnson would get some use out of it. Anything else that was his however, he moved into the junior kindergarten room. He was thankful a lot of the stuff was already in there, since it never really needed to be moved anywhere.

Toys, alphabet stuff, rugs, small tables and chairs, little cubbies for the kids to put their things…and of course the bathroom. The little attached area with a closed in toilet and sink, so it was easy for the kids to go to the bathroom without the teacher having to stop teaching to take the entire class down the hall to the restrooms when only one child needed to use it.

Sean worked well into the night creating a lesson plan for the next day, just to get him through at least. He’d worry about the rest of the week tomorrow.

As kids began to file into the classroom the next morning, Sean introduced himself to the parents and made small talk with them. He knew he had some explaining to do, since they were all expecting the fifty year old, sweet, kind woman that Mrs. Schiffer was and what they got was the thirty year old, hunky, cocky form of Mr. Sean Avery. He could see that the mothers didn’t mind, but the fathers eyed him warily.

After the parents left and all the children were seated at their tables, looking up at Sean, it struck him that he didn’t know where to begin teaching them. At least with third graders there was a baseline of knowledge one could assume they knew.

Where did he start with these young ones? The alphabet? Counting? Colors?

“Hi kids,” he started awkwardly, looking at all their scared faces. This was, after all, the first time a lot of them had been away from their parents like this. Some of the children, he noticed, were still crying about their parents leaving. “My name is Mr. Avery.” He turned to write it on the chalkboard, but then turned back when he realized none of them could probably read anyways.

To ease some of the awkwardness, he went around the room, asking each kid to tell their name. Some of them remained silent, and the ones who did speak were barely audible.

“Well that went well,” Sean smiled, knowing none of them would recognize the sarcasm. “How many of you know the alphabet?”

The only response given was blank stares.

“The alphabet,” Sean repeated. “Your ABC’s.”

There was still silence, but the children began looking at each other uneasily. Sean glanced at his watch, seeing that it was only ten minutes after the start of school. Today was only a half day, seeing as it was the very first day of school, but he didn’t know if he could even make it until then.

“No one?” He asked aloud. “Lovely. Alright, let’s start with something easier.”

That being said, he gave each child a piece of paper, and placed a bowl of crayons at the center of each table for them to share. On the paper, he told them to draw what they did over the summer. He figured it’d be a good first day activity, and it would help the kids open up and relax.

About ten minutes into the exercise, Sean was pleased to note that many of the kids were happily conversing with one another as they scribbled on their papers. There was a large group that was talking, but not working, so he went over to them.

“Why aren’t you guys drawing?” he asked, keeping his voice friendly, as he squatted down to their level. They all just stared up at him, blinking.

Sean got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, having a feeling as to why they were looking at him uncomprehendingly.

“I want you to draw what you did over the summer,” Sean repeated the instructions, hoping his hunch was wrong.

When one of the kids called him “Maestro,” and spouted something to him in Spanish, Sean hung his head. His hunch had been right.

They didn’t speak English.

Sean whipped out his phone and googled “English to Spanish translation” and told the kids what to do to the best of his ability. Once he saw one of the kids drawing a swimming pool, he figured he had succeeded. He knew he couldn’t google how to talk to these kids forever though. He was going to have to talk to Mr. Johnson once the school day was over.

--

As Sean swept the classroom, he wondered how such small beings could make such a big mess. He looked at the pile of glitter he had swept up and frowned.

They hadn’t even used glitter today. He didn’t even know where the glitter was stored in this room. Shaking his head, he ushered the pile into the dustpan and maneuvered it into the trash.

“Ah Sean,” Mr. Johnson called, walking into the room. “How was the first day? Give you a good taste of what’s to come?”

Sean wanted to say that he was about to have a nervous breakdown; that it was only a half a day and he barely survived; that he wanted to quit.

Instead, he settled on “It was interesting.”

After a moment of silence, Sean stopped cleaning and looked up at the principal.

“There’s a small problem though,” he confessed. Mr. Johnson motioned for him to continue. “My class has nineteen kids. Eight of them don’t speak English.”

“You’re kidding,” Mr. Johnson straightened from the desk he had been leaning on. Sean shook his head, indicating that he was as serious as a heart-attack. “I wasn’t aware of that, Sean, and I’m sorry. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks Mr. Johnson,” Sean nodded.

“Call me John,” he waved off. Sean almost snorted at ‘John Johnson,’ but he held it back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good night,” Sean waved back, watching him exit. He continued cleaning his room, feeling a weight off his shoulders with the hope that tomorrow he’d only have eleven kids to teach the alphabet to.

Sean walked into school the next morning quite a bit earlier than necessary, but he figured he needed all the extra time he could get. He set his things on his desk before walking over to the back of the room, where all the cabinets were. They all had double doors that swung out toward him, and they were all packed with supplies.

Paint, paper, glitter, glue, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, felt, everything you could imagine.

“Son of a bitch,” Sean muttered under his breath, looking at the haphazard way everything was stuffed in there. He was not looking forward to organizing these cabinets later.

Sean dug around the cabinets a bit longer, and he froze when he struck gold. He pulled the binder out carefully, not wanting anything to happen to this treasure labeled ‘Lesson Plans’. He brought it back over to his desk, quickly leaning over to read it.

His nose scrunched in discomfort at all the songs in the binder. Sean wasn’t a singing kind of person, no matter how much it helped kids learn. He’d sing the alphabet, sure, but even that was pushing it.

After making a quick trip to the copy room to Xerox some activity papers from the binder, Sean saw some parents with their kids waiting outside the classroom door before the bell.

“Good morning,” he greeted them, nodding at their responses. He let them into the classroom a little early, so they could get their kids settled while he set up the room a bit more. He furrowed his brow when he saw one of the non-English speaking kids walk in, followed by another. Soon, they were all here. Every single kid he had yesterday, he had today. Sean took a calming breath, reasoning that Mr. Johnson probably needed some time to sort everything out.

Many of the kids were screaming again, not wanting their parents to go. Sean understood why the kids would act this way, but it made it hard because when the other kids would see one kid crying, they began to get upset as well.

There were several kids who were still clinging to their parents, so Sean stepped over to try and assist. The parents looked helpless as well, because although they knew they needed to leave, it was also hard to watch their children cry and beg them not to.

Sean sympathized with the parents, because he knew they were torn. It couldn’t have been easy for them to help him pry their kids off of themselves and then leave quickly. Once he got one kid he remembered was named Alex free, he moved to work on another after Alex's dad left. This kid was harder than Alex had been however, and on top of that, Alex himself was now clinging to Sean for dear life.

So, as he knelt on the ground, hands softly trying to pull a little girl away from her mother, there was screaming in his ear as the little boy whose arms were around his neck cried into his shoulder.

“C’mon sweetheart, it’s okay,” he tried comforting the little girl as her mother assured her as well. He glanced over at the other parents, noting that besides the one on his side and the one he was currently working on, there were two more that were not about to go down without a fight. He also glanced back at the rest of his class, who were becoming upset and teary eyed.

Sean closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening them quickly when he heard a feminine voice introduce herself to the other two parents.

He watched her speak gently into the children’s ears as she firmly tugged them away, using one hand to undo their death grips on their parents while the other arm wrapped around their upper bodies and pulled them back.

Sean finally managed to tug the girl he was working on off her mother, who scampered out of the room quickly. Sean fell back at the unexpectedness of it, so he was sitting flat on his butt with two wailing four year olds in his arms.

He looked back over at the new woman, who was thankfully having as much trouble as he was. He didn’t want to have been handling the situation completely wrong. Once she finally got them parent-free, she looked over at him.

“Hi,” she smiled.

“Hi,” Sean replied, chuckling a bit. They both got themselves up off the floor and set the kids in their seats, with some difficulty. Once all the kids were seated, Sean looked them over and noted they were a sorry sight. Every single one of them was either crying, about to cry, or had stopped crying but still had red eyes and were sniffling.

The woman looked over at Sean, waiting for him to do something. When he ran a hand through his short hair, she understood that he was completely out of his element. She glanced at the corner of the room, seeing a large circle rug with colorful shapes on it.

“Okay, everyone go sit on the rug in a circle,” she called out. Sean watched the kids all get up slowly and walk to the carpet, except for the Spanish speaking kids who just stood around hesitantly. “Vayan a la alfombra,” she repeated in Spanish.

Sean realized she was Mr. Johnson’s solution to the problem, and Sean had to admit, he really didn’t mind. He looked her backside over as she walked hand in hand to the rug with some of the kids, readjusting everyone so they all would fit. He watched her butt as she bent over to move some kids, then he checked out her cleavage as she did the same on the other side of the circle.

She was hot, Sean noticed. More than hot. She was downright tempting.

She sat in between two of the children, closing out the large group.

“Hi everyone,” she said, her tone comforting and friendly. “My name is Miss Anita. Can ya’ll say that?”

A mumbled “Miss Anita” sounded throughout the class. Sean had made his way over to the circle, sitting on one of the small tables that was behind the carpet. His legs were spread out in front of him and crossed at the ankles while his arms were folded across his chest. He watched Anita with amusement as she looked up and smiled at him.

“Alright, now everyone say hi to your teacher over there,” she prompted, causing everyone to turn and see a waving Sean. “That’s Mr. Sean. Say hello to him.” Sean raised his eyebrow at ‘Mr. Sean’ instead of ‘Mr. Avery,’ but he decided to talk to her about it later, since the kids did all in fact greet him.

“I know you guys are having a rough day, but I promise we’re gonna have fun, okay?” She voiced. “Let’s start with a song. Sound good Mr. Sean?”

“Go for it,” he motioned, noticing her small frown.

“You too,” she probed.

“Nope,” Sean answered instantly, ignoring her glare.

“Well, it looks like Mr. Sean is a scaredy pants. That’s okay, though. We’ll still sing and have fun without him, right?”

The kids all nodded, and a few of them even giggled, which raised Sean’s spirits. Anita spent the next couple minutes directing the kids, in English and Spanish, how to sing a ‘Hello’ song and the actions that went along with it.

“We’ll sing it every morning, okay? So you’re going to come to school, put your things away in your cubbies, and then come straight to the rug. Then we’ll sing our hello song. Understand?”

After receiving some confirmations she repeated her speech in Spanish, and Sean watched those kids nod as well.

“Okay, let’s sing it one more time, to make sure everyone has it. Ready?” She paused a moment for everyone to regroup and then they all began to sing the song that went with the tune to ‘The Mulberry Bush.’



“Very good! I think you guys know the whole thing almost!” She congratulated. Sean sat there a moment, wondering why the fuck he was there. This broad could have his job for all he cared. She was better at it, anyways. “Alright, line up at the door and we’ll go to the bathroom.”

Even though there was a small stall in the room, it was used for single use throughout the day, like when kids couldn’t hold it in between group outings to the restroom.

Anita instructed the kids to walk with their hands folded in front of them, and to follow Sean quietly. He led the group down the hall to the bathroom while she followed as the last one. He noticed a vast difference in the atmosphere with her around, and he was thankful to say the least.

Once the kids were seated again in their seats, Sean gave them each a piece of paper and some crayons.

“Draw me a map,” he instructed. “Create a place that has all your favorite locations on it. Your house could be next door to school, next to your best friend’s house, next to-”

“Disney World,” one kid shouted out. Sean smirked.

“Your house could be next to Disney World,” he nodded. “I want to see your favorite places, all in this new dream land you’ve created and named. Draw me a map.”

Half the day had flown by before Sean had even realized it, and soon enough it was time to let the kids have their nap. While Anita brought them all down to the bathroom once more, Sean un-stacked the small cots and spread them out throughout the room. He lifted the last cot into the air to figure out where he had space to put it. He spun around, surveying the empty space, stopping suddenly when he heard a gasp behind him. He turned his head, trying to gaze under his raised arm that carried the cot.

Sean spotted a ducking Anita with the group of wide eyed children behind her.

“You almost took me out,” she blurted, suddenly laughing.

“Sorry,” Sean responded instantly. He saw her gaze over his arms, watching the muscle flex as he continued to hold the cot above his head. His muscles clenched even more upon this realization, his body somehow tuning into the fact that she was checking him out.

He finally set the cot down somewhere and helped Anita tuck the kids in.

“This should be interesting,” he mumbled, wondering how the kids were going to react to sleeping in a new and unfamiliar place.

“Do you have any soft music?”

“Uh…” Sean scratched his head, not even knowing if he had a radio let alone music to go in it. Suddenly he spotted the cabinet, the one that he found all the lesson plans in, and he walked over to it. As he rummaged through the shelves, Anita helped the more timid and clingy kids lie down and relax. She crouched next to a little blonde haired and blue eyed boy named Ben and stroked her fingers through his hair until his eyes began to droop.

Anita stood up, swiftly bumping into a body right behind her.

“Oh,” she sounded, turning around and seeing a very close Sean.

“Here,” he saved her from stuttering as he handed some CD’s to her.

“Perfect,” she smiled, walking to the radio and making Sean’s eyebrows rise. He would have bet money that his room didn’t have a radio.

Once most of the kids fell asleep and the ones who refused to sleep were silently flipping through picture books in their cots, Sean and Anita sat at one of the tables for lesson planning time.

“Obviously you already know this, but I feel I should introduce myself anyway. Sean Avery,” he stuck out his hand. “You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re here.”

“Anita Martinez,” she replied, humoring him and taking his outstretched hand. “Mr. Johnson told me you needed a little help with some Spanish speakers, which is kind of what I do around here.”

“Clearly I needed more than a little help,” he admitted.

“No judgment,” she smiled. “John told me everything, about how you only found out about this arrangement a few days ago. I understand completely.”

“You seem better equipped to teach this class than I do. Why didn’t they just hire you for it?”

“I’m not technically a teacher, just an aide,” she shrugged.

“But you want to be a teacher eventually,” Sean stated rather than asked. She shrugged again, which threw him off a bit.

“I’m not sure what I want to do to be honest with you,” Anita answered. “My mom is the librarian here, and when the school had an opening for an assistant for her, the principal agreed to hiring me. The assistant job grew into translating in the office, which grew into helping out in Spanish speaking classes, which turned into this, really. Kind of a weird progression.”

“So you just kind of fell into teaching then.”

“That’s one way of looking at it. Though I’m not sure I have the patience to be an actual teacher,” she frowned, biting her lip. Sean stared at her lip for a moment, imagining his teeth sucking it into his mouth instead of her own.

“Uh,” he cleared his throat. “Well, you’re really good at it,” he started lamely, trying to regain his train of thought. “I mean, you’re really good with the kids. Patient. More patient than me anyhow.”

“I didn’t mean I wouldn’t have patience for the kids, I meant I wouldn’t have patience for all the schooling. I’d feel like I was wasting my money to go to college to get certified for something I’m already technically doing. But speaking of having more patience than you…”

Sean raised his eyebrow, pausing his actions of flipping through the “Back to School” tab in the pre-made lesson plan binder.

“Care to elaborate?” He challenged.

“Please don’t get offended,” Anita started. “But you seem really out of your element.” Sean smirked and let out a chuckle as he turned back to the binder.

“Yeah…that’s because I am,” he agreed. “Part of it is because of this whole last minute switch thing, but I’d be lying if I said I would have been completely prepared for the math gig. I like teaching, don’t get me wrong. I like the feeling of helping a kid understand something. But that’s just it. I like it. I don’t love it. It’s not my passion, or anything.”

“So, you feel like you should be doing something else?”

Sean locked eyes with Anita, not knowing why he was telling her half the things he was. She was a complete stranger, and it was none of her business quite frankly.

Staring deep into your eyes
Searching for answers to questions I can't find

Anita saw his gaze harden, and she knew the conversation was over. The two of them went back to their activities without another word and without another glance.

--

A few weeks later, Sean was becoming increasingly annoyed with the way his classes were running. He was pretty sure Anita picked up on it, but that might have been due to him taking out his frustration on her. Their working relationship had been tense since their talk the first day she was assigned to him, and even though it was now officially the last day of the first month of school, the tension still hadn’t lifted.

Anita and Sean said goodbye to the last parent over two hours ago, but they were still working diligently (and silently) in the room. The school was pretty much empty now; most of the wings were dark. But the two young educators in the junior kindergarten room were still busy, taking down old art projects and putting new ones up; putting stickers on worksheets the kids scribbled on and “completed”; making portfolio’s for each kid to show during Parent/Teacher conferences in a few weeks; and of course, lesson planning.

Sean sat at his desk, going over a few papers when he happened to glance up. He hadn’t meant to look at Anita, but it had happened none the less. Her back was facing him as she stood on a small stepstool and hung some art projects.

She was wearing his favorite pants on her --yes, he had a favorite pair of her pants-- along with heeled boots that made him picture her in just the boots. He leaned back in his chair a little, getting comfortable as he looked her over.

Every time she lifted her arms to hang a new picture, her shirt would ride up a little. It would go back in place once she lowered her arms, so Sean would just wait until she got ready to hang a new picture again. One time in particular, he was fairly certain he caught a partial glimpse of a tattoo. Well now that would have to be investigated, Sean thought, making a mental note.

Once she picked up the last paper, Sean resumed his former position hunched over his desk and studying a paper. He heard her step off the stool and set it aside, being none the wiser that he was enjoying the show she had unwittingly been putting on.

Finally, it was time for the two of them to call it quits. As they both silently gathered their things, Anita accidentally bumped Sean, causing her to mutter a “Lo siento.” Sean had worked with her long enough to know that it meant “I’m sorry,” but for some reason it annoyed him.

“I’m not an idiot, you can speak English to me,” he spat out. Anita’s head snapped over to him as she furrowed her eyebrows.

“Excuse me?”

Sean sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“That’s not what I meant. Kind of. Okay listen,” he started. “I didn’t mean that I think people who can’t speak English are idiots. Especially not three and four year olds who were never taught any different. But you know what? We’re in America. So speak the language. Kay?”

“So instead of idiot you meant ignorant?” Anita supplied, her tone angry.

“Yeah. Good one,” Sean replied, ignoring the fire in her eyes as he started to pack up again. “Don’t misunderstand, I’m glad you’re in my class. You help translate. But the translating needs to start turning into teaching these kids English. You can’t baby them forever. You can’t expect them to have translators the rest of their educated lives. They need to learn sometime, and they’re obviously not learning it at home, so…”

“My parents came here when they were in their mid twenties and they didn’t speak a word of English. They’re both very successful now, and-”

“Times are different. And I’ll tell you one thing, it’s taking up too much class time. I have to give directions, and then you have to repeat them all in Spanish. Its counterproductive half the time, because by the time you’re done, half the kids don’t remember what I’ve instructed them to do. And I’ll tell you another thing, I’m not going to be so lenient about Spanish usage anymore. I understand that you’re not gonna have these kids fluent by the end of the year, but I’m sick and tired of hearing them spit “baño” at me when they should definitely know they word "bathroom" by now. You see where I’m going with this?”

“I see that you’re a pig-headed moron,” Anita mumbled, grabbing her things off of Sean’s desk and stuffing them into her bag. Part of her was angry because she felt offended, but another part of her was angry because she felt he was right. There were definitely terms that the kids could all use English for now, and she should be the one to enforce it.

Sean grabbed her wrist and spun her around, causing her bag to drop to the floor. Before she could say anything, his lips crashed onto hers and he used his body to press her against his desk. He would have pulled back to asses her reaction, but the muffled moan that rolled off her tongue was permission enough for him to keep going.

He repositioned her so that she sat on his desk with himself between her legs and began to lean her back. Pencils, pens, papers, a stapler, and other odds and ends were all pushed frantically off the wooden space to give them more room. Sean took this moment to take her lip between his teeth, something he had been thinking about ever since the day he met her.

A knock at the door made them break apart so fast that Anita went sailing off the other end of the desk, falling off backwards before Sean could grab her.

“Shit,” he muttered, hopping over to crouch over her. Her hands covered her gasping face, but when he saw she was laughing and not crying, he rushed over to the door and opened it a crack.

“Hey, you still here Mr. Avery? I knew you was stayin’ late, but shit.”

“Yeah Hank. Ten more minutes and I’ll be out of your hair,” Sean promised the janitor.

“No problem. Have a nice night,” the old man called as he turned away.

“Thanks. You too,” Sean slammed the door and jogged back over to Anita, who was now sitting up and rubbing her lower back. “Are you okay?” He asked, crouching next to her and rubbing her lower back as well.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “Not much hurt but my ego.” Sean looked up at her face, where her tan cheeks were tinted pink.

“I thought you’d hit your head on the tile,” Sean said, bringing his hands to frame her face and run his fingers lightly through her hair. She shook her head, not knowing what else to say to the man who had basically just jumped her.

Sean stood, bringing Anita up with him slowly.

“You gonna be okay to drive home?”

Anita was a bit disappointed at first. Was he going to pretend like it never happened? But then he saw the look in his eye, the look that was telling her, begging her, to ask for a ride home from him.

“I’m sure I’m okay,” she started. “But now you’ve got me nervous. What if I did hit my head and I just don’t remember it?”

“You’d remember it,” Sean chuckled. “But just to be safe, I’ll tail you home and make sure you get there okay. Sound good?”

Anita nodded and the two of them left the building after picking up the things Sean had shoved off his desk earlier.

Once she had safely pulled into the parking garage of her apartment complex, she rolled down her window to speak with Sean as he pulled his car in next to her.

“Safe and sound,” she called out, smiling. Sean just nodded, waiting for an invitation. “You want to come up for coffee? Or food? My God, we haven’t eaten in hours. Come on,” she suddenly seemed to be less nervous about Sean and more focused on food, but it made Sean smirk. He got out of his car and let her grab his hand as she led him up toward her unit.

She unlocked the door and walked in, tossing her things to the side as Sean followed her in. He shut the door behind him and grabbed her, spinning her around and pulling her sharply toward him.

“But the food-” was all that managed to exit her mouth before he silenced it with his own. Once he pulled back, he smiled at her glazed expression. “Food can wait,” she murmured, allowing him to kiss her again.

--

A few weeks later, Sean and Anita were once again lying wrapped up in the sheets. They were at Anita’s house again, though they did spend time at Sean’s place as well during the last couple weeks.

They had spent all day in bed, something they had become accustomed to doing on days they had free. The television was on, but neither was really paying attention. It was quiet in the room, both of them lost in their thoughts.

“It’s Thanksgiving next week,” Anita murmured. Sean looked down at her head, which was lying on his chest.

“Mm,” Sean let out a noise. “It’s your Thanksgiving,” he corrected.

“Oh, right,” Anita smiled, forgetting that Sean was Canadian and that Canada’s Thanksgiving Day had already passed. “Well then, you’ll be in town, right?”

Sean tensed, knowing where this conversation was headed.

“Uh, well-”

“If you’re not, it’s fine,” Anita quickly said, trying not to sound upset. “I was just going to extend an invitation to my family’s house if you are. Lots of good food.”

“I’m sure there will be,” Sean nodded, having formed a soft spot for Anita’s cooking. Not just her native Venezuelan food, but every thing she cooked. “We get almost a whole week off from school though, so I may or may not visit back home,” he lied. He began to untangle himself from Anita and get up, causing her to feel a pang of rejection.

She knew he was lying, but she said nothing. She’d let him gather his thoughts and feelings, and come to her if he wanted.

Thanksgiving day rolled around, and Sean moped in his apartment. To say the last week with Anita had been awkward would have been the understatement of the year. He had tried avoiding her at all costs, which, considering she was his aide, was practically impossible. Anita, however, didn’t question it. She didn’t interact with him more than necessary either, which kind of irked him.

She didn’t even look fazed that he was trying to ignore her. Shouldn’t she be upset? Angry? Anything?

Whatever, Sean thought as he propped his feet on his coffee table. It was no skin off his nose. He figured they both got out relatively unharmed, before things got too deep and feelings took over. If there was one thing Sean knew about women, it was that once she invited you over to the family’s house, you better be ready for the long haul.

And he wasn’t.

Not in the slightest.

After his third cycle through his television stations, Sean finally shut the contraption off completely and opened his planner book. No harm in getting a few lesson plans done, especially if his working relationship with Anita had been compromised.

Anita.

Now there’s a name you don’t hear too often any more.

Anita. Anita Martinez.

He liked the way she said her name. She had no hint of a Hispanic accent, except when she was speaking Spanish or saying her name. He found it unnervingly sexy, especially when she would use the accent to say his name.

Sean shook his head, trying to rid Anita from his thoughts for the hundredth time that day. And it was only eleven in the morning. He knew he wouldn’t be rid of her though. And part of him didn’t want to be.

If I took for granted that I held your heart
I'd beg forgiveness but I don't know where to start

Draw me a map that leads me back to you
I don't know where to go, please tell me what to do
Help me find the road you're on
I just need directions home
Draw me a map that leads me back to you

He grabbed a pen and opened his planner, seeing a post-it note with writing stuck to the inside cover.

Sean-
I think I freaked you out a bit with the whole, “come meet my family” thing, right? Sorry about that. I promise, it was just a friendly invitation, but I can see where it could have been misinterpreted. If you want to swing by, here’s my address. If not, I completely understand and I’ll see you after the break. =)
-Anita

Sean sat frozen for all of two seconds before he jumped up and headed toward the front door. He quickly backtracked, grabbing the post-it with her address on it before heading out to leave once more. As he stood in the elevator, the doors reflected his appearance back to him. His sweatpants and t-shirt clad appearance.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, pressing the button to go back up to his floor. He mentally scanned his closet while he waited for the elevator to rise, wondering what in the hell he was going to wear.

--

As Anita helped her mother and sisters in the kitchen, she heard one of her brothers call for her mother to watch his two year old for a moment. This resulted in his wife leaving the kitchen as well, yelling at him to watch the baby for just a few hours, that it wasn’t so much to ask.

Anita and the rest of the women in the kitchen giggled, knowing that the fight was not a major one. Anita had a very large family, so she was used to the loudness of it all. One by one, her sisters and sister-in-laws were all called out of the kitchen by their men, either to have them watch the kids for a minute while they showed off in some video game or to try and impress their woman while they showed off in said video game.

Anita pretended to not care that she was the only woman not called out. After all, someone needed to cook, right? After Anita had gotten everything in the oven, she decided a short break in the living room with her family could be afforded. When she got there however, a jolt of surprise and nervousness shot through her.

“Sean?” She blurted, looking at him as he sat casually on the couch next to her older brother. He had a beer in his hand and was just lounging around like he had been there all day.

Sean looked up at the woman in the doorway, seeing her long hair pulled messily to the side in an impromptu ponytail. She didn’t care about being perfect, and Sean liked that. He also liked the dress she was wearing under the yellow apron with sunflowers on it. When she saw him gaze at the kitchen apparel, her hands immediately moved to her lower back to try and undo the knot. As soon as she was successful, she threw the material at her mother who shot her a knowing smile. Sean finally stood, taking a few short steps to the young Venezuelan woman.

She really was beautiful, he noted. He didn’t use that term for all women, only ones he thought deserved the praise. Society had a way of diluting things; of making the strength and impact of an idea weaker than intended. ‘Beautiful’ was overused, so Sean didn’t use it unless he really, truly believed it. That way, the word had the meaning it was intended to have.

A woman might walk by Sean and another man, and the other man would say she was beautiful. Sean might say the girl was attractive, or hot, or even pretty. But he wouldn’t say beautiful. He wouldn’t say beautiful until he felt that she was. Not saw that she was.

Anita gave Sean a small smile, breaking him out of his small reverie.

“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” He inquired. “I mean, your note…if you’ve changed your mind since then…”

I've never been so at loss
I'm at a canyon I can't get around or cross
So baby come down here, lay by my side
And tell me love's not lost across the great divide

Anita glanced behind him, where her whole family all shifted their gaze back to the television at one time. Subtlety was something they clearly lacked.

“I’m glad you came,” she finally answered. “Listen, when I invited you to come here…I guess I wasn’t really thinking about how you might take it. I didn’t even realize that you might have mistaken it for something…serious. But I swear, I invite people to dinner here all the time. It‘s just in my family‘s nature to have company over. It didn’t even occur to me that with it being Thanksgiving and all-”

“Anita,” her brother interrupted. “You’re rambling.” Anita’s mother smacked his head with the now folded up apron, causing him to glare at her. Sean cracked a smile, not feeling out of place at all. He liked the warm, welcoming feeling that Anita’s family radiated. They didn’t question him after he knocked on their front door. As soon as he said “Hi, my name is Sean-” they just handed him a beer and pushed him on the couch. Now that was something a guy could get used to.

Anita and Sean stood awkwardly in the living room, neither sure what to do next. Thankfully, Anita’s family took over.

“So, Sean. You’re a teacher?” Her father asked.

“Yes sir,” Sean nodded.

“You sure as hell don’t look like a teacher,” Anita’s sister voiced, looking him up and down. Sean smirked a bit before he let his features harden. Anita recognized the look, knowing he didn’t like talking about his past much.

“Leave him alone, Maria,” Anita shot out.

“What? It was a compliment! The man’s hot!”

Sean scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to reply. Saying “Thanks” or “Back at ya” seemed inappropriate somehow.

“Sean. How about a game of football in the backyard? We were all about to head out to play,” Anita’s brother offered, motioning to himself and the other men.

“Oh, I would, but-”

“But nothing!” Another man interrupted. “You’re built like a tank. He’s on my team.” A small debate broke out, one which was quickly ended by Sean.

“I’ve never played. So I’d probably be shit at it,” he informed.

“…You’ve never played football?” Even Anita’s eyes were wide.

“Well, where I’m from, football is kind of…not the main sport.”

“Where the hell are you from?”

“Pickering,” he answered, receiving blank stares. “It’s in Ontario,” he added as clarification.

“Canada,” Anita finally said, allowing her family to let the light bulbs click in their heads.

“Oh, so you play hockey?”

“Yeah. Well I did, but-”

“That’s cool, we can play hockey. Juan, go get the sticks!”

Sean watched, stunned, as a young teen of about sixteen ran to the hall closet and took out a bunch of hockey equipment. Before he had the chance to utter anymore protests, he was geared up at the local frozen pond area.

“Look, here come the girls,” Anita’s brother said. Sean turned his head, and sure enough he saw a few of the women and children coming out to watch some of the game. He spotted Anita, which made his ego pump up a bit. It had been a while since he had been on a pair of skates, but damn if he wasn’t going to show off in front of her.

Once the game was over and Sean’s team was gloating to the other team (which they had every right to, seeing as Sean led them to a fifteen to three victory), the young teacher made his way over to Anita.

“Wow,” was what came out of her mouth. “You’re good. Like, really, unbelievably good.”

“Nah,” Sean shrugged, his pride swelling.

“No really,” she insisted. “Two of my brothers are in leagues, and you made them look like they’d never played a game before in their lives!” Sean was quiet as he looked out onto the ice, where some of Anita’s family was still goofing off. “That was it, wasn’t it?” She suddenly asked. Sean looked down at her, his brow furrowed.

“What?”

“Hockey was your passion,” she clarified. Sean looked back out again, memories flooding back into his head.

“The year I got offered a contract to the NHL was the year I tore up my shoulder real bad,” he finally admitted. “A few pickup games like this here and there can’t hurt me. But there’s no way I would’ve been able to play even on a community team let alone in the NHL.”

“What team were you going to play for?”

Sean thought it was a weird question, but he answered it anyways.

“The Red Wings,” he answered. Anita’s nose scrunched up and she let out a small laugh.

“Ew.”

Sean’s face broke out into a grin and he let out a chuckle as well, nudging her with his side.

“Listen, I’m sorry for-”

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved off. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad too,” Sean informed. “I missed hockey. Now I’ve got somewhere to play it.” After a moment of silence, he turned to face her fully and he tugged lightly on her ponytail. “I missed you too,” he said lightly, causing his breath to be visible. He closed the distance between them and kissed her softly on the lips, not waiting for her to respond before he deepened it.

“I missed that,” Anita said once they broke apart. “You, on the other hand…” The rest of her statement was masked by a squeal however as Sean pulled her onto the ice and dragged her along as he skated. He finally pulled her in close again, shutting her up with his mouth instantly.

You're my destiny and destination
Understand my desperation - you
The only place I wanna be
So get us back to you and me

“Alright. I may have missed you too,” he got her to admit.

“Good,” he smirked. “You can show me how bad you missed me later,” he added, low in her ear.

“Vamanos!” Anita’s dad called. “Your mother says the food is ready!”

Anita and Sean broke their gazes from one another and started to make the trek off the ice. Once everyone was back inside and surrounding the table with food, talking, and laughter, Sean noticed he finally felt at completely comfortable and at ease. He felt like he was finally on the right road.

Draw me a map that leads me back to you
I don't know where to go, please tell me what to do
Help me find the road you're on
I just need directions home
Draw me a map that leads me back to you