That's Amore

I woke up Monday morning with a smile on my face. My uncle wasn’t around and the sun was shining. I could only imagine what happened after we left. They must have had a nice dinner, talked more, did their thing and are now waking up together, being happy. My uncle will be so excited he’ll go out and buy Leah—Ms. Anderson—something and he won’t even care about me!

It was going to be a good day.

Until I got to school.

“She’s not here?” Tiffany’s voice was desperate as she walked through the halls. She spotted me and ran. “Leah’s not here. It’s almost time for school and she’s not here. She didn’t call last night and she wasn’t at her house. I don’t know where she is. Did she go home with Emmitt?” I shrugged, worrying about Tiffany. She looked frantic; like the world was going to end.

“I-I’m sure she’s fine, Tiff.” I said smiling a little. Tiffany sighed and looked around.

“I’m going to check the front again. Maybe she’s in traffic.” I nodded and watched as she left.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard. I turned around and sighed. Leah.

“Ms. Anderson, Tiffany’s having a fit. She didn’t know where you were.”

“I parked in the back. I got a bagel this morning.” She said. She looked colder than usual. Something about the way her eyes were, something in the way she moved, the way she spoke.

“Is something wrong?” I asked. She shook her head and placed her bag down. “Ms. Anderson…” She looked at me and smiled a little.

“I’m just a little tired, Emery. I’d like to eat my breakfast alone if you don’t mind.” I nodded slowly and headed toward the door.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“It didn’t. We weren’t as compatible as everyone thought. He and I ended up just going to our separate homes. I won’t be talking to him again.”

“But--” She turned her eyes to me, the sadness in them making me sigh and nod. “I’ll see you later,” I muttered as I walked out, closing her door behind me. I sighed and ran to find Tiffany. She was heading up the stairs, actually, a convenient place for her to be. “It didn’t go through.”

“What?” she asked.

“Leah. She just told me they’re never going to talk again.”

“Why? What happened? They were having such a good time! She can’t seriously be denying him.” I shrugged.

“I’ll call my uncle but I don’t know what’s going on. They were so right for each other.” I tried to call my uncle but his phone was off. “What the heck happened after they left?” I asked her.



“Who knows the answer to this system of equations?” Leah asked the class. No one answered and she sighed. “Come on guys, you’re telling me that no one knows? I thought I was a better teacher than that.” My hand rose and I offered her a smile.

“I’ll do it.” She nodded and watched as I walked to the whiteboard.

“Ms. Anderson,” said another teacher. He was an English teacher—the department head I think. “Can I talk to you?” She nodded and placed the book down.

“Emery, you can finish that problem and then sit down.” She said, walking out. She stood outside the door for a moment before leaving. My uncle quickly stepped in and placed flowers on her desk.

“Uncle Emmitt!” I said softly. “What the hell happened?” I snapped. He threw me a grin.

“I’m taking care of it,” he told me as he started out. He smiled at Tiffany and bowed his head before walking out of the room, closing the door. Only moments later, Leah walked back in, rubbing her head and eyes. She stopped where she stood when she saw the flowers. I turned back to the white board, drawing random numbers from my paper. Every student had their head down, doing something to do with math.

“Who did this?” she asked, walking to the flowers. They were Forget-Me-Not flowers; beautiful, five-petal, dainty flowers of a vibrant blue. She touched them softly, as if they were going to break beneath her fingers and found a white card. The whole class looked at her, watched her, and sat on the edges of their seats with her. She flipped it open and frowned. “Turn around?” she read. She turned around and in the doorway stood Emmitt. He was leaning against the door frame.

“They reminded me of you,” he said smiling. “Small and beautiful. If you look at them from far enough away, they look like stars surrounded by blue.” She lowered her eyes. “Not happy to see me? Oh, Ms. Anderson, you wound a knight.” She sighed.

“Emmitt, you know I can’t.”

“Oh, you couldn’t,” he contradicted. “But you see, that was when they were running the school. Now I run this school.”

“What?” I snapped. He smiled at Leah, though, and didn’t bother to look at me.

“I bought it yesterday.”

“Emmitt,” Leah said softly.

“Everything’s going to be normal except you won’t have to prove to anyone that these students are smart and that you’re not handing them grades. You won’t have to prove to anyone that you’re an honest teacher.” I looked at Tiffany, who was smiling. “You won’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore, Leah. I promise you that.” She smiled a little.

“Did you know that Forget-Me-Not is the flower of true love?” she asked softly.

“Is it?” he replied. “Oh, I have a question for you,” he added as he stepped back away from Leah. She raised an eyebrow as he fell to his knee and reached into his pocket. Tiffany and everyone else began to gasp and giggle. Leah’s face was one of pure shock.

“Emmitt?” she asked. He smiled at her and opened the box. In it was a key.

“Move in with me?” She smiled a little before rolling her eyes.

“Jim did it better on the Office.”

“No,” he said, “because Jim didn’t propose that way. I am.” She frowned and narrowed her eyes. “Leah Anderson,” said Emmitt. “Marry me?” he held out a ring to her between his rough fingers and she began to laugh. The smile on her face was one of happiness.

“Nope.” She replied. “I’ve known you for two days and we’ve had one date. You can wait until the second date to propose.” He smiled at her and rose from where he was kneeling. “And I’m not moving in with you because you’re a slob and I don’t think our apartments can handle that.”

“So we’ll buy a house,” Emmitt said.

“I don’t like big houses.”

“So we’ll get a small one.”

“I want a piano,” she said, crossing her arms.

“I’ll buy you one.”

“And….Chinese beady things!” she added. Emmitt grinned.

“I’ll buy you that too.”

“And…. Uh… A bird house. I want a birdhouse in our backyard.” Emmitt nodded.

“Name anything you want and I’ll get it for you without hesitation.”

“A kiss.” He frowned.

“Excuse me?”

“I want a kiss from a very handsome man.” She said, putting her hands on her hips. He began to smile, as did she, and walked over to her, taking her in his arms and kissed her. The class erupted in noise and Tiffany and I were smiling. She looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. Suddenly, she frowned.

“Gross,” she said as she walked over to me.

“What?”

“I like you and you’re my cousin now, aren’t you?”

“He’s my uncle and she’s your cousin, so if they get married, that would make her my aunt and him your cousin and since he’s my uncle, you would be my second cousin?”

“What are you two talking about?” asked Leah. “Just date each other. It’s okay.”

“But we’re…like related now.”

“We’re not getting married,” Emmitt said laughing. “Just dating. It’s fine. It’s like….saying you’re in school but instead, you’re out playing hooky.” Leah laughed and kissed his cheek.

“You have to go,” she said. “We have class.”

“How about we go outside?” Emmitt asked her. “It’s such a nice day out.” She glanced at the class, who were begging her for the chance to exit the school. She sighed.

“I guess I can’t deny the ruling of the owner of the building, can I?” He smiled at her and held out his hand. Tiffany and I walked out, muttering how we weren’t going to go out or even like each other, the rest of the class filing out as well. I looked back and saw Emmitt lean down to kiss Leah once more.

“I love you, Leah,” I heard him say. “You will marry me, wont you?”

“I can think of nothing I’d rather do more.” She replied, a smile on her lips. “Can you imagine our house? Books and papers all over the place, my clothes thrown all over the place….I hope you’re not as messy as I am.”

“Oh I am,” She frowned.

“We’ll hire a maid.”

“Or just change our habits…?” Emmitt said.

“Pff,” Leah snorted. “I’m not changing for you.” She began to laugh and Emmitt smiled down at her.

“I love you,” he said softly, brushing her cheek.

“You know,” she replied. “I love me too.”

“Wise ass.”

“It’s what makes me so attractive,” she said shrugging. He rolled his eyes and started to walk away. “Emmitt?” Leah said. He turned to her to see her offer him a small, timid smile. “I love you.” He smiled and held out his hand for her again. She took it and out the door, the two came and walked with me out of the front doors of the school onto the green grass, under the bright, warm sun that was in the peaceful blue sky. Everything was just perfect. What else would you expect? Leah smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist to kiss his lips. It was a perfect beginning of a perfect relationship and a perfect ending to the intrusion of my life. Ah, how love does help out everyone.