Learning the Ropes

The rest of the day passed monotonously. When I emerged from the main school building after school, the rain falling from the sky immediately soaked me. I scowled, sighed so heavily my hair flew up and walked the long distance to my car. I finally got there, shook the rain off my hair, started the engine as soon as possible and cranked the heat up to dry myself off properly.

As I drove down the wet street, my windscreen wipers working furiously against the onslaught of rain, I saw a lone and somehow familiar figure. I pulled over and as I did stepped on the brake and stared at Ryder breathlessly for a few seconds. But I didn’t go any further than that. Because one, that’s fucking creepy and two, I’m a fucking pussy. I stared at the man until he disappeared around a corner, shook my head to clear this thing out of my head and drove off again towards my apartment. He won’t notice you, I thought, especially because you’re so desperate.
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The next morning, I headed straight to the staffroom when I got to school to wait for him. He definitely does something here; whether he taught or was a student, I couldn’t tell. Like yesterday, I sat as far away from the other teachers in the room as possible with my cup of coffee. I also ignored their looks of hatred, their sneers, their I’m-better-than-you looks.

About twenty minutes before class was due to start, I departed the staffroom and wandered past classrooms that I didn’t bother with yesterday. I looked in the doors of all the windows of the doors and I didn’t see him until I reached the English department, sitting dutifully behind his desk. Today, he wore a heather gray beanie over his brown locks and he looked absolutely delicious. No, I scolded myself, do not think like that. Don’t think about him like that, because he won’t want to associate with you if you act like a fool around him or near him. I sighed softly, shook the feeling of seeing him off and continued to my classroom with a slight skip in my step.
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For the rest of the school week, I continued eye stalking him. Every morning, I changed my route so I walked past his English classroom on the way to my Art classroom. When I drew, I drew his jaw, the shape of his lips, his hairstyle and his eyes. Other than that, I didn’t draw all that much...except for when I needed to for planning for the kids, which wasn’t very often.

On Saturday morning, a week after I bumped into him, I headed back to the library but didn’t get any books or take any back. Instead, I sat in the same seat as last week and waited for him. And waited for him. And waited for him.

About an hour later, I finally saw him. I froze again and stared at him, my mouth agape. I blinked a few times to stop myself from looking like a complete idiot, stood, followed him and tapped him on the shoulder so I didn’t look like a stalker. He jumped, stopped and turned around with crinkled eyebrows. It’s cute.

“Hi,” I said.

He was silent for a few seconds before he replied as if he was trying to place me.

“Hey...what can I do for you?” he finally replied.

I shrugged. “Just wanted to talk.”

“About?”

Oh, shit, I thought.

“Er...well, I didn’t really think that far ahead, really. I’m not good at socialization,” I added in a form of apology.

“Is that why you stay in your class practically all day?” he teased.

I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out. He laughed. And it was beautiful, and my chest exploded in butterflies.

“What about you and your classroom?” I finally found my voice about a minute later.

“Meh,” he shrugged, “at least I have fun.”

I repressed a shiver at the way he said the word fun. Goddamnit, I thought, I’ve known this guy what? A week? And he’s already making me react like this? I shook my head to clear lingering, in-the-gutter thoughts associated with fun.