𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter four.

Claudia made everything perfect for dinner. She made the living and dining room look more presentable and had soft music playing in the background. Janis took her time getting ready, this time having matching socks and shoes. Claudia didn't know what time the father and daughter would arrive, so she practiced in the hallway mirror how to approach the teenager.

She didn't think it would be hard. She is, after all, a high school teacher. Working with teenagers is her job. Claudia found herself doing weird hand gestures and rambling about her favorite book series. "This is hopeless. You can do this. You're around teenagers all day, how is this hard?"

Her practicing was ended by the doorbell ringing. This was it. All her thirty minutes of practicing was going to be put to use. She took one last look at her hair, fixing a few strands and dusting off her clothes. She gave herself a thumbs up and walked towards the door, opening it and revealing an older man with a girl by his side. He had gray strands of hair, but he still looked young.

"Hi, you must be Claudia. Your mom told me nothing about you other than your name," The older man chuckled. "I'm Edward Reagan." He extended his hand to shake Claudia's hand.

Claudia smiled at him, shaking his hand. "Very nice to meet you, Edward. And yes, I'm Claudia. Come in." She opened the door for them to enter. "And this is your daughter?"

Edward nodded. "Yes, this is my little girl Layna." He introduced the girl with dark hair. She looked annoyed. The teenager clearly wanted to be in her room where she felt comfortable. "Not much of a talker these days."

Claudia nodded. "I understand. I have some kids just like her. I'm a high school teacher."

They walked to the living room, Layna sitting next to her dad while Claudia sat in a her mom's recliner. "Do you happen to teach at the high school that's ten minutes away from here? Layna recently started school there. She's still getting her schedule sorted, my girl is a little smart." Edward nudged his daughters side. "You look like an English teacher, Layna loves books."

Claudia chuckled. "Yes," She looked at Layna, who was staring at the large bookcases filled with all kinds of books. So now she knew the way to the teenagers heart. Books. "You can borrow some if you like. This isn't even half of my collection. I have tons of books at school and my room."

Layna remained quiet.

Edward cleared his throat, already knowing that things were about to get awkward. "Something smells good."

Claudia opened her mouth to respond, but the loud footsteps of her mom made her shut her mouth. Janis appeared from the hallway wearing a floral dress the reached just above her knees with flowy sleeves. She had worn the exact same dress to Woodstock. Edward couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

He stood up from the couch and walked over to her. "Janis, you look...amazing."

Janis blushed. "Oh, Edward, I know."

They acted like teenagers again, acting shy around each other and giving compliments every second. For Claudia and Layna, it was weird, but Janis and Edward didn't mind.

Layna stood up from the couch and walked to Claudia, staring at Janis and Edward. "You were saying you had more books?"

Claudia nodded. "Up in my room."

"Lead the way, Miss Honey."

Before Claudia. ould say anything about the movie reference Layna had made, Janis waved her hand slowly to get her daughter's attention. "Have fun kids, we'll call you down for dinner. Be careful not to fall out of windows." She stared dreamily at the man in front of her.

Edward nodded. "Try not to burn the house down."

Layna and Claudia left the room without saying a word, leaving the two lovebirds in the living room. Layna was still annoyed at the fact that she had to accompany her dad to dinner, but at least she found someone who had a love for books as big as hers.

Claudia opened the door to her room, which was a bit bigger than her mom's. In one side of the room, it had two large bookcases almost filled with books. Layna stood astonished by the bookcases. Her collection was big, but Claudia's collection was even bigger. She immediately saw the fantasy section and ran to it. She picked put the first book she saw.

Claudia took a seat in her wooden chair she always sat in when she graded papers. "The Name of the Wind. Nice choice. My mom gave me that for my birthday."

Layna opened the book and saw a message that Janis had written for Claudia.

To my darling lovely daughter ♡

I hope this book gives you tears and joy because that's what you always do when you read books.

Love, your awesome and hilarious mom

Layna shut the book and placed it back on the shelf. Her actions caused Claudia to have a confused look on her face. To her, it looked like Layna wanted to borrow the book, which she was more than happy to let Layna borrow it.

"Do you have any graphic novels?" Layna asked, not looking at Claudia.

"That shelf over there to your left," Claudia instructed. "Layna, are you okay? I know I'm just someone you met, but you can talk to me."

Layna didn't respond, she continued looking through the shelf of graphic novels. Of course Layna wasn't going to immediately open up to Claudia. They did just meet not even half an hour ago. All Claudia had to do was wait for Layna to trust her.

"I'll be downstairs then. I'll call you for dinner." Claudia stood up from her chair, watching as Layna grabbed a novel and sat on the cold floor and began her reading. There was a small beanbag next to her, but Layna ignored it and chose to sit on the floor. It reminded Claudia of herself at library's and even in her own classroom when no one was around.

She silently made her way downstairs, not knowing how to deal with a teenager who didn't trust her. On her many first days of school, she noticed that her kids would start of as shy, but slowly came out of their little bubble. But somehow, Layna was going to be in her little bubble for longer and Claudia understood that.

An: ok ben is almost gonna appear dw i didn't forget about my skinny white boy