Teachers Pet

50: That's Comforting

       David had pulled me from the fog effortlessly when he started telling me about himself suddenly. He went into such detail about how his family owned a couple of thousand acres of land outside of town and city limits. His father was a third-generation Rancher and one day everything would pass down to David. I'd asked him if that's what he wanted and he told me it was something he's always looked forward to. He spoke so highly of his family and his family's ranch. I was shocked to learn that he had so many siblings. He had three older sisters and a younger brother and sister that were twins. All of his siblings, including him, had names that started with the letter D. I had forgotten their names already, but they all sounded like boy names.

       I just sat there listening to him talk. When he asked me some questions, they weren't prying or invasive. He'd asked what books I was currently reading and what I liked about them. I told him they were all romance and he pretended to gag. Then he asked me things like if I've ever traveled, what foods did I hate, did I prefer summer or winter, did tattoos freak me out? I wanted to keep talking and asking each other things that were completely random and unimportant. I wanted to because no matter how uninteresting the answer I gave him, he always looked so fascinated. So when the bell rang for first period, it was hard to hide my disappointment.

       The rest of the day went by very fast. I had David to thank for that. During first period was the only time I was closest to him. I never missed a single time when Jakes eyes fell to David in the back of the room. Each time they did, they fell to me next. In second period with Mrs. Burns, David sat a few rows behind the one I always sat in. When Mrs. Burns came up to me at the beginning of class, it was hard to ignore everyone looking back at us. Mrs. Burns handed me a script and told me there were some revisions that I needed to go over. It had been her way of saying I was still Josephine. I didn't argue with her. I simply took the new script and told her I would go over it.

       Mrs. Burns didn't say anything about me being late or about Nolan not being the lead anymore. She never once said his name actually. Dean was the male lead again and Bailey had stepped down from being the female lead. She didn't look too happy about being my understudy again, but I paid no mind to her. I found myself waiting the entire class period for Mrs. Burns to say something to me. I waited for a smart remark, a snippy comment, a subtle insult... but none ever came.

       When I was in class, no one bothered me. When I was in the halls, David continued to ask me questions and tell me things about him and his family. He had three dogs named Boone, Willa, and Jolene. Jolene was the mother of the other two and was getting a little older now. I could see that the subject of Jolene's age bothered him a bit. I tried to distract him by telling him I wasn't a dog person. The insult on his face was laughable. He then proceeded to tell me something was seriously wrong with me if I didn't like dogs.

       But that was how my day went. Lunch was the only time David wasn't near me. He had gone back to the security office and taken his break there. It hadn't bothered me because I was by Jill. When lunch was over, David was waiting for me by the cafeteria entrance to walk me to my next class. It really was like he was babysitting me. Having him here though, it made coming back to school easier. I had made sure to thank him before I left school. There was a small sense of ease I had as I got in my mothers' car to go home.

       That ease had gone away the second she told me we were to go to Jakes' house tonight to meet our lawyer and speak with him. I nearly threw up right there in the car. Jakes house? Like his actual house? The universe was mocking me. Apparently, our lawyer had told Jake we lived a little farther than he wanted to drive and that he would prefer us to meet at Jake's who lived much closer to him. My mother didn't see a problem with that so she agreed to meet there. The drive home had been her telling me how great it was that Mr. Pierce was helping us like this. She teared up talking about it. I repeatedly fought the urge to roll my eyes.