Hetty and Ryan: Overcome

Exposed

Ryan was making coffee Monday morning in the staff lounge and chatting with several co-workers, including the principal, when Hetty appeared. It was the first time they had seen each other since Friday night at the bar. She looked radiant, confident and quite frankly, way too sexy for him to handle. She was wearing a slightly snug, slightly short (though still professional) navy skirt and a white blouse.

Though she would normally be uncomfortable walking into a room full of people, today she entered with a carefree bounce in her step. She flashed a friendly smile at everyone, then approached Ryan, which caught him off guard.

"K.T.'s mom just called to ask why we haven't contacted her for a meeting yet. I let her know we were almost done with the eval and that you would call her later today. She sounded a little impatient."

"Okay, thank you. I'll call her as soon as I get back to my desk." His voice literally cracked as he spoke, as if he were a nervous seventeen-year-old. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

Despite being surrounded by people, having Hetty this close to him after their time on Friday sent him into a dizzy spiral. She gave him a brief moment of intense eye contact, her complexion bright, then smiled slightly at him before striding gracefully out of the room.

Ryan watched her walk away, then swallowed back his sandpaper tonsils.

"Dude, you might want to be a little less obvious," Eddy said condescendingly. Eddy was the debate teacher Ryan wasn't particularly fond of.

Ryan realized everyone was looking at him and felt himself blush, anger rising to his head over Eddy drawing attention to the situation.

"Screw you," he muttered aggressively, forgetting his principal was standing four feet away.

"What's happening?" asked Linda, the principal's secretary, leaning in with keen interest. In many ways, the Walnut Grove staff was like a tight-knit family, constantly in each other's business but usually with the best of intentions. 

"Somebody's got a little crush," teased his buddy Jason, with a big, goofy smile. "Just a little residual crush, no big deal." He made light of the situation, which was anything but light to Ryan.

"You know she's engaged, right?" Mariana said earnestly, looking a bit concerned.

"Yes," Ryan responded with heavy sarcasm and irritation - not at Mariana but at the situation. "I might be aware of the fact."

"You know they used to date in high school?" Jason revealed. Ryan threw his hands up in exasperation, wondering why Jason and Eddy found it acceptable to blurt out all the details of his personal life in front of half his colleagues. He felt like a zoo animal on display, and not an attractive one. Maybe a sloth or a walrus.

"Jesus, Jason!" Before he punched someone or continued swearing at his co-workers in front of his principal, he decided to flee the situation. He merely walked out of the staff room, hands stuffed into his pockets, his coffee sadly abandoned.

"Uh, did you want your coffee, or...?" he heard Eddy ask humorously after he'd departed, and several of his colleagues chuckled. Ryan didn't know if he should feel relieved that everyone else seemed to think his crush on Hetty was merely amusing. He imagined they wouldn't be laughing if they knew the extent of his feelings for her.

He collapsed into his desk chair, attempting to calm his nerves. The way Hetty strode through in front of everyone, dressed to a T, and looked right into his face with glowing eyes, revealed a lot to him. She knew exactly what she was doing to him, and it gave her a little thrill. What he didn't know was where her heart was at, and how this was going to play out. A tiny fire of hope continued to burn intensely inside of him. The limbo was agonizing, but - if he was being honest with himself - a bit thrilling as well.