It Ends With Us

1.

Eddie

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything was supposed to be perfect.

He was supposed to be perfect.

He was supposed to be the perfect husband. The perfect father to my son. He was supposed to think I was perfect too.

But he didn't. He thought I was damaged goods. That I wasn't good enough to be with someone like him.

And he was right. I didn't deserve him. But if I can't have him, no one can.

If this is how it ends, it ends with us.

**********

6 Months Earlier

Buck

"Alright class, let's take out our books for silent reading." More than half of my students groaned in response. "Aw come on," I chuckled at them. "You guys know the rules. If you guys want to win that pizza party for your grade level, you're going to have to do the work."

"Mr. Buckley?" I heard my name over the intercom.

"Yes?"

"Could you come to the front office for a moment?"

"Sure thing."

"Oooh," my class howled.

"Alright alright. Settle down now. Everybody keep reading. Mr. Han is going to keep an eye on you until I get back." I walked out of my classroom to the room next door. Howard "Chimney" Han and his class turned to look at me as I opened the door.

"Mind watching my class for me?"

"Sure man. No problem." I nodded my thanks and headed to the office. I opened the door and stopped in my tracks. Sitting on the bench next to the door was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. His dark brown hair, chiseled jaw, buff physique. It was enough to make any man or woman swoon.

"Mr. Buckley? Mr. Buckley?" My thoughts were interrupted by Principal Rivers.

"Yes ma'am?" I cleared my throat, which was suddenly dry.

She pushed her librarian style glasses up the bridge of her nose and smiled sweetly at me. "I'd like to introduce you to your new student. This is Christopher Diaz..." she gestured to the young boy. I hadn't even noticed him sitting there. I was too busy ogling over his father like a creepy weirdo.

"...and his father Edmundo Diaz."

"Eddie. Please," he said, reaching out a hand for me to shake, offering a large smile. His smile made him even more beautiful.

I shook his hand, then Christopher's. "Well it's nice to meet you both."

"Mr. Diaz has requested to sit in on Christopher's first day of class."

"If that's alright with you," Eddie said quickly.

"Of course! Right this way," I gestured towards the door.

"Thank you, Mr. Buckley. And welcome to Three Rock Elementary, Christopher," Mrs. Rivers smiled at him before turning back towards her office.

"Thank you," he responded shyly.

As we began walking to my classroom, I broke the silence between the three of us. "So where did you guys move from?"

"Texas," Eddie answered matter-of-factly.

"My dad got a new job as a firefighter!" Christopher said excitedly.

"Wow, that's amazing. Congratulations."

Eddie blushed before offering a shy "Thank you."

"You guys will love it here in LA. It's sunny 90% of the time and there's tons of cool stuff to do."

"Well maybe you could show us around sometime." I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I'm sorry, that was totally inappropriate. Forget I even said that." He shook his head quickly.

"No!" I answered all too quickly. I cleared my throat again, trying to sound cooler and calmer. "I mean...I would love to show you guys around. It's just... the school district has a strict policy against teachers and parents fraternizing."

We were standing outside of my classroom now. "Nobody has to know. I mean LA's a pretty big city right?" he raised an eyebrow at me, smirking slightly.

I should say no. I should definitely say no. I knew that. But there was something about this man that was purely irresistible. "How about Saturday?" I found myself saying.

"Saturday's perfect," he smiled at me. "Chris? Saturday work for you?"

Christopher pretended to think for a minute. "Take your time. We have absolutely nowhere to be right now." Eddie joked sarcastically.

"Can we go to the arcade?" He looked up at me innocently. God this kid was adorable.

"Are you kidding? What's a proper tour without a visit to the arcade?!"

He and his father laughed as I opened the door to my classroom and stepped inside. "Class, this is Christopher. He's going to be joining our class, so let's make him feel welcome."

"Hi Christopher," my class said in unison. Christopher waved shyly at the class.

"Christopher, right now we're doing silent reading. We're competing with the other grade levels for a pizza party. Do you have a book to read?"

"Yes sir."

"Great. You can sit right there next to Denny." I pointed to the empty desk next to Denny, and he smiled sweetly and waved at Christopher. He walked to his new seat and pulled out his book.

As I turned around to walk back to my desk, I looked up to find Eddie staring intensely at me.