It Ends With Us

3.

Buck

The next few days sort of went by in a blur. After the dinner at my sister's the other night (I didn't see Eddie again that night, so I chalked it up to being hallucinations from too much wine at dinner) I went home, graded a few papers, and went to bed. It was the only thing I could do to attempt to keep my mind off of...him.

It was Thursday now, only two days before I was supposed to show Eddie and Christopher around the city. I was really reconsidering my offer to them. Not because of the teacher/parent thing. Not even because I (possibly) saw him outside of my sister's house the other night. It was because this man...this beautiful, sexy, irresistible looking man was exactly that. Irresistible. I could hardly handle him staring at me for 6 hours in my classroom. How in the hell was I supposed to handle a whole day talking to him?

I shook my head violently, trying to get back to the task at hand: getting ready for work. I finished buttoning up my dress shirt, grabbed my laptop case and headed out the door...

That's when I heard it. Heard him, laughing nearby.

My GOD, how much did I have to drink the other night that I'm still hallucinating?

I turned to my left to see none other than Eddie Diaz unloading a U-Haul next door.

Shirtless.

Greek God didn't even begin to describe him.

As I continued to stare at him for God only knows how long, he turned and finally saw me. Gaping at him like an idiot. I don't know how long I had been staring, but apparently it was long enough that he felt my eyes burning a hole in the back of his sweaty, incredibly toned, muscular–

"Mr. Buckley!" He offered me a friendly smile and wave. I tried to push down the inappropriate thoughts as he jogged over to me.

"Mr. Di– uh sorry. Eddie." I chuckled nervously, shaking his hand. He was already sweating, so there was no way he'd notice my sweaty palms, right? "You live next door? I had no idea."

He laughed, suddenly bashful. "Yeah, my realtor called last night about the listing. I saw the pictures, she sent the paperwork, and the rest is history."

"Wow, that's great!" I coughed trying to take some of the excitement out of my voice before speaking again. "So uh...where's Christopher?"

"My Tia Pepa drove him to school today. I wanted to get as much of our stuff moved in as possible. I have a shift in a couple of hours." He paused. "So listen. Christopher was invited to a birthday sleepover this weekend and can't go on the tour with us on Saturday, but I'm still game if you are."

How do I say 'HELL YES!' without actually saying it?

"Yeah. Sure. I'm still game," I nodded quickly, trying but failing to sound like a normal, functioning human being.

"Cool," he smiled widely at me. "I'll see you then."

He turned to walk away and I couldn't help but notice how nicely his jeans fit him as he did.