Six Ways to One Day

Chapter 12

You spend the entire ride back to school, chiding yourself for ever agreeing to go to lunch with him. You think, "I can't believe I forgot what kind of a person he is." Then you can't help but chuckle to yourself, "That was the most expensive three bites of turkey club I've ever eaten. This man has costed me almost $100 in two of the briefest meetings with him. That was the last time. Forget about the aggravation of having to deal with him. I can't afford to interact with him anymore. Unlike that asshole, I don't have a tree that grows money in my backyard."

When you return to your classroom, you decide to keep the lights off and the doors to your classroom locked while you spend the next class period preparing for your last two classes of the day. A few minutes after you arrived, you heard knocking at your classroom door, followed by the door handle jiggling. You were sitting at your desk at the back of the classroom hidden from either of the two doors to your room. Besides, you didn't need to see who was at the door to know who it was anyway.

As you vow to never do anything like that again with Tae, your phone buzzes. Worried that it might be him reaching out, you reluctantly take the phone out of your desk drawer and look at your notification screen. When you see that it's Judy texting you, you let out a sigh of relief and read the message.

Judy:
Hey, I came to see you during lunch, but I couldn't find you.
Where were you?

You:
Hi Babe!
I'm sorry I wasn't around.
I agreed to something that I shouldn't have and was out.
So, how is your first day going?
How are your kids?

Judy:
Forget the kids and my first day.
I need more information about this thing that you agreed to but shouldn't have.

You:
Tae... He tricked me into going out to lunch with him.
Of course, leopards don't change their spots and I ended up practically throwing money at him and walking out in the middle of it.
It's too long to get into it over text, but my first impression of him was correct.
He is, indeed, an asshole.
I should've stuck to my guns and told him no.

Judy:
I NEED DETAILS!
WORD FOR WORD.

You:
My God... I told you! Too much to type out.
How about we Facetime after work.
I'll text you when I get home and we can talk all about it.

Judy:
Okay.
I'm sorry you had a bad time.

You:
Thanks, Babe.
Anyway, I better go.
I still need to finish prepping for my last two classes.
I'll talk to you later.
I love you.

Judy:
Love you too.

The rest of your workday passes without any other complications or difficulties. Tae never makes another appearance in between your classes. However, you spend the rest of the day looking up at the door to your classroom, every time you hear someone walking by, and feel a little stab of disappointment when you don't see Tae's beautiful smiling face.

Feeling aggravated at feeling disappointed, you tell yourself, "Will you stop already? He is not the one. He has shown you what kind of a person he is, and that person isn't someone that you can ever like. At this point, being friends with him doesn't even seem possible. You have to let this go."

You tell yourself to stop thinking about Tae, but in your effort to cease thinking about him, you think about him. More aggravated than ever, you grab your head in your hands and let out a big huff of air. When his face drifts into your mind yet again, you let out a high pitch squeak of agitation and purposely mess up your hair.