Lana's POV
We agreed to meet on a Thursday at 5PM, in a park far from the school. When I arrive, I see him from afar, playing with a little girl.
He brought his sister. She has long hair, arranged in pigtails. She's wearing a school uniform and I am guessing she just got out of class. Aaron and her are wrestling on the grass and she's laughing loudly. I can't help but smile seeing them play.
Aaron is wearing a white shirt that looks tight around his muscles, and jeans. I notice his shirt getting stained from the grass, but he doesn't seem to care.
I am wearing a very light blue summer dress that exposes most of my back.
When he sees me, his smile gets even wider.
- Hey Lana.
- Hi, I reply, a silly smile getting to my face without me realizing it.
- Hailey, this is Lana, the woman I was telling you about.
Hailey looks up to me and gives me a huge smile, gets up and proceeds to hug me.
I laugh and get down on my knees, giving her a heart-warming hug.
- You're really pretty, she says matter-of-factly.
- Thanks, I say, blushing.
Aaron smiles and looks at me.
- Aaron says you're his teacher? But teachers are old and you're young.
- I'm a new teacher, but I'll be an old teacher one day.
She thinks for a little while.
- That makes sense. How old are you?
- 23.
- Aaron is 21. And I'm 9 and a half. Together we are thirty.
- You seem good at math.
- It's my favorite subject!
- It was mine too in school!
- Really?
- Yes, I loved it, I tell her with a smile.
- Will you help me with my math homework one day? Please please please plea...
- I don't know about that, Hailey, Aaron interrupts her.
- I'll be happy to, I whisper to her.
- Yeayy!
With that, she gets up and runs through the grass, and gets distracted by a large amount of flowers on the ground, kneels close to them, and proceeds to take them.
- Will you be ok getting up, old lady? Aaron asks jokingly, offering me a hand to help me get up.
I decide not to take it but still laugh.
- Don't call me that, kid.
- Don't call me kid. Would you prefer if I called you "beautiful"?
- You said you'd behave.
- Oh this is me behaving, Lana, trust me, he answers with a smirk.
He points to a bench a few feet away and I nod.
We sat there for a moment, looking at Hailey picking up flowers.
- She's lovely, I say.
- She really is, he answers with a smile.
He turns to me.
- You ok?
I sigh.
- I guess so. I just... miss them. Well... My mom.
He nods.
- Complicated relationship with your father?
- You have no idea, I answer.
- I can imagine. Mine is an asshole.
- Mine too. Well... he was. It makes the grieving process complicated, you know? Missing only one of them. Feeling guilty about not missing the other.
- Jeez... yeah, that must be tough.
- It really is.
- I guess you have to remember your feelings are completely valid. You can't beat yourself up for missing your mother more than him. Mourn her, and let yourself feel the pain.
I nod, and feel a single tear running on my cheek. Aaron slowly approaches his hand to gently wipe it off but he stops mid-air, remembering his promise. I could already imagine the warmth of his hand on my face when his hand falls back by his side. Shit.
- I can only imagine that the hardest part for you is people offering their condolence for both of them, reminding you every time how you don't miss him, and feeling like you don't want to justify yourself for that. So you shut down completely and don't talk about them.
What he described was the hardest part. I couldn't share how much I missed my mom because people wouldn't understand why my dad didn't get the same treatment. And that would mean I would have to talk about years and years of trauma from him.
I look at Aaron with disbelief that he could exactly understand – and predict – what I felt.
He sees my look and smiles.
- I'm not just a pretty face, beautiful.
Through what remains of my tears, I have a small laugh.
- Enough about me, I say. What about you guys? Everything okay? Do you guys need anything?
- She, he says with a small movement of the head toward Hailey, needs a mother and a father.
- I'm out of stock of those at the moment.
He laughs at the dark humor joke and I try to ignore how the sound of it makes my insides melt.
- She could need a woman figure though, he says after a long pause when we watch Hailey play.
He turns to look at me. I nod slowly.
- And I'm sure 4th grade math is way out of your league, so she needs me for that too.
He snorts with laughter, surprised I would make a joke after a serious request. I'm happy I made him laugh, and I say:
- I'd be happy to see her regularly. She looks great. And I need joy in my life right now. And company.
I knew what I was doing when I added the "company" part in my sentence. Somehow I just wanted to create that spark of playfulness in him again, or get a joke like "I can keep you company" or something.
I curse myself for both asking him to stay away for obvious ethical reasons and yet being so eager to have him close, so eager to trigger any physical contact or emotional link.
When I look into his eyes, I can see he knows about my dilemma, because he smirks.
- You're making it hard for me to behave, you know? He whispers.
I shake my head "no".
- I'm sorry, I whisper back.
- It's ok.
He pauses for a long minute.
- I still know it's going to happen, though. But I'll make you work for it.
He smirks at me and before I know it, he gets up and runs to Hailey, sitting with her on the grass and making conversation with her.
That is NOT what I call behaving.
YOU ARE READING
His Favorite Teacher: Student-Teacher romance
Romance"I'm not giving up. You're mine." He says in a low voice, slamming me against the wall before crushing his lips on mine. 23 year-old Lana lets go of her past to become a high school teacher in America. She wants to focus on her classes and her stud...
