A Teacher and his Maid

Home

"You confessed on the first date? Look at you, playing hard to get." Mimzy guffaws.

Husk is dying in the staff room. At least that's what it feels like, as Mimzy flicks pens at his head from her swivel chair. He doesn't have friends really, and the only one willing to hear him out happens to be the office gossip.

He turns his head from his position face down on his desk. An essay sticks on his face.

"Do you tell the McDonald's cashier in the drive thru that you love them?" Mimzy laughs, launching into an impression. "May I take your order?" "Um yes, your hand in marriage."

"Are you gonna keep hitting me while I'm down?" He snarls.

"Sorry, sorry." She wipes a tear of laughter. "She must be a stunner for you to be so down bad."

Husk sighs. "You got that right. Paid $10k and got my heart smashed in."

Mimzy startles. "You paid ten thousand-?!" She slides her hands down her face, shaking her head pityingly. "Husker..."

"Now she hates me."

Mimzy rolls her eyes. "She doesn't hate you. Probably just against her job policy. Talk to her."

He raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well I'm not gonna say some boring shit like stop going to the cafe. I need the drama. I crave it."

Husk groans. "This is what I get for asking advice from you. I'm gonna get back to work."

He glances back at his stack of papers he has to grade. Husk takes the essay stuck to his cheek.

Husk gets preoccupied reading through the essay, it was pretty engaging and structurally sound as it elegantly argued though its points. Sounds like someone paid attention to his class for once. He takes one of the red pens Mimzy threw at him earlier to give it a B+. Then he notices the name written in the corner.

Anthony.

At first he's elated- proof that tutoring the boy had actually paid off! His smile slowly fades as he realizes the way he had snapped at his student last week.

Husk sweats as he remembers how harshly he had rejected him. How he said he was disappointed in Anthony for not studying when this grade clearly indicated otherwise. Husk had even slammed a door in his face and insulted him.

Ah crap. He felt racked with guilt. Here he was lamenting about the way he was curb stomped by someone he liked when he had done the exact same thing to his student.

Husk stands up, clutching the paper. He had to apologize.

—-

Husk hadn't given back his paper doing class, he thought a private victory was warranted. He wanted to see his reaction up close, not from the back of the lecture hall.

Anthony rushes past him when their class ends. Normally he'd stay back to talk to him about their study sessions, or flirt aimlessly at him, or about how Molly grew a few centimeters.

He finds Anthony sitting on the bottom of the stairwell near the study rooms. The sandy blonde boy was smoking a cigarette, listlessly watching the ants walk by.

Anthony frowns when his cig is plucked from his fingers from behind him. He glances up.

"Smoking is bad for your health." Husk comments, taking a long drag from Anthony's used cigarette. He grimaces at the cheap chemical taste. Cigars were better.

"Ah, look who it is." Anthony says sarcastically. "Afraid I'll assault ya?" He snatches the cigarette back, frowning at the indirect kiss. Instead Anthony tosses it to the ground and extinguishes it with his foot.