ODDS OF LOVE: Season Nine

Episode 9

( Texts )

Angel: Are you ok ? I'm not wanting to crowd your space or weird you out or anything but that call you got is freaking me out a little. Ok. A lot. Did you tell the cops ?

Lyle: I did call but Detective Browne was busy they said. I think all the police are busy with the missing child. She actually goes here. Or used to. In the elementary section. I heard she transferred out. It's fairly complicated. But I'm ok. I figure it is a prank. The older students do like to prank me. A lot. I'm not popular with the high school crowd. Never have been. How are you?

Angel: I'm fine. Hey. I'm accepting a position with your school so I guess we are coworkers now. School nurse gig. Should be easy. Want to celebrate tonight? Movies maybe? You like horror right ? Or comedy ?

Lyle: Congratulations! Yes. I would love to go to the movies with you. Not a fan of horror much but I like comedy. Or rom - com. There's a good one with the singer Reese Malden. A rom com heavy on the rom. Is that good?

Angel: Sounds great. I'll check times and text you. And it's my treat. Be careful.

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Hank : Hey , Angel. So looks like I'm moving out of this privileged jail here and getting my own place in Greenbelt. And I got a job as a host at a restaurant opening soon. Place called Richard and Nigel's. Wanna have dinner sometime?

Angel: Congratulations but I told you not to text or call me. We're done. You can't revisit the past , Hank. And I'm seeing someone. He's special.

Hank : Yeah. What's this special guy's name? And our past was unresolved.

Angel: His name is none of your business. And our past resolved when you said leave. Goodbye, Hank. Good luck on your life.

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On his planning period in his classroom Lyle Peters leaned back in his desk chair and closed his eyes as he thought of a certain gorgeous and funny nurse who tried to pretend to be all tough and unfeeling yet had a gigantic heart as glooey as a marshmallow.

He thought he was falling for the man already. And it scared him. He hadn't been with that many men since coming out late in life. His longest relationship had been a year and it ended because Dave kept bringing up everything he did wrong. He could never please the man in anything. Dave had cheated constantly and blamed him for it , saying that he had to get satisfactory sex somewhere. It had taken a while but he finally had broken free. He didn't think Angel was like Dave. In fact he knew Angel wasn't. He hoped Angel wasn't. But what , he worried silently, if Dave had been right? What if it had been his fault Dave cheated? What if his lack of ..... experience made Angel want someone else new ? What if he ended up alone again?

He sighed and reopened his eyes. Dating was complicated and frightening in some ways. Maybe he should have stayed in his nice solitary life with the dogs , his hobbies and his work but that had been unbearably boring and lonely.