ODDS OF LOVE: Season Nine

Episode 57

- Time Jump -

Monday December 9, 2024
" It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas "

" It's feeling weird," Angel Anderson said from the plaid sofa in the spacious doctor's office of the Barrington Academy Student and Staff Medical Clinic. He wore his favorite Pokemon medical scrubs and battered running shoes and was currently searching for a special Christmas gift for his live in teacher lover Lyle Peters. Well. Another special gift, he smiled as he thought of that little black velvet box he had hidden in the house in a spot even the dogs much less Lyle could sniff out. He couldn't believe how smoothly their relationship was going. Especially since the crazy ass threats to Lyle had stopped. Of course they had stopped. Lyle met with the detective in charge of the Chou case and she had determined he knew nothing about the child's death or drugs. So of course they stopped tormenting his man. Thank God. Lyle even had a new songbird in his classroom. A bird he actually had named Heaven's Angel. It had been Angel's early Christmas gift for the man and his students. Everything was going good except for the fact that Hank kept calling him and texting him to the point Angel was seriously considering a restraining order but he didn't want to hurt the man he had once cared a great deal for. It wasn't like they had to see him much.

Except for when he and Lyle went to the now opened Richard and Nigel's in Bethesda. That little pub style restaurant with Glory's homespun cooking and the racuous songstress treat of Matilda backed up by Andrew on the piano was becoming a favorite of Lyle's and his as well as that of , well,  the whole state ever since the Washington Post had ran that feature article on The Best Lil Pub In Maryland. His lips spread in a mischievous grin as he remembered how pissed his cousin Joe was after the article had come out. It was not bad enough that Cafe J tables were getting emptier since the competition had opened across the street. And that more of his staff were leaving for Richard and Nigel's. Of course maybe that could have a little to do with Joe having hired that incompetent Winston Arnett as assistant manager after the man was disbarred for his little paternity scam. Maybe, he thought as he found the perfect gift for Lyle. A cookie jar on eBay that looked just like the Tardis thing on Doctor Who. He would love it. Hmmm. A couple of bidders. Fuck that. Angel made a quick bid for the cookie jar that was twice the last one. He was winning this shit. Maybe he could convince Joe to poach Hank as host of Cafe J so the man would stop his constant flirting with him that made Lyle get so quiet.

DuBuis looked up from his own phone where he was on Amazon finishing up his own holiday shopping list. The kids were easy. Video games for all and girly shit for Luci who now had a Tik Tok vlog and one on YouTube about her preop journey as a transgender girl. She was always complaining that she didn't have enough cute clothes , he thought as he rolled his eyes. Now .......Spencer. What did you get the genius who really didn't care about holidays especially " one that was mainly there to inflame sentiment and sell greeting cards ". " What's weird? That Barrington basically pays us to play on our phones in between me giving aspirin to a kid with a test induced headache and you getting off the sofa to let one lay down? "

Although, he mused , the anti drug and anti bullying programs that he , Angel , Lyle and the board of directors lead by Richard had convinced Gerald was indeed necessary were time consuming for the clinic thankfully. The student body had actually responded quite well to both programs. Penelope Perkins - Hightower , the headmaster's wife, was a very avid volunteer with the anti bullying program " Love One Another ". And Lyle had surprised everyone including Angel by jumping into the anti drugs program with the enthusiasm he had. He even devised an  anti drug musical theater show using the talents of his glee club students which included Theodore and Luci. The two of them were now waking  everyone up at home with the catchy anti drug songs Lyle had penned. He pursed his lips. Maybe it was the glee club but he thought he saw a big change in Theodore lately. The boy still dressed like Mr. Rogers but he was oddly more relaxed than he had been before. Maybe too relaxed.

Angel laughed. He won that fucking cookie jar.He was that good at shopping. " Don't hate a good thing. We could be at the ER getting shot at. "

DuBuis smiled faintly. " Remaking coffee for ungrateful coworkers. "

Angel said softly," Dodging full urinals of smelly piss that ruined my new sneakers. "

" The guessing game of " is it covid or rsv " ? And arguing with people because I wanted to wear a mask because they were coughing. "

Angel asked gently," You miss it too. "

DuBuis saw the perfect gift for Spencer. The holy Bible written in the original Hebrew. The man didn't believe in God but he would love to read and criticize the original Bible. It was pretty reasonable too. " Of course I miss it. I'm never going back though. "

" Same. Don't even think about buying that Bible on eBay, friend. Lyle would love that. "

" Fuck you," DuBuis said as he placed his first bid.