Romance: One Shot

The proposal

"Ms. Gallagher! Ms. Gallagher!"
She turned around, attempting to find the source of this frantic call for help amidst the chaos. Hats were flying, paper mache props crumbling, mothers were frantically zipping children into costumes... and one little girl, with her crayon hat falling off her head, was running towards her with a look of terror on her face. Her first graders were performing their end of the year play, a cute musical about crayons in a box all trying to fit in that was written and choreographed by the music teacher... and they were falling apart. But Lindsey Gallagher was used to it... after 3 years of teaching first grade, 6 such performances and countless meltdowns... according to her experience, everything was going according to schedule.

"What's wrong, Lizzie?"
she asked the little girl running towards her.

"Ms. Gallagher... I forgot my line!"
Lizzie said breathlessly. Lindsey frowned... Lizzie was one of her more needy students, for sure... her mom had passed away when she was just a baby, and although she had an awesome dad and an actively involved grandmother, nothing could really make up for the loss of her mother. Lizzie was struggling in school, and Lindsey had spent the year trying her best to help her keep up. The result? A strong bond between teacher and student. She knew that Lizzie looked up to her quite a bit, and knew she would be sad to see her little buddy go off to second grade.

Lindsey brought herself back to the moment, where this young little girl was still looking at her pleadingly, asking about a line that Lindsey wasn't aware of.

"Sweetie... you don't have any lines, remember?"

Lindsey clarified for the young one. Lindsey had sat in on several rehearsals, one of which had just taken place not two hours before, at the end of the school day - she was fairly certain that Lizzie had spent the entire play in the background, singing along with her classmates.

"Yes, I do, and I can't remember it and I'm going toruin the whole play!"
Lizzie whined, on the verge of tears.
The music teacher, Mrs. Goldsworthy, walked by at that moment, and Lindsey quickly caught her arm.

"Mrs. Goldsworthy... Lizzie is very upset because she can't remember her lines, but I don't think she has any... was there some sort of mix up?"
she asked. The music teacher's eyes flashed from the first grader, to the teacher and then back again, and a look of recognition dawned on her face.

"Ah... I know what she's talking about. Come here, dear, I'll help you remember..."
Mrs. Goldsworthy said, taking Lizzie's hand and hurrying her away.

"We're about to start, Lindsey, why don't you find your way to your seat? I can take care of everything from here,"
she said with a comforting smile. Lindsey smiled back, turned and headed for the exit that would take her out of backstage and into the auditorium.

She made her way to a seat, smiling and waving at parents and other family members as she did, and she felt a slight twinge in her heart. Her boyfriend Josh was supposed to be there for the performance - he was pretty supportive, as boyfriends go, and was well known around the school for being more visible at these kinds of events than most of the other teachers' husbands. Unfortunately, he got called on a business trip at the last minute, so he couldn't come. He had left that afternoon and would be gone for almost a week. She missed him already - although the two didn't live together, they spent practically every waking moment together. Lindsey sat down in an auditorium chair and couldn't help the smile that popped onto her face, as it did every time when she thought about the day that they met.

She didn't hear what he said at first. He came up and stood near her, looking at her questioningly, but all she could hear was the Dashboard Confessional song coming through her headphones. She pressed pause on her iPod and pulled the earbuds out.