Language of Love

Soror

     I explain the entire scenario. Emily denies everything. Her demeanor completely changed, she acts shy and innocent. Mr. Coleman completely fell for it.

       "You must be confused, my daughter doesn't act like that." He said. I gave up.

      I walk into Fitz's room to talk, but he already has a visitor. A woman about my age sitssss on one of the desks.
     "Go away." He mouths, but the woman catches sight of me before I get the chance to leave.
      "Hi." She says.
      "This is my little sister, Lola." He says. She rolls her eyes at the "little" part.
      "Nice to meet you," I say.
      "And who is she?" Lola asks.
      "She's a coworker." He says. My heart sinks when he says that. We hadn't had the girlfriend/boyfriend talk yet, but coworker hurt. He didn't even say, friend.
      "I just came for my stapler," I say. He nods and hands me the stapler.
      "So you're Gray," Lola says. Fitz's face turns bright red.
      "That would be me, why?" I ask.
      "Nothing." She says.

      I walk out of the room.

✿✿✿✿✿

"You seriously had to say that?" Fitz says.
"Oh, come on! You've been gushing about her for the past half hour. I had to make sure I was thinking about the right girl." Lola says.
"You could have asked me after she left!" Fitz says.
"The girl had to know you liked her or at least mentioned her. You introduced her as a co-worker. That's the worst thing you could have called her. I mean, you didn't even friend-zone the girl, you acquaintance-zoned her." She says.
"The school has a strict no dating policy. Sorry, I'm not trying to shout it from the rooftops." Fitz says.

                            ✿✿✿✿✿

   I welcome my last class and begin the lesson. Emily stayed in her father's room. I teach the lesson and we finish early.

   "Do whatever," I say and sit at my desk. A girl pulls up a chair, Brandi.
    "You know, you're the cool teacher." She says.
     "I am? How?" I say, chuckling.
     "You let us do whatever, you acknowledge Mr. Kennedy is hot, you don't believe in homework and you like to chat with us." She says.
     "Well, thank you," I say.

    A couple of other students pull up their chairs. This has been happening on a daily basis recently.

    "What were you like in high school?" Meredith ask.
    "Oh, high school... yikes. I was pretty scary. I was the person your parents don't want you to be. Dark eyeshadow, crappy black clothes, always smelled like alcohol, I had a nose ring. It was bad." I say. Brandi laughs.
      "You had a nose ring?" She asks. I nod and laugh.
      "You can still see the whole right here," I say and point to the closed piercing.
     "I can see it," Meredith says.
     "You smelled like alcohol? You drank in high school?" Sally asks.
     "No, no. Everyone thought I did, but my mother was the drinker." I say.
     "That crazy. You aren't like that at all anymore." Meredith says.
     "Yeah," I say.
     "I always thought you were like a cheerleader," Brandi says.
      "Not even close," I say.
"What about prom? What was your dress like?" Sally asks.
"Oh, it was terrible. I wore this horribly slutty black dress. It showed off way too much, I wore these fishnets under it. I was a train wreck." I say. The dress was my mother's. It was the only one even remotely dressy enough for prom. So, I stole it. Just for the night. I didn't tell the students that part.
"Were you, like slutty?" Brandi asks.
"That's where I'm going to draw the line. Let's talk about something else." I say.
"What about now? Like do you have a boyfriend?" Sally asks.
"I mean, yeah, I guess," I say.
"Is he hot?" Brandi asks.
"Yes," I answer, blushing.
"Like Mr. Kennedy hot or like Mr. Marx hot?" Meredith asks.
"Like Mr. Kennedy, but like not Mr. Kennedy," I say. More so, he is Mr. Kennedy. I don't add that part either.

The bell rings. They stand up and puts away the chairs before leaving my room. Once the halls clear out, I see Fitz and Lola walking past. I stand up and gather my things. I'm a bit behind them and Fitz clearly isn't ready to introduce me to his sister, so I don't try to catch up.

Somehow, I make it to the apartment complex before he does. As I'm unlocking my door, they make it up the stairs.
"Oh, hey Gray," Fitz says.
"Hi," I say.
"You guys are neighbors too?" Lola comments.
"Yeah," I say.
"Lola, you can go inside, Gray, I have a question for you." He says.

"I want to introduce you to my sister, but I don't know what to call you. So, uh, this feels a little junior high, but will you be my girlfriend? You know, officially?" He asks.
"Of course, Fitz," I say. He smiles.
"I think we're going to have Subway, do you want to come? I'll introduce you properly." He says.
"Sure. Just knock when you are about to leave." I say. He nods.

When I hear the knock on the door, a bit later, I open it. Fitz stands there with flowers.
      "Flowers?" I question.
      "I made him. He doesn't know how to be romantic." Lola says from behind him.
      "He doesn't," I say, placing them in a vase.
      "I do! I literally just asked you to be my girlfriend." He protests.
      "Yes, but do you know how you started the conversation?" I say. He thinks for a minute.
      "What did you say?" Lola giggles.
      "He said, 'this feels a little junior high'" I recall.
      "Oh my god. Seriously, Fitz?" Lola says.
      "Not my proudest moment..." He says.

      At Subway, we're talking. I was getting to know Lola. We teased Fitz the whole time.
     "You know he's making me sleep on the couch." She says.
     "Seriously?" I say.
     "I offered my room, but she refused." He says.
     "I would have said yes if you had cleaned in the past 6 months," Lola says.
    "It's pretty gross," I comment.
    "You are both clean freaks, we have different definitions of clean." He defends.
    "Apparently," Lola mutters.
    "My house is clean." I comment, "Just stay at mine, we're neighbors. I don't care. I've got a spare room." I say. Fitz shoots me a look.
     "Works for me," Lola says.
    "You aren't seriously going to have a sleepover," Fitz says.
      "You can stay too, we can share," I say.

     That night, we did all in fact crash at my place. Fitz and I shared my room, Lola slept in my guest room.

     "I didn't know you had a sister," I say, lying next to him in bed.
     "I have three and a brother." He says, pulling me to him.
     "See, I don't know anything about your family. Tell me about them." I say.
     "They are pretty messed up." He says.
     "You do realize you're talking to the girl who's father overdosed on sleeping pills and whose mother is an alcoholic. Who, by the way, is sleeping with the principal at our school. That the only way she can hold her job." I say.
      "Touché." He says, "You sure you want to hear about them?" I nod.