"Patients, Please."

Deal

"How was your night?" Mark asks standing in front of my desk. I can already tell that I'm going to need a cup of coffee before I start grading papers.

I nod my head, "I went shopping for a dress last night, after trying on, oh... probably 20 dresses I finally found one that I liked."

He smiles, "Really, for the banquet thing on Saturday night?"

I nod my head, "I was out for 4 hours last night."

He shakes his head, "That bad huh?"

I rub my eyes, "I finally just went to a wedding dress shop and found something." I stand up, "When I got back to my apartment I just went to bed, I was so tired."

"Yeah," he says with a little chuckle, "That would be exhausting."

I nod my head, "But luckily I don't have much left to do at my apartment so I can get it done tonight while I'm packing." I walk around my desk, "I'm going to get coffee before I start that giant stack of papers you put on my desk."

He nods, "By the way, when you are finished with these, you can go home."

I stop and look at him confused, "What?"

"Yeah, that was the surprise." He says with a smile.

I stare at him, "Well, okay then." Going back to the little office, I make myself a cup of coffee. Coming back, Mark was already sitting at his desk working on grading as well. I take a drink of my coffee then sit back down at my desk and start with the first page.

______________________

Looking at my computer the time in the corner reads 4:15pm. It's taken me most of the day to finish grading these pages. I get up and walk into Marks office. He's sitting and reading the piece of paper in his hand, the pen is pressed against his lip. I take a second to admire his level of concentration, "Are you done?" his voice catches me off guard.

"Yeah," I say putting on the clipped stacks of paper on his desk. "Everything is at the top of the page for you to easily put the grade in the computer." I say putting my hands to my side. "I even did the percentage at the top as well."

He smiles and grabs the packet, "You didn't have to do that."

"Well," I say leaning out of my office to grab the other stack of papers. "I don't want you here all night because of something I could take care of." I put the rest of the pages on the desk next to the other. "Is that all you have to grade?"

He sighs, "I still have this stack," he pokes the large stack of papers in front of him. "But they are all essays that I have to read."

I grab the first one off the pile, "Well, you did say until all the grading is done."

He shakes his head, "I can take care of these, and you don't have to worry about them." He smiles, "You are more than free to go home, I will see you tomorrow?"

I look around the office, most of the teachers are still in their offices, "I'm going to make sure nobody needs anything before I leave."

There was a light knock on the door behind me, "I'm glad I caught you before you were getting ready to leave." Bill says with a wide smile across his face. I move over closer to Marks desk so he can come into to the room. "I just wanted to stop by and see if you two were ready for this weekend's event."

Mark and I both chuckle at the same time, "Almost." Mark says. I nod in agreement.

"Well," Bill claps, "I know you both will do an excellent job representing our school." He turns fully to me, "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" I turn back to Mark then back to him and nod. I point him out of the room and to the new little conference room across the hall. He was the first one in and I'm the one to close the door. "I just want to touch on somethings that have been brought to my attention here lately. I have two different people saying that something is going on between you and Mark. Is that true?"