radiance [h.s.]

New Year, New Me

Four years later...

I am sweating like a sow. 

Eleanor and I have been lugging boxes into the unairconditioned school for an hour and a half. It is the first day that teachers are allowed back to move into their classrooms, and I was ecstatic because I got moved to a room with an actual window. The past three years I have had an interior classroom with no natural light at all--at one point I was pretty sure I was vitamin D deficient. 

This year was going to be special because at the end of last school year they were asked me to be assistant dean of the history department. It wasn't a pay raise--if anything it was more work--but I was cool to sign my emails with the title under my name. 

Eleanor had volunteered to help me move it--claiming that it would be a good arm workout before the wedding in a week. That's right, Eleanor and Louis are going to tie the knot--finally. He asked her last summer while on a cruise, allegedly it was really romantic... and very windy. The second they arrived home, Eleanor begged me to be her maid of honor, and so the past year had been spent planning the wedding. 

The wedding is about one week out and Eleanor was a high-strung mess. She found one gray hair the other day in the mirror and almost immediately booked a salon appointment. Louis seems as cool as a cucumber with the upcoming nuptials--and that pisses Eleanor off. Every second I have of free time is spent either talking her off the ledge or deal with a last-minute flower emergency. 

I hold a box, filled with borders and letters to decorate a bulletin board in my room, to my chest as I push open the side door of the school. I hold the door with my foot as Eleanor passes through the threshold. My classroom, thankfully, is on the ground floor of the school. My door has been propped open with a box in order to have easy entry. 

"Well, that is the last of it."

"Are you sure we are allowed to be here?" Eleanor asks for the hundredth time. "You'd think they would have the air conditioning on if they knew you all would be here."

"Yes, I am sure."

"Well," Eleanor begins dropping the box on the floor. "I'll think of it as a cleanse--I am sweating out all the toxins."

I chuckle, breaking the tape seal on a box that is set on my desk. Tons of office supplies--I start unpacking boxes of pencils, pens, and highlighters. Eleanor follows my lead and cuts open boxes and begins to unpack the contents onto desks and the floor. 

"Your desk has so many drawers," Eleanor observes, "do you think they would notice if you kept a bottle of wine in one?" 

I shoot her a pointed look.

"What? Teenagers are annoying." 

"Even so, I don't want to get fired," I tell her. 

"Maybe I will get you a coffee maker to keep in here or something," Eleanor continues. "We all know you're grouchy without a morning cup of coffee."

"How about less talking and more unpacking," I joke. 

The classroom falls silent, well except for the sound of tap ripping off boxes. The next two weeks are going to be crazy. The parties, rehearsal dinner, wedding, then the start of back to school presentations. I am exhausted just thinking about it. 

"You know," Eleanor says, breaking the silence, "I don't tell you this enough, but I really appreciate all you are doing to help with the wedding."

I smile at her, "That's my job as maid of honor."

"Like seriously though, I would go crazy without you," she tells me. "God knows Louis is little to no help."

"Except with the cake," we say in unison. Louis had been passive about every wedding-related decision, except for anything involving the cake. He provided the bakery with a detailed list of requirements--frosting, cake-type, colors, etc. It was ridiculous. 

"So," Eleanor continues to make small talk, "about the Bachelorette." 

I light up, "You will love it! I have so many plans, and the other girls are totally on board."

"Well, that's the thing," she begins. "Louis asked to have a joint party...something about saving money before the wedding." 

"Okay," I state, "Let's be real... he just wants to make sure that there are no strippers there."

"Probably," Eleanor admits. "I was thinking we could have it at that one bar Louis and I really like." 

"Which one? There are several," I joke. 

"Ha-ha," she scoffs sarcastically. "The one that has the one dollar margaritas during happy hour." 

"Oh, Gil's?" I ask. "You mean the one that our friend owns and operates?"

"Fuck off, I always forget which one it is." Eleanor scowls handing me additional supplies for my desk. 

"That is because you pregame before you get there and are wasted when you leave," I laugh. "It's like we are still in college or something." 

"Look at you," Eleanor jabs. "You are just so hilarious today."

"Thank you, I'm here all week." 

A knock sounds at the door. "Well if it isn't Ms. Price."

My eyes travel to the doorway where a tall figure with dark curls grins back at me. I haven't seen him since last year and he looks good. I find myself returning a smile as I pull him into a hug.

"How are you, Ben?" I ask. 

Ben King is a math teacher whose room was down the hall from mine last year. We were often put on lunch duty together and found that we had a lot in common. Briefly, at the tail end of the last school year, we had dated for a month or two. It didn't take long to figure out we were better off just being friends. 

"How was your summer?" He asks. 

"Fine, how was--"

"Blair," Eleanor interrupted. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" 

Ben chuckles and reaches to shake Eleanor's hand. 

"El, this is Ben," I tell her. "Ben this is my future sister-in-law, Eleanor."

"It is nice to meet you, Eleanor," he greets.

"You as well," she grins. She looks between me and Ben. "Blair hasn't found a plus one for my wedding, why don't you join her?" 

I glare at her, and Ben just laughs. 

"Don't listen to her--"

"I'll gladly join," he answers. "Of course, if that is okay with you, Blair?" 

I fumble over my words. 

"It is perfectly okay with her," Eleanor replies, elbowing my side. 

"You can text me the details, yeah?" Ben asks me. I can only nod. "See you then, Blair."

Once he is out of the room. I smack Eleanor on the arm. She gasps and grumbles something about wedding pictures. My face feels hot--and it was not from the lack of air conditioning. 

"You know, when you told me about Ben last year, you seemed to have left out the fact that he is hot Ben." 

"So you invited him to the wedding?" I exclaim.

"What? I want to be an aunt." Eleanor tells me. 

I glare at her. "You're lucky that you are my best friend." 

Eleanor shoots me a toothy grin, before heading to the door, "See you at the Bachelorette!"