Elementary [n.h. au]

one | patron saint of coffee

Rolly Marshall was not having a good morning.

First of all, it was Monday, the most dreaded day of the week for anyone who worked in education. Second of all, one of her students projectile-vomited his breakfast across three desks, destroying morning work and traumatizing all of the other students in his path before standing up to empty the rest of the contents of his stomach into the trash can...only to miss, soiling Rolly's brand new suede skirt instead.

Third of all, she was currently kneeling on the countertop in the break room kitchen, her ruined skirt hiked up a bit, rummaging through the cabinets for a coffee filter because it was barely nine o'clock and with the way her day was already going, she desperately needed coffee. Three cups, at least (if not the whole goddamn pot).

After about five minutes of pushing around items without a single pack of coffee filters to be found, Rolly let out a groan of frustration akin to a lion's roar.

Monday morning, no change of clothing, and now no coffee? Yeah, not a good morning at all.

"All right up there?"

Startled by the voice, Rolly jumped, banging her head on a shelf inside the cabinet. "Ow, shit," she muttered, hunching her back as she ducked down to pull herself out of the cabinet without further injury. "Yeah, I'm just—"

Rolly stopped talking when the owner of the voice came into view, her eyes widening at the new but familiar face, his inquisitive and bright blue gaze giving her a once-over. Niall Horan, she recalled, a strange name belonging to the newly-hired music teacher.

For a moment, Rolly forgot all about her unfortunate morning as Niall's tired but charming grin pulled her attention away from his blue, blue eyes. Then, his extended hand called to her attention, and she placed hers in his, let him help her down from the countertop.

"Thanks," she mumbled, ruffling her curls with one hand, smoothing out her skirt with the other. Niall's eyes dropped downward, which made Rolly's do the same, and then she remembered the wide, dark stain setting into the fabric of her skirt. Now, she was even further annoyed. Monday morning, no change of clothing, no coffee, and a horrible introduction to the attractive new member of Wool Creek Elementary's staff.

"You're welcome," Niall replied, once their eyes met again. He reached up and pushed a hand through his hair, drawing attention to the contrast between his white-blonde tips and dark brown roots. With his other hand, he motioned towards the stain on her skirt and asked, "Rough morning, then?"

"To say the least," Rolly said, trying her best not to grit her teeth in frustration. The stain looked even worse than it initially had because she'd attempted to clean it a bit in the bathroom after dropping her class off at the library (sans her vomiting student, who'd been sent to the nurse's office). "Caught in the line of fire."

"Line of fire?" Niall asked.

"One of my kids pulled an Exorcist this morning," she clarified.

Both of Niall's eyebrows shot up. "Ah. Gotcha," he replied. He made a pained face, a symbol of nonverbal sympathy (which Rolly appreciated), before nodding towards the cabinet. "What were ya looking for, just now?"

"Coffee filters," Rolly replied, "but it seems we're all out." Which meant she'd now have to rely on her waning reserve of willpower to get her through the rest of the day instead of her love and light, otherwise known as caffeine.

If only she'd woken up early enough to stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way into work, or something.

Rolly waited for a response, but Niall didn't say anything, just smiled and motioned towards the door with his head. And Rolly, too tired to bother trying to read his expression, watched him turn and then followed.