Page 25 of Entirely Yours
A smile tugs at the corner of her lips.
“Got it,” she replies. “Question number… I don’t remember what question we are on.”
“I was never going to stop you at twenty questions, anyway,” I confess.
Another grin. “Question whatever: will you ask me on a date again?”
Fuck. I’m in so much trouble.
A date.
She wants to go on a date. With me.
Not a one-night thing.
Well, she didn’t clarify that it wasn’t a one-night thing, but that’s how I took it. Maybe I should clarify beforehand, just in case. I need her number so I can?—
“Mr. Bardot, why am I failing your class?”
Report cards are going out next week, which means all of my high school students are suddenly realizing they should have done their classwork for the last few months. I will not miss this part of teaching.
“Mason, when was the last time you turned in an assignment?”
Mason Scott reminds me a lot of my brothers in high school—a future finance bro, captain of the basketball team, and kind of a dick. He looks at me like I’ve grownthree heads. “I-I thought this was supposed to be a guaranteed A. I needed this class to boost my GPA. Coach won’t let me play if I’m failing.”
I lean forward, placing both elbows on my desk and folding my hands together. “Mr. Scott. What about Music Theory screamed ‘guaranteed A’ to you?”
Pinning him with a stare, I watch as Mason stumbles trying to come up with an answer. “You, uh… I mean you have tattoos. I thought you were cool.” He makes his voice go up at the end, as if he’s questioning how cool I actually am.
I don’t reply, continuing to stare at him instead.
“That’s not what I meant—of course you’re cool. I’ll, uh… finish my project and turn it in next week?”
My eyebrow raises.
“Tomorrow,” Mason continues. “I’ll turn it in tomorrow.”
“Good man, Mr. Scott. I’m proud of you for investing in your education.” I muster up a smile, my frustration slipping through.
At one point I think I liked teaching. I’ve always loved music, but what do you do with a music degree? I graduated, played some gigs, lived at home with Mom and Dad for a bit and quickly learnedthatwas not going to work for me. I’m a good teacher, maybe even a great teacher. I’ve never felt passionate about it though, and teaching is a career where you have to be fueled by your passion. So here I was, back at my high school, teaching and thinking, “Is this it?” when Ben decided we were going to buy The Coffee Shop.
He is saving me from a lifelong feeling of needing to be practical, needing to make the responsible choice. I will never be able to thank him enough for that.
My phone buzzes, an unknown number popping up on the screen.
Unknown
Hey Jules - I know we are supposed to go out tonight but I’ve been feeling terrible all day
I promise I’m not trying to get out of it!
This is Theo by the way
Omg, Theo
THEA! It’s Thea
I bite my lip, keeping my smile back. She’s so fucking cute, even through the phone screen.
