Page 12 of Mating of Convenience
“It took forever to grow this long,” she cried before blowing her nose in some tissues a friend offered.
“But this is the best time for a haircut,” I persisted. “I mean, it’s summer. Think how much cooler you’ll be. Besides, I think you’ll look really good with short hair.
“You really think I’ll look good, Mr. Probst?” Tory gazed at me with big eyes.
“Um, I... uh...” I took a step back. Damn it, I’d said the wrong thing.
At least Tory wasn’t crying anymore?
“You know what, kids?” I asked, raising my voice a little in an attempt to bring order back into my classroom. “Let’s use our last ten minutes to review what we learned today and then you can all go out into the summer sun and hang out with your age-appropriate friends.” God, had I really just stressedage-appropriate? Way to be smooth about it. I blamed the summer heat cooking my brain. Three cheers for year-round schools.
Before I could give myself a face-slap in front of the class, I turned back to the blackboard. Yup, I was chickening out of giving Tory an answer, but sometimes, no response was the best response. I wasn’t going to entertain her teenage fantasies. Sheesh, I hadn’t even known she had them, even though some of my colleagues had warned me about this kind of thing. Incidentally, those were the same people who’d told me that being a teacher would be fun.
Dirty liars, all of them.
* * *
I didn’t gostraight home after work that day, thinking I should enjoy the nice weather. As I walked down Main Street, I had no idea that I might come to regret that decision. After all, I was finally off work and my evening started out fine. I got an extra strong cup of coffee to go from the ice cream place, and then I came to stand in front of that empty storefront again, lazily sipping at my drink.
What did Aaron say had been in here before? A shoe store?
How boring.
In my imagination, it could be so much more.
Like maybe a pet store. But not just any pet store. A humane one, for exotic pets. Mostly amphibians and reptiles. I used to have a salamander and a newt growing up, and I still missed the both of them dearly. Every kid in Oceanport should be given the chance to have a really cool pet.
Suddenly, the sound of a familiar voice shocked me out of my thoughts. “Hey, Nathan.”
Feeling caught, I turned so quickly that I bumped into the person standing behind me and spilled the contents of my coffee cup all over both of us. Thank God it wasn’t super-hot anymore or I would have burned us. My shirt was soaked, and so was... Raphael’s. It was Raphael who’d addressed me. And who was now staring down on himself as if he couldn’t believe what a klutz I was.
Then he started to laugh.
“I see you haven’t changed at all.”
“I’m sorry!” I hurried to say, though I wasn’t sure if I was apologizing for the fact that I hadn’t changed or that I’d spilled coffee on him. Truth be told, my brain refused to work right when I was faced with Raphael. I hadn’t expected to run into him tonight. Iespeciallyhadn’t expected to run into him with my coffee.
But now there was a brown splotch on his otherwise sky blue shirt. A sleeveless shirt that would have suited him very well if it hadn’t been stained.
Look at hisfaceNathan, not his body.
It was hard, though, because I knew exactly what my former best friend looked like naked. And there was an interesting new tattoo on his arm that extended past his collarbone and underneath his shirt.
“Nate?” The sound of Raphael’s voice shook me out of my stupor and I finally managed to raise my gaze. “You don’t have to be sorry,” he said. “I startled you.” Momentarily, he glanced at the empty paper cup in my hand. “I guess I owe you coffee now.”
Had I heard that right? Was he really inviting me to coffee? “You don’t owe me anything.”
“C’mon, I know how much you need your caffeine hits. I’ve probably ruined your day just now.”
“And I ruined your shirt.”
He shrugged. “It’ll wash out. Besides, you don’t really need a shirt in this weather.” As if to underline his point, he took his shirt off. I watched, transfixed, as the smooth, tanned skin of his chest revealed itself to me. Along with the rest of the dragon tattoo that started on his arm. “Pretty cool, huh?” he asked, catching my eyes. “This part still needs to be colored in. Haven’t found the time yet. Or the funds, to be honest. But at least the outlines are all done, though.” The grin he shot me let me know he remembered that I was running around with a half-done tattoo.
The sins of my youth.
How did that song go?I would do anything for love? During the tattoo session, I’d found the one thing I wouldn’t do, not even for Raph, who’d been holding the needle.
“The ink looks good on you,” I said, trying to make myself focus on the here and now. Not that thinking about his tattoo made that easier. How could it, when I wanted to trace the outlines of it with my fingers? Or better yet, my tongue?
