Julian

IV. April, Ch. 45

     Life was beautiful when the world was free of disease and war. What was it about Wednesdays?

     Calvin didn't care about the trouble he'd be in if administration found out one of his students kissed him. It wasn't his fault.

     All he cared about were a pair of blue eyes that send waves of ecstasy through his core every time they looked at him. 

     His Genevieve, his gorgeous, witty, ambitious, daring Genevieve, had to know that she was loved, very deeply, truly, and madly, by him. And she had to know today.

     She wasn't in her classroom, and the lunch period was reaching its last fifteen minutes.

     Calvin rubbed his hands together as he paced the hallway, his mind in a déjà vu. Months ago, he paced the same floors, waiting to hear the verdict of his apology.

     The sound of high heels send his eyes searching.

     He turned, and there she was, in all her splendor.

     His pupils dilated, his breaths got shorter, and there was nothing he could do to keep his mouth from smiling. "Genevieve."

     Just saying her name filled his skull with helium.

     She held nothing in her hands but a bundle of keys. The look on her face wasn't pleasant. "We need to talk."

     Words that would normally frighten him out of his wits sounded so inviting now. "Yes, we do."

     Genevieve opened her locked classroom for both of them. Once inside, she closed the door.

     Calvin spent hours rehearsing his confession in front of the bathroom mirror. After days of practice, he was confident in his delivery.

     Genevieve turned to him with an angry expression on her face. She dropped the keys on the desk and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why did you lie to me?"

     It took three extra seconds for the words to sink into Calvin's brain. She's angry, you bozo. She's angry at you. "Lie? I never lied to you."

     "You told me you had a half-brother you never met, and it was Marlo Cabrera."

     Calvin remembered the occasion. He did lie. "You knew about that?"

     "I found out a few days ago."

     Despite the trouble he was in, he couldn't deny that she looked stunning in her livid state. Even disdain looked good on her. "I'm sorry. I promised him I wouldn't tell."

     "Calvin, how can I trust you now? We're supposed to be a team. How do I know there aren't other things your hiding from me?"

     "I have no other secrets. I swear."

     "Are you sure? There isn't anything else I need to know before we set up shop?"

     Wow, what a set up. "Actually, there might be."

     She lifted the edge of her lip. "Might be? What do you mean 'might be'?"

     His lines, once cemented into his memory, faded away.

     He pictured this moment going so smoothly. Now, it all seemed impossible to put into words. Why couldn't she just know without him having to say it? Maybe she already knew. "Please, Genevieve. Tell me you know."

     Her tone was impatient. "Know what?"

     He shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

     "Humor me."