The New Principal

2. The Avoidance.

*Thomas texts will be in italics. Joel texts will be in bold.*

The school year starts, and as much as I miss Mrs. Druthers, Joel fits in quickly with the school. He seems to make friends with Reena, Steph and I, and spends the breaks with us. He looks at me frequently, never keeping his eyes on me for very long. He talks to them mostly, never really speaking directly to me.
I make a move to leave, waving goodbye and leaving the group to go on talking. "Hey, wait," I hear from behind me. I turn to see Joel, hurrying to catch up to me. "Uh hey, sir. What's up?" I see his eyes goes ablaze as I call him sir, but he quickly looks away. "Why did you run off?" His question surprises me a little bit, but I answer him anyways. "I didn't. Just have stuff to do." I mumble, seemingly having lost my voice around Joel.
He walks with me, not saying anything, his hand casually brushing against mine. I can feel his eyes on me, but I seem to look everywhere but at him. "Do you not like me, Thomas?" His words sound sad. He follows me into my classroom, waiting for an answer.
     "Why do you ask? I don't dislike you, no." He just stares at me a bit. "You never look at me or talk to me. I try to catch your eye but you avoid it. Why?" I don't know what to tell him. First of all, he's my boss. I can't admit that I find him so fucking good looking that it hurts to look at him.
      I finally look up and make eye contact, Joel begging me with his eyes to answer him. "It's not anything with you. You've done nothing wrong." He moves to me, making it impossible for me to look past him. "Then what is it? Because honestly, I quite like to look at you and it sucks that you apparently don't feel the same with me." What? I look at him, thinking of what to say. He's close to me, closer than appropriate, but I don't move away from him. "I like looking at you, it just overwhelms me a bit." He smiles at me, moving to stand a bit farther away from me. He doesn't say anything else, just looks at me, biting his lower lip, and heads out of my classroom. Not a minute later, my students file in and I'm expected to carry on as usual.
•••
      The next few days, I avoid the break room. It's not that I don't want to see Joel, because I really, really do. I'm just not sure how to respond to him. I eat quietly in my classroom, enjoying the solitude more than I should.
Thomas, where are you?
     I kind of forgot that Joel had asked for my phone number. He hadn't made any contact with me other than the awkward conversations at school, but I knew I had to answer him.
I'm in my room eating, working on things.
Want some company? I could come spend time with you...
I want to say yes, dear god, do I want to say yes. But I can't. I need to keep my distance from him.
No, that's alright. Thank you though.
You're avoiding me again, Thomas. Why? What have I done?
His text makes me sad a little bit. I don't want to answer him, and as I stare at my phone thinking of a reply, there's a light knock on my door. Of course, it's Joel. "You really hate me don't you? What have I done?" He moves to me, leaning onto my desk. "Thomas, I'm trying here. I want to be friends with you and you're making it a little bit," I cut him off by leaning in and kissing him softly on the lips. He pauses briefly, kissing me back softly in no time at all.
I pull away, not letting it get farther than a peck. "I don't hate you, Joel. Far from it." He just stares at me, looking from my eyes to my lips. "I just stayed away. I don't want to make things complicated." He smiles slightly, reaching his hand out to run them across my lips. "Couldn't you tell I didn't want to be avoided?" I nod, "yes, but I thought you just wanted to be friends. You kept saying that, you know."
He laughs a bit, "yes I know. I said friends because I didn't know if you'd like me like that. I wanted friends if I couldn't have anything else. Friends is better than nothing." I nod, understanding what he was saying. "Thomas, will you stop avoiding me now?" I laugh, nodding and he leans in to kiss me lightly. "I won't avoid you, but don't expect this to happen at school again." He nods, agreeing with me. "Tomorrow, come into the break room, please." I agree and his kisses me once more, heading to the door and leaving me sitting, smiling and touching my own lips.