Teacher's Aide (A Norman Reedus Love Story) ✔

Chapter 9

It was Monday and I was walking back into school and heading to third period with Liz who was talking a mile a minute about something from beside me. I was too far stuck in my head, remembering what happened Friday night to even hear a word she said. As we walked into Mr. R’s classroom, I spotted him by his desk pulling out papers for today’s assignments. He looked up at our entrance, Liz oblivious to his actions, and smiled when he spotted me. I smiled back at him before looking away and following Liz to our seats, a blush back on my face where it seems to be a permanent fixture whenever I think about Mr. R and Friday night when he allowed me to kiss him.
“Hello Earth to Stephanie,” Liz said snapping her fingers in front of my face after we sat down, “did you hear what I asked you?” “Sorry no,” I said shaking my head to clear it and look over at her apologetically, “I’m sorry Liz what’d you say?” “I said what happened Friday with being over at Mr. R’s house,” she said smiling at me, “you’ve been in a daze since school started this morning.” “I know I’m sorry,” I said, “but I don’t think now would be the best time. Can I tell you at lunch?” “Yeah I guess so,” she sighed and slouched down in her seat beside me just as the tardy bell rang to allow Mr. R to begin teaching today’s lessons in Drama.
When the end of class came, too soon to me as I had been zone out the entire time not even paying a bit of attention, I left with Liz to go get lunch while leaving my things in Mr. R’s room as I’d be heading back in there after lunch anyway so there was no point carrying them around. Liz and I grabbed our lunches, well she grabbed a lunch, I just got an apple like always, and headed out to our usual spot outside so we could talk. When we sat down on the grass, I bit into my apple as I thought about how to explain how Friday went while she stared at me just waiting for me to talk. When I finally thought about what I’d tell her, I cleared my mouth of the apple I was eating and took a deep breath before I started.
“Okay so as you know I went to Mr. R’s house to help tutor his son,” I said as I looked at her then down at my lap when she nodded for me to continue as the familiar blush crept it way back onto my face, “his son’s a sweet boy, worked really hard on his homework. His son asked me to stay later than I should have while he was doing his work, saying his dad never brought anyone home with him anymore. Liz you know how I am with kids, I couldn’t say no to the boy.” “So you stayed over a little later,” she asked as I nodded, “what else happened?” “Well,” I said as I slipped back into the memory, “I watched as he and his dad played games and just when Mr. R was about to hand me the controller so I could play against his son, this horrible storm hit.”
“Oh yeah I remember that storm,” she said nodding, “it lasted all night. Did you make it home safely Friday night?” “That’s just it,” I said now refusing to look up at my best friend, “I didn’t go home Friday night. I call my parents right after we noticed the storm and they talked with Mr. R. I stayed there that night, on his couch.” “You spent the night at his house,” she nearly screamed but I’m glad she didn’t because I didn’t need the attention of everyone that was outside with us. “Yeah but that’s not even the half of it,” I said shaking my head, sparing a glance up at her and instantly regretting it. “What else happened,” she asked leaning forward, her food on her tray completely forgotten at the moment. “Well um,” I said scratching the back of my neck as I decided if I really wanted to tell her what had happened after he came down to check on me.
“C’mon you’re hiding something so spill it,” she said after noticing my hesitation. “Fine,” I grumbled, “he came down stairs to check on me at one point that night and ended up staying down there with me while I freaked out over the storm. We talked and then I asked him if I could kiss him without him freaking out on me or something.” “Did you,” she asked, “I mean kiss him that is.” “Well yeah,” I said, “it was a small one but it was still a kiss all the same.” She suddenly squealed in delight as she jumped forward and grabbed me in a bone crushing hug as I tensed from her sudden hug attack.
I looked around at everyone who was also outside with us and noticed they were all staring which caused the blush to return. I hated being the center of attention which was odd because I was studying drama. “Liz I can’t breathe,” I said when it appeared she wasn’t going to release me. “Oh God sorry,” she said quickly releasing me and sitting back to look at me, “so you really kiss him?” “Yes,” I said before standing up. “Wait where are you going,” she asked as I threw my apple core into the trashcan by the door. “I’m going on in,” I said glancing back at her, “I’ll meet you by my car after school.” I didn’t wait for her to reply before I walked inside the building, deciding to head on to Mr. R’s class, hoping he’d be in his room.
“Hello,” I called out into his classroom as I opened his door and knocked, “Mr. R?” “Do you need something Stephanie,” came his voice from over where his desk was. “Not really,” I said as I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me, “I kind of finished my lunch early and decided to come on to class and wait for the bell to ring for the end of lunch. I hope you don’t mind.” “Not at all,” he said and I could see him smiling at me, “but what about your friend?” “She doesn’t mind,” I said as I walked back to the back table where I always sat for his fourth period class.
I sat on the table like always and pulled my feet up to my chest as I sat there lost in thought. After a few minutes I was drawn out of my head when I heard movement in the room and looked over to see he was walking towards me. I moved my feet closer to me so he could sit down beside me on the table as I looked down at my lap. I was still too shy to meet his gaze, even after what happened Friday night between us. “Mingus told me Saturday morning after you left that he was happy that you agreed to stay over a little longer after helping him with his work,” Mr. R said after a couple minutes, “even with that terrible storm showing up out of nowhere.”
“It was no problem,” I said smiling as I looked up at him, “I love kids and seeing him look so sad that afternoon I couldn’t tell him that I couldn’t stay.” “You didn’t have to do that,” he said, “makes me think that he tried to pressure you into staying or something.” “Not at all,” I said smiling but then remember something that had been bothering me all weekend since Friday, “Mr. R why did you ask me to help tutor your son? The work I helped him with he seemed to know well enough that he didn’t need my help at all.” I watched as his smile faltered and he looked away from me. “I know it’s wrong,” he whispered not looking at me still, “but I need some sort of excuse to see you more than just the few times a day I get. I was worried when I realized that I liked you the minute you ran into me on that first day but then Friday when you asked me if you could kiss me I felt relief that I wasn’t the only one.”
I glanced down at my lap again, a small smile making its way onto my face as I felt a blush heat up my cheeks. After a few minutes, I bravely glanced up to see that he had turned his attention back to me and was looking at my reaction to the news he had just told me. I watched as a smile graced his face when he realized that I wasn’t going to freak out or run and tell the principle about what just happened. I glanced down at his lips before looking back up into his blue eyes as I slid my feet out from in front of me and scooted closer to him as we both leaned towards each other, our lips making contact with each other in the middle for a kiss that was different than the first kiss we shared Friday night.

Tell me something, y'all think the next chapter should be in Norman's pov? Comment and tell me what you think. Also don't forget to check out my newer story Right Kind of Wrong.
- Kenz