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."
She was mocking him, but he didn't care. Okay, Leblanc. Nice and loud. He swallowed hard.
She waited. "While we're young."
Calvin looked up at the ceiling. Why was it so hard?
She sighed. "I have to go. Don't ever lie to me again."
Genevieve grabbed her purse and keys from the desk and turned her back to walk towards the door.
She's getting away. Say it now.
Calvin didn't think that there was perhaps a better time, or a better place. With all the courage of a naked caveman fighting off a pack of wolves, he let his heart do the talking. "Genevieve, I love you."
Genevieve stopped. She turned around ever so slowly. Her eyes held both curiosity and fear, as if Calvin had described her impending slow and painful death. "What did you say?"
"I said I love you. Not just as a friend. I love you more than anything or anyone I've ever claimed to love before. And I wish I could make that sound more poetic, but there aren't other words for what I feel. I love everything you are, everything you want to be. I love you."
She blinked.
"And I know you're not looking to marry. I'm not trying to change your mind."
Liar. "Okay, maybe I am. But no matter what happens, all I ask is that you don't deny me this... this rebirth that I've felt since I met you."
The look on her face was not the one he was expecting. He pushed on trying to change it.
"Genevieve, when I lost both my parents, I thought I was destined to be all alone in the world. And then things with Cookie and me didn't work out, and I thought I'd never have a witness to my days. I was so sad. I'd wake up every morning with this weird emptiness that wouldn't go away unless I was asleep."
He wanted nothing more than to touch her, but no matter how many steps he took towards her, she seemed to be getting further and further away. "But ever since the day I shared my coffee with you, I don't wake up to that emptiness anymore."
Calvin smiled. Only after saying it out loud did he realize what he just said was true. "And I promise, if you give us a chance, I'll be more understanding and patient than you ever thought I could be. I'm prepared to hold myself to the highest standard possible. I want to do it for us."
He searched her face for some kind of reaction. A smile, a smirk, anything that would communicate something positive. The more he searched, the less he found, and it was sending his mind into a panic, shooting pain and rejection into his veins like venom.
Genevieve closed her eyes, causing tears to drip down her cheeks. She lost her voice, but her lips were readable enough. "No."
It was one word, one syllable compose of two letters, a consonant and a vowel. And it shattered Calvin's heart to bits. "No?"
She opened her eyes. The same anger and disappointment their conversation began with was back. "Why couldn't you keep it strictly business between us?"
Business?! I just poured my heart out through my mouth and you're thinking about business?! He was offended, but it wasn't rejection. Not quite. He grabbed one of her hands with both of his. "We can still have our business. We'll make millions and travel and drink wine, just like we talked about."
Genevieve swallowed nauseously. "No, Calvin. There can't be any 'we' anymore."
It was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. "Why not?"
"I'm not built for romance. I told you that."
He wiped her tears with one of his thumbs. "I thought I wasn't built for it either. But I was wrong. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know I'm built for romance. I've never been more sure."
Genevieve pulled her hand away from his. She turned around and kept her hand over her eyes. "Damn it. I was so close. You and your brother, you're one in the same."
Calvin was losing his grip on his patience. "What does Marlo have to do with this?"
She looked him in the eye. "I guess Bera really didn't tell you."
Calvin felt a heavy iron fist smash into his gut, knocking all the air out of his lungs.
So many words got stuck in the doorframe of his voice box. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't he? How far did your relationship go? I hate this. I love you. Say you love me. The lunch period is almost over.
He took a deep breath and grabbed his forehead, trying desperately to salvage what was left. "You know something? I don't care. Whatever happened between you two is in the past. I'm here now and I told you everything."
He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I see a future between us. What do you say?"
Genevieve removed his hands and backed off. "I don't think so."
Calvin winced, inside and out. "Okay, okay. We won't go into business together, but there's no reason this has to tarnish our friendship."
"What friendship?" said Genevieve "We can't be friends after what you've just revealed. We can't be anything."
It was his turn to look disgusted. "Why not?"
She turned around to wipe her face. When she turned back to him, she didn't wear a single tear. Even her makeup appeared untouched. But there was a different kind of look in her eyes. "Because I don't want to."
It was a bullet to the head. "You don't mean that."
"It's too bad, really. We could have been millionaires. I was so close. We both were."
Cry. Beg. Do something. His throat closed off completely. He was only making sounds. "No, no, no."
Genevieve walked to the door once more. "You have a few minutes to get yourself together. Lunch ends soon."
Get on your knees and beg. "Don't do this to me. Please, don't."
There were traces of concern in her voice. "Bera turned out okay, and so will you. Just give it time."
That same concern quickly vanished. "Please, don't call me. Don't stop by the house. Just pretend you never met me."
Calvin wanted to grab her by the ankles to keep her from walking another step.
She walked out the door and closed it.
He heard the door close, then the sound of his own heart. Then, nothing else.
In a delayed reaction, his knees buckled, bringing him to the ground in defeat.
Silence never bothered him before, but now, it was the world's saddest song.
It took the pain a few seconds to catch up. He felt nothing at first.
And then it struck.
With no one to judge him, he twisted his face in agony, crying his pain away.
The sound of a sharp wail was masked by the ringing bell.