The Teacher and Me

Drinks with Old teachers

I slept late into Friday after lunch which was good considering I was still nervous about this afternoon. Not only having a a few drinks with Blake but also the other teachers. I was a good student but quiet, which I am quite the opposite now. I took my time getting ready seeing as I had a few hours to kill. I decided to dress casual, keeping it modest with jeans and nice shirt with the slightest bit of cleavage. On my way I stopped into the supermarket to pick up some alcohol, which I decided to keep it classy with an expensive bottle of bourbon. I also decided to grab some crackers and dip just in case as I didn’t want to come empty handed.

I felt a bit weird about walking into the school grounds with alcohol, it made me feel like a naughty school girl. Not that I was opposed to doing activities on school grounds that should not be done, as Blake and I did push the boundary all too often. In hind sight i'm really surprised we did not get caught. As I walked in and knocked on the door I noticed some familiar faces; Mr Ritchie; who is also Blakes best friend, Mrs Price my old chemistry teacher, and Mrs Robbins who teaches math also. In the corner however was a fresh face I didn’t recognize and he seemed a lot younger than the rest and very attractive. Besides Blake I have never seen a more attractive teacher; sandy blonde hair cut slightly longer to the ears, blue eyes and he clearly likes to work out. He looked like he belongs at the beach with a surfboard under his arm and not in a outer city run down town.

“Bethany I am so glad you could make it” Blake came to the door ushering me in and prompting me to sit down. “Im sure you remember Mr Adam Ricthie, Mrs Caroline Price and Mrs Lilly Robbins, and this young man is the newest recruit to our team Connor”.

“Nice to meet you” he said standing up to shake my hand.

“Hey everyone good to see ya’s again, ! I didn’t know what to bring so I brought some bourbon for us to enjoy and some snacks”

“You didn’t need to do that Beth” Blake quickly replied handing me a glass and pouring some bourbon into it. I took a seat, with Blake sitting next to me at a comfortable distance, however close enough that I could feel his body heat next to me.

“So Beth, Blake was just saying how you are now a paramedic and you saved Zanes life the other day! What a great career you have!” Mrs Price mentioned, “Please tell us the story, we all thought you were going to be a lawyer and you were so determined” she continued.

After taking a big mouthful of my bourbon to calm my nerves I told them the story of how I hated the lawyer degree and found it monotonous and boring so I wanted to change degrees. The conversation flowed quite easily between the six of us, with them laughing at my reason for choosing paramedicine with all of them agreeing the TV show Emergency 101 does make it look like an exciting career. I continued to tell them about my job and answered the questions they had about type of work I do and the shift lengths. All surprised that we did twelve hour shifts. I also told them about Alister and how he is still learning the ropes.

“Sounds abit like our newest student teacher, hey Connor” Adam said winking at Connor laughing, which moved the conversation off myself and into more general conversation. It turns out Connor is fresh out of university and moved here from the coast, which explains his hairstyle and ‘baywatch’ physique.

“Do you have a partner or kids yet?” Caroline asked me out of the blue. I looked over to Blake who’s eyes lit up at the question and looked like he wanted to know the answer. “No unfortunately I havn't settled down yet” I replied keeping my eyes on my glass, not wanting to look at Blake. “The options in this small town aren’t the greatest” I joked, “What about you guys?” I asked referring to Blake and Connor as I knew the others were married.

“No one for me yet” Blake replied.

“Single and ready to mingle” Connor replied egotistically, winking at me which was followed by Adam slapping Connors arm and shaking his head. The conversation continued into general chit chat and further questions about myself and after a few drinks, the ladies said they have to go. I offered to walk them out as I needed to use the restroom. We excused ourselves and left the room.

***Blakes POV***

I couldn’t help but to stare as Beth left the room with the other ladies. Man she has turned into a beautiful woman over the past ten years. I mean don’t get me wrong she was beautiful before, but in a innocent/cute kind of way, but now she is a woman an in a hot/sexy kind of way.

“I think I have a chance, what do you guys think” Connor said snapping me out of my little daydream. I just looked and frowned at him.

“Well you guys are close in age aren’t you?” I heard Adam reply. What! how could my best friend say such comments. I guess he doesn’t know about our history and thinks that I only invited her because she saved a student of ours. Truth be told initially that was all it was, however after seeing her again this afternoon I realized I wouldn’t mind spending more time with her. I just sat in silence as they talked on how Connor was going to ask for her number when she returns. I couldn’t help myself getting a little jealous over their conversation. I think what scared me the most was of the possibility of her liking him in return, I mean they are close in age, and he isn’t a bad looking guy.

“What do you think?” I look up at Adam who was looking at me. “Uhhh” s**t! What do I say, of course he has a chance with her, but do I want him to? Hell no! “Sure, Whatever helps you sleep at night mate” I replied laughing, Adam joining in after.

“What are you guys laughing at?” I turn around looking at Beth, not realizing she had returned.

“Me! as usual” Connor said with a pouty look on his face. Obviously trying to get Beth to warm up to him for when he asks her out. She just shrugged and sat back down pouring herself another drink. I couldn’t help myself staring and she noticed when she looked up to offer me a refill. I politely shook my head to say no thanks while looking down as I was slightly embarrassed that she caught me staring at her. She didn’t say anything just smiled politely and giggled at me staring at her.

We continued to make small talk. It was actually quite pleasant getting to know more about the last 10 years of Bethany’s life. I found out that she lives with her best friend from work and that she doesn’t really get up to much besides work. The most interesting fact I found out was that she is single and hasn’t dated anyone in a while. She said she has had relationships in the past but due to her shift work she found it hard to keep a serious relationship. Bethany refilled her glass again and I looked at the bottle, s**t It was practically all gone, and by looking at Beth giggling and smiling I realized she has probably had too much to drink and she cant drive home. I waited until she was nearly done with her drink when I said that I was ready to head home and offered Beth a lift home.

“We can share a cab home” Connor rudely interrupted before letting Beth reply. He gave me a look to say ‘come on man this is my chance’, however even though I haven’t seen Beth in 10 years, shamefully I feel protective and somewhat jealous at the thought of them sharing a cab together. She looked between us hesitating about her reply.

“What side of town do you both live on?” She asked us. We both told her where we live and she decided to get a lift with me as we both live in the same direction. I couldn’t help to feel relieved and a little bit excited. She started walking out when Connor came over punching my arm. “Ahh, what was that for!”, he just shook his head “You knew I wanted to take her home man!” He looked disappointed but I didn’t care. We walked out saying goodbye to my mate Adam, and we decided to wait for the cab with Connor. While we waited Connor and Beth were swapping details and I couldn’t help myself than to scowl at the exchange.

After the cab came to take Connor, I opened the car door for Beth, she giggled as she entered. I couldn’t help but to smile to myself as I walked around to the drivers side, she is still as cute as she was before. The ride to her house was quiet, I could tell the confined space alone was making her nervous.

“I'm so glad you came today, it was nice to see you again” I said trying to break the ice.

“I'm glad I came too” I could see her smiling out of the corner of my eye. I could tell she was genuine which made me smile as well. By the time we reached her house it was nearly 9pm, I couldn’t believe we stayed drinking at the school for over 4 hours. Normally we only stay for an hour or so, but this afternoon I found myself not even wanting to leave.

“So are you going to ring Connor?” I asked as helping her out of the car and walking to her door. I just couldn’t help myself I needed to know if she was interested in him or not.

“Do you want me to ring Connor?” she replied nervously looking down at her feet. I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t want her to go out with him and I know I wanted to see her again, but I didn’t want to sound too eager, nor did I know how she was feeling about me in return.

“Only if you want to” I replied with a shrug. What a stupid response I thought. She just smiled as we reached her front door. We stood there in silence for a moment both staring at each other. The electricity between us at this point in time was intense and although I wanted nothing more than to push her against the wall and kiss her passionately, I didn’t know if that’s what she wanted so I decided against it.

“Well I guess I will get going, it was nice to see you again!” I said. She smiled in agreement.

“Goodnight Blake”

“Goodnight” I said as I kissed her hand and walked away. As I drove off I couldn’t help to think if it was a look of disappointment in her eyes when I lent in to kiss her hand. I regretted not kissing her as soon as I left.