Blessed & Broken

Chapter 8

Having my own class has been a truly amazing experience and it was everything that I could have ever hoped for. I have built a unique and individual relationship with each and every one of my students. So well, that I could tell what they needed, without them having to tell me. It was difficult to do with so many students, but I made sure that I made it a priority. I wanted each of them to feel so important.

I had one particular student named Cole Mackey. He seemed to have an especially hard time in class. He appeared withdrawn and unable to concentrate a lot of the time. I knew that he was going to be my biggest conquest.

My Guardian would greet me every day and every evening, with an embrace. Every opportunity that he had; he was hugging me. I created a hugging monster.

One evening, I was in my bedroom grading some papers, when my Guardian spoke from behind me. “Hello, Kalia.” I turned to look at him, beaming with happiness. I stood from my seated position just because I knew a hug was coming. His embrace felt so wonderful. When we parted, I sat back onto my bed. 

“How are you?”, I asked. “Happy”, he responded. I swear that I have never smiled so much in my life than I have being with my Guardian. He began to speak. “Do you remember when you were saying to me how much you wished that I could be with you. You know? Where you could see me.” I nodded my head, but before I could say anything, my mom called me from downstairs. “Kali, could you come down here for a minute?” I held up my finger and told my Guardian, “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”

I trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen where my mom and George were gathered around a catalog. “Yeah, Mom?”, I inquired. She looked up from the magazine and smiled. Her grin turned to surprise as she said, “Oh, Honey. If I would have known you had company, I would have waited to talk to you later.” I looked at her confused and said, “I don't have any company.”

She returned my puzzled look and questioned, “Who is that?” Her eyes moved to look behind me. I turned my head to see what she was talking about. There he was. Standing right smack dap in the middle of my kitchen. Right in front of my mom and George. My Guardian.

Was this a dream? Was I going crazy and taking my mother with me? I looked back at my mom and asked, “You can see him?” My Mom and George started blankly at me until George questioned, “Uh, Kal. You feeling ok?” My mind raced. I had to think fast. I started to laugh nervously. “Just kidding.”

I looked back at my Guardian with a look of, “What the heck are you doing here?” All while trying to keep my joking façade. “Mom, George. This is my friend.” I was lost for words. I didn’t have a name for him and I couldn’t say, “Hey, this is my Guardian.” As I searched my brain for a quick name that I could make up, he stepped forward and announced, “I’m Ian. Ian Guard.” 

I c****d my head to the side and thought to myself, “Hey, that’s not bad.” But where did he come up with that name? The name flashed in my head and that’s when it dawned on me. He just moved a couple of letters around in the word Guardian to come up with Ian Guard. “Very clever”, I whispered to him as he stood next to me. He looked down and gave me a proud grin.

George and my mom both came around the counter to greet Ian. George extended his hand. Ian pulled George in for a hug, taking George by surprise. He then tugged at my mom bringing her in for one, also. “Oh! You're a hugger”, she giggled. I stood there, watching in amazement at what was taking place before me. The embrace went on a little bit longer before I cleared my throat and went to grab Ian’s hand. The three-way hug broke up and I led Ian to the other side of the counter.

My mom seemed very amused by Ian. She looked at Ian’s choice of garments and asked, “Are you guys going to a Halloween party?” I then looked at his outfit. I guess I had just gotten so used to it, that I didn’t realize how out of place he looked from the human population. “Uh, yeah”, I said with a mix of nervousness and excitement. “Ian has had his costume picked out for weeks. I have to get mine on.”

 George and my mom looked at us smiling. “Mom, did you want to talk to me?” She then jumped a bit, like my voice just took her out of a deep thought. “Oh! Yes.” She took an envelope off of the counter behind her and looked at George. They both smiled bright at each other as she handed me the white encased paper. “This is a gift from George and I. Well, mainly George since he is the one with all of the connections.” I let go of Ian’s hand which by the way, I didn’t want to.

I opened the envelope and pulled out what appeared to be two tickets. My mouth fell open when I realized that they were tickets to the Michigan/Ohio State game. George put his arm around my mom’s shoulder and they both grinned in excitement. “Do you know how hard it is to get these tickets?”, my voice getting higher. My mom wrapped her arm around George’s waist. “George’s connections.” 

Even though I had gone to school at the University of Michigan, I had never gone to a game. THE GAME. “But why...”, I trailed off. George spoke up. You have been working so hard and now you are a full-time teacher. It is just kind of a congratulations from us.”

I finally got my mouth to shut and I ran over to them and gave them both massive hugs. “Thank you so much. I am so shocked.” As we embraced, my mom said, “We thought that maybe you would like to take Gem with you. Or maybe Ian.” Ian’s face lit up. She leaned in and spoke low, “Oh, Honey. I’m sorry. If I had known that you had a boyfriend, we would have gotten three tickets.” My face turned red. “It’s ok, Mom. We will figure something out. Besides, he’s not my boyfriend”. She just smiled because she could see through my bullshit. He really wasn’t my boyfriend though.

“Oh!”, she exclaimed. “You better get going. I don’t want you to be late for your costume party.” I totally forgot about the pretend Halloween party that I said we were going to. “Right.” My mind was mush right now, but I had to come up with something quick. “Ok, I just need to grab the tin foil.” I walked over to the kitchen drawer and snatched it up. My Mom once again looked puzzled. “What are you going to do with that?”, she asked. I took Ian’s hand. “I’m going as a leftover.” I hurried Ian and I out of the room.

I went to pick up my keys and purse from the table by the front door and herd George say, “You know Katie? You really have a great girl there”, George said as he cradled her around her waist. She wound her arms around his neck and said, “Thank you.” They embraced in a kiss with her quickly pulling away with a funny look on her face. “Wait, wasn’t Halloween a few weeks ago?”

Still holding Ian’s hand, we went outside and walked to my car. “Get in”, I said trying to catch my breath. Ian was looking at the car puzzled. “How?” I walked around to the other side of the car, unlatched the handle, and held the door open for him. After he got into the car, I ran over to the driver’s side and sat in my seat. I was nervous, excited, and clueless all at the same time. “What’s going on?”, I questionably exclaimed with enthusiasm. 

“I was trying to tell you upstairs”, he said. “I had really been giving things a lot of thought about what you had said, about you wishing I could be with you more. Out in the open”, he said. “So, I decided to do it. To take that leap of faith.” He looked at me so happy and so proud of himself. “I can’t believe you are really doing this!”, I exclaimed. Ian stared into my eyes, his smile fading. “You make me happy, Kalia. With that, I want to make you happy.”

 My heart started to thump. “Are you ok?”, he asked. “I can hear your heart.” His words did something to me. Something deep down inside. “I’m wonderful”, I softly replied. I tried hard to keep tears from coming to my eyes. He was doing this for me. All for me.

I looked out the windshield. “I don’t even know where we are going to go. I had to make up something on the fly.” I thought intently. “Why don’t we go to Gemma’s and you can ask her to go with you to the game”, he said. I looked at the envelope still in my hand that held the football tickets. 

My voice went low and quiet. “Because I want you to go.” I looked up at Ian, his face was filled with delight. “Don’t get me wrong, Gemma is my best friend and I love her so much. But I really enjoy being with you.” His expression went soft and gentle. “Kalia, I will still be there with you”, he reassured me. He was right, he would be with me. Besides, Gemma would love to go. She had talked about going to one of these games forever. “You’re right, you will be with me, always”, I said softly looking into his eyes.  He leaned over and embraced me tight.

I think you can figure out the way Ian greeted Gemma when I first introduced them. I’m happy that she went along with it. “So, what are you guys up too?”, Gemma asked. “We were just on our way to a costume party.” She looked over to Ian and them back to me. “Where’s your costume at, Kal?” Once again, I stumbled upon my words. “It's....It’s in the car.”

“First, I wanted to stop by and ask you if you wanted to go to the Michigan/Ohio State game?” I whipped the tickets out and watched Gemma’s eyes get wide. “Where did you get these?”, she squealed as she jumped off the couch in excitement. I started to laugh. “My mom and George.” She held the tickets tight in her hands, staring at them.

She closed her eyes and let out a dreaded moan. “Oh man. I can’t go.” The smile faded from my face. “Well, why not?”, I asked. Gemma sat back on the couch next to me. “Because, I told Eric that I would go on a retreat with him, this weekend.” I looked down at the floor. “Oh”, I said with gloom in my voice.

“OHH!” My voice going up and my eyes widening. “Eric? Like Eric, Eric? As in, Pastor Eric?” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Eric, Eric.” I raised my eye brows to her. Her face got red and she sheepishly asked, “What?” She knew I was giving her a hard time. Ian pulled a phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me ladies, I have to make a phone call.” We both smiled at him as he went to step outside.

 “I didn’t know you guys were a couple”, I playfully said. “Just like I didn’t know that you had a boyfriend either”, she said sarcastically. “Like you have a boyfriend and didn’t tell me? Your best friend!”, she said as if she were hurt. I pursed my lips at her. “He isn’t my boyfriend.” Gemma crossed her arms. “Well he’s going to be with the way that you guys look at each other.”

My eyes got wide. “Hey! We aren’t talking about me. We are talking about you and Eric!” She looked at me through the side of her eyes. “What about me and Eric?” I looked straight at her. “Do you like him?”  “Yes”, she answered right away. “Do you love him?” She looked away from me. “Gem?” She snapped her head looking at me. “What?!” A small smile appeared on my face. “Do you love him?” 

She sat quiet for a second. “Maybe”, she whispered. “I knew it!” She smiled just a bit. “It doesn’t matter anyways, Kal. We already talked about this.” I put her face between my hands like I was trying to get the attention of a child. “Gemma, if you feel or talk bad about yourself again...I’m going to knock you into next week! Am I making myself understood?” With her face smooshed between my hands, she replied, “Yes Ma’am.”

I let go of her face. “But it’s just that...”, she began to say before I took my three fingers and snapped her lips together. “Nope, Nope, Nope! You are worthy of all of the good and happiness that comes to you.” She sat there blinking her eyes at me. “Now repeat it”, I announced. She tried to say it back, but her words were coming out muffled. I let go of her lip. “Good. Now say it again.” She took a deep annoyed breath. “I am worthy of all the good and happiness that comes to me.” I smiled at her. “Now, we just need to work on you believing it.”

We sat on the couch and not even a few seconds went past before Gemma started pressing me for information about Ian. “So, why haven’t you told me about Ian?” I looked down. “Because, there’s nothing to tell.” She leaned back on the couch. “Ok. Where did you meet him?” I leaned back also. “I've known him for a while as an acquaintance. You know? From being a waitress. Today was the first day we actually went out together.” I wasn’t lying. “You mean like a first date?”, she asked.

 I looked at her like she was being ridiculous. “No, not like a first date.” She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. “What would you call it then?” I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know. Hanging out?” She tilted her head. “Mhm.” She turned her head from me and I made a face at her. 

“Tell me about this retreat you and Eric are going to”, I said. She drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Really, all I know is that it’s a youth ministry camp somewhere in Columbus that he is going to speak at. He asked If I would go with him.” I smiled at her. “I think Eric is good for you”, I said sincerely. “You look different. You look...Happy.”. She smiled back at me. “That is a long phone call”, she said referring to Ian as she was looking towards the door. 

“I should probably get going. He may be waiting”, I said. She walked me to the door where we hugged and said our goodbyes. We both saw Ian leaning against the car. I saw as Gemma’s lips parted. “Damn, Kal. He is hot. I mean, like he is built!”  I started to laugh. “Have a good time this weekend and call me when you get back.”

 Ian and I both got back into the car and drove away. “Did everything go ok with your phone call?”, I asked. He looked over at me. “I didn’t have to make a phone call.” My brows furrowed. “But you said... Where did you get the phone?” His teeth shined bright at me in the dark when he smiled. “Here’s your phone back”, he said handing it to me. I started to laugh. “Who am I going to call?”, he asked. “I just thought that the two of you needed to have that conversation in private.” I turned my eyes back to the road. “Yeah, but you were there anyways.” He smirked at me and said, “She didn’t know that.”