Lessons from a One-Night Stand

Holly

Austin arrives at my office early, before Fay has clocked in for the day. He knocks on the glass window of my office wall, and I wave him in.

“I know it’s early, but I brought you a coffee and a blueberry muffin from Brewed Awakenings.” He sets them on my desk.

“Thanks, but that wasn’t necessary.”

My eyes soak him in. He’s wearing a pair of charcoal slacks with a V-neck sweater and a white T-shirt underneath. Very uncoach-like, but hot AF as the kids say these days.

“Are you dressed up for an interview I don’t know about?” I laugh.

He sits in the chair opposite my desk, opening the lid of his coffee and blowing into the cup. I try not to think of how he blew his warm breath on my wet nipples the night we were together, but I mean, come on, how can I not?

“No, but it’s laundry day.”

I shake my head. Time to move on. “Well, Gail Andrews is quite the number, isn’t she?”

I open JP’s file on my desk. Complaint after complaint from his mother rests inside. Everything from school lunches to threatening to sue the school when JP got caught cheating in the ninth grade and was forced to serve detention.

After speaking with Austin last night, I knew I had to investigate before his reputation was tarnished by this accusation.

“She’s something for sure, but this is beyond thinking her son is the angel he isn’t. She’s going to ruin Elijah’s chances of a scholarship if this gets out.” He sits on the edge of the chair, his legs open, his coffee on my desk.

I look up from the file and study him. He’s so gorgeous. I have no idea how he’s not taken already. His dark brown eyes, surrounded by thick, dark lashes, look at me, waiting for me to respond.

I clear my throat. “I know. I think we can prove her wrong. My only concern is with the other teachers. I’ll need to question them, get Elijah’s test results, but if I flag them, one of them might get suspicious. Same as you, my concern rests on Elijah’s future.”

“What if you ask for all the seniors’ results? You mentioned at the assembly that you’re going to be meeting with each of them to discuss their futures after graduation. You can say you’re reviewing everyone’s results.”

I lean back in my seat. “That’s a daunting task.”

He slides closer to the edge of his chair. “I’ll help you with whatever you need. After school, I’ll go through papers and test scores with you. We can prove that Elijah’s marks are in line with his classmates who performed similarly.”

I sense that the desperation in his tone is more about Elijah than himself, confirming my instinct that he didn’t do what he’s being accused of. Gail Andrews is just a mom who thinks her son is a special snowflake and can’t imagine him being anything less than numero uno.

“Okay, let’s do it. From what I’ve seen, Elijah has a bright future, and I already have him on the schedule to talk to tomorrow as part of my senior stay-on-track program. But I need you to handle this whole Elijah, JP, and Becca ordeal. I’d ask Vice Principal Ealey, but he’s not in any shape to give advice to anyone about relationships.”

He nods. “I can handle that.”

I figured out what everyone was talking about in the staff room—apparently JP and Elijah are letting some girl come between their friendship and blows have already been exchanged.

“All right, well, I’ll call Ms. Andrews this morning and tell her I’m investigating her allegations. Hopefully, I can put this to bed in a week and both you and Elijah can rest easy about your futures.”

He stands. I forget how tall he is when he’s sitting. “Thank you. Honestly, you owe me nothing and the fact you’re willing to do this for me—”

“And Elijah,” I add.

He nods, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “And Elijah. After everything…”

“It’s all right. You might be the class clown, but your heart is in a good place.” I stand and walk around the side of my desk.

His eyes fall to my chest. I’d never admit this to anyone, but I purposely wore a tighter blouse today. I have no idea why. I mean, Lake Starlight will be in both our rearview mirrors in a few months.

“Thanks, I think.” He smiles. “Okay, so do you want to meet somewhere or at your place tonight to go over test scores and papers?”

I wave him off and almost touch his arm when I do, but I retract my hand quickly. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it.”

“No.” His eyes widen as he steps closer to me. “I’m going to help you. We have baseball practice until six, then I’m free.”

“Well, um… okay. Why don’t we meet at Lard Have Mercy? Or…” Shit, that damn Buzz Wheel blog. The last thing I need is Mrs. Andrews seeing a picture of Austin and me together. “I’ll text you my address. Park down the road.”

“I’ll run over or ride my mountain bike.”

I laugh and shake my head. “This seems ridiculous, like we’re two cheating spouses sneaking around.”

“Welcome to Lake Starlight.” He rocks back on his heels. “I’ll see you tonight then.”

“Yeah. I could maybe make us dinner, or we can order in?”

He smiles. “You’re doing me the favor. I’ll have something delivered. My treat.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” His hand is millimeters from touching my upper arm when a knock bangs on the glass door.

Austin tenses, and our eyes search out the source.

“Hi, you two.” Fay pops her head in the door and smiles and waves. “There’s a situation in the courtyard.”

We look at one another, then Austin heads out the door and jogs down the hall. I follow him, my heels making it impossible to match his pace. When I reach the courtyard, I find a crowd of students have formed a circle, and a girl is screeching from the outside of the circle.

“Stop! Oh, Coach Bailey, stop them.” The petite brunette weaves back and forth wanting to get in the middle.

Austin pushes through the students. “What the hell are you guys doing?” He grabs JP’s sweatshirt and pushes him aside before walking a red-faced Elijah to the other side of the circle.

The students clear a path for me, and I see Elijah’s eyes laser-focused on the brunette, who I presume is Becca, staring at the ground. He tries to fight his way past Austin, but Austin holds him in place.

JP straightens his sweatshirt with a cocky grin. “Remember, Elijah, you’re the one who went up into that bedroom with Sara.”

My attention moves to Becca. She’s staring at Elijah with tears streaming down her face. Elijah looks at her. I never believed in finding your soul mate in high school, but whatever is between these two is a helluva lot more than puppy love.

“Stay the fuck away from her!” Elijah screams.

“Relax,” Austin tells Elijah. “The rest of you, get inside.” Austin points toward the doors of the school.

There I am, standing like an idiot in the middle of it, saying nothing rather than taking control of the situation. “JP, get to my office.”

“No way! I didn’t do anything. He threw the first punch. He’s the one who should be expelled.”

“Go,” I bite out through clenched teeth.

The crowd disperses and JP follows them inside, but a dark-haired girl lingers.

“Please head to your first period class,” I tell her.

“Go, Phoenix,” Austin says to her.

Austin has Elijah sitting at a picnic table, where he’s lecturing him about cooling his temper and how he can’t do this stuff next year. I approach, and Elijah looks up first.

“I’m going to have to see you too,” I say, crossing my arms.

“I might’ve thrown the first punch, but JP’s trying to piss me off. He never wanted Becca. He always used to make fun of her, tell me I was wasting my time, and now that she broke up with me, he’s constantly all over her.” His hands cover his head and his back heaves from his heavy breaths.

“I’ll bring him right in, okay?” Austin asks me.

I nod, shooting him a look to say I can’t sweep this under the rug. He appears to share the same thought.

“Five minutes,” he says.

“Okay, I’ll deal with JP first.”

Walking into the school, I find the same dark-haired girl in the hall, staring at me.

“Phoenix, right?” I ask.

She nods.

“You need to get to first period. No worries, we have it all handled.” I place my hand out for her to walk with me down the hall.

She glances out the window one more time before reluctantly falling into step with me.

“Bye, Holly,” the girl sneers before sliding into a door halfway down the hall.

“Bye.” I head to my office, the realization she called me by my first name hitting me just outside my office.

JP is sitting in front of Fay, looking as though he’s trying to charm her. That’ll do him no good with me.

“JP.” I hold my hand out for him to head into my office. “No interruptions, Fay. Coach Bailey will be bringing in Elijah. Have them sit in Vice Principal Ealey’s office. He’s sick again today.”

She cringes. “Sure thing.”

“Thank you.”

When I walk into my office, I find JP relaxed in the chair Austin was sitting in moments ago, his feet propped up on the desk and the blueberry muffin Austin brought me half eaten in his hand.

I stop and stare. I’ve dealt with a lot of assholes, but high school is a whole new level of adolescent bullshit. I grab the muffin out of his hand when I walk by and drop it in the trash.

“Sorry, I thought this was a new thing. You serving breakfast.”

“Remove your feet from my desk.” I sit down in my chair.

He smirks but lowers his feet to the floor. He remains slouched in the chair like the delinquent he is. “Call my mom.”

“I don’t need to call your mom.”

“Then call the cops. I want to file charges.”

“There will be no charges. We’re going to hash this out here. Regardless if Elijah threw the first punch, you engaged, which means you’ll be getting detention.”

He rolls his eyes and sits up straight, resting his elbows on his knees. “Let’s just call my mom.”

The more he asks, the angrier I become. I lean over the desk, eyes locked with his. “I’m not going to call your mommy for you. You have detention for the rest of the week.”

“Coach Bailey isn’t going to like that. We have practice.” He shoots me a look to suggest I’m an idiot. “We both know how you like to please Coach Bailey. Tell me…” He leans in closer. “Was it your handprint on his Jeep window or his?”

What I’d give for it to be fifty years ago so I could smack this kid over the hand with a ruler. “That’s two weeks. Want to go for three?”

“For what?” he yells. “It’s the truth. The pictures show it.”

Austin and Elijah enter the office, Austin beelining it to my office until Fay directs him next door.

“I am your principal, Mr. Andrews, and I will be treated with respect. What I do after hours is my business, not yours.”

“Same here then.”

“Fine, then conduct your fights off school property.”

He narrows his eyes, clearly upset he isn’t getting his way. No way Miranda Miller let this kid use his mother as a threat.

“Fine.” He stands. “Expect a phone call in about five minutes. I’m pretty sure this is a black eye.” He points at his face.

“Then stop at the nurses’ station, but I will see you after school today for detention.”

He doesn’t turn around as he walks out of the room, waving.

“Little piece of shit,” I mumble.

Austin comes in, leaving Elijah in Vice Principal Ealey’s office.

“They’re both in detention for the week. JP is for two weeks.”

Austin opens his mouth to interrupt.

“I’m sorry, I know they miss practice, but I have no choice here,” I say.

“No, I was going to agree.”

“Really?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I told you I don’t give my boys free passes.”

My shoulders relax. Since when do I worry about what others think? I mean, who cares if Austin would’ve been upset that I had to give his two players detentions? “Okay, good. Send Elijah in.”

“You got it, boss.” He smiles, walking out.

My stomach somersaults as I watch his backside leave. Damn, he’s hot, especially when he agrees with me.