𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter three.

Back home, Claudia had arrived with the donuts and her coffee. She walked up the driveway to the house, her neighbors exited their with suitcases in their hands. They were a nice couple in their fifties. Claudia noticed that they would often leave on a spontaneous getaway almost every weekend.

"Hey, Claudia!" Mrs. Miller waved at her as her husband opened the car door for her. "Ted is taking me to Hawaii for our anniversary! Isn't that romantic?"

Claudia forced a smile on her face, nodding at the older woman. "So romantic! Have fun, you two! Careful with the waves."

Ted Miller thanked her. "Maybe I'll get Parker to come down here and we can have a nice meal together. He's been asking about you."

Parker Miller was their only son who was currently in Washington doing god knows what. Claudia never knew what he did, she never asked. Ted and Denise desperately wanted their son to take out the cute english teacher next door on a date. But neither person was interested. Parker knew Claudia didn't like him as a potential boyfriend. And he respected that. He actually had a girlfriend that his parents didn't know about.

Claudia laughed nervously. "Yeah, that Parker is always up to something. Working hard, yeah?"

Ted chuckled. "You'll find someone, Claudia. There's someone for everyone." As the Millers left, Claudia scoffed.

"Does he really think I'm that lonely?" She asked herself while opening the door to the house. As soon as she did, she was hit in the face with the sweet smell of Janis' cooking. "Ma? I'm home." Claudia dropped her keys in the bowl on the coffee table.

Janis couldn't hear her. She was too busy listening to music with her headphones on. She was cooking a casserole, which meant someone was joining them for dinner. Janis didn't even like casseroles, she only made them if someone was dining with them. (Janis only knew how to cook 'fancy' when guests were over) Who? Claudia didn't know. She stood in the dining room with the box of donuts in her hand wondering how long it would take Janis to notice she was there.

It took three minutes exactly.

As Janis turned around, she let out a scream when she noticed she wasn't the only one in the room. "Warn a girl, would you? Hurry, pass me the towel." Janis said.

Claudia did so, still confused on who was joining them. So the only obvious thing was to ask.

"Hey, ma? Is someone coming? Is there something I should know about?" Claudia set the donut box on the table then sat in her designated chair they had.

Janis nervously laughed, still rapidly cooking. "What? No. What makes you say that? There's no one coming. You're crazy."

Claudia looked down at her mom's feet. Janis was sporting two different shoes. A boot and a sandal. "Tell that to your shoes. Is this a new fashion trend going on? Did you start it, ma?"

Janis gasped the second she looked down at her shoes. She tossed her spatula into the sink and tried to run past her daughter but Claudia caught her wrist. "Ma? What's going on? Please tell me."

"Okay, okay. Sit down, this is alot to take in." Janis let out a breath and sat beside Claudia. "I may have been secretly going on dates with a man."

Claudia let out an excited squeal. "Ma! I'm so happy for you."

Janis stopped her mini celebration.  "Honey, that's not even the worst part. After you hung up, he walked into the vet and told me he wanted to take me to dinner. And I said yes!" She hid her face in her hands. "Then i had to screw it up and say we could have dinner at my house."

Claudia grabbed her mom's hand to calm her. "Ma, it's okay. Go change and I'll get done with the food. I can make dessert too. I have it all under control."

Janis looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "Oh, you're an angel, baby. A literal angel, I wonder how I got so lucky with a little demon turned angel like you." Janis wrapped her arms around her daughter's neck, not wanting to let go, but she had to since she had to change.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, actually. He has a daughter, a teenager. He's bringing her over. Good luck handling her."

Claudia definitely liked a challenge. Getting along with a teenager? No problem. Her students were teenagers. It would be pretty easy to get along with her. She teaches teenagers for a living, it should be that hard.

An: okay so benjamín is almost here we're getting there guys gals and nonbinary pals