Curiosity (GxG) (TeacherxStudent)

Chapter Nine

"And so he left me on the parking lot once he saw my car! What the fuck?" She turned to me with a little bit of ice cream on her right cheek.

We are on a park right now wholesaling an ice cream truck. We took a shade under a tree and have a little picnic of our own while we gaze on the man made lake and koi fishes swimming on it. This is relaxing, I don't feel bad coming with her.

I looked over her Toyota Wigo from the picnic rug we were sitting on then back to her. "Ms. Miller, your car's not that bad, it's tiny but it's-" I looked at it again finding a way to describe it. "It's orange..."

She rolled her eyes then a brief laugh escaped from her lips. "Tsk, but what is he expecting? A luxurious sports car? I'm just hot, not rich. You can't have two of those at the same time, that's unfair."

"Fair point." I said as I finished my ice cream cone down and ate the final tip of it filled with chocolate. I love that part.

Ms. Miller isn't at all truthful. If she didn't invite me to skip with her today I would've totally believed her perfectly romantic night. I was almost envious of them. Now that I'm far from my girlfriend, we couldn't have date nights anymore. Seeing and hearing other people live those situations makes me regret that I did not try harder to stay beside her. I'm talking like she's fully gone, but she's still there, just not here though.

I shifted my gaze down to Ms. Miller who was busy eyeing the last tip of her ice cream cone. She's looking at it with such disgust. "You're not gonna eat tha-"

"What's it like being in a relationship?" She ignored my question and asked me a completely different topic. She locked her eyes on the peaceful waters of the lake.

I was comfortably sitting, leaning against the body of the tree we were under. And she was laying down not so close to me, but I feel the sincerity in her voice. "Well..." I said while looking at the lake she's looking at too. "If I'm going to describe it, it feels like a constant longing." As my granpa would say.

"A constant longing? Elaborate it please."

"Being in a relationship is a constant longing. Like, even if that person is far from you, or right in front of you, that feeling doesn't fade away. You miss, and you want more and more."

"But what if there's nothing more to miss, what comes next? Like the very bottom of this ice cream cone, if I eat it all up, there's going to be nothing left of it. Get it?" She held up the choco filled wafer up to inspect it.

"Not if you rush it, it could last til tomorrow for all we know. Then, when it's gone you miss it. Then you miss what you miss again and again. It's like it never really went away. And Ms. Miller I think that's how love is. There are infinite reasons while it lives."

My God. What am I blubbering about, I don't even know if what I'm saying makes sense. I'll just pretend it does. "I'm bad at advices." I sighed. "Ms. Miller, you should meet my grandparents, they'll know exactly what to say."

"I don't think they will have the patience to deal with a hopeless romantic." She chuckled and I laughed with her.

...

We spent the rest of the morning hours on the park. I told her about my my birthday party and how I'm secretly anticipating it. I know, my first thought is that it was a drag to celebratre it, it's a hussle. But then I thought of how that day could be a reunion for my family. I miss my grandpa and grandma from my mom's side. Haven't seen them since forever. We're hardly visiting them on the country side, they're barely visiting us too, only on special occasions that is. So I will let my birthday be that occasion.

Time passed and it was lunchtime. I'm a bit guilty to be skipping like this. I've said to myself that I want to graduate and take school seriously. But here I am. You could never really tell where your life will bring you.

"I can drop you off to school if you still want to attend." Ms. Miller said. We're already walking towards her car.

"You're not attending?"

She shook her head. "I contacted the office yesterday, I wasn't planning on going actually."

I nodded slowly attempting to put the puzzle all together. I wonder where she could've gone when she hadn't seen me earlier, and I wonder if she would have still gone to this park on her own despite me not being in her company. Pfftt...She probably has a lot of friends. Maybe they're just busy and I was the first person she saw on the streets.

I got in her car and put my seatbelts on. I'm not sure where to go in this town where almost everyone is a stranger. Can't text or call Anne, she's pretty busy with school activities right now. Don't want to go to school I don't have anyone there to talk to. Don't want to go home either... shit.

"Take me to Mars Ms. Miller," I whimpered. A bunch of martian rocks and alien creatures would suffice.

She's driving slower than usual although I see no traffic on the way. "I'm afraid my Wigo couldn't take a seven month trip Ellie."

"Everything's possible when God's on our side," I whispered on her ears as I touched the rosary hanging on her rear view mirror. Her face was insecurely close to mine and it's the car's narrow interior to blame.

"Does God even support LGBTQ?" She whispered back.

That caught me off guard and I pulled myself away from her. "I- uh, he's a chill dude Ms. Miller, I don't think he's homophobic."

"Hmm, you do have a point."

I kept seeing her stealing glances at me. She looks like she's hesitating on saying something. Maybe she's uncomfortable?

"You know you can just call me by my first name." She finally spoke.

"I can?"

"Yes! It's awkward for me since we're not at school."

"Cool." I said. "I was waiting for your permission did you know?" I tried to hide my smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, how could I not? You're shoving the word Ms. Miller on my face everytime."

"Heh, I was a bit doubtful it won't work but it did."

"Congrats, I couldn't imagine how much of an achievement this is, being at first name basis with a literal goddess that descended from Olympus." She said boastfully.

I raised my brow. "Well, don't they have a good sense of humor sending you down here?"

She shoved me playfully. "I hate you. Let me have my moment please."

I can see we're taking the route to school. I still have a minute to say I don't want to go. But then again where would I really go, to my house? This is a stupid dilemma.

I did not take the chance so we're stopping at the front gate of the school.

I bid her goodbye as I shouldered my backpack to get out of her car. I have two classes left, one with Mr. Robinson and another with a substitute biology teacher. I can't openly say I regret ever stepping out of Karlene's car. But as soon as I turn around she was nowhere to be found.