The New English Teacher Sucks (GxG)

Chapter Twelve

I'm not one to usually keep my mouth hanging open dramatically as if it was a cave for flies. But even long after I was already settled into Miss Addington's car, I was struggling to understand how someone like her would dare to be driving a metal box so.... ancient.

"What's the matter with you?" She finally asked when we approached the first red light.

"Why a 2005 Mazda? Is it still legal to have this vehicle on the road? And does the price of gas mean nothing to you? I'm sure this thing needs refilling at least every two days.."

I decided to cut my sentence short when an icy glare was being pointed directly at me.

"Are you quite finished? I can leave you to walk the other 10 miles if that's what you want. Maybe you can work out those legs instead of your mouth on the way."

I gasped, "You didn't have to say all of that, I was only kidding you know."

She chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah, you're quite the jester."

The light turned green and when the car started rolling again, I tried for some compliments instead to get that frown off her lips.

"No, I'm being serious. It's actually in really good condition. Almost looks brand new. Well, except for that radio you got there. It looks like it really took a hit..."

She glanced at me first, then the broken radio, smiled and returned her attention to the road.

"That's a story for another day."

And that was that. I decided to drop all my comments about her car if I really wanted a safe ride home with all my good parts in tact. Unlike this car...

Okay, that was the last one.

It did in fact happen to be in good condition though. Except for the broken radio that looked like someone took a sledgehammer and bashed it in, the leather seats held most if not all of the material. The dashboard didn't have a single speck pf dust and the carpets on the floor, though beige, were exceptionally clean. It smelled really nice too and my attention was brought to the Little Tress air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror.

Bayside Breeze.

It smelled heavenly. But it was faint in comparison to the woman sitting next to me.

The scent radiating off of her seemed to be that of a red rose.

A very red and sweet multi-petaled rose.

"So since music is out of the question..." I glanced at the smashed in radio for dramatic effect. "What do you usually do to past the time on your way home?"

Her response came in almost immediately.

"Think."

But that was it. No elaboration. No nothing.

I admired her side profile for a few seconds. Her eyebrows dipped in fierce concentration, her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were almost pale. Her posture a solid stone. On the outside she looked like she would be hard to the touch. But I thought back to that single moment in her classroom during lunch, when she allowed me to hold her hands and all I could think about was how perfectly smooth and soft they were.

She probably has a very good moisturizer.

"You look tensed..." I pointed out after a moment of silence. "I hope you're not thinking about throttling me. I really meant no harm to your car."