It's Always Been You

Chapter 4

Ariana unlocked her front door. The table light in her small living room was on. Her boyfriend Liam was parked on the couch, watching some interview show.

"I'm home." She shut the door behind her and rounded the couch. She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "We missed you at the party."

She set her purse down in the kitchen and fished out her phone.

Liam sighed. "Yeah. It was a long day, sorry babe."

Her eyes lingered on his form. "It's okay. Maybe next time." She plugged her phone into the charger and went to join him on the couch. "I have some great news."

His attention remained on the late-night talk show. "What's up?"

"Marco and Cristina are getting married." She sat sideways, staring at him. "Isn't that exciting?"

He finally looked at her. "Aren't they already married?"

She shook her head. She reached out and ran her hand through his messy brown hair. "Not legally. Emotionally, I suppose? They're in a committed relationship, but they want to officially get married. They want a ceremony and reception and the whole thing."

"Well, congratulations to them, I guess. When's the wedding?"

She scooted closer to him. "They're planning for New Year's Eve."

His forehead creased. "Really?"

She played with the hair at the nape of his neck."Do you think that'll work for you?"

He stilled. "Yeah, probably."

"Great." She let out a long breath. "I'm going to bed. Are you going to stay up a little longer?"

He nodded.

"Alright, goodnight." She kissed him softly and walked to her darkened bedroom.

# # #

Ariana set her coffee cup down on her desk. She just made her last trip back from her car with some supplies and decorations she wanted to set up in her classroom. Along with organizing her classroom, she was taking care of Daniela and Santiago for the day.

She walked over to the side wall where all the student desks were situated and started pulling the desks down and apart.

"Alright you two, you can play and color on these desks okay?" She pushed the two desks together and set them against the wall under the dry-erase board.

"Thanks, tia!"

Santiago and Daniela dropped their backpacks on the desks and started to pull out the things they brought to entertain themselves.

The room was currently bare. There were about three dozen desks stacked up against a wall. A computer sat hooked up on top of her desk. She shook the mouse to wake the computer and checked her email. News from the district, Mrs. Rodriguez's weekly email blast, and a welcome email from her department head.

Ariana stood up from her desk and walked back over to the side wall where all the student desks were situated. She started pulling the rest of the desks down and apart. She wanted to try and start with a group setup.

She spread the desks around and tried to configure them in a logical sense. After a while, a soft knock and voice came from the doorway. Ariana, Santiago, and Daniela turned to the door.

"Morning, Ariana. Who's this?" Dr. Eliza Morgan, the AP English Lit and Honors English teacher, walked into the classroom.

"Hi, Dr. Morgan." Ariana stopped next to the kids. "This is my nephew and niece, Santiago and Daniela."