Ms.Martin

VI

I walk into my office at 4:45. Asher immediately sees me and all but runs over to me. Looking around the showroom, I see that there are still a decent amount of people here.

"T, what are you doing here? I told you, you're off." I raise an eyebrow at Asher and shift my weight over to my left foot while crossing my arms.

"Yes, I know but that HPC, Adrianna, wanted to sign some papers at 5. I agreed so that way you wouldn't have to do it." Asher's face becomes more relaxed as he realizes, but it becomes confused again.

"How did you-" He starts.

"She's my Weights and American Government teacher. She's gonna be here in a few minutes and you have customers to attend to. I'm going to my office to get the papers ready, ok?" Asher nods and rushes over to another customer. I walk to my office and pull the keys out of my pocket. As I unlock my door, my phone buzzes in my back pocket. Adrianna DM'd me on Instagram.

Haha. She slid into your DM's. I think to myself. Outwardly, I chuckle a bit at the thought. I open the message.

AdriannaMartin: Hey! I'm going to be a little late, maybe ten minutes at the most. I hope that isn't a problem? I smile at this. At least she had the decency to tell me she was going to be late.

TThomas: No problem. I just got here and I'll be in my office. See you in a few! I put my Beats on and turn on my playlist. I start to work on the forms and homework I got on the first day. As the time gets closer and closer to 5:10, my heart starts beating faster. I pick my phone up and change the playlist to my hype songs. Batman comes on and I start rapping with it.

"Batman, Batman, Batman. Heard that you ain't got a mattress. Heard that you king of Manhattan. So why you stay in the 'Basas? Batman, Batman, Batman. We need to settle the scores. Jokers they still want a war. Watch out, I'm closing th-" There's a flash of movement by the door and I look up. Adrianna is standing there with a smile on her face, leaning against the door frame. I scramble to stand up and take my headphones off. My teacher starts to laugh and walks in.

Great I just fucking embarrassed myself. Go me.

I turn my music off and look up at Adrianna. She's changed into something more casual. She has a Nike tank top on and some workout shorts with her hair in a ponytail. Those shorts, oh my lord, I'm lucky that I haven't fainted yet. There's a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, but it isn't unattractive in the slightest. Clearing my throat, I go to my file cabinet and pull out the papers. Adrianna is sitting in the chair across my desk and I sit behind my computer. Her phone starts ringing and she picks it up, but a look of distaste comes across her gorgeous face. Instead of answering, she lets it ring.

"You gonna answer that?" I ask as I put the papers in order and try to find a pen.

"No," She sighs. "It's my ex. I don't really want to talk to them and I'm sitting here. That would be rude." Adrianna smiles at me. I noticed how she didn't clarify on the gender of her ex. Not that it would matter, because, you know, she's my teacher.

"Oh ok. Well, I just need to see your ID so I can enter some information and then you can fill out the paperwork." Ms. Martin hands me her driver's license. I look down at it and see her birthday. She's only 21. She just turned 21 actually. Like, yesterday. I look up at her and she's texting someone furiously on her phone. When I get done with my part of the paperwork, I pass it to her. The silence is stifling, so I decide to speak up.

"So, you turned 21 yesterday?" Adrianna looks up at me through her lashes and smiles a bit. I swear to god my heart just stopped, lord help me. That was so hot. Speaking of hot, it's getting hot in here.

"Yes, I did, Ms. Thomas." I cringe internally.

"Mm, if I can't call you Ms. Martin, then you can't call me Ms. Thomas." She looks up at me and I realize I was a little sassy when I said that. "I mean, if you wouldn't mind." Adrianna just chuckles a little bit.

"I don't mind, Tatum. But yes, I did turn 21 yesterday. I ended up graduating when I was 16 because I had advanced schooling back in France. I always wanted to be a teacher, so I went to school for that." Adrianna read my mind and answered my questions.

"Well why Government and Physical Education?" I really was curious about this one because not many people like history at all.

"Hmmm. Government because I really do like history. Not just American history, but all history. It also helps when you have to learn a lot about the Government to pass a citizenship test." I didn't even think about her citizenship. "Physical Education because I'm very involved in many sports and exercise. That's why I was late today, actually. I was busy working out and thought I had more time than I did." That explains her clothing. Adrianna goes back to filling out her forms while I sit and think. That means that we're barely 3 years apart.

"Did you do anything for your birthday?" Adrianna shakes her head.

"No I didn't, actually. I don't have many friends in this town. Well, none that I would want to spend time with. Besides, I had to teach the next day, as you know, so I wasn't planning on getting drunk." She finishes her paperwork and hands it back to me. I organized it and put it in a file.

"You didn't do anything? Like anything at all?" Ms. Martin again shakes her head with a smile. I say the next thing without thinking. "Well you have to let me take you out! I mean, to like dinner or something. You should have a celebration for your 21st birthday! I'm 17, so obviously, there won't be any drinking, but still." As I put her file back in the cabinet and lock it, Adrianna thinks about my offer.

"Where would we go?" That means she's not completely shooting me down! I haven't even thought about where we would go.

"We could go bowling and go get some food at this really cool restaurant if you want?" I leaned against my wall as she thought about it. After a few seconds, she smiled.

"Ok, but get ready for me to kick your ass at bowling." She seemed to have caught herself, but I just laughed it off.

"Wanna take my car or yours?" I asked.

"Let's take yours. I'm dying to ride in that thing." I smile and grab my bag. I remember that she's wearing workout clothes and it's going to get chilly soon.

"Hey do you want to change? It's going to get cold." Apparently, she hadn't thought about that. "I have some sweatpants and a hoodie in my car that you can wear. We look about the same size." Adrianna thanks me and just puts the clothes on over her own. I smile because they're a little bit baggy on her since I'm a little taller. She gets into the passenger side and we head to the bowling alley.

"You have a REALLY nice car," Adrianna says in amazement. I smirk at this. I love showing off my car.

"Thanks. It took me forever to save up for it. I mean, I get a discount on it and the car isn't actually available to the public yet, but yeah. Asher has one of the top dealerships in the state so he made some calls and got me this car. I paid him back though. I can't stand when people pay for stuff for me. Makes me feel bad, you know?" She just makes a noise of agreement. "Do you mind if I play some music? You can pick the song, I just don't like silence," I say with a shrug. I unlock my phone and hand it to her. She clicks on Surprise Party by Hoodie Allen and puts my phone in the console. I'm surprised by her song choice, but it's a damn good song. We drive to the bowling alley singing along to the song.