His Perfect Match (Liam Payne AU)

Part 4 - Alex

Alex smiled. He got her joke. Most people just gave her a blank stare when she said that. "That is an amazing smell!" she said. "Almost as good as a new box of crayons."

"But not quite as good as a fresh pack of paper clips!" Liam quipped.

Alex grinned. "Exactly!" she said. Oh, god, she thought. He's perfect. Jackie wasn't kidding. She'd been teasing Alex for years about her teaching partner and how he was the perfect man. She loved Niall, she said, but there was something about Liam. Good looks, a sense of humor and an appreciation for school supplies that Niall would never understand. Alex was pretty sure she could fall in love with a man like this, if she hadn't already.

They arrived back at the room, just in time to see Jackie climbing off a chair. "Jesus! Jackie!" Liam said, grabbing her down. "We can do that. Go. Sit. Make a list." he told her.

Liam pulled down the rest of the paper. He had three boards to cover. Two small squares in the front and one large rectangle in the back. Together, he and Alex cut the paper and stapled it to the boards. They moved onto the border. Alex could tell he didn't have nearly enough. He was going to have to get more. She was just about to point that out when Jackie piped up. "Nope. To the store with you. The one by subway. And bring me lunch."

"You can't eat tuna when you are pregnant, Jack. You know that!" Liam said.

"I can have it once a week and I pick today." Jackie answered. "Go, both of you." She held out a twenty dollars bill and made a shewing motion with her hand. "Feed me!"

Liam threw up his hands, motioned for Alex to follow him and headed out the door. Alex turned to look at Jackie. She winked and made the 'GO!' motion with her hands, so Alex went.

She followed Liam out to a blue SUV and got into the passenger side. The car was clean, no trash or old cups laying around. She smiled and put on her seatbelt. "So, how long have you been teaching?" she asked.

"This is year 9? I think? Or 8? I've lost count. I've been here, at Monroe for 2 years, this is my third year here. I was teaching middle school before. Why did you pick this school?" he asked.

Alex sighed. "Well, I've known Jackie forever. She used to babysit for me when I was little and she was a teenager? There is only 6 years between us, so she feels like a big sister. You know, she lives in her parents' house, right? We live just two houses away. I went to school in Saginaw, but I don't live there, so the school said I could student teach here, but I'd have to find the teacher on my own. They don't have contacts in the district here?"

"Woah. Saginaw is a two hour drive? How did you go to school there but not live there?" he asked.

"Uh, well, I stayed with my Aunt two night a week. I just....I guess I'm a homebody? I just didn't live the idea of leaving home? I'm an only child and my mom cried every time we talked about me leaving, so I didn't?"

Liam nodded. "Nice. My mom is not like that at all. She was glad to see me go! I'm the youngest. She practically packed my bags for me." He laughed. "Anyhow, the teacher place it right up here." He pointed and pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall.

They got out of the car and went into the store. Liam walked over the borders and grabbed two more packs of the rainbow design he had already purchased. He started back to the register when his phone dinged.

Jackie: Get named tags.

Liam: Jesus.

Jackie: Do it.

Liam looked up at Alex. "I need name tags"

Alex laughed. She walked over to the name tag display and picked out the matching tags. "They have locker tags in this pattern." she said. "And a jobs board, rule set and a calendar. That would fill all three boards? And then you'd be done?"

"Who is going to laminate all that? And cut it all out?"

Alex smiled. "I'd love to!" she said. Then she cursed herself. Over eager much, she thought.

Liam looked at her. "You don't have to, I'm just kidding. And does it have to be rainbows? Don't they have anything manly?"

Alex laughed. "Like what? Lumberjacks?"

Liam turned and smiled. "Yes! Where?"

Alex laughed harder. "I was kidding. Let's look." She gazed over the display of name tags. "Frogs, fish, owls, robots? Are robots manly?" She and Liam looked over the displays and finally decided that Sea Creatures would be the best theme because they spent a good part of the year studying animals, the water cycle and the seasons. All of those could justify the ocean theme. Alex found all of the matching pieces, border, name tags, locker tags, wall décor and loaded Liam's arms. "This is so great!" she said. "It's like Christmas!"

Liam just laughed and followed her around the store. "You are helping me hang all this, you know that, right?"

Alex glowed. He wanted her help. Student teaching was going to be more rewarding than she ever thought.