Don’t
Stand So Close
Hannah Nicoll
Part 1
He had all the good points of Johnny Depp and wiL Francis. He sat in the back of the classroom wearing sunglasses and a long sleeve shirt trying to hide his tattoos but the one on his hands blatantly showed.
He had spent two days sitting in the back of the room. All the girls had noticed but only one made the effort to give him no satisfaction in knowing that he distracted her. Unfortunately he sat next to her.
He was too old to be a student, he didn’t do any of the work and this was the only class he showed up in. On the third day the teacher invited him to the front of the room, then left. “Hey,” he said simply to the class before turning around to write something on the board. In a mess scrawl he had written ‘Mr. S, Mr. Seag, Seager, and Seagull,’ “So the first two are what the school wants you to call me by,” he turned around and drew a line through the two mentioned names, “But that can be around them.” He made eye contact with the girl in the back, “Your first assignment is to write something about yourself, but don’t put your name on it,” he directed the class.
The girl in the back row was not happy. She was normally a top student and sat in the back because she was a head of the class. So, it was completely out of character for her when she wrote on the pieced of paper, ‘My name is Ivy and I don’t like you.’
Five minutes later he stood un front of the class holding the stack of papers. He would read through them and guess who was who. Occasionally he would thanks one of the girls for the compliment; which the girl in the back speculated was that they told him how handsome he is. He came to the end of the pile. It was the girl in the back’s self description, “Is this your’s?” he asked making eye contact.
She kept a sour expression and replied, “I don’t know, what’s it say?”
He sighed and gave her the disappointed teacher look. She just picked at her nails nonchalantly. “Class dismissed,” he said setting the papers on his desk. The students packed up and left. As the girl passed he stopped her, “Ivy,” he said.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Care to explain?” He held up her ‘description’ “I was told you where a high honors student, so why did you obviously not follow my directions?”
“It was a dumb assignment,” she replied relieved that she didn’t have to explain the second line of writing.
“I assigned it so I could get to know you guys,” he explained.
“I’m sorry, “I’ll fallow directions next time, Mr. Seag, now may I go?” she asked impatient to get to lunch.
“Yes, but your seat is now moved to that one,” he said indicating the chair directly behind where she stood, also in front of his desk.
“How can you just sit there wand watch the girl you like drool over him?” Ivy asked her good friend over the phone that night.
“He’s no that bad, and if he was to do anything, it would be illegal,” he explained. There was a pause of silence and the boy said, “You don’t like him much do you?”
“Yes, well, no. I think he’s a fine teacher and hope he has more contemporary teaching methods than those old fogies,” she sighed, “I just wish he’d wear a bag over his head while he taught.”
There was another pause where she could practically hear him grinning over the phone. “You there?” she tried to cover up acting dumb.
“Someone has a crush on Seagull,” he smirked.
“You actually call him that? I thought it was a joke,” she stated quickly.
“No changing the subject!” he shot quickly, “You do have a crush on him,” he defended.
“Nuh-uh! He’s a teacher!”
“A student teacher, any way, what did you mean by the bag statement if you didn’t think he was dashingly handsome and that was going to distract you and keep you from getting an ‘a-plus-plus’?” he asked?
“I meant that he should do that so I can focus on my work and not feel like throwing up every time I look up,” she exclaimed standing up.
“Yeah right, I think you mean the opposite-,” he began by was interrupted by the dial tone. Ivy tried to sleep by was bombarded by dreams of him drinking soda. She wondered how many tattoos he had and if he ever gets hot in that long sleeve shirt. Maybe he’ll wear a short sleeve shirt to class one day and she could see more of his tattoos.
“Today I want you to try writing a haiku,” Mr. Seager told the class the next Friday.
Ivy sat front and center, which only caused more gossip to go through the room. She pulled out a piece of paper and began to write the requested poem. He sat at his desk and wrote a haiku also.
She thought of a first line and counted the syllables and then the next and the final one. Only a few minutes where left as she finished. Seager collected the papers and set them on his desk, “So,” he began, “I was thinking last night that I kind of just showed up and you don’t know anything about me.” He stated leaning on his desk, “So first off, my name is Thurston Seag, I’m 21 and I’m going to college to be a 2nd level English teacher. Anything else?” he finished.
One boy raised his hand. “Yes?”
“Why do you want to be a teacher?” he asked.
“My mom wanted me too, and I love to write,” he said with his arms crossing his chest, “But if something better comes along, I’m going with that.”
“Like what?” one kid called out.
“I donno, something better,” he shrugged.
“Are you single?” one girl in the third row asked in what would appear to be seductive a seductive voice.
“Yeah, I’ve been single since like two years ago,” he said scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. All the girls started to whisper and giggle at that fact.
Ivy had no interest in the little ‘get to know me’ game, but as the class was dismissed she realized that she did have a question to ask. As the students filed out she stepped up to his desk, “Hey, uhm,”
“Can I help you Ivy?” he said slightly annoyed. She figured he had probably over heard the rumors and didn’t want to talk to her.
“I had a question,” she said, “How many tattoos do you have?”
He looked up at her for a moment then replied, “A lot.”
“Oh,” she said looking down as he turned around to wipe off the board. “What one’s your favorite?” she asked looking back up.
“You think I can choose?” he looked at her.
“Uh, yes?” she tried stating but was still unsure.
“I’d have to say the dove on my hand,” he said setting the eraser down and looking at her.
“Why?”
“Two reasons, one when I put my hands together it looks like the dove is holding the rose in it’s mouth,” he explained as he demonstrated, “and my girlfriend had a matching dove,” he smiled slightly looking some what nostalgic.
“Did you guys have like a bad break up or something? Because like, two years is a long time,” she said before realizing how shallow it sounded and it also showed that she had been listing to the questions.
He glared at her for a second “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be nosey,” she apologized accidentally knocking over a cup of pencils, “I’m sorry, I’m really clumsy.”
Ivy kneeled forward and started to pick up the pencils. He grabbed the cup and said, “It is ok, she died.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “I uh, should be going,” she stood in the doorway and added, “I’ll see you after break,” and left.
Part 3
Ivy stood at the bus loop watching the bus drive off…without her. She had stayed back and asked about his stupid tattoos, and now she has to walk 7 miles. She didn’t like him anymore.
She tried calling a friend for a ride but they didn’t pick up. She was stuck, in front of the locked school, a Friday before a week long vacation, and about 30 minutes from the predicted start of one of the so-called largest snowstorms that year. Luck was fabulous. She sat on the curb not wanting to spend the time walking to her farm house two miles out of town.
She moved the dirt on the side of road around with a finger when a new shadow showed up on the sidewalk. She looked up at her temporary English teacher. “I thought you had to catch the bus,” he said sitting next to her.
“I missed it,” she said kicking a stone.
“Cus you where talking to me?” she nodded ‘yes’ to his question, “That’s wicked brutal. Friday before vacation and you’re left behind,”
“Really? I hadn’t thought of it like that,” she glared at him.
“Hey, I was in high school once,”
“I was being sarcastic, smart guy,” she said flicking some dirt at him.
“Well, if you’re going to be rude to a teacher then maybe I wont give you a ride like I was planning,” she said standing up and dusting his pants before walking off.
It took a moment for his words to click. When they did she jumped up shouting after him, “Hey, Mr. Seag, wait up!” He turned around to face Ivy just as she tripped. It’s hard to be graceful when falling, which Ivy proved in full as her face hit Seager’s chest. Of course he wasn’t expecting it just as much as she was and ended up acting as a pillow in the middle of the school’s parking lot.
As much as Ivy just wanted to lay there and snuggle up to his chest…and partly wished they where on a mattress-not asphalt, but she realized that she had also seen her former English teacher, Seager’s mentor, walking to his car. Due to these undesirable situations she jumped off of him and kneeled next to him. “Are you ok?” she said as he propped himself up on his elbows.
“Uhg,” he groaned putting his hand to the back of his head, “Yeah I’ll be fine, just a bump,” she helped him stand up and finish the walk to the car, “You still in for that ride,” he smirked at her.
“I would be delighted,” she said climbing into the passenger seat. He tried to start up the car, it took a few tries before the engine was revving at the expected speed. He wiped the fresh snowflakes off the windshield and started on their way.
The drove in silence for a few minutes, “Sorry, I don’t have a radio,” he apologized.
“No, it’s fine, I don’t mind really,” the end of that conversation. The snow slowly became heavier as they went, “This storm really is like coming out of no where,” she said looking out the window.
“Yeah and you live in the middle of no where,” he said in a seemingly angry voice.
“Hey it’s not my fault my parents chose a giant farm house that’s like 5 hours out of the city to leave me alone in,” she retorted.
“Where are your parents?” he asked quickly looking over at her.
“With my grandmother in Korea. She’s really sick and they went to go and bring her back but she’s took ill to travel so they’re going to stay with her for her last days,” she explained.
“Oh, I-,” he began but was interrupted by the engine making a loud explosion then stopping. He tried to start the car a few more times but each failed. He sighed in exasperation as he put his head back, “I hate my car some days,”
“Hey, we’re only about a five minute walk from my house, we go there and wait for the storm to end, then we call triple a!” she said turning to face him.
“Sounds like a plan, let me check the trunk I may have a hat or scarf or something,” he said unbuckling.
He went to the back of the car and skillfully karate chopped the trunk causing it to pop open. He moved some of the objects around and found a wool blanket. “You take it,” he said wrapping the blanket around her shoulders.
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me, kid, I’ll be fine,” he pounded on his chest in a Tarzan manner, “I have the best imunity of any person ever, I haven’t gotten sick in years.”
“Ok, then we should start walking, the snow’s getting heavier,” she said pulling the blanket over her head in a hood like fashion. They walked for about 7 minutes, slowed down by the wind and snow before they arrived at the large farmhouse that Ivy calls home.
Ivy held the wet cloth to his forehead, “I thought you didn’t get sick,” she mocked him. He laid in her bed sweaty with a high temperature. “At least you’re temperature is going down,” she said look at the thermometer after removing it from his ear.
“No making fun of the sick kid,” he said weakly before coughing.
“Hey, don’t kill your self. You sleep in here, it’s my bed so I can guarantee nothing disgusting has happened in it, well, to the extent of my knowledge. I’ll sleep downstairs.” She said removing his soaked cloth from his forehead.
“Wait,” he stopped her by reaching out, “What if I need you?” he asked lamely.
“You’re a grown man, the state trusts you to legally drink alcohol, can you not spend one night on your own?”
“Aww, but I’m sick,” he whined at her. Ivy gave Seager a defeated sigh and grabbed a pillow and blanket to throw down on the floor.
“I’m going to brush my teeth, can you take care of yourself for two minutes?” she asked from the doorway.
“I hope so.”
“So do I,” she mumbled to herself before disappearing for a minute or two. She returned to find him fast asleep, she laid down on her make shift bed to join him in dreamland.
The next morning Seager awoke to Ivy standing over him with a tray, “Morning sleepy head, you look a lot better,” she smiled down at him. She set the tray down on his lap, “Eggs in a frame,” she smiled at him.
“That’s my favorite, how’d you guess?” he asked looking at her.
“Uhm, I saw the ‘V for Vendetta’ sticker on your car and that’s a reoccurring theme in it,” she said fiddling with her hands in her lap. “How are you feeling?”
“A lot better, actually I think I’m cured,” he said as he ate his breakfast. Ivy sat on the foot of what was her bed, “How’s the weather?” he asked looking at her.
“We’re snowed in, it’ll take a few more days for it to melt enough to open the door, and the phone lines are down. So we may be playing board games for a day or two,” she explained.
“Well, then. What games have you got?” he said moving his tray to the side after finishing. Many hours later they had played each board game in the house. Due to the late wake up time it was already starting to get dark. “Anything else to do?” Seager asked sneezing again, which caused a cough, as it had been all day.
“Well, we’ve already played Risk, twice, but if you’d like, I know a Korean cold remedy that my mom always did for me when I was little, I think it works,” she offered sitting across from him in the living room.
“It would be nice,” he said rubbing his nose with a tissue. She went to the kitchen and gathered different herbs and blended them together and placed them next to the fire on the hearth with a penny sitting half in the mix as he removed his shirt. She had to use her best self-control to not drool.
She lifted the coin from the heated concoction, “It’s going to be a bit warm,” she said sitting behind him. Ivy placed the coin on the top of his left and dragged it across to the opposite side. He inhaled sharply and his back muscles flex as the coin started but his let out an enjoyed sigh as it moved. She re-dipped the coin and repeated the process creating new coatings of herbs across his back, but as she went, his sighs turned into relax moans. She finished and went to clean out this dish.
When she returned he was still in the same position on the ground, the only difference was the large seagull tattoo on his back now smelled of garlic. Ivy sat across from him and asked, “How are you feeling?”
He sighed and looked up at her, his face seemed to radiate sorrow, “No one’s taken care of me in a while,” Seager stared into her eyes.
She smiled at him, “I like taking care of people,” she stated trying to avoid his gaze. Unfortunately it was inescapable, she ended up staring back at him. Slowly she moved forwards until their lips connected. Guess what, it was her first kiss, and he kissed back.
Before she wanted his broke the kiss, “I’m sorry,” Ivy said looking at her lap, “We should go sleep,” her eyes stayed connected with the floor, “I mean go to bed,” she blushed. He stood up and followed her to the room where the beds where located.
This time, Ivy was the second one to wake up. She strolled into the kitchen to see Seager talking on the phone. “Yeah, Oak Street. A blue ford, yeah, the engine died. No, you can take it to the junkyard. Yeah I’ll get my stuff out of it first. Ok, yeah, thank-you.”
“Who was that?” she asked sitting at the table.
“Triple A,” said hanging the phone up, “I hope you don’t mind, I need to get home and feed my dogs.”
“It’s totally cool,” she said not looking up at him.
“Ivy, about last night,” he started, making it sound like they had sex, “I like you, as a student. And that’s it,”
Ivy couldn’t think of anything to say to him besides, ‘thanks for making me feel like a slut,’ but the tow truck pulled up in front of the house, Seager grabbed his coat and walked out to talk to the guy. Ivy returned up the stairs to lay in her now, re-claimed bed.
Ivy sat in the front and center of the classroom. She wished they where back in her living room playing risk. She wished that he was sick; she wished he wouldn’t be teaching today. She wished that he’d left; she wished it was still the week before vacation. She wished that she had gotten out of bed after he had left and eaten something, instead of staying curled up under the comforter.
He said hello to the class and asked if everyone had done their homework. He continued on with the class, but she couldn’t focus. She wasn’t in love necessarily, more just, she thought it would be cool to be with him. It was mostly a physical attraction. Yeah, basically she just wanted him. She thought he was rude and cold hearted and figured that his last girlfriend had died because he either bored her to death, or just was a jerk to her.
The class ended and she stayed seated, “Ivy?” Seager asked from his desk, “Are you ok?”
“Peachy keen,” she replied placing her bag on her shoulder. She walked towards the door as he grabbed her wrist.
“Listen, what I said last week, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything. It’s just, if we had done anything, well, it would be illegal,” he stated staring into her eyes as he tends to do.
“So?” she said looking back at him. He dropped her wrist and seemed as if he wanted to say something but she walked out of the room.
She walked down the hall, the more she thought about it, she had been the one who had suggested everything that they did, she talked the most, he just sat there adding in the occasional comment where needed, he didn’t actually like her. And she had never been kissed before so how did she know he was kissing back and not just grimacing in disgust.
She continued walking down the hall blindly towards the entrance to the building. Of course she didn’t realize her old teacher was running after her to tell her something, when he finally caught up with her he told her, “You’ve been switched into CP English, I hope you don’t mind, it’ll be at the same time, just different class and a different teacher.”
Ivy didn’t know if she should be glad or disappointed about not having to see Seager anymore. After spending all afternoon, night and morning, she decide as she sat in her new English class, that she was relieved that she didn’t have to bother anymore.
“I mean, yeah I like him,” Ivy told her friends as they sat in her room. She remained planted on her bed while Nathan sat on the beanbag chair and Emily was sprawled across the floor reading an old magazine.
“Whom do you like,” Emily asked looking up at her.
“Thurston Seag,” she over dramatically sighed as she flopped down in her bed, “Nate’s and formerly my, English teacher.”
“You think he recommended you to be in CP because he likes you?” Nate suggested from his relaxed seat.
“That would be a good theory, if he did like me,” she stated glaring at him.
“He does!” he protested.
“Wait,” Emily paused the building argument, “Is this seagull character that really attractive guy with the curly hair and always wears the sunglasses and the wicked sexy smile?”
“Uhg, don’t remind me,” Ivy groaned falling to her side on the bed.
“He spent two nights in this bed right here?” she asked indicating the bed that Ivy was laying on.
“I said don’t remind me,” Ivy’s face remained buried in her pillow.
“Move over,” her friend commanded joining her in laying in bed, “Now Nate continue with your theorem to why Seagull actually likes Ivy,” he allowed him once she was comfy.
“Well, you guys weren’t there, but Ivy, you know those poems we wrote?” he said sitting up and crossing his legs.
“Yeah so?”
“Well, he handed them out at random and we had to read the one we got, but the names weren’t on them.”
“Who got mine?”
“I did, ended with ‘refrigerator’ right?” he asked for clarification and she nodded grinning. “So, Matt, gets this one that’s like ‘I like you but I can’t be with you cus democracy’s a bitch,’ and I bet you 3 million dollars and my self in slavery that was his about you,” she stated slapping his hand to his knee for added effect.
“He still said ‘I only like you as my favorite student,’” she reminded him stuffing her face into her pillow.
“Hey, Ives, what’s your horoscope?” Emily asked from next to her.
“Middle of July,” she replied.
“And for Seagull?”
“Late October,”
“Well it says here that, you are both water signs and you’re able to swim through your emotional depths together, but cancer may seem more up and down than Scorpio who tends to remain calm on the surface. And you two will never be a causal fling! Sounds promising!” Emily read out of the magazine before smiling at Ivy.
Ivy had been enjoying her new English class, and had made the new friend, Emily. She was still bummed out about Seager and got nervous when she saw Nate talking to him after class when she went to get him to drive Nate home. She had never had a crush on an older man before. Well, she’d never had a crush on anyone before, really, not like this anyway. The honest truth on the subject is that it annoyed the hell out of her.
Emily was not her only new friend; in fact a boy who was one empty seat over had become quite infatuated with her. She hadn’t noticed him much but that Wednesday, three weeks after being switched classes, he asked her on a date. “So I’m going to see some local bands this Friday, and I wanted to know if you cared to join me,” he had asked tying to act suave.
“Anyone I know in them,” she had questioned in response.
“I don’t know, I don’t know who you know, ya know?”
She just giggled at his response and said, “Sure where is it?”
“The building they hold school meeting in, meet you there?”
“Yeah.”
“Doors open 5:30, show starts at 6 sharp, okay?”
“Yeah I’ll see you there,” she had agreed to her first date, it went much smoother than she thought it would.
She stood outside the city building trying to hold her sweater close to her, “It’s not supposed to be this cold,” Ivy exclaimed as Peter, her date, draped his arm over her shoulder. They had previously been in a warm café, which may have caused to cold to seem so extremely cold. Ivy watched the street nervously, she hadn’t been able to convince Emily or Ness to come with her to the concert and she hoped nothing awkward happened.
Just as Ivy was thinking about that she felt Peter’s gaze on her. When she turned her head be began to lean in for a kiss. She highly thought of stopping him, she didn’t want him like that, but she also thought that maybe if she had a boyfriend, Seager would notice her in another way than ‘his favorite student’.
Before anything happened a group of people walked up the steps and one of the guy’s said, “Peter-pan!” causing him to loose his concentration.
“Oh, yo man. Did you guy’s finally arrive?” he stood up greeting the stranger. The man was tall, unnaturally so, and skinny. He had a nice face though, she decided.
“Yeah the van broke down. It was up over night in ‘Stook with ‘lise, she was visiting her dad or something,” he continued to converse before noticing Ivy sitting on the steps. “Pete, are you, by chance, on a date?” he said jokingly nudging him.
“Uh, oh yeah, Ivy, this is DB and DB this is Ivy,” Peter introduced them.
“DB?” she asked raising an eyebrow at him after shaking hands, “What kind of name is that?”
“You’ll find that out after I’ve know you for more than one night. And the name’s Tim. You guys can come in, they maybe like half set up by now.”
Peter followed Tim through the doors and Ivy followed suit. They paid at the table set up next to the door and entered to see that the place was already pretty packed. The first band had set up and was doing a sound check. Peter talked around to different people; she didn’t talk much but noticed the layout of the room. The room itself was about the size of a basketball court with the band set up in the center. Behind the interments was a walled off area she guessed was like the back stage. To one side of the wall was a small hallway that led to the bathrooms. On the back wall next to the entrance door where multiple tables set up and covered in merchandise for the different bands. She stood next to Peter, he held her hand, as he talked to different friend who she wasn’t even introduced to, they where standing about two yards back from the set but off to the right. In total, it wasn’t that large of the space and the people seemed pretty spread out. Though she noticed, standing in the middle-front area where people like Peter, people who would probably leave with a black eye. Behind them on the right wall stood the girlfriends whom the boys stood in front of as a barrier, for safety reasons, during the sets, though between bands the girls would come out from the wall and check on their boy-toy’s health. On the opposite walls, where the guys who where there with no intention of hardcore dancing, but wore combat boots any way.
She didn’t join in the violent group of dancing or join the other girls; she more stood with the guys who created the barrier. Though she only stood watching she realized that it is slightly impossible to not get covered in sweat—and not necessarily only your own. Ivy found herself very hot after what seemed the 10th band she asked Peter if he had any water.
Confusingly he said no and handed her an almost full water bottle. It’s safe to say after the first sip she wasn’t confused, it was in fact an alcoholic drink. Ivy, being somewhat depressed in general due to her undesirable predicament of feelings towards a certain student teacher chose to get drunk anyway.
This was the first time that Ivy had binge drank, let alone drank at all, she was un able to hold her liquor and found herself easily subdued by her date outside of the men’s room.
“What the fuck?” she had heard someone say as her and Peter’s tongues connected, “Hey, you two break it up.” She then felt a hand on her shoulder, and since she was against the wall, figured there was also one on Peter's for they where soon separated. “This not the place—,” the familiar voice began cutting itself off before continuing, “Ivy? Seriously what the fuck? Peter, go back out there,” he ushered her date off to the performance and returned to say, “Common, I’d expect that type of thing from Peter, by you Ivy? What are you thinking? Do you just want to become pregnant in the hall way at a concert, if that is it then you should find a better guy to be the dad,” he lectured her.
Ivy stood up from leaning on the wall to use her serious voice to tell this prick that he isn’t her father and has no right to pick on Peter like that. Unfortunately it appears that a person tends to grace while intoxicated. She stumbled to the side then became nauseous and spilled her stomach on the tiled floor.
“Aw, shit you’re pissed off your horse,” he stated realizing her mental state as he took her by the arm to a well lit room—much different from the dark concert hall. She squinted unable to focus but was unable to see. Ivy felt herself being sat on a cushioned surface.
“Going for the drunk chicks now ay, man?” another familiar voice said upon her entering.
“No, DB, it’s one of my students,” the voice she had thrown up responded.
“I thought you dropped teaching so we could tour,” a female voice added to the conversation.
“Yeah I did but still, she’s the one whose house I—,” but his statement was interrupted by Ivy passing out on the couch.
When Ivy’s eyes fluttered open to the familiar scene of the ceiling of her room. She sighed glad she was home, but a question came to her aching mind, why was she home? Soon that question was replaced by the more prominent one of ‘What is Seager doing standing over my bed?…!’ She became unable to ask the question in her mind. She couldn’t face him. Ivy knew she had gotten drunk, that was very obvious and this aching head must be then what you call a ‘hang over’, the think she was embarrassed about was that she didn’t remember anything… she had no idea what she had done, how she had gotten home, and how she had gotten in her pajamas.
“Ivy,” he said gently as she curled up on the far side of the bed. She felt the weight shift as he, Ivy presumed, climbed on the bed. Seager sat next to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, “Listen I’m sorry, I really am,” after he said that all she could think was ‘oh no, I’m going to be pregnant.’
“What?” she turned over quickly to look at him, his face was sorrowful, like the last time he was over when he stated that no one took care of him. “What happened last night?” she asked completely seriously looking at him in the eyes.
“What?” he said in confusion, and then his expression changed from grief-stricken to laughing, “Nothing happened last night. You fell asleep on the couch back stage so I drove you home. Your back door was unlocked and as I was carrying you in and you woke up. You tried to walk up the stairs but almost fell down so I carried you up. You passed out as I was carrying you. I hope you don’t mind that I changed your clothes…and er…bra,” he looked away in embarrassment, “Iverna always hated wearing push-up bras to bed, so I kind of figured it’d be a universal thing,” He finished scratching his head.
“Oh, then what are you sorry about?” she asked confused relaxing a bit.
“I’m sorry I asked for you to go to honors English,” he said looking down as Ivy laid down on her stomach next to him who was on his back. “It’s that you’re so much like Iverna, and I knew you liked me,” he said glancing over at her, “And I like you. It’s just, you reminded me so much of her, I couldn’t help but like you. And I got worried on the first day because that something that she would have done, and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you. During vacation though, I realized that all you had in common was looks and that made me happy.”
She didn’t meet his gaze as he said that, instead she asked, “Who’s Iverna?”
“My ex-girlfriend.”
“The dead one?”
“Yeah,” he said chuckling.
“How’d she die?” she asked moving so she was laying more on her side looking at him.
“Well, we’d been going out about a year and a half when she started getting into some majorly heavy shit, like shooting up. And about a month later she told me that she was pregnant. We weren’t ready for a kid, far from it, but there’s a kind of happiness that I got from looking at the growing bump that I’ve never felt before that was amazing. I have never played bass as well as I had in those 6 months,” Seager’s face brightened as he moved his arm so he could rest his head on it.
“She never called me Seager or Seagull like most people, only Thor. But 7 months into her pregnancy, 6 since she told me, we got in a fight. She was getting the shake from withdrawal because I wouldn’t let her touch any junk. She told me that she’d go jump out the window if I didn’t let her go out. I did, I don’t know yet if I regret it or not. She left with some druggie in a car that night and about an hour later the hospital called me saying that she was dead but they saved her baby. I went as fast as I could to go see my daughter. She was beautiful, just like her mother. They had me do a DNA test before they allowed me to sign the papers for her. It turned out negative. Turns out that the guy who had been driving the car was the father,” he paused for a moment, “I still haven’t forgiven her for it. I didn’t take the child; some friends of mine who are gay adopted her. I’m uncle Thor to her, that’s it.”
“I’d say that’s so sad but I bet a lot of people have said that.”
“Ivy, how come your parents are never home?” he asked looking at her.
“Uhm, well they go to New York a lot because they’re lawyers and I just found out that they’re down there now getting a divorce, and my dad’s moving down there,” she told him.
“I’m sorry,” he said paused then gave her a hug. Ivy didn’t want the hug to end but it did, instead of placing her head on the pillow she set it on his shoulder and his arm snaked it’s way around her’s.
“I quite teaching,” he said after a few minutes of silence.
“Why?”
“My band got signed last night was our kick off show for the tour, we’re leaving this morning,” he looked over at the clock, “Shit five minutes ago,” he exclaimed jumping out of bed.
“Wait,” she said and he turned around to face her. She couldn’t think of anything to say. Ivy stood up and went to her bureau and grabbed a key and undid a lock on a necklace that was the lock attached to a chain, “Here,” she said handing it to him.
He put it on around his neck and began to walk out the door before stopping and returning to kiss her.
All Ivy could think about though was how she didn’t tell him that she was moving to New York with her dad.