Page 17 of Leo
I waited for a few minutes, tempted to call him like an impatient teenager.Busying myself with rearranging my desk took up a little bit of time, just enough to make me think he wasn’t going to call after all.The sudden, sharp buzz of my phone made me grin like an absolutely goof.Snatching it up, I accepted the call before the first trill had even finished.“Welcome to Ambrose’s Nice Buns.How can I help you today?”
He snorted.“Seriously?That’s how you answer your phone?”
“Only when I know it’s you,” I risked.He made a startled little sound that went straight to my cock.“So, what can I do you for, Leo?”
“Ah.Well.First, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed last night.”
He sounded so shy when he said it, almost hesitant, and there went another one of those jolts.“I did, too.It’s been a long time since I’ve had a conversation like that.”
“Rambling?”
“Mmm.But in the best way.I’d love to do it again,” I added.“Maybe this time in person?”
“Relentless.”He sighed, but he didn’t sound annoyed.“I need to go meet one of my part timers at the crematorium soon, but I was asking about the elementary school because… Well.I really just wondered if you knew Ms.Webb.My life-long guilt complex tells me I might be overreacting, but I really don’t think I am.Not when it comes to this anyway.But I kind of just wanted to be sure I wasn’t overreacting, if that makes sense.”He paused, sighed, and added, “Pretend I didn’t just word vomit all over the place.Let me start over: I just wondered if you knew Ms.Webb, one of the first-grade teachers at the elementary school.”
“Webb… Tall lady, red hair, never met a sweater vest she didn’t like?”’
“That’s her.I suppose she was never one of Bethany’s teachers, if she didn’t start at the elementary till around fourth grade or so.”
“I’ve met Ms.Webb at a few of the PTA to-do’s I catered desserts for.She was… intense,” I settled.“Very particular about things, if I recall correctly.”
He grunted.“Apparently, she’sparticularabout Edward’s stimming and his accommodations.Mostly in the sense that she feels Edward’s needs can best be met by ignoring his IEPs and trying to force him to be,” he paused, and I couldfeelthe cringe in the word when he said it, “normal.”
I’d only met Edward a grand total of twice, but I was enraged on his behalf.“The fuck?”
“Basically, my response.I spoke with the lead teacher for first grade today, and I have a meeting scheduled with the principal, Ms.Webb, and looping in Edward’s pediatrician via video chat.”He sighed.“The district has some amazing teachers, from what I understand, but she’s not one of them.Not when it comes to my kid, anyway.He usually loves school but lately he’s been snappish and withdrawn whenever the subject comes up.I thought at first, back when this all started, maybe it was the change from Kindergarten to big kid classes, you know?Going from half-days to full, and having a different teacher, less play time during the day…” Leo hesitated before saying, “The whole reason I had to meet with her yesterday was because Edward spent the entirety of recess tearing pages out of his take-home notebook.When she asked him to stop, he shouted at her and hid himself in the playhouse until I came up to the school.He told me she kept doing thequiet hands, look at mething, which I was assured she wouldnotdo when we met at the beginning of the school year.Edward hit his tipping point and I was damn near hitting one myself.”
“I get that.”I sighed.“Bethany’s been having a rough go of it as well.I talk to her teachers and guidance counselors more than I do anyone else in this town.Is there anything I can do?”I asked.“I mean, I totally lack any sort of influence over the school board or anything like that, but I can make her a really gross muffin or something.I’ve got a bunch of carob chips and wheat germ left from my one foray into health food recipes from the seventies…”
His laugh was going to be the death of me, I decided, the way it made everything.inside turn to liquid heat.“I appreciate it but maybe save that unless I have no other options.”
“I’ll keep it on standby, along with the spectacularly bad idea that was my Spam cake recreation.”
“You monster,” he deadpanned.“Shit, I need to go.I can’t keep Gwen Mendel waiting.”
“That your part timer?”
“Huh?No.Gwen Mendel’s being cremated.Natalie is my part timer.She’s already at the crematorium.It takes two of us to do this properly so…”
“Well.Don’t keep the ladies waiting,” I said, wincing at the accidental grim humor.“Oh!Before I forget… Do you think you could help me with something?”Showing Leo some of the videos I’d made and saved made me nervous, but I knew he’d be honest with me about the suck level.
“Depends.What is it?”
“It’s hard to explain but if you have some time this weekend, I’ll show you.”
“Ah…”
I laughed.“I’ll show you that too, if you want.”
His startled gasp and hurried, “Um, we’ll… we’ll see.Bye!”kept me buzzing for the rest of the afternoon, all the way until the guidance counselor from the high school called.
“Mr.Jennings?This is Carly Reyes, one of the counselors from Gaynor Beach Senior High.Your sister, Bethany, is in my section.”
“Uh, okay?Is everything alright?Isn’t she out of school by now?”I glanced at the clock—it was almost four, which meant she was either on her way here, or she’d already gone home and was pretending to do homework.“Did something happen?”
“Well, yes and no.”There was a long pause, and I braced myself for what was coming.I knew that pause—it was theshit sandwichpause.Compliment, something shitty, compliment.People had been aiming that at Bethany for the past few years, and I knew this call was about to be more of the same.“Bethany is a very unique young woman, Mr.Jennings, and while she’s doing well academically, it’s been noted by many of her teachers and, well, myself that she has difficulty making friends or even maintaining social relationships with others in her cohort.”
“Okay… not everyone is a social butterfly,” I said.“What’s this about really, Ms.Reyes?”
