Page 14 of Single Teddy
“Busy, huh?” I asked, and my sister groaned.
“Are you going to talk, or do you want a third smack in the head?”
“Okay, okay!” I said, joining the line of people waiting to order their boba drink.
I told her about this morning, about prepping for my new student, about falling from my chair and being caught by Dream Man, about our conversation, word for word, or as much as I could recollect, and how I couldn’t stop thinking about him the whole day.
“Jeez, Wes!” she said when I was done and we had gotten to the front of the line.
“What?” I asked and turned to Enzo, one of Hwan’s employees, and gave my order. “A Dirty Biscuit bubble tea with tapioca and a passionfruit fruit tea with green apple popping boba.”
“Right away, handsome.” He smirked at me and rang up my order while Hwan got busy mixing our drinks.
Poor thing was so busy he could barely come around to properly greet us, settling for waving hello and giving us his signature smile.
“What do you mean what? You tell me you’re in love and leave me on read the whole day, and it’s for a silly little crush?”
“Not a silly little crush. You haven’t seen Teddy. He’s a dream.”
“Well, yeah, might as well be. I thought you got yourself a boyfriend or something.”
I shrugged.
“You know I’m not lucky in that department.”
“So what are you going to do about your silly little crush?” she asked as we sat at a recently cleared table.
“What do you expect me to do? He’s my student’s parent. I can’t do anything about it.”
“Pfft, bullshit.”
“Well, no, not bullshit actually. It’s inappropriate. And probably against school policy,” I said.
“Screw policy and screw him instead,” she said, banging her hand on the table with fire in her eyes.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair.
“First of all, I don’t even know if he’s interested in men. Second of all, even if he was, he literally just turned into a parent overnight. I’m sure the last thing he needs is a teacher thirsting after him?—”
“Why don’t you let him decide that?” she interrupted.
“And third of all,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard her. “Even if one and two weren’t a problem, it doesn’t mean he will want me.”
Ruby collapsed on the table with her whole chest and face crying out for mercy, but as usual, I ignored her.
Hwan approached our table with our order and raised an eyebrow.
“Are you okay, Ruby?”
Ruby straightened, grabbed her tea, and shook her head.
“No. No I’m not. My brother is an idiot with confidence issues, and he’s driving me nuts.”
Hwan chuckled and passed me my drink before he put both hands to his hips.
“Is that true, Wesley?”
“I’m just realistic.”
