Page 122 of Hot Four Teacher
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you something. Men are pigs.”
She looks at me. “Are you a pig?”
“When I was young, yes, I was. Guys that age only think with one body part, and it’s not their brains.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get that. Last year, I had a boyfriend I was crazy about. When I wouldn’t put out, he dumped me and slept with my friend.”
“Yeah, boys are dumb. I’m sorry that happened to you, but I’m guessing if you didn’t want to do it with your boyfriend, that you probably didn’t want to do it with a frat boy you barely know.”
She sighs. “I know.”
I spend a few more minutes lecturing her about her irresponsible decisions and their consequences.
When I’m finished, she asks, “You want to know something messed up?”
“What’s that?”
“In the past ten minutes, you’ve acted more like my dad than my actual father ever did.”
Hearing her say that breaks my heart a little. I hate that she has to go through this.
I look over and see a tear falling down her cheek. She says, “I just don’t know why he never cared about me. Why is his new family so much better than me?”
I pull the truck over to the side of the road and put it in park.
“Eve, I want you to listen to me. If your dad can’t see how great of a kid you are, that’s his problem. One day, he’s going to be an old man, sitting all alone in his house, and he’s going to regret his decisions. When he turns on the TV and sees thatyou’re a soccer superstar or a scientist that cured cancer, he’ll realize how much of an idiot he is.”
She looks over at me and gives me a weak smile. “Coach,” she begins. “I’m going to puke.”
“Shit. Open the door.”
She does and then hangs her head out and starts vomiting. I reach over to hold her hair back as best I can.
Well, tonight didnotgo as I imagined.
***
Fifteen minutes later, I pull into Michelle’s driveway. Eve has been dozing the past few minutes, so I walk over to help her out.
As I open the door, she looks at me. “I really wish my dad could’ve been someone like you.”
I have no idea how to respond to that without giving away anything that her mother doesn’t want her to know, so I just smile back and help her out.
We get to the door and knock. Michelle opens the door and grins at me before her head snaps to Eve.
“What the hell is going on?” she asks.
I look at Eve for her to answer.
Still out of it, she says, “I went to a frat party. Got drunk. A guy got handsy. Coach showed up like a fucking superhero and saved me. And then, I puked. I think you’re all caught up now.”
Anger washes over her features. “What?”
“Mom, I totally know you’re going to yell…a lot, but I’m about to throw up again.”
She immediately steps out of the way, letting Eve run past her to the bathroom. She follows her but looks over her shoulder at me.
