He twisted from where he’d been writing on his board. “Hello.” He regarded her pleasantly, but not as openly as usual. She might be mistaken, but she thought she saw guardedness in his eyes.
“I’m going to lunch and wanted to see if you were interested in joining me.”
“I’m meeting a parent in the foyer in a few minutes, but I’ll walk toward the break room with you.”
It was a good sign that he’d offered to walk with her. Wasn’t it? She waited while he capped his marker.
Usually, they chatted daily and shared lunch with Connor andtheir other teacher friends a few times a week. Since her dates with Sebastian last weekend, he hadn’t stopped by her room or texted. She’d opted to give him space at first. But, at this point, she was beginning to worry that giving him space might have been the wrong approach. It was possible that he’d translated the distance she’d extended to him as indifference on her part.
She frequently found herself at a loss when it came to navigating relationship dynamics. What would someone with a high EI do in this predicament? It seemed that they’d reach out to Ben.
They walked down the mostly deserted hallway lined on both sides with lockers. “Sebastian told me that you encouraged him to ask me out,” she said.
He slipped his hands into the pockets of the flat front beige pants he wore with a green-and-white-checked button-down. “Yeah. I did.”
“That was nice of you.”
“He’s a good friend.”
“Right, and the last thing I’d want to do is get in the middle of your friendship with him.”
They turned a corner in silence. “You won’t.”
“Or ruin my friendship with you.”
“You won’t.”
“Ben.” She stopped several yards from the break room.
He stopped, too, meeting her eyes.
“Is it going to upset you if I go on more dates with him? Because, if so, I won’t go.”
“Do you want to go on more dates with him?”
“I’m conflicted about that,” she admitted. “But I think I do.”
She saw maturity in the lines beside his eyes, lines which usually held laughter. “Sebastian is too solitary for his own good. It would mean the world to him to date someone like you, Leah.”
She metabolized that. “Okay, but what about you? I’ve known you much longer than I’ve known him. You’re important to me, and I’m trying to be sensitive to your feelings.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m fine.”
“Will you still want to hang out with me if I’m ... seeing him?”
“I’ll still want to hang out with you. Definitely. It’s just...” He looked to the side, then looked back at her. “Maybe give me a little more time?”
“Of course. Is there anything else I can do?”
“Let a week or two or fifty pass before talking to me about your relationship with Sebastian.”
“Agreed. Anything else?”
“Blueberry muffins.”
“Blueberry muffins?”
“The next time you bake blueberry muffins with crumb topping, bring me some, and we’ll call it good.”
