When Chip bumbled out the door with a mouthful of fudge, I closed it behind him, then turned to look at Finn.
“Are you okay tonight? You seem a little agitated,” he asked as he stood by an empty easel, brows tangled in concern.
“I’m good. Honestly, I just… ” I took a second to center and breathe. Dr. Quackers would be tugging his goatee in glee if he could see me putting his calming suggestions into play. “I’m just a little edgy because I had plans for tonight and they kind of went south. That made me feel anxious and out of control. But, and this is a big but, I’m seeing my reaction for what it is and am working through it now.”
“Wow, you sure have picked up that counseling jargon. Good on you.”
I would have risen up onto my toes at the praise, but I wasn’t ten. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of been inserted into my brain over the past few months. Emotional responses to triggers, underlying issues, yadda yadda.” I shrugged it all off. I didn’t want Finn to see me as weak. “So, I got you something.”
He blinked. “I didn’t get you anything. I thought we were just doing the party and?—”
“No, hey, no, it’s cool. Seriously.” I hurried over to him, close enough to smell his cologne but not be too intimidating. Man, Dr. Quackers would blow a psychiatric nut when I told him about tonight. “I don’t really want anything. Holidays are tense for me. I kind of… well, I’m working on all of that, soplease don’t feel obligated. I just wanted to give you something that showed how much this class has meant to me.” He seemed unable to speak and just nodded. I dashed to my coat, ran back, and held out the clumsily wrapped present. “I’m not really good at wrapping gifts. Never had much practice, so if you don’t want to open it, then?—”
He shook his head softly as his eyes grew dewy. “I think you did a fine job.” He tore into the paper like a Schnauzer sniffing out a new dog bone under the fancy blue and white wrap. I had to chuckle. He stared at the little ceramic teacher for so long that I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Did he hate it? Was it a dumb gift for an adult to give another adult? Shit. It was dumb. I knew it.
“This is so sweet, thank you.” He turned those wet hazel eyes to me, and I felt something incredibly strong well up inside my chest. “It’s just so thoughtful… ”
“Well, you’ve been really patient with me. I know I’m an asshole.”
“No. You arenotan asshole. You’re a tender man with a very strong suit of armor.”
That made me laugh out loud. “Oh yeah, that’s me. Sir Walker, Knight of the Copperheads, slayer of net crashers, hero of Rochester.” We both snickered. “I saw it, and it was so you. I know it’s probably something a kid would give you, but I’m not good at shopping and, well, yeah.”
“It’s lovely. I will cherish it always.”
That made me feel light as a snow cloud. “Cool. So, uhm, I know I’m not exactly the finest catch in the sea, but if you were okay with it, I thought maybe we could go out sometime?” A tiny twitch at the corner of his lips confused me. “Or not. I mean if there’s some sort of thing where a teacher shouldn’t date a student. Oh. Well, okay, obviously teachers shouldn’t dateunderage kids, but I’m not sure about that line when it’s two grown men and?—”
“Walker, there is no wrong or right gift. If it’s from the heart, then it’s the right gift.”
I nodded dully. His gaze held mine. “I would really like to kiss you, but you haven’t said yes or no to a date. I don’t want to kiss a dude who isn’t into going out with me.”
“Sorry. I am feeling all the feels right now. I would very much like to go out with you sometime.”
“Cool. Okay, cool.” I blew out a long exhalation. “So, I guess we should maybe wait until after this class ends in a few more weeks just to like ensure I’m back on my life track and no one can fault you for doing something morally gray.”
“That sounds wonderful. Our ten-week class is over in two weeks.”
“Yeah, good. And I’ll be back on the ice by then, so I’ll have to check my schedule, but for sure, I want to take you out for dinner.”
He rose onto his toes to kiss me gently on the cheek. Soft as a kitten’s whiskers, and just as ticklish. His lips lingered on my scruffy cheek for a few moments. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to turn my face or hug him to me. When he lowered back to his feet, I gazed at him with a doofy smile. He returned my dorky smile with one of his own.
“Guess we should clean up and head home,” he offered, and I bobbed my head.
I toted all the easels out for him, tucked them into his car, and then took his hand in mine to press a kiss to his cold knuckles.
“See you next class,” I whispered, then dropped his hand. He patted my face before driving off. I looked around, saw the area was empty, and skipped back to my truck.
The following night,I was on the ice. In a game. Ya-freaking-hoo.
Instead of listening to a lovely young lady singing the anthem, I was being barraged by a rather upset goalie.
“I do not understand why you do not tell the rest of us about the statue. It is not such a thing as being big or not small, no, it is that we would have liked to maybe chirp in.”
I shot Arnaud a glower as we stood in a tidy line in front of the bench. I’d never guessed that Finn would share a picture of my gift on his Instagram account or that the other guys in art class followed him. I mean, yeah, I did, but that was because I was a sappy shit who liked to look at the images of him doing fun things while looking super adorable. Masturbation may have been involved as well while scrolling, but I was a guy with an active libido. Sue me.
“Chip,” I growled over my shoulder as the singer reached a high note that made the entire bench wince.
“Yeah?” Chip asked, craning his head to look back at me.
