“Good afternoon, hello, good day,” a gentleman rambled while bustling through the door. “Sorry I’m running a bit behind today, but if everyone could quickly get their textbooks and find the chapter regarding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Emotional Needs, we will jump right in.”
The teacher was a tiny fellow with gray wiry hair and patches of stubble surrounding his jawline. His glasses sat on the tip of his nose as he shuffled amongst his papers at his podium. He was a slob, with his shirt half tucked into khakis two sizes too big. From the looks of it, you could tell he was late often.
He glanced up from his desk, and his attention was immediately drawn to me in the back. “I’m Dr. Kippler. There are extra textbooks on the bookcase behind you if you need one.” After I retook my seat, I flipped through the pages of the textbook when Dr. Kippler spoke up again. “Ah, nice of you to join us, Masters.”
I lifted my gaze to see Ollie taking a seat at the front of the room in front of the girl with blonde hair, and then it made sense. She was waiting for Ollie. Her small shoulders relaxed and she tucked her short hair behind her ear.
“This time I will let it pass since I was late myself, but no more warnings,” Dr. Kippler added, but I knew this was a regular thing for Dr. Kippler. He would never be on time.
Ollie nodded before turning his head to the blonde-haired girl who greeted him with a gentle hand over his shoulder.
But his attention quickly became mine the moment he spotted me in the back.
Three intense seconds passed with his eyes on mine before he mouthed,“Hi.”
The blonde-haired girl turned to see what had robbed her of his attention. She narrowed her eyes, and I gave them both a small wave with my fingers.
Dr. Kippler cleared his throat, and both Ollie and blonde-haired girl snapped their heads back to the front. “Masters, what are the six human emotional needs?”
Ollie’s posture relaxed as he stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Certainty, variety, significance, love, growth, and contribution,” he replied without opening his textbook.
“And which ones are required for human survival?” Kippler tested him.
“Certainty, variety, significance, and … love.”
I coughed out a laugh at the mention of the last one.
“Beg to differ … miss …,” Kippler looked down at his desk. “Jett.”
As I tapped my pencil on the edge of the desk, everyone turned around in their seats.
“No, keep going. You guys are doing great,” I said with a thumb in the air and a smile to match my sarcasm. I’d been in situations like this before, and it was a lose/lose battle. I had my beliefs about love, they had theirs, and I wasn’t here to convince anyone otherwise.
“Becks, which one do you feel is most significant to your needs?”
The heat was taken off of me and was now on a red-headed freckled boy sitting in the front. He was a total fire-starter. He had the red hair to match.
“Significance.”
My eyes rolled at my accuracy.
“I guess I want to be seen and heard,” Becks added.Yeah,with fire.
“Gwen?” Kippler asked.
Gwen, also known as the blonde-haired girl behind Ollie, leaned closer to Ollie. “Certainty,” she said. Ollie adjusted in his seat before she continued, “I want to feel safe and secure, I suppose. Especially in my relationships.” The way she said it somehow made the air in the room thicker, stuffier.
“What about you, Masters? What is your most significant need?”
I was on the edge of my seat for this one, certain Ollie was going to say “Significance” as well. Since I’d been here, he’d managed to get more attention from girls than I’d received from Jake. He looked like the kind of guy to crave attention and the need to be desired by others as much as the next guy.
“Hard to say, Kipp. I want to say, out of my options, love, but love is hardly an emotion.”
Wait. What?
“What do you mean?” Dr. Kippler asked.
“Emotions can change. They can go from one extreme to the next depending on various conditions, but love…”—he shook his head slightly—”love never waivers. It endures all other emotions. If it couldn’t withstand, then it was never really love in the first place.” Ollie let out a sigh. “Love is invariable, Kipp. Constant. Not an emotion.”
