Beached Whale
Hello friends! I apologize for my lack of posting, but college is kicking my butt!! I had this dream the other day and just had to share it with everyone. Once again, this is a work of fiction! Enjoy!
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When I woke up this morning, I thought today was going to be a regular school day. I would get dressed, have a small breakfast, and then head to the local elementary school where I was a second year kindergarten teacher.
I wasn’t ready for this school day. I just wasn’t.
*******
As I parked my little Mini Cooper next to a monster of a truck, I took my deep relaxing breaths. I was ready for today. I was ready for the Kindergarteners, I was ready for the work, and I was ready to teach.
What I wasn’t ready for would be the tall, dark, and handsome gentleman walking into my school.
What was he doing here??
He looked good, dressed like a teacher. With khakis that hugged his thick thighs, black button-up shirt that left little to the imagination, and a red tie, he looked on point.
Just because he was looking good doesn’t mean I was ready for him to be here. I was definitely not ready to see my high school crush.
I hurried to dodge out of the way. There was NO WAY I was ready to see him now. I was in my cute teacher outfit, not my “catch a fella” ensemble. I had to move so he didn’t see me. I didn’t want the first time he saw me since high school to be now!
I ducked into my classroom, happy to have dodged that bullet. A delicious, sculpted, ripped bullet, but a bullet nonetheless.
I stayed in my part of the building throughout the day. Questions kept popping into my head.
Why is he here?
Is he a teacher?
What class does he teach?
Is he married?
Is he single?
Would he remember me?
It was going to be a long day…
***************
Finally the final bell rang, releasing my students from my care. I was excited for the end of school, but I wasn’t ready to see him. So I stuck behind and caught up on some work.
After about an hour and a half (yes, I was THAT serious about not seeing him) I decided it was probably safe to go home.
I packed up, locked my door, and headed towards the main doors (this late at night, I needed to make sure I left through the main doors to make sure I didn’t trigger any alarms). I walked to the office to sign out when I look up and saw him smiling at me though the office windows. I seriously debated on if I could sneak out the back, to hell with those alarms.
He waved.
I blanched.
He smiled.
I melted.
He didn’t give me a chance to run, since his smile put me in a trance, which prohibited me from scurrying away from the situation. One minute I was planning an escape route, and the next he was right in front of me.
He was close enough my body reacted the same way it did in high school…
******
High School - Senior Year
“Reese, I need you to put all of the checked-in books back on the shelf. Then I need you to add the books in these boxed into the system. Can you do that for me?”
Since I wasn’t in band, my “filler” class was being a librarian for fifty minutes a day. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the library.
The quiet, the books paired with the people who do not want to be spoken to? It was my paradise.
However, today, my teacher was getting on my nerves. She had a to-do list a mile long but I couldn’t even breathe because he was here let alone conquer a to-do list.
Why was he here? He never came to the library. He wasn’t known for his innate ability to research a paper. No, he was known for his ability to throw a football. He could throw the football anytime, anywhere, and to anybody with exact precision.
It was quite amazing.
But that means he didn’t have to try in school. He didn’t have to study, he didn’t have to turn homework in; he just didn’t have to.
Teachers didn’t expect him to, so why should he?
“Um, yeah. Sure, Mrs. P.” I don’t even look her in the eye, I’m afraid he will notice I’m in here. He can’t know I’m in here.
Him.
Why does he have to be in here? I tell you, the high school gods are mean. Just cruel.
He is the only one that sees the real me. He didn’t allow my appearance to deter him from getting to know me. He didn’t care like the others do, which is why I’m in love with him.
I’ve known him since our freshman year. He was my lab partner in Physical Science. I was really worried when I heard my name paired with his, since he was in the popular group and I was in a group all by myself.
Fat.
Blimp.
Whale.
They were names I heard everyday. People had started calling me BW- which stood for Beached Whale. I doubted anyone even knew my real name. I had found the summer of my eighth grade year about my Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which meant my body was a wreck.
Excessive weight. Additional acne. Cramps that sent me home sick. Polycystic ovarian syndrome was not meant for a new freshman. There was enough stress, thank you very much.
I put on thirty pounds that summer, paired with a mean face of acne it was easy for kids to point fingers, laugh, and make jokes.
I was not the most liked in high school (HA), so I tended to stay out of the way. I never rocked the boat.
Often I attended a whole school day without saying a word. That was until HE was my lab partner.
When I didn’t make a move to head over to him, I hear him, sigh, packing his things.
Holy shit. He’s coming over here.
“Hey, its Reese right?” He looks right into my plain green eyes and I almost choke.
He knew my name.
Now, you must know a sane person would have answered, even asked him a question, kept the conversation going.
Not Me.
Nope, I ran. I grabbed my bag, and ran to the bathroom.
After I properly locked myself into a stall, I had a melt down.
What was wrong with me? He asked me a question, he was being polite, why did I freak?
After a bit, I heard the bathroom door open. “Hello? Reese? Are you in here? Are you all right? Wait, is anyone else in here?” When nobody answered, he came in. “Reese, are you sick? Do I need to find the nurse?” He sounds genuinely concerned, I don’t answer. “Um, was it something I said? Did I offend you?” He was worried about me.
I didn’t answer for ten whole minutes.
For ten minutes, he sat on the floor in the girls’ bathroom just to make sure I was okay.
I never said a word to him. But. I did fall in love with him.
I was a complete jerk to him because of my lack of social grace, but he stayed sitting on the girls bathroom floor with me in silence to make sure I was okay. After the ten minutes, the bell rang to release us from school, since Physical Science was our last class. He stood up, threw a note under the stall and went to football practice.
I opened the letter at home, where nobody could see.
What did the ocean say to the sailboat?
Nothing, he just waved….
See you tomorrow
I was in love with him.
Which is why I was in a pickle now. He was in my library, the last day of school. He was searching for something. I had to help him; it was my job.
But I couldn’t do it.
I let him wonder around, aimlessly for at least thirty minutes before he approached my workstation.
“Hey Reese, have your yearbook on you?” He smiles at me; oblivious to the havoc he’s causing me.
I can’t speak, I just hand him my yearbook. Which he takes, flips to the back, frowns, grabs a pen and walks off.
With my yearbook.
What is he doing? Where is he going with my yearbook? Am I not going to stop him?
Nope.
I just sit at my workstation, dumbfounded, waiting for him to hopefully return with my yearbook.
Minutes pass, at least ten whole minutes. I wait.
When he comes back, my yearbook is closed and he is smiling.
“Do me a favor, okay Reese?” I nod my head. “Don’t open this until after graduation. Okay?”
Is he blushing?
He doesn’t allow me to answer (probably best, I wouldn’t have been able to). The bell rings and he walks out of my life.
I never said a word to him in the four years I knew him.
But he captured my heart.
********
"Hey! I thought that was you! How have you been Reese?” He looks so happy to see me.
Come on Reese, you can do it. You can talk to him. Just answer his question.
“Hi, I’ve been well. How about yourself?” I did it. I finally talked to him.
I’m so busy throwing myself a celebration in my head; I don’t notice his response to my answer.
He isn’t moving. He is dumbfounded; his eyebrows are up, his mouth ajar, eyes are open wide.
OH MY GOD. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken to him. Geez, it took me ten years to say a word to this man. What the hell is wrong with me?
This is a bad situation. ABORT. ABORT.
I look at the ground, mumble something about needing to leave, and rush out of the building.
Only to feel a big, strong hand grabbing my arm.
“Please don’t leave, I’m sorry. I was just surprised, that’s all. I’ve never heard your voice before. It was a bit of a shock. I’m sorry” He looks like I just kicked his puppy - worried and a bit scared.
He must have felt my embarrassment because he followed with, “Reese, please.”
This man. Even now, I’m under his spell.
I smile and motion to the parking lot, “You coming or what? Can’t stay here forever, then the kids will be right about me living here.”
He chuckles, turning to allow me to lead, letting his hand fall to the small of my back.
Perfection.
We get to the parking lot, where the only two cars are my cooper and the beast of a truck.
I smile, remembering how him and his friends always had big, ridiculous trucks in high school. “A big truck? Really? Is that even necessary?”
He smirks, “The bigger the better.” He lowers the tailgate and lifts me up onto the frame.
I know I’ve lost weight. I made it a mission in college; I was going to lose the weight. I was never going to give someone a reason to call me BW again.
After years of working out, I was happy with my weight. I was a healthy size twelve, so I was content.
However, having the guy you crushed on in high school lift you makes those insecurities rush back real quick.
After he feels I’m settled onto the tailgate, he hops up himself.
We talk for hours. About everything and anything. When it starts getting a bit chilly, he grabs a blanket from the cab of the truck and we snuggle in close.
Thank god it’s Friday.
After a while, when I start to doze off, I decide its probably time to go home.
“Hey, thanks for this. I had fun, but I think its time to call it a night.” As I say this, a giant yawn takes over my life.
He chuckles, “Sure, let me help you.” Then he jumps off the tailgate, grabs me, and carries me to my Cooper.
Holy shit.
After I’m in my Cooper, I look up at him and thank him.
He looks at me with a sad expression, “Why didn’t you ever call?”
I’m lost. “What do you mean?”
“Our senior year, I wrote in your yearbook. Why didn’t you ever call?”
Oh shit.
I never actually read what he wrote in my yearbook. I was too chicken shit to read it. I was afraid it said something I wasn’t ready for.
Maybe he agreed with everyone else, I was a loser.
Maybe he thought I was weird.
Maybe, just maybe he wrote something just to make sure I had someone sign my yearbook.
So I ever read it. I tucked it away for safekeeping.
“I um, I never read it.” I can’t look at him.
“Why?”
Shoot, “Well, I was afraid of what you said.” I’m a loser. That’s for sure, I don’t need to look at my yearbooks to know that. I am a loser, a big pathetic loser.
He sighs, then leans into my Cooper and kisses me.
“Read it,” is all he said before he jumped in his truck and sped off.
I need to find my yearbook.
They are wrong.
I think you are beautiful,
inside and out.
Call me (589) 371-2837
age 22 9.4.2018
