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Me: Yeah, I’ll be here for another ten-ish minutes, home in 30. Did you wanna grab dinner or something?

Kodi: Or something

Resigned to accept whatever chaos Kodi was planning, I set my phone aside and focused on inputting the spelling quiz results into my grade book. "Price" tripped a lot of them up, so I made a note to add a review of that to my next lesson plan. Though with less than a week left in the year, I might as well just save that for next month. The kids were already spending all of recess and craft time focused on the holidays, and their excitement was contagious. This was the first Christmas in a long time that I had someone to spend it with, someone to spend the morning drinking coffee, though mine would unfortunately be decaf, and watching the lights on the tree twinkle. It was going to be so … cozy and that moment of future warmth was easing some of my anxieties about getting into my first relationship in nearly a decade.

Though now that I was thinking about it, we hadn’t actually discussed holiday plans. Even while we spent a solid three hours decorating my home. And he had said something about a game in Italy after the championship.

“Whoa, what’s that face for?” Kodi asked and I jolted in my seat at the unexpected sound of her voice, and her, at my doorway.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked as she came into the classroom, followed by Nicole.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Should I have called to see if it was okay? I figured since it was the end of the day, it’d—”

“No, it’s fine,” I told her quickly. During our gossip session, she’d confessed how anxious this job had made her after moving states to take it last year. She was a social person and not having the chance to make friends because she was wrapped up in work really put her in a bad mental state. I couldn’t relate to needing social interactions, but I did get the anxiety of being in a new place alone. So when I saw her anxiety spiking, I wanted to ease it. “I just didn’t know she was coming by.”

“Oh my god, the desks are so tiny,” Kodi cooed, a hand gliding over the kid chairs.

“Did you just come over here to see kid-sized things? ’Cause if that’s so, you’ll be wowed by the bathrooms.”

“Well, I do kinda wanna see that. But no, I’m here to take you out tonight. Christenson said he wanted to come by, but he’s gotta get some extra training in before the finals, so I’m here in his place. And Rosa’s meeting us there. My suggestion is Emerald Iguana, but I know you’ve got a second party to consider, so it’s up to you.”

“Oh, Iguanas sounds good,” Nicole said under her breath.

I braced myself for the awkward obligation to invite her, but the feeling didn’t come. There was no dread, no unease, just the comfortable knowledge that if she tagged along, she wouldn’t have to spend another evening alone.

“Wanna come? They sprung this on me, so I don’t feel bad springing another person on them.”

“Yeah, the more, the merrier,” Kodi added.

“If you’re sure,” Nicole said hesitantly, looking to me for assurance. I grabbed my bag off my desk then looped my arm around hers.

“I’m sure. Kodi and Rosa are talkers, so I’ll be happy to have their talking not all focused on me.”

“Liminal relationship?” Rosa repeated with a sharp laugh. “Girl, why’re you breaking out AP English vocabulary to describe your relationship?”

“It fits!” I grumbled, stuffing my mouth full of chips and queso. Apparently salty foods is what the baby wants today, ’cause I demolished chip basket before the drinks arrived. “It’s also a lot simpler of a description than saying, I’ve got a lot of baggage and my guy’s weird job makes things worse.”

“Aw, she called him her guy,” Kodi said.

“That is an improvement over baby daddy or co-parent,” Nicole said, nodding like this was the most serious thing we’ve ever discussed. Which was ridiculous because last year the school literally flooded.

“Yeah, we’ve made some improvements, but I don’t wanna move too fast and blow up my nervous system before we find some sort of … equilibrium.”

“Do you trust him?” Nicole asked, head tilted. “I don’t know much about the local athletes, but athletes in general can be …” She trailed off and sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth.

“Oh Christenson is the best. True golden retriever, wants the best for and from everyone on the field,” Kodi said and Rosa hummed in agreement.

“I do trust him. It’s not so much about trust, it’s … getting my body to not be in flight mode all the time.”

“How’s your sexual appetite?”

“What?” I coughed out the word, choking on my own spit, face as red as the salsa. The other two looked equally embarrassed, Nicole suddenly very interested in the drink menu and Kodi smacking Rosa’s arm.

“What?” she shouted back. “Physical intimacy might be a good way to get her body to catch up to her brain. Endorphins and all that shit.”

“I guess,” Kodi huffed before giggling. “And now would be the last time you have to, you know, without worrying about the kid overhearing.”

“Mhmm, plus I don’t think they can hear until twenty weeks or something, so get down while you’ve got the chance.”