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It was honestly the most polite thing he could say. As far as he was concerned, teachers got into the business because they liked bossing kids around and taking off whole seasons of the year. They were smug, mean, and snobby. And even the ones who pretended they wanted to be your friend were really only condescending jerks, in it for the paycheck and the power trip.
The message on Chloe’s self-satisfied socks summed it up perfectly, as far as Jubal was concerned.
“But you’re going to be my teacher today,” she said, clearly unaware of how disgusted he was. “If we want to get where we’re going in one piece, that is.”
“Sure,” he told her. “Get those skates on and let’s see what you’ve got.”
Maybe he could give her a taste of her own medicine today, see how she liked it when he treated her like she was a dumb little kid.
She’s going to be the mother of your child, the little voice in the back of his head reminded him. Don’t be a pathetic ass.
That voice was starting to sound an awful lot like Charlie’s.
He watched the little Terran slide her feet into the skates and start tying them up.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” he asked her.
“Tying my skates,” she said, her blue-jean eyes meeting his.
“You have to tighten the laces from the bottom up,” he told her. “Otherwise, the skates won’t support your ankles.”
She looked down at the skates and let out an exasperated sigh that was almost cute.
“Here,” he said, sitting on the grass at her feet. “I’ll do it.”
Before she could protest, he untied the one she had already fastened.
“This place has the best of everything,” she grumbled. “Why didn’t they spring for self-fasteners on the roller-skates?”
“I’m guessing because they want us to rely on each other,” he said with a smirk. “And look, it’s already working.”
He began carefully tightening the laces, trying not to notice how the breeze carried the scent of her hair to him.
“You’re so quick at that,” she said in a surprised way.
Like anyone should be surprised that Jubal Ash had strong, agile fingers after a decade of destroying guitar solos for sold-out crowds. His hands were insured by Brinxx Bank of Maltaffia for a number of credits that would probably make the little teacher’s head explode.
“I’ve done this plenty,” he told her mildly.
“You like to roller-skate?” she asked.
“Not recently,” he laughed. “But my sister and I used to skate around the neighborhood a lot when we were kids.”
“That’s so lovely,” Chloe said approvingly.
He felt an odd warmth in his chest, as if her approval was important to him for some reason.
“There wasn’t much else to do in our neighborhood,” he said, shrugging with a nonchalance he didn’t feel.
“Childhood can be boring,” Chloe said thoughtfully. “A lot of people forget that as they grow up.”
He frowned.
Shouldn’t she be following that up with some preachiness about how kids should be studying if they’re so bored?
But she didn’t. She seemed… sympathetic.
“Your skates are all set,” he said, patting her ankle and jumping to his feet before he could overthink it.
