Day 5 (Friday) — prompt #153: Regina takes Roland to back to school night

I had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope you enjoy! Please review :)

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Gonna Be a Good Year:

"Are you excited, sweetie?" Regina Mills asks her son as they walk up the front steps of his new elementary school, a giant Meet the Teacher! banner blowing softly in the cool evening breeze.

Kindergarten.

She can't believe her baby boy is already starting school.

It seems like just yesterday Roland was being born; she feels like he just learned to walk and talk, yet here they are, walking down the linoleum tiled hallway toward her son's classroom.

His curly brown hair flops against his forehead as he squeezes her hand, letting out a triumphant, "Sure am!"

She smiles, trying to keep the tears trapped inside. She can cry tonight once he's gone to bed. Her baby boy is so excited, she doesn't want to ruin his good mood, nor his exuberance toward school.

Roland has always been so attuned with her emotions, something she thinks stems from being a single mother. They've always had just each other to rely on.

His father, a man she once thought could give her the world, ran the second he heard the word pregnant fall from her lips.

Graham had crushed her heart with the slamming of the front door, leaving her alone, single, and pregnant at twenty-two.

She'd been a senior in college back then, and navigating life after graduation with a newborn by herself had been something she wouldn't wish on anyone else.

Regina, like always, had found a way to make it work. She found a job as a florist, working for a woman just a few years younger than her. Her name was Mary Margaret Nolan, and she was, without a doubt, the most optimistic and bubbly person Regina had ever met.

It annoyed her at first, but when Mary volunteered to keep Roland in her office until Regina could find a daycare she deemed good enough, she knew she'd never leave the company.

Sighing, Regina shakes her head, visions of her past creeping up on her for some unknown reason.

Smiling down at Roland, she giggles as his little dimple (just the one, she always loved that) pops onto his cheek as he looks around at all the classrooms. He's chattering on and on about school and how it'll be just like Sid the Science Kid.

"We'll have recess," he tells her, a little serious scowl set upon his brow as if he's telling his mother brand new information that she's never heard. "I'll make friends and we can play just like Sid and Gerald and May and… oh, look, Mama!"

She chuckles at his inability to finish a thought from sheer excitement, but follows the direction he's pointed in.

There's a wall of student work outside one classroom, this particular one designed to look like the solar system. It appears that some students last year drew the planets, and they also wrote about it.

"It's some nice writing about the solar system," she tells him, trying to pull him in the direction of his own classroom.

The teacher the artwork belongs to smiles down at him from her doorway, telling him when he gets to first grade, he'll learn all about the planets and get to write about them.

"I already know about Saturn!" he tells her, holding up a finger as if remembering something, "and Venus!"

The older woman grins, saying she's very proud of him and then asks if he's starting kindergarten this year.

Roland gives her a wide eyed smile and a bob of his head, before answering her sweetly, "Yes, ma'am."

He grows shy at that, hiding behind Regina's leg, his little hand wrapping around her thigh.

Laughing, Regina excuses them, turning him in the correct direction.

It's chaos in here tonight, kids running around and happily greeting their friends while the parents mingle in the hallways, talking and catching up.

She has a small bubble of hope rising inside of her that maybe she'll end up making some friends, too, from this experience.

Mary is great, she's become Regina's best friend over the last four years, but having some other parent friends would be nice, too. She'd made some at his pre-school, but it was different. It was more...they all just rushed in before or after work to pick up their children, no one really staying around to talk and get to know each other. She's hoping elementary school will be different with PTA and different committees she can join with other parents.

Regina leads Roland down the next hallway, this one covered in green paint. "Remember you're on the green hall, Ro, which hall?"

"Green," he sighs, as if asking him to remember is far too easy for him.

She grins, trying to suppress her fear that he'll get lost at some point. Images of her baby crying in the middle of the hallway because he got lost in this big, giant school rush to the forefront of her mind, and she has to blink rapidly to push those tears back down.

As they turn the corner, room 223 looming in the distance, Regina's steps falter.

A handsome, very handsome man steps out into the hallway, shaking hands with what appears to be a set of parents.

He's got dirty blonde hair, and she can see a set of dimples that make her honestly want to melt right there on the spot.

She really feels like melting, or disappearing all together, when the handsome man turns, catching her staring.

He grins, those dimples deepening, before he looks down to Roland. "And who might this be?" he greets cheerfully, a British accent meeting her ears.

How a Brit ended up living and working in North Carolina, she'll never know, but she'll never question it again because she's glad he did. She knows she could listen to him talk for hours, despite only hearing five words uttered from his lips thus far. She's always been a sucker for British accents.

It takes all the self control she has not to moan right then and there. She bites her lip, the urge to squeeze her thighs together growing stronger by the second as she watches this man interact with her son.

Roland introduces himself, looking up to her with his big brown eyes for reassurance.

Nodding, Regina smiles at her son, then over to this man. "And you must be his older sister?"

"That's my mom!" Roland giggles, wrapping his hand around her leg again.

Regina rolls her eyes, laughing breathily at the sly complement. "Mom, but I prefer Regina."

She sticks her hand out, his large, calloused one enveloping hers as they shake hands.

Regina vaguely wonders for a second what a kindergarten teacher does with his spare time that he has calluses—guitar, maybe? Or farming? Though that wouldn't make much sense in the middle of Charlotte.

"Mr. Locksley," he confirms, smiling warmly at her, then back to Roland, gesturing for them to follow him into the classroom. "Well, come on in!"

Roland trudges in beside her, still latched to her leg.

She doesn't know where this shyness came from all of a sudden, and tells Mr. Locksley just as much.

"It's not a problem; I've been teaching for seven years and I see it all the time," he whispers before bending down to be at eye level with Roland.

He runs a hand through her son's floppy hair, and shit, she really should've gotten it cut before tonight. He has an appointment before school starts in a few days, but, well… oh well. He's cute either way.

Mr. Locksley talks to Roland so calmly, yet with an excitement underlying his tone. He points to various things in the room, telling him how they'll use the computers on the far wall to do reading and math activities, then gestures to the front of the room where the large, blue carpet sits.

"That's where we'll do all of our learning." His eyes go from the carpet back to Roland. "Do you like to learn?"

Roland nods, a shy smile blooming on his face as he looks around the room in wonder.

There's a large wall with a window on either side, the panels in between filled with posters of simple kindergarten curriculum like the alphabet and colors with their matching crayon.

The corner behind her is filled with cubbies, and she has to fight back tears thinking about how grown up her little boy is becoming. He'll have his own little cubby for his book bag that's still a size or two too big for his little body, and he'll be bringing home homework and crafts to show her each week.

Robin smiles at Roland, a tight lipped one as if he knows her son is just on the verge of exploding with joy.

"Hey!" Roland shouts all of a sudden, clamping a hand over his mouth when he realizes how loud it was. Uncovering his mouth slowly, he places a little finger onto Mr. Locksley's cheek. "You have a dimple just like me!"

His teacher laughs, this low, gorgeous thing that Regina thinks she'd might actually kill to hear again. "So I do!" he exclaims, reaching up to touch his own cheek as if he's just now discovering this feature. His voice goes a bit softer, a bit scratchy as he stage-whispers in that way only people who entertain children regularly can do, "Though your's is much cooler because there's only one."

Roland giggles, finally letting go of Regina's leg. He skips over to the rug in the front of the room, stepping on each letter of the alphabet as he walks around the oval carpet.

Regina's chocolate eyes roam from her son up to his teacher, catching his crystal blue ones. They share a smile and she thanks him for making Roland feel comfortable.

He waves her off, saying it's just part of the job, but somehow she doesn't feel as if every teacher would be this calm and good with kids, despite their occupation.

"You'll each get a letter to sit on," Mr. Locksley explains, joining Roland on the carpet. "That's where you'll sit during carpet time."

He goes on, explaining the large calendar that sits on the white board, pulling out some number cards to let Roland flip through.

"Can I sit on the R?" Roland asks, taking his new number cards to that spot and looking up at his teacher. "R for Roland! And Regina, like you, Mama!"

The man huffs out a laugh, saying he'll see what he can do.

Once Roland is occupied with the numbers, and also a tub of wooden shapes, Mr. Locksley leads Regina over to the table at the front of the room.

She has to sign in, then he walks her to each table, getting her to fill out information on Roland—transportation for the first day of school, how he'll get home regularly if it's different from the first day, her contact information, any allergies Roland has, and things of the like.

As she fills it all out, she keeps an ear out for Roland, but he's in his own little world, building something with the shapes and playing by himself.

"He's a sweet boy," she tells the teacher, glancing up from the form she's working on. "You shouldn't have any problems out of him, but—"

Mr. Locksley waves his hand, making a ack sound in the back of his throat. "I'm sure he'll be just fine."

She smiles, admitting that she's a bit nervous. "He's been to day care, of course, and he went to preschool so he's used to being around other kids and having a teacher, but," she sighs, tucking a piece of her raven hair behind her ear, "I don't know. This feels so much… more."

Laughing softly, she shrugs, saying she doesn't know what she means.

He smiles at her then, those dimples drawing her attention… but not for long, because his eyes seem to be beckoning her to them. They're so inviting, and has gone a little soft as he looks at her, and she's transfixed for a moment.

He assures her that it's fine, "It is a big change, even for the ones that went to preschool, like Roland."

Grabbing a packet of paper, he explains to her that the top page is just a welcome letter from him to all the parents. He flips the page, revealing a supply list. "I know the system put one out in the stores already, but these are things we need that they didn't include."

She nods, making a mental note to go back to the store tomorrow to get everything that's on here. She wants to make a good impression on this teacher, though she doesn't know why. Well, okay, that's a lie. She knows why. He's beautiful, and she may not have dated anyone seriously since Roland was just a baby, but she somehow knows she'd throw her "I'm not dating ever again" rule right out the window if he asked.

He goes on, his accent lulling her into this false sense of reality. One where she imagines he's talking softly to her and only her from across a dinner table, maybe a candle lit dinner at a nice restaurant before he takes her home and…

"Mama!" Roland exclaims, thankfully pulling her from her inappropriate thought. Shit, what was Mr. Locksley even saying to her? "Mama, look!"

Inhaling deeply, she smiles at him then turns to look at Roland. He's built a rocketship with the shapes, and she and Mr. Locksley both praise him for a job well done.

Turning back, he goes on, telling her how things will work in the classroom, and all the important information she needs to know. Luckily, she controls her hormones long enough to listen and jot down anything she wants to remember.

"It's all there in this packet," he states, tapping the paper in her hand. "It also includes the school's number and my cell phone number."

She looks up at that, maybe a bit more abruptly and stunned than she meant to, because he chews his lip, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. Is he embarrassed? "It's, uh, it's just something I do… for all parents, you see, so we can text and keep in contact throughout the day if need be while parents are working."

Clearing her throat, she blinks, realizing her eyes had gone wide and she'd been staring for far too long. "Right," she chuckles, licking her lips. She can't help but notice, though, that when she does, his eyes flicker down to her lips, and thank god she put on her red lipstick on the way over here. "Well," she says with a smile, "thank you for all of this." She holds up the packet, and he nods.

He blinks quickly, and, wait, was he staring? He takes a few steps back, stuffing his hands into his pockets as they're pulled from the little bubble they were apparently existing in.

Another student runs in, loud and boisterous, as his parents reprimand him, and Regina looks to Robin, almost reading his mind. This kid will be a handful.

She smirks, catching his eye as she calls over to Roland to clean up the shapes and numbers.

He starts to whine, but she gives him the look that all mothers have down pat. "Mr. Locksley has other students to meet, baby. We need to go get dinner."

"Can we get pizza?!"

Giggling, she steps over to the rug, kneeling down to sit beside her son. She runs a hand through his hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "As a treat for being so good, yes," she whispers, helping him clean up the little mess he's created.

Looking over her shoulder, she watches Mr. Locksley introduce himself to the other family, going over the same speech he'd done with her. His eyes leave the other parents, just briefly, just long enough to catch her gaze, and they share a brief smile before he focuses back on the little terror that's asking a million questions about school in a much too loud voice.

"Why is that kid talking so loud?" Roland absent mindedly asks as he scoops up a handful of shapes to place in the bin; thank god he did it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She gives him a reprimanding look, reminding him not to talk like that about other people. "He's just excited for school," she explains softly, dumping the last of the shapes into the bucket Mr. Locksley has out for the kids to play with tonight while their parents get all the boring grown up information.

Standing, she brushes off her jeans, then reaches out. Roland takes her hand, grinning up at her as he tells her, "I'm ready for school now, Mama!"

Beaming, she bends down to kiss his cheek, murmuring how much she loves him before they make their way to the door.

Mr. Locksley is finished with the other family, they're exploring the room now while their son dumps the entire bucket of shapes onto the carpet and stomps on them, so he makes his way to the front door.

His hand hovers over her back as he sees them out of the classroom door.

"Say goodbye to Mr. Locksley, Ro."

"Bye, Mr. Locksy!"

Both adults laugh at his mispronunciation, Mr. Locksley ruffling Roland's hair. "I'll see you on Thursday for the first day of school!"

"Yeah!" Roland exclaims, jumping up to reach his teacher's hand, high fiving him before stepping to the side to admire the student work on the wall just outside his new classroom.

She smiles at the interaction, her eyes turning toward the teacher's. "It was lovely to meet you, Mr. Locksley."

He places a large hand over his heart, scoffing, "Please, call me Robin."

She gives him a look, her eyes narrowing as she grins. Feeling emboldened by the smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, she inquires, "Do you let all your parents call you that?"

His head ducks, chin hitting his chest before he looks up at her through his lashes. He leans in conspiratorially, mumbling, "Well, only the pretty ones."

Her eyes widen momentarily, a heat licking up her cheeks as she tries her damndest to bite back her smile.

She can tell he's blushing, clearly he's never this forward, and he starts to apologize, gesturing down to her empty ring finger, stumbling over his words.

The fear in his eyes is evident. This is his job, he's at work, and sure, by anyone's standards, that was probably a bit inappropriate, especially given where they are. But, hell, look at him. He's adorable, and sexy as sin, and it's not as if she hasn't been thinking far more inappropriate things about him for the last twenty minutes.

Shaking her head, she places her left hand to his bicep, making sure the fact she's not wearing a wedding ring is more than obvious. She can feel his muscle twitch beneath her palm, and god, what she wouldn't give to see those muscles not covered by a long sleeve button up shirt. "It's not a problem, Robin."

His name rolls off her tongue, sounding far more sensual than even she meant for it to, but he doesn't seem to mind by the way his embarrassment fades into a flirty little look.

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, and she takes a deep breath in, before saying, "We'll see you Thursday morning." She tries to wink, why the fuck she did that, she'll never know, but it draws those dimples of his back out so she can't be too mad at herself.

"See you then." He grins, his blue eyes finally leaving hers to look at Roland. "And I'll see you Thursday, too, Roland!"

Roland looks at them from where he's been twirling, obviously just waiting for mom to stop flirting with the new teacher, but he stops mid-twirl, turning to look at them. "Yeah! See ya!"

With one more longing look, Regina finally takes her first step away from the door when Roland takes her hand, saying he's hungry and wants that pizza she promised.

Smiling toward Robin, she turns and walks down the hallway, all that fear she'd had today about her baby boy starting school seemingly gone.

As she looks over her shoulder, sharing one more grin with her son's new teacher, she muses that maybe Roland's first year of school won't be so bad after all.