Lainey and CB find themselves in a sticky situation at work.
~.~
"Why aren't you driving faster, CB? We're going to be late!" She screams at him from the passenger side of his Jetta.
After their little romp in the kitchen (and in her bedroom), they hurriedly dressed and practically raced out to his car, knowing they only had about ten minutes to make it to Glascott's infamous morning meeting.
"Calm down. We have plenty of time," he assures her, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
Despite his positive attitude, he seems rather tense. His cheeks and ears are flushed bright red. She knows CB, the Superteacher, hates to be late to work, and it has to be eating him up inside.
Sighing, she pulls down the visor in front of her and studies her reflection in the mirror. She's not wearing any makeup frankly because she didn't have time. She guesses she'll just go for the natural look today even though she despises the very thought. She quickly runs her hands through her tousled hair in exasperation, clipping the side strands away from her face with barrettes.
"Seriously, CB! My gam-gam drives faster than this!" She flips the visor back up.
"I'm going the speed limit," he says, his eyes focused on the road ahead. "Don't want to get a speeding ticket. Then, we'd really be late!"
"Live a little, Charlie Brown. Just floor it!" She pats his leg gently.
"Lainey, I'm not going to break the law!" His shoulders stiffen, and she knows he's just as stressed as she is at the moment. "Just please be quiet and let me drive!"
His words hit her deeper than she initially expects, and tears begin to well up in her green eyes. She rolls her eyes upward, trying to fight the tears from pouring down her cheeks, but it's to no avail. She places her head in her right hand and props her elbow against the door.
"Lainey… I'm sorry," he says when she doesn't speak for several minutes.
"This is our first fight," she says solemnly, staring out the window.
"No, no, no." He gathers up her left hand into his and brings it to his lips. He presses several kisses to the back of her hand. "I'm sorry for what I said, and we're not fighting. We're just stressed out about being late for work. That's all."
She smiles at him and sniffs away her tears. "Well, it is your fault that we're late. Kind of."
He gives her a flirty smirk. "Only because you seduced me."
"I did not!" She punches him on the shoulder. "Well, maybe I did. Just a little."
"Who knew orange juice could be so sexy?" He winks at her as he steers the Jetta into William Penn's parking lot. "I'll never be able to look at it or drink it again without thinking about..."
"Me neither." She laughs, grabbing her shoulder bag from the floor of the cab. "I can't stop thinking about it now."
"Ditto," he admits.
He puts the car in park, and they exit the car, dashing up the steps to the main entrance.
"Hey, I need to grab a tie from my room and then I'll be right there if you wanna go ahead," he says, holding the door for her. "I hope no one notices I'm still wearing the same clothes from yesterday."
"Maybe a different tie will throw them off. As for the wrinkles, though, you're on your own there, I guess." She catches hold of his arm before he can leave. "Hold up a second."
"What?"
She reaches up and rakes her hands through his hair, shaping it into his usual style. He stares down at her with nothing but love and awe as she works, and she grins shyly, blushing.
"There." She pulls back, her breath hitching in her throat. Is she seriously turned on right now? In the middle of the hall? "You look, um, presentable at least."
"Thanks."
He grabs her by the hips, pulling her taut against his chest. His beautiful eyes are burning with desire.
"Lewis, you have no idea what you do to me."
"Oh, you have no idea what you do to me, Mr. Brown…" She rises up on her toes to meet his lips.
"Psst! CB! Lainey! Come on, you two. You're late!" Wilma breaks them out of their spell, gesturing wildly at them from the threshold of the teacher's lounge.
He sighs, releasing his grip from around her waist. He kisses her sweetly on the forehead.
"Go ahead, I'll be right there. Love you." His words melt her.
"Okay, love you too." She watches him, biting her lip, as he dashes down the hall to his classroom.
"Lainey! Come on!" Wilma calls her again.
"Crap! Coming!" She turns to head into the teacher's lounge, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
"Lainey! How nice of you to join us!" John Glascott greets her as she crosses the threshold. "I thought you might've taken the day off considering the spectacle Barry caused yesterday… and after you left, I had the pleasure of dealing with an irate Beverly Goldberg for several hours in my office… and later at my house."
"Sorry, John," she says, taking a seat beside Wilma. She wonders when she'll feel the brunt of Beverly's wrath. She knows it'll be her turn soon enough.
"No problem." He laughs, but then becomes serious. "It took me all night to calm down Feather Locklear… and I'm practically running on all caffeine at this point, but it's fine."
Lainey rolls her eyes at the mention of his overprotective parrot.
"Late night last night?" Wilma whispers, crooking an eyebrow from behind her coffee mug.
"No, um…" Lainey blushes and wrings her hands together in her lap. "Late morning."
Wilma almost spits out her coffee.
"Well, I'll be damned. Didn't know CB had it in him, but... you go, girl."
She holds out her fist, and Lainey bumps it proudly.
"Sorry I'm late, John!" CB hurries into the room, still straightening his solar system tie, and slides out the chair beside Lainey. "Spilled coffee on my tie and had to make a quick changeroo."
"Mm-hmm," Wilma chimes in, sipping her coffee again.
"No worries, CB," Glascott replies. "You're allowed to be late once in your entire teaching career." He returns back to his announcements.
Lainey clears her throat and straightens up in her chair as CB takes a seat beside her. They both steal a glance at each other before giving Glascott their full attention. She wonders how she'll ever be able to concentrate on anything with him sitting next to her, but she tries to focus as best as she can.
As Glascott drones on and on about Prank Week, she suddenly feels his right hand slip into hers under the table. She grips it firmly with both hands, her whole body delighting in his sweet gesture. She peers over at him, and he mouths the words "I love you."
She squeezes his hand in response, hardly able to contain her joy that they're together now. She's been so lonely this past year without frequent physical touch and comfort; it's nearly eaten her alive up until this point. She's had enough in the past three days however to last a lifetime, yet she craves so much more.
Glascott soon dismisses them, and she can literally remember nothing he's said. The majority of the teachers file out of the lounge, leaving only her, CB, and Rick Mellor. CB lets go of her hand and stands up, turning toward the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"So, CB… how's Paloma doing? Haven't seen her around for a few days." Rick Mellor joins him at the counter. "But from the looks of it, you two must've had some wild times last night, am I right?"
Lainey smiles, remembering the way CB made love to her just under an hour ago on the kitchen counter. She's still somewhat sore and figures she may be for a few days, but she gladly welcomes it. Take that, Paloma Whatever-Your-Last-Name-Is.
"How you figure?" CB looks dumbfounded.
"I think it's pretty obvious… you stroll in here late, practically growing a beard, your shirt resembling all of the Golden Girls combined…"
"To be completely honest with you, Rick, Paloma and I decided to part ways." CB turns to fix his coffee.
"Hmm, I'm sorry to hear that, young Charles." Rick pats him on the back. "Well, we can't all be champions in the bedroom like your old pal Rick here."
Lainey giggles into her hand, trying to keep herself from busting out into laughter. Not to mention, she's completely grossed-out by the thought of Rick doing anything remotely sexual. Well, she remembers the fact that he used to tussle with Susan Cinoman years ago, but she's tried really hard to squelch that memory from her brain. Besides, the irony of Rick's words is just too sweet; she knows how CB performs in the bedroom and he's definitely a "champion" in her book.
"No, that's not what I meant at all-" he appears to trip over his words.
"It's okay, CB. You win some, you lose some." Rick grabs his jug of beet juice and places his hand on CB's shoulder. "Let me know if you need any pointers next time."
"Don't need any pointers, Rick, but thanks anyway! You have a good day now!" CB scoffs as Rick leaves the two of them alone in the teacher's lounge. "Well, that was awkward… sorry you had to witness it."
"It's okay…" She laughs, standing up to meet him. She wraps her arms around his neck, her eyes half-lidded. "I found it highly entertaining."
"You did, huh?" He smirks and slinks his arms around her waist. "Which part? The fact that he completely called me out or that Rick considers himself a 'champion in the bedroom?'"
"All of the above." She leans in and brushes her lips teasingly across his. "You're my champion of the bedroom."
"Am I now?" He asks rhetorically, and she nods before he kisses her deeply.
"Holy crap!" They hear a young, female voice followed by a heavy thud behind them.
They quickly drop their arms and split apart. Lainey's eyes round with shock when she realizes who's caught them in the act. CB's mouth hangs open with the same sentiment.
"Miss Lewis, Mr. Brown, are you guys dating?"
"Well, Jessica… we, uh," CB stammers out.
"It's not what it looks like," Lainey finishes his sentence.
"Yeah, she was helping me with…"
"An eyelash… he had an eyelash in his eye."
"An eyelash? Really?" CB asks, and Lainey punches him in the side.
"Just go along with it, dummy," she mutters under her breath and then flashes Jessica a wide grin.
"I knew you two would get together eventually! No wonder you turned your boyfriend's proposal down yesterday, Miss Lewis!" Jessica exclaims in utter joy, clapping her hands together. She reaches down and retrieves her binder from the floor. "Can't wait to tell the rest of the Pinkies! They're gonna totally freak!"
"No, Jessica, wait-" Lainey rushes after her, but Jessica's already running at top speed down the hall.
"Oh, crap, this can't be good," CB says behind her, letting out a forced breath.
"You can say that again," she answers him, worry creeping into her brain at the thought of the whole school finding out about their newfound relationship and the rumors it's bound to bring.
"Oh, crap, this can't be good."
"Shut up, CB!"
"Well, you told me I could say it again."
"I meant figuratively, not literally. Aren't you the English teacher? Ugh!" She growls at him, heading toward her classroom to prepare for her first class.
She's not sure, but she thinks she hears him chuckling under his breath. If she didn't love him so much, she would throttle him.
She stalls as she enters her classroom, gulping in an attempt to quell her nerves. Twenty pairs of eyes stare back at her in expectancy, and she wonders if they've already heard about her and CB's little secret.
This is going to be an interesting day, she thinks, reluctantly closing the door behind her.
~.~
Uh, oh! Now everyone's going to know about them being a thing. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Thank you for reading! I have the next chapter almost written, so should be able to post soon. ~ Dazzy xxoo