Page 55 of Love and Other Chances
What time?
BROOKS
5:30 work?
I’ll be there
BROOKS
Just 313 minutes away
I pick up Chinese takeout on my way to Brooks’ apartment. After touching up my hair and makeup, of course. And changing my outfit twice, settling on leggings and an old AOPi hoodie. Keeping things casual and minimally bewitching.
When Brooks answers the door, his expression tells me that I’ve failed at my bewitchment-minimalization effort. His hair looks like he’s absentmindedly tangled his fingers through it, adding to the leisurely look of his black joggers and plain gray t-shirt.
Apparently, Casual Brooks is also exceptionally bewitching. Because I stand there staring, not moving. I’m pretty sure my lips haveparted wordlessly, a movement which draws Brooks’ attention to my mouth. When he draws his eyes back up to mine, the unbridled longing in his gaze threatens to pull my lips straight to his.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
I abruptly hold up the bag of food, needing to break the spell in the air between us.
“Sustenance!” I chirp, my voice awkwardly high-pitched.
Brooks clears his throat and gestures me inside. “I’ll get some glasses of cold water,” he says.
Yes. Gallons of cold water, please.
I move to set the food out on the small dining table. There’s a laptop on the table but no note cards or papers or highlighters. Zero useful study accessories. “Brooks? How am I supposed to quiz you if there are no note cards?”
Brooks comes out from the kitchen holding two glasses of ice water, a slight grimace on his face. “I need to confess something. I don’t really use note cards to study.”
Crossing my arms, I narrow my eyes. “What am I doing here then if I can’t test your answers?”
With two long strides, Brooks closes the space between us, leaning around me to set the glasses on the table. His voice is a velvet murmur when he speaks. “I told you, Sneaks—if you came here, I’d spend my time studying you.”
Our nearness, the low tone of his voice, the intimacy of his breath so close to mine—the combination freezes my lungs. With great effort, I pull in oxygen through my nose, slowly blowing it back out. “And I promised to hold your feet to the fire, so you’d better find me some paper to cut into rectangles.”
One corner of Brooks’ lips twitches then oh-so-slowly turns up into a half-smile. “Let’s eat, then I’ll show you my online study guide.” He moves to sit down, giving me space to turn back into a fully-functioning human.
We pass cartons between us, eating directly from them with chopsticks. I tell Brooks about my change of pace during Townsend finals week. He reluctantly admits he aced his first final this week when I prod him. Brooks wasn’t abadstudent in high school, but he wasn’texactly the poster child of academia. This updated version of Brooks is clearly committed to both teachingandlearning.
Which means he doesn’t really need help studying.
I needed an excuse to see him.
When we’re both stuffed, Brooks brings the laptop over to me. “Here’s the study guide I’ve filled out for my School-Community Relations class. The biggest chunk of our grade came from a case study mock plan that we turned in yesterday. But we do have a test over some of the material. Ask me anything.”
He takes his seat across from me, and I skim over the document all about philosophies and strategies for engaging the broader community with the school district. Brooks has filled this in with plentiful, meticulous notes.
“You love this class, don’t you?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Brooks gives a soft smile. “I have enjoyed this one. It’s filled me with more ideas than I could ever successfully implement.”
I draw my knees up to my chest, resting them against the table. I proceed to “quiz” him on the material, which is really me asking minimal questions and Brooks giving mini-dissertations on each topic. A simple question about community partnership strategy has him talking for a solid four minutes straight.
“Everyone assumes that community partnerships are only about getting goods and services donated to the schools. And, of course, those are crucial to supporting the staff and students, to fill in gaps that official funding doesn’t cover,” Brooks explains, voice increasing in speed and strength. “But that’s the tip of the iceberg of what community partnerships could be,shouldbe. It’s about getting real people from the community around students to provide models for them of what it means to be contributing members of society. To see how our community is shaped by a variety of people with different vocations, skill sets, hobbies, passions, and experiences—that together we contribute to a whole that’s greater than our individual selves. Students need to see positive role models of varying shapes and sizes, metaphorically speaking. Help them picture themselves as one of those contributors.”
