Pay Attention, Mr. Iero (Frerard)

13 - Just the Two of Us

At first, the car ride with Professor Way was a bit awkward. I still felt bad for not meeting up with him on time, and I think he was a bit shaken from having to infiltrate the dorms again. But nonetheless, he drove us to his home.

I was excited to see what his place looked like. I imagined there was art supplies everywhere, with his artwork displayed all over his house. It'd probably be colorful and chaotic, with nothing matching in a single room.

After looking out the window for a while, I glanced over at my teacher. There had been a lingering silence in the car since we had gotten in. His eyes had solely been fixated on the road.

"I'm excited for tonight," I brought up, smiling at him.

He glanced over briefly at me and smiled back, "So am I".

"You are comfortable with me coming over, right?" I hesitantly asked. "I mean, you are inviting a student over to your own home. Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

He shook his head, chuckling, "Well it is my house. Technically I can do whatever I want. But honestly, I feel safer bringing you here. No one from the school can catch us together in the safety of my own home."

There was silence again, as I considered bringing up my next question. Surely it couldn't hurt to ask. It was a relevant question.

"And what happens if we did happen to get caught? What would happen then?"

"Well," I could tell the question threw him off guard. "If the school found out, I'm sure they would fire me... and I'd receive a bad reputation for that, making it much harder to find another teaching job available to me. Basically, my career might turn out to be completely destroyed."

I sealed my lips at his response. I felt myself growing guilty. He was risking a lot to just be with me.

"But..." he continued. "That's not going to happen on my watch". He turned and winked at me, before resuming his attention back on the road.

I tried to smile after that, but I guess the thought of me possibly ruining a man's career weighed a bit on my shoulders...especially hearing it come from him. I had known it was a possibility all along but damn, now that we were kinda together it seemed to only really sink in just now.

Once we arrived to Professor Way's house, my worries began to dissipate and my excitement returned. Prof Way's house was nothing spectacular, but it sure as hell looked more comfortable and spacious than a dorm room.

Once inside, Professor Way held out his arms and announced, "Well, here it is. My lovely home." Throwing down his work satchel and his tie he asked, "Do you want something to drink? I know it's not legal to give you alcohol, but we are already technically breaking some rules here".

I shook my head, "I'm alright for now, thanks." As he buried his face in his fridge, I took the opportunity to gaze around his house. It surely wasn't what I was expecting for an art teacher. Everything was neat and proper, and surprisingly dark. It lacked the all the colors I was expecting.

Approaching his living room I noticed a painting hung on the wall, "Hey, did you paint this?" I assumed he must have considering he was an art teacher.

Prof Way's head peered out from the fridge, "No, I did not. I bought that at a garage sale actually. The young couple was selling it for nothing." He shook his head angrily, "Clearly they didn't know the true value of a piece like that, but at least I am now the proud owner of it".

I studied the painting for a moment. It was some sort of bland landscape painting that looked abstracted. I suppose it could have multiple interpretations, but to me it just looked like a messy tree with some mountains. God only knows what my teacher thought was so special about it.