Like We Used To

"Their shadows searching in the niiiiiight," Ava sang out as she taped down name tags onto her student tables. She had six more days to get her classroom organized until Open House Night. To a looker on, she seemed carefree as she quietly sang along as Pandora sounded softly in the background. Ava was anything but. This was her first year teaching first grade. She'd been teaching fifth grade for the past five years and loved it, even though it hadn't been her first choice. She wanted to work with younger children but after graduating college, she found herself in a fifth grade class.

She was excited but nervous. She had heard many horror stories about children having bathroom accidents and crying out for their mommies and daddies, but she felt she could handle it. She had been the source of many crushes with her fifth graders, because at that age they were beginning to get bitten by the love bug. First graders seemed so innocent and pure. They were babies eager to learn and have their minds molded and turned into something great. After placing down all the name tags on the tables, she moved to the carpet. She wanted her students to sit in a large circle. She wrote the numbers one to twenty-one on an assortment of colorful paper shape cutouts. When she was done, she labeled the cubbies.

She was interrupted by the melodic sound of her phone. She smiled brightly as Labrinth and Emeli Sande sang in unison, "We ain't perfect, we ain't perfect. Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?"

"Hey baby," she answered softly.

"Hey beautiful." She adored the sound of his baritone voice. "Do you know what time is it?"

Ava spun around quickly and glanced up at the clock on the monitor.

"Crap. I'm sorry baby. I lost track of time."

She had promised Adriano that she would be home by 4:30 so that she'd have enough time to get ready for their movie and dinner date. It was now 15 minutes past 5.

"It's okay, princess. I know how wrapped and tied you get into your teaching stuff."

Ava smiled. "I'll start cleaning up and I'll be right there."

"No need," he said simply.

"What? Baby, no. I'll clean up right now. Matter of fact, I'll just leave it. I'll finish up tomorrow."

"Ava, amore mio. I said there is no need." Ava began to pout. Her thin and perfectly arched brows furrowed. Her mouth became smaller as her lower lip pushed outward and the edges lowered. She and Adriano never missed movie and dinner night. She felt horrible.

"Pick up your lip baby. I hate it when you pout," he commented.

She quickly straightened up. "Wait...how'd you know I was pouting?"

"Because, I know you. And I'm standing right outside your door. Open up."

Ava beamed and looked out the narrow glass window on her door. She touched the end button on her phone and sprinted towards the door. She opened it to find her man bearing bags of Chinese food.

"Baby!" she exclaimed excitedly. Adriano gave her a sheepish smile that melted her heart.

"I brought the food to you. Let's eat and then I'll try to help you on whatever you were working on here."

Ava watched in awe as Adriano moved past her and placed the bags down on the table.

"Baby you didn't have to do this," she stated.

"But I did," he said grabbing her by the waist and placing a kiss on her forehead. "Now let's eat Sweet cheeks."

The two sat on the carpet, ate, and talked about their day. It had been a relatively slow day down at the shop him and his family owned. Nothing exciting. Adriano complimented her on how well the room looked. It looked much different than her 5th grade classroom. He even offered to help her place her alphabet posters on the wall. Being only a couple inches over 5 foot, it was nearly impossible to post things up high without the help of a ladder or someone much taller than her. But what she couldn't reach, Adriano could.

He stood at 6 foot 2 inches and was so beautiful to her. He was everything she dreamed of. He was her fairly tall, kinda dark, and oh so handsome. His grandparents had moved to America from Campania, Italy many years ago. Being of Italian descent, Adriano had inherited olive skin that covered his lean and taut body. He had a perfect head of dark, short, and wavy hair that was styled depending on his mood. He had thick and prominent eyebrows that she was secretly jealous of. His Greek nose sat flawlessly between two dark deep eyes with long, dark lashes. His strong cheekbones and full soft lips added to his perfection. He was her perfection. God-like even. Beautiful, but every bit of man. Ava looked down at her left ring finger and gazed at the beautiful 14 carrot white gold Zeghani diamond ring he had placed on her finger months before. She loved him more and more every day.

"It's beautiful but not as beautiful as you," Adriano cooed.

"I don't know baby. Have you checked out this bad boy?"

"Of course I have. I had it made especially for you."

Yep. She absolutely adored her man. He was beautiful, inside and out. She smiled and crawled over to him, kissing him on his soft, full lips.

"What do you say, we get outta here? I got some stuff I wanna talk to you about," she said as she smiled seductively.

"Sei la mia vita," he purred.

"Baby, you know I don't know what that means!"

"It means, my dear, that you are my life. What about the movie?"

"Would you rather watch a movie, or watch alllll of this?" she joked.

Adriano pretended to ponder over the questioned. He gave a long drawn out "hmmm" as he rubbed his chin.

"Really?! You have to think about it?"

"I was only kidding, baby," he smiled. "Let's get out of here. I got some stuff I wanna talk to you about too."

*************************

She had watched him sleep long enough. Her left elbow propped on the mattress and she rested her face on her palm. She watched his naked chest slowly rise and fall. She watched as his eyes roll beneath his closed eyelids. She watched as the sun barely broke through the dark, mostly cloudy, morning sky and peep through their bedroom blinds, causing light to stream across his face. It scared her how long she had watched him. An onlooker would've sworn she was so creep. But he was so beautiful to her, even when he slept.

"Baby," she said quietly. She knew he was a light sleeper, but she also knew that wouldn't wake him up.

"Baby," she said a little louder. She smiled as he stirred a bit before becoming still again.

"Babyyyyy," she sang. She watched as he stirred again, this time lazily opening his eyes. First one, then the other. He didn't say anything. He just stared sleepily at her.

"Good morning baby," she said innocently.

He groaned and closed his eyes again. She took this opportunity to straddle him and place kisses on his sweet neck. He groaned again, this time in a different way.

"Mmmm, what time is it dolce cuoro?" he asked after grabbing handfuls of her breasts.

"Early enough. We have time," she said while grinding on his naked body.

"Good," was all he said before uncapping her breasts and grabbing her ass instead. He lifted her enough for her to grasp and position his dick so that she could slide onto it. She let out a sigh as he thrust into her swiftly. A sigh of relief. Or maybe it was a gasp or surprise. Either way, she loved it. She loved the way his member was thick enough to stretch and fill her. She loved the way he was long enough to touch spots she didn't even know existed. Sex with Adriano was vitalizing. There was always pain-laced pleasure. Just the way she liked it. He showed her no mercy as his hands slid up to her waist and he forced her on his dick.

"Oh my God," she whined.

"Not God. Just me," he barked, enunciating each syllable as he pounded into her.

"Fuck me baby. Fuck me" she pleaded.

And he did.

He assaulted her body for nearly an hour before they both plopped down onto the mattress.

"You deserve breakfast," she said, giggling.

"I'd rather eat you," he said smiling and reaching for her.

"Oh no, no, no!" She quickly diverted from his grasp by rolling off the bed onto the floor, still giggling.

"Baby! What are you doing? Get your ass up here," he demanded, trying to keep a straight face. He couldn't see her from where he was on the bed. She appeared and grabbed his blue tailored shirt before putting it on.

"I'm going to go make pancakes. And fruit salad. If I stay in here with you my kids will be asking why I'm walking funny and the parents would look at me in disgust. Today's a big day. I gotta go let me cooch heal."

"No they wouldn't. You're exaggerating. I'll go run you some warm water for you to soak in and I'll make breakfast. Come on."

She watched as he got out of bed and sauntered toward the adjacent bathroom. He was so good to her.

*************************

He had filled the tub with hot water and bubble bath. Ava felt comfortable in her bed of soapy bubbles. She thought about the day ahead of her. It was the day she had spent the last week preparing for: Open House. She was excited to meet her smiling first graders who were eager to learn. She was also excited to meet the parents who would be trusting her with their babies. Ava smiled, but it wasn't a sincere one. It was more of an instinctive one. She was 30 years old. She wasn't getting any younger, yet she didn't have any children she could call her own. She was more than ready. Adriano was not. He wanted to take things one step at a time. They were engaged to be married. They already had a beautiful home together. Only after the wedding would he consider having children. He loved her and had faith in their relationship. He just wanted to make sure that they were both financially stable first. She sighed loudly before climbing out of the tub. She allowed the water to run down the drain as she put his shirt back on. She walked back into the bedroom and fetched a bra and panties before walking out into the kitchen.

"Yum. Something smells really good," she said happily.

"Pancakes and fruit salad, right? That's what you wanted?" he asked over his shoulder.

"God, you are incredible," she cooed as she padded over to him, kissing him.

The two talked over breakfast. He went over a timeline of what he expected his day to be and she did too. After a while, he dressed and headed off to work.

After doing the dishes, Ava flopped down onto the La-Z-Boy with her phone. She called her mom but of course she didn't answer. "Fuck it, she said to herself, before going to get dressed herself.

*************************

She gave her classroom one more glance over. She grabbed her compact mirror, smoothed her shoulder-length hair, and applied more Chapstick to her lips. She double checked to make sure her cream blouse was tucked neatly into her black, knee-length, pencil skirt. She was beginning to regret deciding to wear it because of the way it hugged her hips and ass, but Adriano had assured her she looked classy and professional. She quickly put her mirror away and headed towards the doorway as she heard voices. She put on her charming smile and greeted her student and her parents at the door.

"Well hello there," she said enthusiastically to the cute little girl that stood shyly between her parents. As soon as they entered, her eyes focused on the little girl. The little girl only smiled.

"Hello, Ms. Herring. It's nice to meet you. This is Lizzie," the girl's mother said.

"Nice to meet you all. Lizzie, I'm Ms. Herring and we're going to have a super year. Do you think you can find your nametag?" The little girl nodded and wandered off. Ava took this opportunity to give the girl's parents a packet and information on things Lizzie would be learning this year. The parents seemed very sweet and cooperative. The mother had told Ava that she'd be willing to sign up as a volunteer and to bring things for parties. After writing down their information on the sign-in sheet, they were off.

The night was going so well. Ava knew that she would have an awesome year with her first graders. She had a bunch of sweet and kind parents and children with smiling faces. There was one that she might have to keep an eye on, but she was ready to take on a challenge. She heard more voices and she headed towards the door again.

"Hello there," she said just as enthusiastically as she had at the beginning of the night. The cutest little curly-headed mixed boy stared back at her.

"Hello Ms. Herring," Tyler said sweetly.

Ava looked up to greet the parents and her words got caught in her throat. She quickly recovered and plastered on a fake smile. Emotions swarmed through her. She was surprised, shocked, angry, hurt, and a little sad. The mother spoke first.

"He was so excited that he got you as a teacher. He said that he would see you with the big kids last year and that he would wave at you and you always waved back," she laughed genuinely. Ava smiled as she looked at the woman. Really looked at her. She couldn't help it.

"Well, if a handsome man waves at you, you wave back," Ava joked. She fought hard not to look at the boy's father but she lost when the mother introduced him.

"Ms. Herring, I'm Kisha and this is Daniel."

"Very nice to meet you both. Tyler, do you think you can find your nametag?"

The little boy made a mad dash for the student tables and Ava took the opportunity to explain to the parents how the year would go. Kisha did most of the talking. Daniel just stood there, avoiding eye contact. He did, however watch closely as Ava handed Kisha the packet to fill out and send back to school through Tyler.

When the three left, Ava let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She looked up at the clock. 6:00. Almost time to go. A few more students and parents came through, but when 7:00 came, she packed up her things, said goodbye to her coworkers, and walked briskly to her car. Old emotions started to flare up. Feelings that she thought she had buried deep, deep down, never to retrieve again, resurfaced.

Her drive home was silent. She heard her phone vibrate, but she didn't even glance at it. She wanted to go home and be held by her man. She arrived home in no time. She took the opportunity to check her phone. She saw a notification in the top left corner. She touched it to retrieve it. Her heart stopped when she saw his face pop up on her screen. Daniel. He had found and messaged her on Facebook.

"So, you're getting married now," it read.