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“Mr. Reyes,” Carlos feels a tug at his shirt sleeve. He looks down and sees Esmerelda staring up him at him. Her wide brown eyes fighting back tears.
He furrows his eyebrows and crouches down to be eye level with her. “What’s wrong, Esme?”
“Natalie took the flower I was going to study.” Esmerelda explains. Carlos looks past her and sees Natalie looking at a cluster of white daisies. Natalie looks a little lost in her own world. Her eyes focused on the daises as she scribbles away in her Magic School Bus notebook.
“Well Esme,” Carlos looks back at Esmerelda, “Did Natalie know that you were going to study that flower?” Esmeralda’s hesitance is answer enough.
Before Esmerelda has a chance to convince Carlos that Natalie has it out for her, Carlos says, “Why don’t you ask Natalie if you two can study that flower together?”
Esmerelda sighs before saying, “Okay.” He watches her sullenly walk over to join Natalie in front of the daises. It’s not too long before he sees them start to bond over Esmerelda’s pack of glitter gel pens.
Carlos releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He watches all of his students carefully, keeping an eye out on Jason in case he needs his inhaler. He’s starting to take pride in his lesson plan for the day when he hears Eli yell, “Bee!”
Carlos is quick to turn around; just in time to see all the children start panicking. He rushes over to where Eli is standing. He’s standing in front of a gathering of Butterfly Weeds and making no effort to move.
“It’s alright everyone, it’s okay,” Carlos raises his voice, hoping the children will focus on his voice and not their own panic. “It’s okay, let’s just move away from this area, okay?” He tries to corral the students and move them back to the school building. Carlos is so focused on redirecting the children, on getting them out of harm’s way; he forgets about himself.
First, he feels a pinprick on his right arm; followed by the lulling sense of a stinging burn. His mouth moves before he can stop himself, “Shit.”
Carlos hears a collective gasp, and takes a deep breath. He thinks to himself, “Shit.”
“Mr Reyes said a bad word!”
“No he didn’t,” Carlos argues, ushering his students back to his classroom. Once they’re all seated, he rolls up his sleeve and takes a peek at the bee sting. It’s starting to redden and swell slightly. Carlos sighs, so much for just putting a band-aid on it.
He knocks on the open door of the classroom next to him. Nancy looks up from her desk, her eyebrows knitted.
“Hi, Mr. Reyes.” Matthew, one of his former students waves at him.
“Let’s focus on our spelling test, Matthew,” Nancy says as she moves from her desk and joins Carlos in the hallway.
“What’s up?” Nancy asks.
“This.” Carlos moves to show Nancy his forearm; the bee-sting still bright red. Carlos thinks it might be getting even bigger.
Nancy winces, “Yikes.”
“Would you mind watching them?” Carlos asks, bordering on begging. “They should be occupied for the next 20 minutes with the worksheet I just gave them.”
“Back?”
“I’m going to stop by the nurse’s office; make sure it’s okay.”
“Oh.” Nancy says, as if it’s all starting to fall into place.
“Don’t do that,” Carlos argues, “Don’t “oh” me.”
Nancy whispers, “I’m just saying. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you were ogling the new nurse at orientation in July.”
“That has nothing to do with this.” Carlos whispers back.
“Carlos has a crush.” Nancy sings the last word and Carlos is about to retort when he hears a cough come from behind him. He turns and sees Timothy staring up at him.
“Timothy,” Carlos begins, “How long have you been standing there?”
Timothy shakes his head, his blond curls bouncing. “Not that long.”
Carlos can see right through the lie but decides to let is pass at risk of keeping the conversation going. “Alright, well, go sit back down. Ms. Gillian’s going to watch over the class for a couple of minutes.”
“Okay, but here Mr. Reyes,” Timothy reaches into his pocket and pulls out three pressed yellow dandelions. “Take these.”
“What for, Timothy?” Carlos asks, not entirely sure what Timothy means. He takes the flowers regardless, knowing it’ll just be easier to go along with it.
“My papa always says you should give flowers to the person you like.” Timothy answers, “I figured you could give these to Mr. TK.”
Carlos eyes widen. He looks back at Nancy and sees her trying to cover her smile. He turns back to Timothy, and hands Nancy the flowers behind his back. “Thank you, Timothy.” He smiles at Timothy and Timothy smiles back; one of his front teeth missing. He watches Timothy walk back to his seat.
“Don’t say it,” Carlos says, “And also I owe you one.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nancy shrugs, “Go before my class gets too bored with the silence.”
Carlos begins his walk to the nurse’s office and he can hear Nancy saying, “He loves him, He loves him not, He loves him, He loves him not.”
—
“Alright, Charlie,” TK presses the band-aid on the young girl’s knee. Carlos recognizes her as one of Marjan’s second graders. “You need to be more careful on the blacktop, okay?”
Charlie nods her head; her cheeks flushed. Carlos assumes she probably just finished crying. “Okay. Do I get to pick a sticker now?”
TK smiles, “You know, since you did such a good job, I’m gonna let you pick two.”
Charlie smiles and then notices Carlos standing in the doorway. Carlos smiles softly, and whispers, “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Charlie reaches into the basket and picks out two stickers and TK watches her back to class. He takes a seat and looks up at Carlos, “If you’re here for stickers, I think I’m all out.”
Carlos chuckles, before showing off his bee sting. TK winces before gesturing to the seat in front of him. TK moves to grab the first aid kit. “So what happened here?”
“Me and my great ideas,” Carlos exhales, rolling his eyes. “I’ve been teaching my class about plants and pollination the last couple of days. Mainly through videos” He explains. “I don’t know; after seeing how the sun was shining, it seemed like too good a day to waste inside. Figured it could give them a more hands on experience.” Carlos nods to his arm, “Next thing I know, I’m getting into a turf war with our local beehive.”
TK laughs. “Next time, come see me first,” TK raises his arm and shows off a bee tattoo. “I’ll make sure to put in a good word.”
“They may have won the battle,” Carlos begins, but winces shortly after when TK presses a damp cloth to his arm. “And they’ll probably win the war.”
TK opens the first aid kit and pulls out a band-aid. Carlos sighs, “I don’t know, I guess it was a stupid idea.”
“I think it’s sweet.” TK argues. “It just shows you care; they’ll definitely remember something like that more than they would a video.”
Carlos, being Carlos, has never been good with compliments. So he does what he does best. He throws the words right back at TK. “That’s nice bee tattoo.” Carlos changes the subject.
TK looks at it again, “You think so? Thanks.”
“Why a bee?”
TK shrugs, “Few reasons; but mainly because it reminds me that no matter how small you might seem, the world will need you more than you ever know.”
He smiles and leans in, “That, and we both have a bit of a sweet tooth.”
“You think that’s why the bees were so drawn to me?” Carlos jokes, regretting the words as soon as he says them.
“I don’t know, maybe. You seem pretty sweet to me.” TK smiles before he and Carlos lock eyes.
Neither saying anything to follow up before TK goes back to his desk. He opens a drawer and pulls out an icepack. He breaks it and hands it to Carlos. “You’ll want to keep that pressed against the sting for about 20 minutes; just to help the swelling go down.”
“If it’s still irritating you, you know, itching and all that, some calamine lotion should help.”
Carlos thanks TK before asking, “Do I get to pick a sticker now?”
“Charlie just took my last two, unfortunately.” TK frowns playfully, “But, you know what? Just for you, I’ll bring out my secret stash.” TK brings out a basket of candy; though there’s really only one candy left. Bit O’ Honey.
TK sighs when he sees them, “Sorry, my mom sent me these when I first got this job and I’ve been trying to get rid of them since.” He places the basket down before opening his drawer, “I think I might have some Jolly Ranchers somewhere.”
“Actually,” Carlos cuts him off, causing TK to turn back to him. “Can I let you in on a secret?” He whispers. “These are one of my favorite candies.”
TK smiles, “Your secret’s safe with me.”
—
Carlos is looking for calamine lotion at his local Walgreen’s; walking up and down the aisles. He eventually finds some and heads towards the check-out. On his way, his eyes are drawn to something in the school supplies aisle.
He smiles to himself.
—
Monday morning, TK walks into this office and sees a gift bag sitting on his desk. After shuffling through the tissue paper, he finds an index card that reads,
These reminded me of you :)
- Carlos
TK fights a smile as he pulls out the sticker sheet. All of the stickers are bee themed.
—
Wednesday, Carlos is bringing his kids in from recess when he sees a gift bag placed in his seat. He peeks inside and finds a small handmade card.
These reminded me of you :)
- TK
Carlos fights a smiles as looks in the bag. It’s two bags of Bit O’Honey
—
Weeks of little gifts turned in to months of small nods and now it’s February and Carlos wants to makes a grand gesture.
It’s Friday, but more importantly, it's Valentine’s Day.
TK turns on the lights in his office and is greeted by a bouquet of yellow sunflowers on his desk. Next to the vase is a red envelope. TK opens the card, the front of it saying, “Will You Bee My Valentine?”
TK laughs, as if he would ever want to be anyone else’s.
—
It’s the morning after Valentine’s Day and TK is messing around in the kitchen. Carlos knows he should stay put but he’s always let his curiosity get the better of him. He walks into the kitchen and sees TK moving muffins from a muffin pan to a plate.
TK looks up and sighs, “Babe, I can’t serve you breakfast in bed if you’re not in bed.”
Carlos frowns playfully, “I missed you.”
TK sighs; knowing he’s weak for those brown eyes. “Fine, well, then try these.”
He hands Carlos a muffin and Carlos makes a bite. “My mom is more of the chef in the family, but I tried.”
“And that’s all that matters, babe.” Carlos takes a bite into the muffin. It taste like honey.
TK gauges Carlos’ reaction. “What do you think? Not enough honey? Too sweet?”
Carlos gently grabs on to TK’s apron strings, and pulls him in close. “They’re sweet.” He kisses TK, tasting of honey. “But not as sweet as you.”