“He really should start with Frank or Doug. They keep the order straight if they start at an end.” The look on Kelly’s face showed that this was no longer about our order. It was about the new girl learning her place in the female hierarchy.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Lily leaned slightly toward the waiter to read his name tag. “Kevin here looks pretty intelligent. I think he can take eight orders without too much difficulty. Right, Kevin?” She directed her question toward the waiter, but her eyes remained locked on Kelly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Kevin replied, discomfort lacing his voice.
“Great.” Lily snapped her attention back to him. “Then I’ll have the tortellini alfredo.”
“Would you like a soup or salad with that?”
“Salad. With Italian dressing, please.” Lily handed him her menu, smiling brightly at him.
Kevin smiled gratefully at her. “Sure thing, ma’am.”
The waiter moved on to Claire and as I watched Lily’s victory sink in around the table, I hoped that her need to defend our server was worth potentially ruining our evening.
***
The women decided to abandon their questioning of Lily after her pissing match with Kelly. I talked sports with the guys, and eventually the mood at the table warmed and we all fell into our usual bantering. Well, all of us except Lily. She seemed to be content to listen, rather than participate.
“So, Lily, Adam told us you’re a teacher?” Shannon, probably the sweetest of them all asked.
“Yes, seventh grade English.”
“Wow, that sounds difficult. We have two boys who are three and five, and they’re tough enough. I can’t imagine a room full of teenagers,” Shannon said sincerely.
“It’s interesting, that’s for sure,” Lily replied.
“Lily’s great at it though. She’s even a mentor to a new teacher this year.” I knew that Lily didn’t want to be the center of the conversation, but I couldn’t resist. If she wasn’t going to willingly interact with my friends, then I'd have to prompt her to.
Lily shot me a tight smile before speaking. “It’s really not that big of a deal. They hired someone at the last minute, so the principal asked if I would help her get her feet wet.”
“Where do you teach?” Doug asked.
“Swift."
“Oh, isn’t that where Eva goes, Adam?” Claire asked, even though I knew she was already aware of the answer. Claire and Frank lived in the same school district.
“Yeah, Lily taught Eva last year. That’s how we met actually.” I leaned in and wrapped my arm around her, knowing this was about to get awkward and wanting to physically show her my support.
“Is that allowed?” Kelly bit out.
“Is what allowed?” Lily asked evenly.
“Dating the parents of your students. That seems like a breach of some ethical code of conduct.” Troy fidgeted uncomfortably as he listened to Kelly.
“Eva isn’t currently one of my students, so I don’t really see an issue with it.”
I couldn’t help but be thankful none of them knew we’d dated last year.
“Of course you don’t,” Kelly scoffed.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Lily tensed and I knew that this was about to get ugly. It was like watching a pit bull circle a pretentious poodle.
“Adam’s a very eligible bachelor. It’s not surprising that you wouldn’t see a problem with getting your hooks in him any way you could.”
“Kelly, that’s enough,” Troy muttered.
Way to take a stand, Troy.
Everyone at the table began to shift nervously, unsure of where to look or what to say.
“You’re right,” Lily sighed. “Adam is an eligible bachelor. Any woman would be lucky to have him. But not because of his money, as you’re clearly suggesting, but because of who he is. So yes, I do recognize what a catch he is, and I did maybe ignore that he was the father of one of my students in order to be with him. But that’s because I love him.” She turned toward me, looking deeply into my eyes. “Just like I knew I would when I met him.”
I leaned in and gave Lily a deep kiss, so happy to hear her publicly verbalize what we'd both hidden for so long. And to show her, and them, that I felt the exact same way.
Thankfully, we had all nearly finished eating by the time Kelly and Lily had gotten into it, and we all graciously declined dessert. It was definitely time for this nightmare to end.
We all said our goodbyes, and Lily and I made our way to the car.
“So, have fun?” I asked with a wide smile, knowing she’d sense my sarcasm.
“Yeah, a fucking blast,” she retorted dryly.
I laughed, though I couldn’t ignore the heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach that she hadn’t fit in with my friends as I’d hoped she would.
Chapter 30: Max