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Frankie sighed as he looked down at Francine’s schedule. There was the math and science teacher, the history and English teacher, and the gym teacher, all three of which he’d already talked to. And he wasn’t too impressed with her grades.
Not like he blamed the kid, she was going through a rough time. They all were. Frankie and Mary’s divorce had just finalized, and Mary had just finished moving all of her things out of the house. So it was just the two of them. At least, on the weekdays.
On weekends, Mary had Francine, so he was all alone. That was the hardest part of all of this. When his loneliness came to a head, he caved in and went to a bar near his house. Even if he didn’t find companionship, he could at least drown his sorrows.
But he did find somebody. A man who couldn’t have been much older than himself drinking at the other end of the bar, who seemed to be the only one who didn’t come in with someone else. So he decided to strike up a conversation with the man. He quickly found out his name was Nick and he was a very nice man indeed, one who listened to his woes and even bought him a drink. So, he agreed to leave with him.
That night was one of the best since he and Mary split up. Nick made him feel like he wasn’t alone. Made him feel wanted. And he didn’t know he needed that until he had it.
Frankie shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was about Francine, not about his drunken escapade. He looked down at Francine, who was pulling him along, to see her final teacher. Music, which since the divorce was the only subject she was getting an A in.
Francine pulled him into the room of…he looked down at the paper again. Mr. Macioci, and Francine was positively beaming. “Mr. Massi!!” Frankie looked down at the man sitting in the desk, intently scribbling into his notebook. If Frankie didn’t know any better, he’d say he almost looked like…
Uh oh.
The man lifted his head slightly, and his eyes lit up when he caught sight of the young girl. ”Francine, my star pupil! And this must be your f…” The teacher trailed off as they locked eyes. “Ah…” He looked down at his clipboard, then back at Frankie, extending a hand. “M-Mr. Macioci. The kids call me Mr. Massi. It’s easier.”
Frankie nodded slowly, trying not to let the surprise show on his face. “Frankie Castelluccio. Nice to, ah…” He swallowed hard. “Meet you.” He reached out and grabbed Mr. Massi’s hand, shaking it weakly.
“Likewise.”
The meeting went on without too much awkwardness, nothing little Francine could notice anyhow, thank Christ. Beyond their first glance their eyes had yet to repeat their meeting. Nick’s eyes were locked on his clipboard, and Frankie’s eyes shifted back and forth between a speck of dirt on the floor and his daughter. Nick was hoping they could avoid the subject of the other night. It was a pointless hope.
Nick nodded, gripping his clipboard. He had to do this; he did this for every parent that came in. So why was he so nervous? He took a deep breath and looked over at Francine, “How’s about you give me and your dad a couple of minutes alone, huh?” He gave her a slight smile, hoping his nervousness didn’t show.
Luckily, Francine nodded and beamed up at the both of them. “Okay!” She briefly wrapped her arms around her father’s waist before strolling away.
Silence didn’t fill the room for too long thankfully, as Frankie leaned forward in his chair, clearing his throat and glancing back down at the paper. “Nick Macioci. You know for a second there I thought you gave me a false name the other night.”
The words Nick was planning to say caught in his throat, and he coughed, his face flushing in embarrassment. “Mr. Castelluccio, I’m hopin’ to keep this professional.” He quirked an eyebrow. “No matter how good it was.” He shot back as he rifled through his papers.
Frankie leaned back in his chair, his face also flushing in embarrassment. He straightened his tie, running a hand through his hair trying to fix it, trying to look like he was calm and collected. He wasn’t. “Professional? So you think we shouldn’t talk about the other night?”
”Not here, anyway. In front of the kids.” Nick said through clenched teeth. He’d be amused if he wasn’t so mortified.
He shrugged. “I mean, if that’s the way you want it, fair enough. Has Francine really been doin’ alright here?”
“Like I said, she’s my favorite student here. Most willin’ to learn, easiest to teach.” He sighed through his nose, somewhat at a loss for words.
Frankie nodded, biting his thumb before speaking again, “That’s good, and…has she been okay this past month? I just worry with me and my w…ex-wife splittin’ that she might be strugglin’ a bit.” He wanted to ask about meeting him somewhere else to talk about the other night. He’d been having trouble getting his mind onto anything but that subject.
Nick bit his lip. Of course he’d heard about it, it was Frankie pouring his heart out that led them into this situation in the first place. “I dunno. Heard she’s havin’ trouble in other classes, but here she’s doin’ great. Always smilin’, happy to be here.” He gave a smile of his own. “You oughta be proud.”
”Been to four conferences so far, this is the only place she isn’t having trouble. I can’t say I am not surprised. Then again she has talked about you being her favorite teacher.” Frankie smiled back locking eyes with Nick for a second before frowning again. “I really do think we should talk about what happened, if not here some other time and place. Weekends have been rather dull since Mary gets Francine on them.”
Nick stared up at Frankie for a few seconds, the first time their eyes met since they first recognized each other. “Favorite? Really?” He shook his head. “Nevermind that. Maybe, we could…” He trailed off, going silent for a few seconds. “Could talk it over sometime this weekend? I’m just the music teacher, so I don’t got a lot of papers to grade.” He chuckled softly.
”That would be wonderful, better than spendin’ my weekends alone.” Frankie chuckled as well, then blushed as silence filled the room as he worked up the courage to speak again,” Ya know, I have been thinkin’ about you since that night. You were right it, it really was good.” He regretted saying those words the second they were out of his mouth, but too late now.
Nick’s eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline, but he quickly composed himself. “Like I said, don’t wanna talk about it here.” He glanced around the room, making sure that nobody was around to listen, then scribbled something frantically onto a piece of paper held by his clipboard. “But the feelin’s mutual.” He tore the paper off and handed it to him, a few digits scrawled across it. “See ya, Frankie.” He smiled softly.
Frankie stuffed the sheet of paper into his jacket pocket, a smile on his face to match Nick’s. He stood up and shook Nick’s hand, having a much stronger grasp on it this time then when the meeting started, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Massi.” After he made it to the hallway, he looked back one last time as Francine ran up to him and hugged him. Honestly this was the best thing that had happened to Frankie in quite a while.
For the first time since he and Mary split, he was looking forward to the weekend.