When You Don't Want to Date

"While on the topic, I'd like to address-" You cut off as the sound of the door opening startled you, turning your head to see who the intruder was.

"'Sup. Buses are hella unreliable, sorry we're late, prof." Ah. Right. Why weren't you used to their tardiness by now?

"Perhaps catching an earlier bus is in order then, Derrik." You crossed your arms, unamused as he tipped his hat and moved to plop in one of the front desks. As per usual, his feet were now being propped onto it, and he lounged back with his arms behind his head.

"We'll make sure ta arrange that, darlin." His heavy Texan drawl hardly phased you as you turned to watch the older of the two move into his desk next to him, dropping his bag and pulling out his book. "Right, D?"

"Sorry, Professor. An' ignore him."

You thought you'd have gotten used to the Taylor brothers and their bickering by now, having had them in the first courses of your Social Justice classes last year, but they just had that perfectly annoying charm about them that always managed to irritate you.

"Show you're sorry by working to be on time to my classes, David, as the both of you once again managed to miss," you checked your watch, "the first thirty minutes of the lesson." You looked back up at them, tapping your fingers on your arm. The older of the two ducked down his head to mutter something you couldn't hear under his breath, readjusting the aviator sunglasses on his face.

"Oh Hell no, don' go blamin' missin' the bus on me, D." Derrik didn't turn to face him, so you could only suspect that he was leering at him through his cat eye sunglasses. "You're the one who-"

"I don't care who did what. If you are to attend my class I expect you to be on time. If you two are done wasting my time, I would like to get back to my lesson." David nodded after another apology, and as usual Derrik pulled his cap over his eyes.

You still hadn't figured out how he'd managed to keep a passing grade up to this point, or how he managed to have even passed the first year of your class. You huffed in frustration, turning to look out at your students again.

"Now, where were we before the rude interruption?"

"You were about to address something pertaining to Gandhi?"

"Oh! Thank you, Alicia. As I was saying-"

The rest of the lecture went off without a hitch, and you made sure to remind them of the questions as you straightened out your own paperwork and gathered up your belongings for the day. You looked up just as the younger male walked up to your desk, leaning on it and flicking the front of his cap out of his eyes.

"Did you have a question, Derrik?"

"You've got a fine tail. What about you an' me head out for dinner tonight? On me." You wish you could say this was the first time he's made a sexual advance on you, but you couldn't.

"I'm afraid I have other plans, as much as I would love to accept your offer." You straightened your satchel on your shoulder, giving him your best look of disinterest. "Any questions pertaining to the first thirty minutes of lesson you missed?"

"Ignore him, please..." You turned your head to the older of the two as he adjusted his shades.

"Aw, y'all know I'm just teasin'."

"Did you have any questions, David?"

"Yeah... Do you have a quick second to explain what we missed?" You checked your watch, gauging the time frame.

"We can talk on the walk to my car." You left the room, waiting for them to do the same before locking up behind you.

"Ooh, we get ta see your ride, prof?" You mostly ignored him as you headed down the hall, immediately going into what they'd missed earlier. It wasn't hard to see that Derrik wasn't paying attention, but David had out his phone, frantically typing, and you hoped it was notes on what you were briefly explaining.

You checked your watch again as your bug came into view. It was honestly inconvenient to have teacher parking on the complete opposite side of the campus from your classroom, but at least that gave you time to give an incredibly brief yet thorough lecture to the boys tailing you.

"That should be enough to get you through the questions, love." You looked at him to find him looking up with you. His shades of course hid his eyes, giving you no way to tell whatever emotions he could've been feeling. "Anything else?"

"Yeah." You looked over at Derrik to find that he'd lowered his shades to peer at you with his bright amber eyes. "You open tomorrow night?" And he winked at you before pushing his shades back up. You felt your eye twitch, and you fought the urge to face palm.

Though it was satisfying to see the older boy punching him in the shoulder.

"Bro, knock that shit off. It's fuckin' disrespectful, you damn thot."

"OW! Ya know what, FUCK ya'll-"

"Well, gentlemen, as much as I would love to continue this conversation," you had already pulled out your keys from your satchel, unlocking the door to your bug, "I have a previous engagement that I'm going to be late for if I entertain it."

"Wait, hol' up. This-"

"Bro, don't even." You barely took the time to acknowledge them as you got in and situated yourself. You wished you hadn't rolled down your window when the younger Taylor brother leaned in it. You did your best not to roll your eyes at the grin you knew all too well. "Derrik-"

"You never did answer me about tomorrow night, doll." You felt your eye twitch, met your own gaze in your rearview mirror.

Fuck it.

You looked over at him, gave the most devilish grin you could possibly muster.

"Derrik, sweetheart, doll," You relished the sudden change in the air about him, "if I really wanted any sort of date with you..." You leaned in close to him, your lips may have even brushed his the slightest bit as you let yourself trail off. The darkening of his cheeks was all too amusing. "Don't you think I would have said yes, I don't know, one of the first thousand times?" He recoiled back as you pulled away to turn the key in the ignition. "I'm. Not. Interested. End of discussion." You looked back over your seat to check to make sure you were in the clear. As you backed out, you gave them both a pointed look. "Do not be late Thursday, understood?" They both stared at you, no doubt dumbfounded as you pulled out and onto the road to merge with the afternoon traffic.

The stop at the store was quick, enough groceries for dinner that night, and a tub of neapolitan sugar-free ice cream. You had to keep in mind that Kayden wouldn't have it if Arthur was the only one to get any. You paused at the small section of toys, your eyes scanning until they found a small pack of ten assorted dinosaurs. It didn't need a second thought before it was in your cart and you were on your way to the checkout.

The presence of the third child in your front yard, playing with your children was unexpected as you pulled in, parking in your driveway. You returned the smile your mother cast your way from her spot on the porch steps, unbuckling and getting out.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I stopped at the store for groceries."

"PAPA!"

"DA!" You barely kept your footing as your legs were tackled by your boys, and you laughed, dropping the bag you had been holding.

"Boys!"

"No, it's okay!" You managed to pull back enough to kneel, pulling them both into your arms for a hug. "Oh, hello, my sweet angels." You got sloppy kisses to your cheeks, which you returned as soft ones to their heads. Kayden was wandering off again once he'd gotten his outburst of slobbery kisses out of the way, while you felt Arthur still hugging onto your side, as usual. "Hello, my little bug."

"Hi Papa!" You smiled brightly, brushing his hair from his face to plant another kiss on his forehead. "We had fun with Rosa! We got to play with toys!" You chuckled softly, gently stroking his hair.

"Did you?"

"Mhm!" His smile always made you smile in turn, and you finally stood back up, ignoring the pop in your back in favor of turning your attention to the other child in the yard, who was currently hiding behind your mother's back, when it was moments before he had been interacting with your own toddler.

"Whose this sweetheart, hm?" You patted Arthur's head, gently moving him off of your leg to bend down and pick up the grocery bag you had dropped. Your mother smiled warmly.

"Elias, won't you say hello? He's Kayden's and Arthur's dad." She looked behind her, and the blue-ish eyes that had been watching you ducked away again. You hummed softly, looking back down as Arthur re-attached himself to your leg.

"Arthur, I need to take the groceries inside." He blinked up at you with your brother's eyes, and you blinked back, taken aback momentarily before you had to shake your head, smiling to hide the change in your mood. You knew by the raised brow that your mother had caught the split-second shift in your expression. "Would you like to help me, love?"

"Ah! Yes!" You opened the backseat, and helped him grab a few lighter bags as you took the rest. The other toddler, Elias, moved away and back into the yard as you and Arthur passed to go inside. You pretended not to see the pointed look she gave you as you passed.

He was thrilled as you pulled out the ice cream to put it away, and even more so when you opened the bag of dinosaur toys for him to take back outside for the other two to play with as well. You joined them after you put everything away, leaving out what you knew you'd need for dinner to defrost in the sink. The other boy was back to playing with Kayden as you sat with your mother on the steps.

"So, whose child is he?"

"You make it sound like I kidnapped him." You glanced at her as she narrowed her eyes at you, and you could only put up your hands defensively.

"What? You? Do something so rash?"

"Oh, stop it." She scowled, and you laughed as she lightly smacked your shoulder. "His name is Elias, and he's the son of the lovely gentleman who decided to move in next door." That made you blink, and your eyes shifted back to the blond boy, who couldn't have been any older than Kayden was.

"He just, let you watch his kid?"

"I offered, after he realized he'd forgotten something at the store and the poor child whined and fussed about having to get back into the car. He was hesitant until I showed him my daycare card." You didn't like the pause she had, hoped she wouldn't address what you thought she was going to.

"Mhm..." You watched the three boys playing with the various dinosaurs you'd brought home, Kayden roaring and growling as he made the tyrannosaur stomp around in the grass.

"Single father, much like yourself, actually." You barely spared her a glance at the statement before returning to watching them play. "Strapping young man, maybe a little older than you. Built like a mountain-"

"You're embarrassing yourself." Not the topic you'd thought, but an unwelcome one nonetheless.

"He seemed rather intrigued when I told him about you and your angels. I'm certain I piqued his interest in you."

"Now you're really embarrassing yourself, mother."

"Oh, come on, Junebug!" You could hear the exasperation in her voice, and you sighed wearily, pinching the bridge of your nose.

"I've told you a thousand times, mom. I'm not interested in dating, okay? I haven't been in a long time, and I'm perfectly content with being able to focus all of my energy into my children and my job." You finally looked at her to find her scowling, hands on her hips. "You're not giving up on this, are you?"

"You are going to get to know Orpheus if it kills you." You rose a brow at the name.

"'Orpheus'? From Greek mythology?"

"Oh, don't you turn this into a philosophical lesson on me, Carmine!" You rolled your eyes, crossing one of your legs over the other to put your elbow on it, resting your chin in your hand as you stared across the yard. You tapped your other fingers on your leg at her horrified gasp. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, young man!"

"Can you give this up? Please?"

"No! He is a nice man with his own successful business and a child of his own, he has his priorities straight, and I've invited him to dinner tonight." Your head whipped to her, your eyes widening in shock.

"You did what!?"