He palmed the soccer ball that lay on the carpet next to him and began tossing it over his head one-handed and catching it one-handed. “But you have four days off,” he pointed out. The school district was giving their staff and students a vacation Friday and Monday for fall break.

“Yes, but you’re not my boyfriend. And I’m not inclined to take weekend trips to visit male friends.”

“Right, but until now you haven’t had a male friend that you kiss. . . . Have you?”

She sniffed. “No.”

“I want to see you. Come see me.”

“You’re going to be on call! You probably won’t have time to spend with anyone.”

“I’ll have plenty of time to spend with you,” he vowed. “Try me.”

“Every time I contemplate leaving Dylan for the weekend, I envision a montage of party scenes from high school movies. Kids drinking beer out of red cups and making out on every piece of furniture.”

“You can leave him with the older couple you told me about.”

“Tess and Rudy?”

“Sure.”

“Excellent idea!” He could tell from her voice she was pretending to be astonished by his brilliance. “The answer’s no.”

Ben’s classroom was empty, except for him, when Leah stepped inside it the following day. “Hello.”

He twisted from where he’d been writing on his board. “Hello.” He regarded her pleasantly, but not as openly as usual. She might be mistaken, but she thought she saw guardedness in his eyes.

“I’m going to lunch and wanted to see if you were interested in joining me.”

“I’m meeting a parent in the foyer in a few minutes, but I’ll walk toward the break room with you.”

It was a good sign that he’d offered to walk with her. Wasn’t it? She waited while he capped his marker.

Usually, they chatted daily and shared lunch with Connor and their other teacher friends a few times a week. Since her dates with Sebastian last weekend, he hadn’t stopped by her room or texted. She’d opted to give him space at first. But, at this point, she was beginning to worry that giving him space might have been the wrong approach. It was possible that he’d translated the distance she’d extended to him as indifference on her part.

She frequently found herself at a loss when it came to navigating relationship dynamics. What would someone with a high EI do in this predicament? It seemed that they’d reach out to Ben.

They walked down the mostly deserted hallway lined on both sides with lockers. “Sebastian told me that you encouraged him to ask me out,” she said.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of the flat front beige pants he wore with a green-and-white-checked button-down. “Yeah. I did.”

“That was nice of you.”

“He’s a good friend.”