It’s been a week since I last saw or heard from Johnny. He hasn’t been to class since that night at the restaurant and he isn’t answering texts. Actually, he isn’t answering my texts. He responds to Jeff and Layla in the group text but he doesn’t even open mine. I can’t say I really blame him though. His question was irritating, but he really wasn’t trying to start a fight. Maybe it was his choice of words and how I interpreted them or how it sounded in my head. I’ll admit that I tend to take things the wrong way, but for some reason him asking why I was being nice to him felt insulting. I know I shouldn’t have told him I was just being nice to him for the sake of our project. I definitely shouldn’t have told him we weren’t friends, especially since we’ve been getting to know each other. Not to mention the fact that he shared some really deep, personal things with me. He laid himself bare and I said things to intentionally hurt his feelings. A really shitty, asshole move on my part.

Still, did he really have to ignore me? I had planned to apologize to him when I saw him, but he wasn’t at class the first day back. By mid-week, he still hadn’t shown up and he had completely stopped responding to text – personal and group. I did, however, find out that he had met up with Jeff and Layla about a preliminary fitting.

“He came by on Sunday with the robot,” Jeff had said when I asked if he had been in contact with Johnny. “He was trying to act like everything was cool, but you can tell something was bothering him. I checked in on him a few days ago, but he hasn’t responded yet.”

That was two days ago. That means that it’s been nothing but radio silence for at least three days. We couldn’t even find out if he was ok until next week if he doesn’t text because we didn’t have class thanks to some conference our professor was going to.

Ugh, it really pisses me off that jerk is ignoring me!

And who was that woman that picked him up? He said he had trouble talking to pretty girls, but they were very comfortable touching each other. Was he flirting with me while he had a girlfriend the entire time?! And that hug. They were basically all over each other! This is so stupid. It shouldn’t annoy me, but it does. Everything he does annoys me. I shouldn’t have let him in. I said I wouldn’t and now I regret even peeking at that door.

I was so angry at him that I could barely focus on the lesson I was teaching. He’s lucky I was even able to hold myself back from shooting another angry text telling him he can go fuc…

“Good afternoon, Ms. Loughty,” Principal Erickson greeted as he walked into my classroom. “Do you have a moment?”

“Of course,” I responded with a smile despite cursing that giant idiot in my head. “How can I help you, sir?”

“Well, you see, Mrs. Chase is out sick today and we have some important visitors coming today. I was wondering if you would consider standing in for her today. The construction company that will be renovating and building the new auditorium will be here to go over the project plan. I just need you to take some notes for us. Mrs. Chase has notes on all the reps that will be here today, except the engineer.”

I had hoped to leave early, but if Mr. Erickson has the final say in hiring the robotics teacher, it wouldn’t hurt to play some politics. “I’d love to help out,” I smiled.

“Oh, you have no idea how much I appreciate your help! Here are the company files and their proposal so you briefly look over them. I’ll meet you in half an hour so we can meet with them, yes?”

“That sounds perfect.”

I dove right into learning as much as I could about Henley Construction. They were a family owned and run company that’s been around for nearly four decades. Second generation owner Winston Henley was the current head of the company. He’s passed some responsibilities off to his son, Walter, who will be taking over once Winston steps down. There was a dip in productivity when Walter started handling some projects, but they were always brought back up in a short amount of time thanks to a group of subtractors – J.R. Carpentry. Oddly enough, the original proposal Henley Construction was rejected by the Board of Directors. They had submitted a second proposal, and it was ultimately granted the project. I finished going over the files just as Mr. Erickson returned to join him for the meeting.

When we walked into the conference room, there were a few board members along with the Vice Principal chatting with members of the construction company. You could spot the Henleys out of the crowd almost immediately. They were the ones dressed in the most expensive looking clothes in the room. Their other representatives were semi-formal, wearing suits but work jackets over. I wasn’t really paying attention as Mr. Erickson introduced me to the older Henley.

“Winston, this is Ms. Loughty, she’ll be standing in for Mrs. Chase today. I hope that’s alright,” Mr. Erickson said.

“That’s perfectly fine!” Winston smiled, flashing his pearly whites. “I don’t think you’ve met our new engineer. Come this way and I’ll introduce you.”

We made our way through the crowd, and I froze when I saw him at the table. His back was to me, but I’d recognize those big, broad shoulders and hair as black as midnight. The familiar scent of cedarwood and amber wafted through the air that made me both buzz with excitement and bubble with rage. I'd gotten a good whiff of it when he ran into me at the coffee shop and the scent clung to his sweater that was tucked away in the dark depths of my closet. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. He has no business being here. What are the chances it’s…

“John, come say hello,” Winston said as he put his hand on the man’s shoulder.

The man turned his head slightly and nodded. It was like time slowed as he rose to his feet, towering over the men beside me. Was he always this tall? He turned to face us with a half-smile. He wore black slacks, a white button up with a black tie around the collar, and a navy-blue bomber jacket. It doesn’t look like he’s shaved. Is he growing a beard? It looks like he had actually combed his hair instead of running his fingers through it and calling it a day. He wasn’t wearing glasses today, so I could see those blue orbs clearly. 

“Mr. Erickson, this is our newly appointed engineer, John Park,” Winston introduced.

“You’re a dashing fellow aren’t you,” Mr. Erickson laughed. “This is my secretary for the day, Ms. Danielle Loughty.”

Our eyes met and his smile faded for a moment. Wait a minute. Is he mad? I haven’t heard from him in a week and he’s got the audacity to show up at my job and be irritated? What the hell?! He cleared his throat and forced a smile back on his face as he held his gigantic hand out to me.

“Nice to meet you, Ms, Loughty,” he greeted.

Oh now he’s going to pretend not to know me? This is how it’s going to be? I can play this game too.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Park,” I emphasized as I shook his hand. I felt a tingling sensation run up my arm as our hands met.

He pulled his hand back as he greeted Mr. Erickson and shook his hand. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him over the ringing in my ears. This asshole ghosts me, disappears, and shows up at my job acting like I don’t exist? I could punch him in the gut right now. He put his hand on the shoulder of the man that was sitting beside him and a Latin man several inches shorter than Johnny with a stocky build stood to face us. He had a big smile on his face as he shook our hands and introduced himself as “Mateo Ramos.” 

“Park, you and Ramos are brothers, right?” Walter asked. His tone made it clear he knew they weren’t brothers but was mocking them. Almost as if he were making an inappropriate comment. Mateo’s face scrunched as he moved to take a step toward the younger Henley, but Johnny took half a step to block the shorter man from advancing.

“I’ve known Mr. Ramos for so long, he may as well be,” Johnny laughed, unease lingering in his calm tone. “He’s a young, talented kid. Can’t tell you how lucky I am to be his crew lead.”

“Just his crew leader? You’re way more than that, Johnny,” a redheaded woman flirted shamelessly. She must be Pacey Henley. It was clear she only got her position in the company thanks to family connections. With her fiery red hair and pale skin, she looked just like Walter except she was wearing a pale pink dress that was questionable in a school full of hormonal teenagers. She ran her hand down his arm, making him flinch. “You’re his boss. Why don’t you sit over here next to me?”

I think I just saw Johnny’s eye twitch as he subtly moved away from Pacey’s touch. “I’m alright here,” he insisted,

“Um, why don’t we get started?” Mr. Erickson suggested. He must have felt as uncomfortable as everyone else.

“Good idea,” Winston said.

Mateo was whispering something to Johnny, making him scrunch his face. “Just sit down, Matty,” Johnny sighed. “I’ll handle it.”

“You always say that,” Mateo grumbled as he took his seat.

Our eyes met one more time, lingering a little longer. Johnny opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but frowned and lowered his head as he sat down next to Mateo. I laughed to myself. What the hell was I expecting? Were we just going to have a chat right here in the middle of a meeting? Hash out our differences for strangers and co-workers to hear? I shook my head and followed Mr. Erickson. Of course, he’d take the seats across from Johnny and Mateo.

I did my best not to get distracted by Johnny’s presence, but it was frustrating that he seemed so unphased by the tension between us. It’s like he didn’t care at all. I guess he was just trying to be professional. Still, what was going through his mind? He wasn’t showing a hint of how he was feeling seeing me while I sat across from him internally screaming at him for not giving a shit.

“So last question,” one of the school board members said, “do we have a timeline? Obviously, the longer the project takes, the more money we would have to put into temporary classrooms. For our student’s safety, we want to be sure that we’re prepared accordingly.”

“Ugh,” Walter groaned irritably. “I mean, it’s not like we can just pull a date out of our…”

“I think we can get everything completed by springtime,” Johnny interrupted.

Walter glared across the table at Johnny. “Mr. Park seems to be getting ahead of himself. He may not be considering how long it’ll take material to arrive or when inspections…”

“I think I’m well aware of how long this would take considering I’m the one that put the accepted proposal together.” I could practically see the steam coming off Walter’s head. “May I?” Johnny looked over at Mr. Erickson, asking permission to display whatever he had on his screen on the projector.

“Be my guest,” Mr. Erickson smiled.

Johnny tapped a few things on his iPad and a bunch of charts and figures popped up. “Keep in mind this is an overestimate. Given the fact that the renovations are to be done on an existing building, as long as the inspections show no structural or foundation damage, we can assume that the current frame won’t need to be touched. This would save us months on demo and reframing, not to mention replacement material we would use. As for the new auditorium, we’ve already contacted the city to survey the proposed space to see if the existing foundation will be sufficient for us to work with. They should be in contact with Mr. Erickson next week.”

“Well materials take a long time to…” Walter started.

“Thanks to the ongoing relationship we have with our suppliers, Ms. Morales has already been able to secure contracts with vendors to ensure priority delivery. Based off of the suggestions and requests of the board, I worked with our lead architect on this model of what the auditorium would look like.” He tapped on his screen again and model of a building appeared followed by a round of impressed gasps. “Factoring in holidays, possible delays, and possible weather issues we would face, I think we can have this all completed by the end of April at the latest. I’ve even provided Mr. Henley with my personal recommendations of crews I think would work most efficiently and effectively with this project.”

Wow. He spoke with such confidence it was impressive. He wasn’t smug or arrogant. He just really knew what he was talking about. But that confidence seems to be really irritating Walter. No one was speaking. Johnny gave a solid and thought out presentation, but Walter was the boss’s son. It was ridiculous that they wouldn’t go with a great plan simply because some spoiled brat didn’t want Johnny to look good.

“That was perfect!” Winston laughed as he started clapping. He flipped through the detailed plan on his tablet and smiled. “This is the most thought out and thorough plan I’ve seen in years. You got an eye for these things, son. I knew it was the right decision to give this project to you. Bravo.” Winston continued to look through the pictures on his tablet. “My God. I should just hand the company to you when I retire.”

Walter Henley didn’t even try to hide the hateful glare he was directing at Johnny, but Johnny didn’t seem phased at all. 

“Since we’re done here, why don’t we take you all out to a late lunch?” Winston suggested.

“I like that idea,” Walter said. “I’ve been craving sushi. Park, your kind makes those right? What’s a good Chinese place?”

What. The actual. Fuck. Is this guy for real? Winston Henley looked embarrassed by his son’s blatantly racist comments, but no one said anything.

“That’s incredibly rude,” I stated, unable to take it anymore. 

“What did you say?” Walter snapped.

“For one thing, sushi is a Japanese dish. Not Chinese. It doesn’t matter because Mr. Park clearly isn’t either. He’s Korean and Filipino. Your comments are not only rude and ignorant, they’re disgustingly racist.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” 

“Danielle Loughty. That’s exactly who I am. I don’t care who you are, but within these walls, we teach our students to be respectful and inclusive. Your ignorant rhetoric goes against everything our teachers, our staff, and our school stand for. You owe Mr. Park an apology. Otherwise I will have to urge the board to reconsider their contract with your company.”

Across the table, Johnny still had his head down, but I could see the corner of his mouth twitch upward. He was willing to sit there and withstand this bigotry for the sake of his job. He had said that people spoke like this to him but hearing it in person made me sick to my stomach. How could he just sit there and take it?