dating

i'm deciding what to do for my pretend-almost-boyfriend for valentine's day.

my friend donnie and i work at the same school. people see us hang out and assume there something going on (far from it). it's gotten a little more, um, obvious recently. like, i walk into his classroom and hear whispers of "mr. maley's girlfriend" and questions to me "are you mr. maley's girlfriend?" "ms. matthews, do you like him??"

even the teachers: he walked into a room where there had been a meeting of all the special ed teachers (but i wasn't there anymore) - everyone there responded in unison, without missing a beat, "she's upstairs." laughing, knowing exactly what/who they were talking about, he said, no no, i'm looking for so-and-so.

it's actually convenient. it keeps the tss workers at bay and then neither of us have to answer questions about why we have no love life - questions that come, for me, at least, a few times a week.