“Guest bedroom, right next to mine. This way,” he motioned for me to follow him down the hallway. “Put your stuff in there.” I did as I was told to, entering through the door on the right. I dropped my bags, crossed my arms and turned to face him.
“So, what’s the plan, Teach?”
“Dinner first, then we’ll dive into the books.” I followed him out to the kitchen. Uncle Alex got to work making pasta while I prepared a salad. Whatever he had on the stove actually smelled delicious. I don’t know why I assumed he probably couldn’t cook anything outside the microwave. Probably the typical bachelor stereotype drilled into me by Hollywood. He poured himself a glass of wine and eyed me for a moment holding up the bottle.
“Are you offering me a glass?” I asked incredulously.
“I may be your teacher, but I’m also family. You’re not going anywhere, and I’m not letting you get drunk.” He shrugged, still holding up the bottle in an offer. I studied him, trying to determine if this was some kind of test. He seemed sincere, and has never really been the narq-type anyway.
I smiled, “Alright, pour me a glass.”
We sat at the table and talked about family drama, what I wanted to study in college, if I wanted to go to college and a variety of other small things. We ate the meal we made together, and I had to hold back from making little noises of delight with each bite. I swear I saw Alex hold his breath when one of my little moans of approval slipped through. I felt like I was interrupting his meal too much, and pushed my plate away so I could just focus on chatting and drinking.
Uncle Alex refilled both of our glasses as we continued catching up outside of school topics, and we began cleaning up the table and the kitchen. We seemed to find an easy flow where neither of us got in each other’s way. I washed dishes while he dried and put them away. We drank another glass each while laughing about how my other uncle, his older brother, still had no idea it was Grandpa playing regular pranks on him. He tried asking me about my dating life, but I tried to veer away from that topic as I dried off my hands. I don’t know if Uncle Alex would be someone I could confide in about my relationship issues, so I’d rather not breach that subject. We moved to the living room, and he told me to grab my backpack. I went back to my room to grab it, and when I came back out, both our glasses were on the coffee table along with the bottle. I was already feeling a buzz, but I was feeling so grown-up I didn’t say anything.
“Okay, Mona, take out your history book and binder. First thing’s first, you’re going to finish the assignment due on Monday.” He leaned back onto the couch, casually resting an arm the back and a foot resting on his knee.
“What are you going to do? Sit there and watch me?” I opened my book on the table and laid my binder in my lap. I took another big sip of my wine before setting it on the table.
“Pretty much,” he shrugged. “I’m going to make sure you get this done and right. Then, we can move on to the extra credit work.” He took out his phone, and he seemed to become immediately engrossed in whatever was on his screen. I sighed as I began reading the chapter our homework was on.