This choice: David has a difficult time at the school while Diana continues to excel. • Go Back...Chapter #8David struggles while Diana excels at their jobs by: Jenny Amara   David sat there patiently as he felt his body shifting. Occasionally he would readjust his seated position as his hips continued their expansion and his legs became uncomfortable trying to remain in their prior positions. For David, it was the height loss that really troubled him though. Diana was six inches shorter than he was. He did his best to continue listening as his eye-line up to Diana’s increased in slope. Now hearing his wife detail her work environment in ‘his’ voice instead of hers, he tried to summarize back what he had been told.
“Janet is sensitive to changes, so don’t surprise her with anything new. I have to make sure I gradually introduce new ideas to her and give her lots of time to come to terms with them. (Not that I will be making any big changes in my time as Diana).
Frank is a chauvinist, but takes good care of his students. So I can leave him be, but watch out for any male ego displays as they can be a mess to fall into.
Carie is your closest work friend. She is also a huge gossip. So if I need to know something that’s going on I should ask her ‘what’s up with…’ and she will give me the latest.
You gave me your student roster and I’ll spend the rest of the night memorizing it so I know who everyone is. I’ll watch out for Reagan and Toby, your class troublemakers. Stephen is your class’s student representative and he can be counted on to get the class lined up when it’s time for recess.
Anything I miss?”
“I think that pretty much sums it up,” Diana said to David before quickly jumping back in. “Oh, don’t forget about Robert. He’s the school Principal. He makes random stops into class so make sure you stick to my schedule and planner. He’s a stickler for keeping the kids on track and you don’t want to get pulled into his office at the end of the day. He has a tendency to be very condescending in his feedback. He’s a sweetheart if you stay on schedule though.”
“Alright, watch out for Robert and make sure I stay on schedule. You have it so meticulously planned out I think I should be in good shape.”
The couple wrapped up their work preparation conversation with each other and made their way to their bedroom. As David started to get into bed, Diana scolded him. “Nope, back up to the bathroom mister, well misses. You need to keep up with my evening rituals so you look good in the morning. Get in there and apply my face cream, and get changed into a nightie. I don’t want to sleep next to your scratchy clothes.”
“Do I have to? The YourEssence keeps you looking like this doesn’t it?”
“Sure, but I don’t want to wake up with bags under my eyes. It’s just different for women. You have to take better proactive care of yourself even with YourEssence in our lives.”
“Ugh fine. I’ll put the lotion on, but can I please wear something else to bed? Your nighties are so ‘revealing’”
“Yes you have to wear my nightie. You’ll like it, they are comfortable and it’s not like you haven’t seen the full package anyways. You’ve seen it from yours and my perspective.”
“There’s no winning with you is there. Fine, I’ll do everything you asked.”
*****
David was home first from work the next day. He hung his head low as he entered the apartment. He hoped that he would be the first one home. He wasn’t ready to deal with how Diana would take the news that he had done such a poor job with her students. As she had warned, Robert made a stop by his classroom and unfortunately, David was struggling to keep the students under control. They were at least two units behind where they were supposed to be by that point in the day and David was struggling. Fortunately, Robert’s presence got the class back under control, but the damage was done. David was called to Robert’s office at the end of the day and he was given the full dressing down that Diana had described.
Diana walked into the apartment a half hour after David had returned home. Diana was jubilant upon her return. “Brad owes you big time David. I saved his bacon today. Twice! You should have seen the VPs, they were eating up everything I said and when Brad almost blew it, I swooped in with the data to back us up. I was on fire!”
“That’s great Diana. I’m glad at least one of our days went well,” David said hanging his head.
“Oh no! Babe, what happened?” Diana asked. David noticed that she had used ‘his’ pet name for Diana in the question. “Probably just a slip of the tongue,” he assumed before responding to Diana.
“Well, you warned me about staying on schedule…”
“Oh gosh, Robert got to you? On your first day? I’m so sorry David. I can’t believe our dumb luck.”
“Yeah, he was so mean about it too!” David burst out his response as tears started to flow. He was clearly overwhelmed by the whole experience and his unfamiliar hormones were amplifying the way he was experiencing this grief.
“There, there David. It’s all going to be alright. It’s happened to me before and I’m sure it will happen again. Robert is a pig, don’t lend his words any credence,” Diana moved into console and comfort David. Taking him into her arms in a full on hug from behind. David stopped what he was doing to let himself be held. It just felt like the right thing to do with how he was handling the events of the day.
“Babe, why don’t you stop prepping dinner. We will go get takeout from downstairs instead. It was a big day for us both and we shouldn’t throw extra responsibility on top of the already busy day.”
“There, she said it again. Why is she adopting that pet name for me when she refers to me?”
“Actually, why don’t I just run down. You can go throw on a pair of sweats and relax. Take your bra off, it will feel so much better to not be wearing one anymore.”
David agreed to take Diana’s advice. He worried that she would just insist anyways if he had disagreed with any of it. Diana released David from her embrace and turned him around then quickly planted a quick kiss on his lips. It would have been cute, but David was the one who usually would take the initiative on little displays of affection like that. It was weird for David to be on the receiving end of it. Compounding the weirdness was that David appreciated the gesture and had gotten a little spark of joy from it.
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