Always With You

Roxanne relished in the powerful clicks of her heels beneath her feet. With every step along the sidewalks, they clicked and clacked, sending vibrations up her legs. Underneath the mid-morning sunshine, the black finish of her shoes shimmered.

“I must say, Roxanne, I’m quite impressed.”

When Roxanne turned, she paused. Her deep black bangs fell out from behind her ear. The regular rhythm of her steps ceased, causing the campus to grow quiet around them.

“Impressed?” she questioned, amusement lightening her tone. “I’m afraid I haven’t done much yet, Nancy.”

Nancy chuckled, her smile deepening the crow’s feet around her eyes for the briefest of moments. “I’m impressed that you can walk so easily in those heels,” she clarified, gesturing vaguely to her shiny black shoes. “I’m afraid that I haven’t been able to wear shoes like that in nearly a decade.”

Roxanne gave her an indulgent smile. She adjusted her organizer in her arms. “Ah, when you were twenty then?”

“Oh my, aren’t you the clever one, Principal Ascher?” Nancy said shrewdly, seeing through the compliment without missing a beat.

Smiling with practiced ease, Roxanne pushed her bangs back behind her ear once again. “I’m only thirty-two in a job usually occupied by older candidates. I think I’ll need to be a little clever, Vice Principal Najmi,” she said not unkindly, resuming her footsteps.

With every step, her heels continued their regular rhythm of clicks and clacks on the sidewalk. “Of course,” Roxanne added lightly, feeling confidence bloom in her chest at the sound of every sharp step, “A good pair of high heels should help as well.”

If anything, they would help with her height. Not that she was short, but a few extra inches never hurt when it came to being in command.

Nancy the Vice Principal may have been middle-aged, but truly, only her crow’s feet and smile lines gave her away. “Of course,” she agreed jokingly, “so long as you don’t trip in those.”

“Ye of little faith,” she responded, unable to resist the urge to exhale at the persistent August heat. Even in her pencil skirt and crisp white button-up, even with her long hair pulled back into a bun, it threatened to make her sweat.

Roxanne was relieved to feel the air conditioning that greeted her the moment she pulled open the door. As she held it for Nancy, her wedding ring glinted lightly underneath the sunlight.

“Now,” Nancy said when Roxanne fell into pace beside her once again, “I believe today will be the true test of your capabilities.”

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “Because I’m leading the staff meeting?”

The woman turned a corner of one of the many white hallways, leading her across the old tiled flooring. “Because in my experience, the technology in nearly every school is terribly finicky,” she said as if it were a secret, her lips stretching into a smile.

Roxanne mirrored her expression. “Well now, you seem quite clever yourself, Nancy,” she joked, following her colleague in through the door to the lecture hall.

She assumed the thumps of her heels caused the sudden hush more than her simple presence had.

Suddenly, various pairs of eyes were cutting to her in between the low thrum of conversations and the sound of shuffling that accompanied each new arrival.

Roxanne relaxed into the attention with ease, unbothered by what they might assume only from the appearance of her lithe body and sizable bust. If they were considering whether she was truly qualified for this job, setting up the PowerPoint properly would be a better indication.

Dozens of eyes had found her the moment she stood straight and took her place beside Nancy. Deliberately smoothing out her black skirt in an effort to soften her demeanor, Roxanne smiled professionally while the woman began their staff meeting.

“—and this is our new school principal, Principal Roxanne Ascher. I’ll leave the rest to her then,” Nancy finished, graciously allowing Roxanne to step forward.

Roxanne hadn’t spent her whole life dreaming of becoming a school principal. She hadn’t even thought about teaching until she was already finished with college.

But she had always known the right thing to say at just the right time, even in situations that were nearly impossible to prepare for.

This situation included.

“—and so, I hope we can all work together to make this school year a wonderful one,” she concluded, clicking the last PowerPoint slide and adding, “Now, I’m sure you all would like to enjoy the last few days of your summer before school begins next week. So, are there any questions?”

After reiterating the once-a-month staff meeting schedule and reassuring a few people that their days off wouldn’t be in danger this year, Roxanne dismissed everyone. Nancy kindly complimented her. A few teachers gave a polite hello.

Yet it took only minutes for everyone to disperse at an impressive speed.

All except for one teacher.

Clapping cheerfully, the brunette giggled. “Wow, so impressive!”

“Luna,” Roxanne said with undisguised fondness, replacing her papers back into her organizer. “I’m sure even you were wondering why that meeting couldn’t have been an email.”

“Well, maybe,” Luna acknowledged sheepishly, curling her eyebrows and ignoring the strand of light brown hair that fell from behind her ear, “but you were mesmerizing to watch.”

“I think you’re the only one who thought that, Luna,” she responded, stepping down the stairs in her high heels. They thudded heavily on the carpeting as she fell into step beside the woman.

Luna shook her head energetically. “When you’re working so hard like that, it’s impossible to look away! But I guess I am a little biased,” she winked. “Or a lot biased,” she added with a hearty chuckle.

“Well, we have been married for five years now.” Roxanne smiled at the very thought, flicking her eyes to the wedding ring Luna wore. It was nearly an exact match to her own.

“I suppose that’s why Nancy’s evaluating my teaching now,” Luna mused cutely, “and why I have to submit any formal complaints or requests to her first.”

“It’s certainly why you had absolutely no say in me being hired,” Roxanne added, stepping through the door that Luna held open for her. Her heels resumed their clicking the moment she stepped from the carpeting to the old white flooring.

This time, they were joined by the low clacks of Luna’s little tan heels too. “And why we have to be all professional at work,” the woman pouted dramatically, “I can’t even kiss you hello until after we leave the school. All I can do is watch from afar until then.”

Roxanne smirked at this woman of hers. “Truly a trial in patience.”

Luna nodded surely. “It for sure is. Because you’re working so hard and I’m so very proud of you, Roxanne.”

It was impossible not to feel her heart melt in her chest. While Roxanne spent time always considering her words, always thinking through what was next, Luna always blurted out her thoughts so endearingly.

“Have I made you speechless?” the woman asked. Her brown eyes were practically sparkling with cheer.

Roxanne let her expression relax as they stepped back out into the warm August sun. “You always do.”

Luna giggled, smiling like it was an incredible achievement. “Perhaps I can do something else to make you speechless when we get home.” Despite her bright tone, the innuendo was obvious.

“Oh? Care to share your plans for me then?” Roxanne asked, settling into the passenger’s seat while Luna took the wheel and turned up the air conditioning.

The woman hummed idly. “No way,” she sang as she pulled out onto the street. “You’ll just have to be surprised.”

She said that, but Roxanne wasn’t surprised at all when they parked in front of their Virginia home and Luna’s lips were on hers. She smiled into the soft pressure, taking a breath to murmur, “You act like I didn’t kiss you when we left the house this morning. Which was only a few hours ago, really.”

Luna’s lips curved up in response. “One kiss isn’t nearly enough,” she giggled, bringing her hand up to rest on Roxanne’s neck. Her gentle fingers adjusted her jaw, deepening their kiss.

Roxanne exhaled, unable to remember when her eyes had shut. It was true: she enjoyed Luna’s attention. Which was why she agreed, “It certainly isn’t.”

It took her a moment to remember to open her eyes again when Luna pulled away with a sweet laugh. “You were so amazing today. I think the other teachers would be shocked if they knew what a good kisser the principal is.”

“And they’ll never find out,” Roxanne quipped dryly, “Besides, I think they would be more surprised if they knew that I managed to marry an amazing person like you.”

Unlike the little compliments she had given Nancy, these words slipped out of her mouth effortlessly. There was no thought required to express how much she loved her wife. There was no way she could find the right words anyway.

Luna had a talent for making her tongue-tied.

Quite literally, as it turned out.

The slight chill of the door crept up her back as Roxanne allowed Luna to kiss her up against it, pressing their chests together in the most tantalizing way. As she kicked off her heels, Roxanne had to crane her neck just a little more before Luna was pulling her own shoes off too.

It only took a moment for Luna to reach up to undo the top buttons of her shirt. Her deft fingertips brushed lightly along her cleavage, making Roxanne exhale.

“You always dress so nicely,” Luna mumbled against her throat, “buttoned all the way to the collar.”

“Well, my boobs are big enough that I would get comments if I didn’t,” she said absently, unable to focus on anything beyond Luna’s breath on her neck.

Her wife giggled, nosing up her jaw. “You should wear that tie my niece got you then. You’ll look adorable.”

Roxanne would consider herself relatively intelligent, but was struggling to string her words together into something coherent. “E-every time I wear that, you like to tug me down.”

“That’s a personal bonus,” Luna admitted unabashedly.

“As long as you don’t do it while I’m in my office.”

“Then I’ll just have to wait until it’s just us. Like now, for example.”

She punctuated the statement with a heavy kiss, one that simply took Roxanne’s breath away and made her knees weak.

After a whole day of walking in heels, it was Luna who made her stumble.

The thought made Roxanne smile against her lips.