a day like today

Oh, crap.

Well, it was on the tip of his tongue, but since Gordon Mayberry was a teacher..he didn't curse. But then again, he said FUDGE a lot. However, no one was ever around when he said it.

He winced hard. Was that Brick? With Tiffany? He looked at both of them, blankly.

Gordy pushed a smile forward. This was going to be a weird day at the zoo. Why did he ever say he'd go?

Right, he was suddenly Tiffany's best friend.

Of course, it wasn't until an hour in... at the zoo during a potty break for the girls, that Gordy explained this to Brick.

"I'm only your mother's neighbor." He wanted to make sure his student knew nothing was going on. "You're mom has a boyfriend."

Gordy did his best to endure, but he could see now, the reason Brick was hesitant to write anything in his journal, lately. He said he was mad at his mother.

"Well, you should write about that. List the things that upset you, about her." Gordy said to Brick, weeks ago, when Brick was looking at his empty journal.

Brick never said he hated her. Still, by the looks of things, Brick put up with her. And he was distant. Gordy could see Brick didn't trust her.

"This..this was just something, she wanted to do..for that friend of her's who is getting married." Brick reminded him. "So, lets..lets make it a good day for Lily. She's probably going through a lot too."

Gordy didn't want to make Brick mad, but it felt as is their Student/Teacher situation was being compromised.

Gordy nursed his bottom lip and looked at the time on his trusty Timex.

"You, don't like her... do you?" Brick then looked at him, as if he better get this question right.

"What?" Gordy didn't like being roped into anything. Maybe that was why he'd stayed single for so long, even though he was quite certain, that was not true. "We..me and your mother..are just..just friends."

Naturally, he's heard an earful from her, already about the men in her life (still she'd neglected to mention Brick by name). That was usually how it went. He had a lot of female friends that way. He knew the errors of his way. He was that guy that every girl thought of, as a best friend. The best friend they soon forgot about... once THE ONE arrived to change everything.

Gordy remained even lipped. There was absolutely nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.