First Day
“Got it, Potter?”
“Huh? What?”
“James! You need to listen! This isn’t one of your stupid fuck-about jobs! These are children! Little lives! Promise me you understand that?” Mary scoffs.
She is tall, and her spring-like dark hair bounces on her shoulders. She wears bright coloured lipstick and summery jumpsuits. Her and James had been friends since school, and when James applied to work at Sunshine Nursery and pre-school, Mary felt bad and employed him. But, she couldn’t help but worry about James’ responsibility and maturity. Or lack therefore of.
“I understand Mary, I promise..” James answers with a charming grin.
Mary sighs and hands over James’ lanyard. He wasn’t sure what to wear for work that day, since he never got a uniform. So, he decided to wear something kid-friendly. And for James, that was a Lighting McQueen t-shirt and some pale blue jeans. Mary walks away, muttering worries under her breath and James threads his head through the lanyard.
James tries to help set up for the day, but constantly gets pushed away by the other employees. He scoffs and ends up sitting down on the huge rug that the children sit on. An extremely tall man with fluffy light brown hair, walks over to James and holds out his hand to him. It’s big and his fingers are slender and long. James takes it and the man pulls him up.
“Thanks. I’m James by the way…it’s my first day..” He grins
“Remus…but the kids call me Moony..” the man answers, his voice deep and gruff but sweet.
“Why?” James asks, leaning on the rounded, colorful chest of drawers behind him.
Remus rolls up his shirt sleeve to show James a tattoo of the moon phases, painting his scarred forearm. James smiles, loving that the children notice and love such a thing about him.
“It’s 9:30 everybody! Kids are going to arrive any minute!” Mary calls out, in a sing-songy tone.
A woman with wispy white hair, and a personality to match, walks over to James and Remus. James recognises her as Pandora Rosier, the reception teacher at Sunshine Nursery. She hums a tone with a smile.
“Remus….and…?” she asks, her voice quiet and gentle
“James. James Potter.” he smiles, holding out his hand to the woman.
She shakes it gently.
“Ah James…it’s wonderful to finally meet you, Mary has told me so much. I can just tell that the children will love you. I actually have a rather special task for you. You see, Mary shared her concerns with me and we decided to start you off with a…simple task. Just to start you off in the shallow end of the pool, you know? Anyway, my best friend’s son attends the nursery, and we would like you to look after just him today. Think of it as a project..a trial.” Pandora smiles “Are you up for it, James?”
James nods, listening intently. “Yeah, it sounds great. You’ll just have to let me know when the kid gets here”
“Ah, well if you go outside now, you’ll see a man with short black hair, probably wearing a turtleneck. That’s Regulus, my best friend. And the little spritely toddler with him will be his son, Elio. That’s who you’ll be looking after” Pandora kindly instructs with a wispy smile.
James nods and heads towards the door. He pulls it open and steps out onto the gravel, where a crowd of parents wait with their children.
James begins to run his eyes over the bundles of people, trying to find Regulus and Elio. he eventually spots a man standing at the edge of the group. He has black hair that falls delicately over his piercing features, and his cheekbones stand strong on his pale, freckled skin. He wears a pale, almost khaki, green turtleneck jumper and some elegant black jeans. James’ heart seems to beat faster as he admires the man’s god-like appearance. He follows the man’s endearing and deep grey eyes down to the energetic toddler holding his hand. The child looks just like his father, only where his face looks numb and tired, the toddler looks happy and loved. Elio’s eyes seem to beam as bright as the sun and his hair flows beautifully in short waves. James thinks for a moment about the boy’s name, Elio. It’s wonderful and suits him well, but James can’t help but recognise it. He dismisses it and lets his emotions fill him with false confidence, and walks over to them. His steps are somewhat shaky as he nearly trips many times in his short journey. But, he ends up standing inches away from the beautiful man named Regulus.
“Hello...I'm James…” is all he manages to stutter out with a stupid proud smile plastered on his face.
“Hi…I’m Regulus” the man answers with a polite and almost sad smile.
“I-I’m new here…and i’m looking after your son today..” he smiles, his pupils large and his cheeks painted with a low shade of pink.
“Oh yeah…Panda told me…This is Elio..my son..” Regulus mutters, crouching down to his son's height. He mumbles to Elio some words in a different language, James can’t help but eavesdrop.
“Elio, va avec le joli homme, s’il vous plaît. Bonne journee. Je t’aime mon amour.” Regulus says to Elio in a husky accent that makes James shiver. Regulus plants a kiss on the top of the toddler’s head, amongst his black curly hair. When his head comes back up, his pearly grey eyes meet with James’ dark brown ones and he smiles again.
“F-French? You’re…French..” James murmurs.
“Yes..we both are..” Regulus smiles politely, letting go of Elio’s hand and waving at him as he stumbles over to James.
Elio almost trips and James dives his hands down to catch Elio and hold his hand gently, the child’s hand holding back tight.
“Well..I’ll make sure Elio has a wonderful day…and I’ll see you at pick up later?” James smiles, the idea of seeing Regulus filling him with joy. Regulus nods and mumbles his goodbyes before walking back towards a tall black Jeep parked on the curb of the pavement. James and Elio watch him go before stepping towards the doors to the nursery.
“My daddy called you pretty!” Elio babbles as he stumbles across the cobbled pathway to the nursery doors in his yellow wellington boots.
James looks up in shock, his face becoming red and a huge smile painted on his face, he can’t help but chuckle softly as he and Elio walk inside.
“Did he now?”