Tilly was furious, what a small world she thought. It's been a little more than 2 years since she last saw her. The last thing she's heard about her is that she stayed in jail for a day then got bailed out and left Chester for good. She didn't even go and collect her belongings at Diane's. Liam have done her a favor of finally collecting them after a month, she still remember how much Diane made such fuss about it. And that was it. Nothing more. As much as she hated her, she was glad they didn't keep her in prison for what she thought like years.
She tried to stay calm and was just hoping Jen didn't see her, when she was sure Jen had finally gotten the costumers order she quickly move to the far corner of the pub where she's much hidden from her. As soon as she sat down she felt a hand touch her shoulder and said 'hey.
She jump, shit' she said but relieve that it was a male voice.
The interview's taking Longer than Normal, they just started' he was on the phone while your friend was there. That's Very much typical of Eric. Kent explained.
Tilly just smiled, she wasn't sure if she'll excuse herself and just head home but she can't really abandon her Girlfriend. She certainly doesn't want the job anymore, She's not going to be working with Jen. Oh just the thought of facing her again.
So, ahm do you like working here? She really didn't care she just want to get a conversation going and keep her mind off what she just saw. And to make it look like she doesn't need any help, Jen might notice somebody sitting alone with nothing on their table and come ask.
It's alright, not a fan of moaning costumers. Other than that I'm happy, It pays my bills.
Tilly just nodded.
After seeing Jen again, her mind just couldn't function properly, she knew she had loads of questions for Kent that she wanted to ask while she waits for Esther but she just can't think.
Before it got awkwardly quiet, Kent started to say something.
Did you know somebody here used to be a Teacher then she took advantage of her position and dated her student? Kent said, looking rather happy to talk about her co-worker.
Tilly didn't answer right away, she wasn't really paying much attention her mind's somewhere else, and the fact that she just saw Jen and her worries that she might see her too. But she did hear Kent say something about a teacher and student. Which made it obvious that he was referring to Jen.
What? She tried her best to hide the mixed shocked and scared look on her face. Her heart was beating so fast. Yes he is talking about Jen and her but of course he doesn't know that. She was curious though as to why he knows, did Jen told him about it. Does she think its ok for people to know about her past? Jen being the private person that she is, she has doubts.
Yeah, it's crazy right? I mean risk your career like that. I think it's stupid, from a teacher to a server. He laughs in aversion. He shakes his head.
Tilly didn't like the way he's talking. She suddenly feels sorry for Jen, people are talking about her like this. Making fun of her. This isn't right she thought.
There she is, he said while pointing at Jen, who came back to give the costumers order. Don't get me wrong though, I am not making fun of her. I think people just make stupid decisions sometimes, but hers was pretty crazy. You're a Uni student so you must know how hard it is. What 4 years to be a teacher, all the student loans, part-time jobs, bills after bills you graduate comes another start As you go and search for jobs. You'd be lucky enough to secure one right away. I heard she did in fact got a permanent job then she bangs her student. All the hard work erased, back to zero. I mean she's fit she could easily find a job that doesn't require years in Uni, but what a waste. We should learn from that, don't we Tilly? He ask raising his eyebrows.
Tilly was looking at Jen all the while she's listening to Kent. She feels hurt, she feels guilty mainly. She didn't banged a student, she fell in love. We fell in love she thought and almost said it loud. She wants to defend Jen, she needs to say something but why would she, and she hates her. She's supposed to be making fun of her too, but she knows the truth. She knows what happened, Jen didn't take advantage of her, and she didn't use her position to hitch a student. Maybe she used it to get her expelled, cause she was saving her career. Oh it was a mess, our mess. While she's all moved on, Jen is still picking up the pieces. She suddenly doesn't wanna hate her anymore.
Hey! Kent trying to get her attention waving his hand in front of her.
She was in deep thoughts.
Oh sorry, I was thinking about the interview. She lied.
Don't be overthinking it. They hired an ex-teacher which by the way has criminal record so there shouldn't be any problem with you. He said
She just smiled, though she wanted to give this guy a punch in the face. She didn't like how much his downing Jen when she knows exactly what happened. It hits her hard, she's the one who called the police on Jen. But how in the world does he knows about Jen's past, Tilly needed to know.
Criminal record eh? She started.
Ahuh, statutory rape or sexual harrasment something like that. He shrugged
How did you know all of this? She quickly asked before he could add more ignorant and horrible comment towards Jen, she's also trying to contain the anger that's building up towards this thick-headed guy.
Well... it took him a Few seconds to continue. Gossip and that, then Eric our boss finally spit it out.
That one little pause that he did made Tilly realize he must've tried to make a pass on Jen and got rejected. What a piece of shit' she thought.
He then excused himself to go and do his job, said his break time is up.
Her jaw literally dropped as to why would somebody on their right mind be spending the whole break time making fun of somebody. Even though she absolutely figured out why Kent was downing Jen the way he did, it still hits her. And the fact that Eric their boss would spill such private info about her. All of this is overwhelming for Tilly. She tries to get all this news sank into her.
Half an hour ago she thought life was good, it was just the way she wanted it to be. She has moved on from this. This is her past but why the heck does she care, why does she want to defend her. It doesn't have anything to do with her anymore, but to her it does. She is the reason behind all of this, she's living a normal life while Jen was suffering, and Jen got the worst end result of their forbidden affair. Of course she cares, she did this to her. They fell in love at the right place but in the wrong time' they didn't stop even when they thought it was wrong. Tilly knew their romance was real, Jen was her First love. She's not going to deny that, it was the best feeling in the world to fall in love for the first time. She stopped, right on that thought' crap' she must have said it loud enough that Esther heard it as she approach her from behind.
What's crap? Esther asked, sat herself down beside her rubbing Tilly's arm. You ok?
Oh ahm, I was getting bored and overthinking stuff. She was in deep thought couldn't think of a better excuse. But good thing Esther buys it.
Oh, stop it. You always overthink a lot of stuff and you really don't have too. Now get your butt over there, it's your turn. She winks and gave Tilly a quick kiss on her cheek.
Tilly gave her a weak smile, then made her way to get this interview done with, she feels weird. This interview will decide whether she'll be working with Jen or not. It was no doubt in her mind she wants this job, she needs it in fact. Then she saw Jen, It could've been an easy decision for her to drop it and find another job. Kent happened, everything that he said about Jen changed her mind again. This time she needs to get the job for much different reasons. She feels like she need to do something, first though she must secure this job. She's got her life back to normal after the whole scandal and to find out that Jen must have been still on the process getting up from the fall just bothers her a lot. She hates seeing her like this, how dare people like Kent judge somebody when they don't know the real story. When you're trying to live a normal life and people around you just doesn't want to drop it, she made a mistakes' we all do! Doesn't she deserve a second chance? Her need to help Jen gave her confident.