[N.B. Struggling slightly to join up some story arcs at the mo, so apologies for the obvious lack of progress…]
Accompanying soundtrack: ELO – "Fifth of Beethoven"
The week had gotten half way through already, and Jen had struggled through what had seemed the longest of the three days so far. She'd just wanted to keep a low profile for the most part because the negativity of the previous few weeks had taken its toll. Tilly had remained mostly in her room, and as much as Jen wanted to see her, Tilly had work to do and still wanted to build the bridges with George.
Jen sat staring out of the window in the staff room.
"Penny for 'em?"
Jen was shaken out of her thoughts by the voice of one of the other teachers.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just relationship stuff." The other woman raised her eyebrows and nodded. Jen waved her hand in front of her. "Not my relationship, my girlfriend and her ex and a horrible mess." Jen stopped, realising that she'd outed herself without even thinking about it. She bit her lip, kicking herself inside. She looked up at the woman in front of her with a forced smile, and wondered how she'd been so easily unwise.
The woman stood in front of her was Carla, the French teacher, who seemed to gloss entirely over Jens confession.
"Urgh, who needs that crap! Cup of tea?"
Jen felt that it was nice to have someone else to talk to, someone that had completely changed the subject and given her something else to think about. Jen hadn't made many friends at the new school, despite her best efforts, and she assumed there were rumours that had followed her from Chester, and people just chose to give her a wide birth. She was pleasantly surprised, and just that little interaction made the afternoon seem a whole lot easier.
When the final bell eventually rang Jen couldn't face another evening in without company, so she texted H. She was usually free mid-week, although it could probably be considered a lottery most of the time.
"Talk to me dude, tell me you're free tonight, my brain is fried."
"You're in luck. I was scheduled to go to a casino with James Bond tonight, but he's stubbed his toe on a raddish and we've taken a raincheck."
"You're a disgrace. I'll be round at 7."
"Bring Pizza and beer."
"I'm not drinking, it's a school night."
"The beer isn't for you!"
Jen felt that she'd fallen into a quite obvious trap.
Jen flung the pizza onto the kitchen side, and dropped herself onto the sofa.
"Urgh," she groaned, which she accompanied with a stuck-out-tongue
"Jen, my lovely, treat the pizza with respect! It's only destiny in life is to be delicious and therefore eaten." H scooped up the pizza and brought the box over to the lounge table with some kitchen roll. "I'm pretty sure we don't need any plates, eh?" She raised an enquiring eyebrow at Jen, wondering if she was going to be miserable for the whole evening. H popped the cap off her beer, grabbed a slice with one hand and slumped back into the sofa. "Luxury."
"You eat pizza like 3 times a week, how is this luxury?" Jen poked fun, breaking into the first smile of the evening.
"Aaaaaand she's arrived. Hi Jen." H grinned wildly. Jen's eyes rolled, before she swiftly grabbed her own pizza slice.
"What a week. Head fuck central, and it's not even really my problem," Jen sighed, as she negotiated a large mouthful. She brushed her hair off her face, something she always did when she needed to fill some space in a conversation.
"Well… it kinda is your problem really." H saw Jen's eyes narrow towards her and she changed her tack slightly. "Because Tilly's problems are your problems, right?" The signs were immediately obvious Jen was in no mood to tangle, and H couldn't risk her walking out and losing the pizza.
"Well, yeah of course. But I can't do anything about it. Tilly's virtually locked herself away in the flat this week. It feels like forever since I've seen her."
"Three days, dude, its been 3 days. Man up! I get the love sick puppy think, I really do. Well… sort of, but you know 3 days…" She smiled, knowing it was cute Jen was so in to someone again, but secretly wished it'd been anyone but Tilly. She learned in for another slice of pizza. "So… how is it?"
"George isn't talking to her, they had a blazing row when I dropped her off on Sunday. Tilly was quite upset by it, but she's got Callum as a sort of ally who's going to try and let her know how Esther's getting on. All in all it's complicated and messy, and I wish it was done with already." She looked H firmly in the eyes. "That's pretty self-centred of me I know. But I just want to move on." As she finished speaking, she played with and spun the ring on her middle finger with obvious unease.
"Getting caught up in the 'Battle of the Exes' isn't something most people want any active part in. Particularly with the history you all have with it."
"I wouldn't give up that history for the world. Well, maybe some of it." Jen paused for thought. "The shit bit where I told Patrick that Tilly was a stalker."
"Yeah, I think it's safe to say that was a bit of a low blow." H touched Jen's arm and gave a squeeze. "Although I'm not sure it would have made any difference to how things turned out between you two. That whole teacher-student thing could never have ended well really." H knew the history would always have painful moments that Jen would never truly be able to be at peace with.
"And how is it?" H stressed the second it, because she knew that if she could keep Jen on the nicer topics it would make for a more pleasant evening.
"It," Jen looked questioningly.
"You know, it. The relationship without all the crap. The sex, the re-ignition of your burgeoning loins!" wiggling her eyebrows on the last word, giving Jen a slight nudge.
"I think it's fair to say everything is just dandy in that department. We're closer than I can ever recall, and it all just feels so intimate it's…." She broke off, not able to actually think of anything which could justify the level of feeling, cheeks slightly reddened as the images of some of their more recent endeavours flashed into her mind.
"Gilmore, you're blushing! You filth!" and H grinned broadly
"Uhm, yes, well, lets not go there, needless to say I have no complaints. No matter how long I've known you for, I am never going to be the kiss and tell type. Mostly because it's too embarrassing, and I'm just not one of those people that could talk about sex as if it was as mundane as vacuuming." H knew that all too well, and was relentless in the way she continuously teased. H sighed.
"Such a spoilsport. I tell you all about what I get up to," puppy eyes fluttered towards Jen, but that never worked on her.
"Yes, but that's because you don't understand the concept of boundaries!" Jen smirked, tilting her head to the side.
"Hmph, prude." H feigned hurt, and swung her feet up onto the lounge table, kicking the now empty pizza box to one side. "Then to protect your delicate sensibilities I will change the subject. How's work?"
"Work? Work sucks. Work always sucks recently. The kids are Satan's hellspawn, and it's all I can do to get through the day at the moment."
"Career choice working out just great then!" H teased. She could think of nothing worse than teaching bratty kids all day long. She'd been one herself, and she knew she'd been a complete nightmare for most of her teachers. H had taken the easy route out and decided to work with spreadsheets, although that could be equally frustrating sometimes. "I can molest formulas to my hearts content. And data doesn't talk back."
"No, but the people who read your analysis do. Any they're bigger twats than the kids sometimes." She laughed, and took another drink from her bottle.
"It was a bit nicer today actually, someone actually bothered to talk to me during the lunch break - the French teacher. I was so surprised that I inadvertently outed myself." An impassive look spread across her face.
"It's about time you told someone there. I never thought you'd be a closet case again." She peered at Jen, deadpan.
"Urgh, it's not easy," she threw her head back. "You'd think they'd be all cool and accepting, but they're not. Half of them are so stuffy and puritanical, the rest of them are too politically correct to actually realise their heads are firmly inserted up their own arses, and it doesn't smell of roses." H nearly spat her beer out as she let out an unexpected burst of laughter.
"It's the establishment, baby. The old image of coffee and fags can never be erased, and people still live up to it." H spluttered in response. "Polar opposites of people doing the same job, none of which are actually the ideal."
"I'm the ideal," Jen smirked. "I'm like a breath of fresh air in that place. Or at least I would be if anyone cared."
"You keep telling yourself that love, we'll get there in the end." She grinned, wickedly, enjoying the fact that the slightly odd Jen of the last few weeks seemed to be coming back to normal. "So this other teacher? A woman? They're generally less judgey."
"Yup. She didn't even bat an eyelid actually. Probably she misheard me."
"Probably. Did she have a nice rack?"
They finished off the beers before eleven, and Jen was rueing the fact she'd had more than one, because she'd forgotten to ring Tilly.
"She's going to kill me, and I'm going to blame you."
"Yeah, yeah… send the little ginger round and well see what happens. She's so small it'd be like Scrappy Do shouting 'let me at 'em' and then me holding her at arms length with her little arms scrabbling away, reaching nothing." H was a good five or six inches taller than Tilly, and she roared with laughter at the image she'd just portrayed, whilst Jen just rolled her eyes.
"Shush now you pest, I'm going to give her a quick call," and Jen raised her index finger across her lips to request silence.
"Hey princess, how's your day been." Jen hoped Tilly wouldn't be too bothered by the time.
"Hey you, you're late. Have you been drinking dirty beer with H?" Tilly chuckled slightly, a question she already knew the answer to but there was plenty of sport gently teasing Jen.
"Maaaaybe I had a little tiny beer. And some pizza. I missed you, sweets." H was making vomit signals in the background, and whilst Jen couldn't reach her with her hands, she gave H a push with her foot.
"H is just so lonely and sad I needed to come over and give her life some meaning. Without me she is nothing." H flicked up two fingers in response.
"Hmmm yeah, she's a lost cause for sure! I'd like to see you tomorrow - I need to get out the house for a bit before I go stir crazy. George is still not giving me the time of day, and Callum's been out with his mates and hasn't got any updates for me." Tilly sounded deflated. She'd continued to struggle with her living situation, and it was mentally taking its toll. Discounting her studies, Jen was her only means of escape at the moment.
"I'd love to. Quality time with you is my favourite time." Jen smiled as she said the words, slightly misty-eyed she felt happy. H on the other hand was making pistol to the head motions, and Jen was doing her utmost to ignore the insensitivity of her best friend. "Listen, I'm gonna go babe, because I need to kill H. Watch the news for reports of an annoying Mancunian bludgeoned to death with a frying pan."
"Ok babe, Give me a call when you're done in work tomorrow and maybe we'll take that walk in the park. That sounded so lovely." Tilly's words sounded genuinely appreciative of the time she was going to spend with Jen. "I love you."
"Love you too babe, speak tomorrow." Jen hung up the phone and pounced forward onto H, pummelling her through a cushion. "It's no wonder you're single, you don't have a heart, you have a rock!" and she laughed as she fell back against the sofa, as H picked up the cushion in preparation for her revenge attack.