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It would have been a lot more awkward if they hadn’t been able to gauge the other’s feelings just by looking. Mandy entered Martin’s office with a hesitant smile on her face, but relaxed slightly when she noticed he was sporting the same look. “Martin.” she stopped and started when she spoke, wanting to get across exactly how she felt about the whole situation and hoping he thought the same. “I, er…I don’t want things to feel awkward. As far as I’m concerned it was a mistake, I’m sorry.” she eventually managed to string together a sentence. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, er…don’t worry about it.” he tried to sound casual. “Are you sure?” Mandy asked earnestly, she wanted as honest an answer as she could get. “Yeah, course, it was just the situation, and…” he trailed off. He wanted to get rid of any of the tension left, and the only way he knew how to was to crack a joke. “Well, it wasn’t the looks.” Mandy got there first. They were both relieved they seemed to be on the same page.
She decided to ask him round when she’d caught him at the end of the day, just about to leave. She’d remembered what he’d said earlier and how it had, rather unsurprisingly, distracted him all day. He’d trusted her enough to mention it then, so she thought she’d offer her company to him rather than have him begin his weekend alone. They’d gone to her house and spoken about everything. Life, teaching, music, first loves, partners leaving- they’d had a lot more in common than they thought. It had been a pleasant night for both of them, particularly Martin, who was now thinking less about his life being turned upside down and more about having a nice evening. Martin had decided to go, he could see Mandy was getting tired no matter how polite she was about it, and he didn’t want to outstay his welcome. They still chatted when he stood on the doorstep ready to make his way towards his car. He thanked her for her company, she said it was no problem…he slightly broke his usual daft exterior, she remained as lovely and considerate as she always was. Then their eyes met and they both saw it as an opportunity that wasn’t really there. Their lips had met for a few seconds and they both felt slightly regretful and very awkward straight after. They broke eye contact quickly and said goodbye, Martin drove off and Mandy closed the door behind her.
“I’ve heard rocket launches are quieter.” she passed comment on a particularly rowdy English class of Martin’s. They were sipping tea from flasks and looking onto the quad- they were on break duty together, so she was glad she’d taken the opportunity to speak to him about Friday evening earlier that day. They stood in comfortable silence with the occasional line of chatter, as they did most times they were on break duty together. Martin was always fidgety in the absence of conversation, awkward or not, but particularly so today. It was then she thought she’d ask him how he was, just because she rarely did, apart from in the past few days. “How are you, anyway?” she tried to catch a glimpse of his expression. “Stressed about work, whole life falling apart…” he replied with a slight smile and a hint of sarcasm. “Yes, alright!” she exclaimed, not matching his tone but acknowledging his irony. They’d opened themselves up for more conversation now, with smiles on their faces and both slightly more willing to make conversation than they usually were in the morning. Only slightly. It was still 10am, after all. “I’m not in the mood for making out…” she was going to mention the Trust meeting they had to attend that afternoon, and how she really didn’t fancy having to slap a smile on her face and dish out compliments to people she barely knew, but she trailed off when she heard a loud crash, turning her attention back to Martin on realising a student had dropped some textbooks. “You didn’t say that on Friday.” he joked. “Shhh!” she instructed him, lips turning up. “Was it the shorts?” He’d ended up having to take over one of Mr Hussein’s lessons that day, and he dressed appropriately for the occasion. “Get over yourself!” she laughed. He’d always made her laugh, by doing stupid things or even just by existing, but today it was intentional. Their smiles were wider now; they both had the energy for chatter, at least to last them until the end of break.