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Jacob tells himself he’s not upset when Janine and Gregory cancel on their dinner plans again, but truth be told, he is a little. He understands that people get busy, that Janine and Gregory are early into their relationship and want to spend more time together than with other people. It’s just that after all her talk of wanting to be more than ‘work friends’ he wishes Janine would put in more of an effort.
Now they have a reservation for four at a really nice Italian place that Zach has been raving about for weeks and that Jacob has been trying really hard to get reservations for, and as soon as he makes it work they cancel. He’s thinking too much about this, especially because he should be focused on going over the War of 1812 with Kendra who’s looking for extra guidance before their test on Monday.
“There’s my guy!” The sound of Zach’s voice always brings him comfort after a long day. He pulls him in for a chaste kiss, much to the chagrin of Kendra who seems to have finally understood the material in the study guide.
“Ew, you’re just like my dads,” the girl says in slight disgust, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. She turns back then, a smile creeping to her face, “Thanks for the help Mr. Hill.”
His heart swells when he realizes she doesn’t call him Mr. C, “You’re welcome Kendra, see you on Monday!”
As soon as they’re alone once more he turns to his boyfriend, “Janine and Gregory can’t make it for dinner tonight.”
“Aw man, I haven’t seen them in forever and I really wanted to catch up.”
“There will be more chances, I’m sure,” Jacob knows for a fact that next week Janine will be coming up with more opportunities for them to get together, excuses to see each other outside of the workplace.
“Should we see if anyone else wants to join?” Zach asks, “I mean since we have it for four people.”
“I already tried. Kim and Michelle are out of town for a wedding, and Michael and Robby apparently ‘don’t like Italian food’ which I find hard to believe because how do you not like Italian food? And Storm said they wouldn’t want to feel like a third wheel and wouldn’t have time to arrange a date to go with.”
“Do we really only have like… five friends?”
“If you don’t count Janine and Gregory,” Jacob shrugs.
“Seven isn’t that great either.”
And Jacob can’t help but think of a time when he had none. “I guess so.”
They fall into silence once more, out of ideas for the night. Zach wraps his coat around himself, holding Jacob’s bag for him while he grabs his keys, turning and locking the classroom door.
They hold hands as they walk down the stairs, chatting quietly with each other about what they might order when they get to the restaurant, (Zach looked at the menu earlier this morning, he always does to prepare when they go to a new place). Jacob inspects the old crumbling halls as they walk, wondering absentmindedly about all the people who have passed through before them.
“Mrs. Howard!” Zach’s face lights up, he sees the woman long before Jacob snaps out of his own thoughts. “It’s so good to see you, how are you?”
“I’m doing well young man, and yourself?” She asks, grinning ear to ear. It melts Jacob’s heart, the way those two have become fast friends throughout the school year. It makes him wish that he had brought Zach around sooner.
“It’s never a dull day with this one here,” Zach elbows Jacob, causing him to blush furiously. “We were actually just heading to dinner if you wanted to join us?”
It’s not the craziest idea Zach’s ever had, he doesn’t imagine that Barbara has been out a lot since the divorce. It could do her some good to socialize with others outside of the workplace and her place of worship. The way her brow furrows tells Jacob that it actually might not be the best idea, at least not to her anyways.
Barbara smiles graciously, “I appreciate the invite but I am waiting on Melissa, and I don’t want to leave her behind.”
Zach’s eyes light up, not taking the hint. “She could come too, the reservation is for four anyways.”
Jacob opens his mouth to speak, trying to save both Zach and Barbara from the delicate tango they’ve found themselves in. Zach has a hard time picking up social cues sometimes, (don’t they all?) and Barbara has a hard time ever saying no to someone she cares about.
“Honey, I think Barbara would prefer to spend the night in,” Jacob explains gently, turning to the other teacher with a smile of his own. “Which is a respectable choice, maybe we can have dinner another night.”
“Dinner?” Melissa appears from behind Barbara in the blink of an eye, and for a second Jacob wonders what Barbara was waiting on her for. “I could go for some dinner.”
Zach’s face lights up again, “There’s this new authentic Italian place right by our apartment that’s getting rave reviews. Jacob finally managed to get a reservation.”
Melissa laughs a little, “Authentic Italian? I’ll be the judge of that.” And from behind her painted smile, Jacob can see just how exhausted she really is.
Zach looks back at Barbara, “The reservation is for four…”
“Alright, alright, count me in,” she secedes finally, throwing her hands up in surrender. “Wherever Melissa goes, I follow.”
Melissa’s face softens at that, eyes lingering on her friend for seconds too long. Jacob knows this isn’t the first time Melissa has been through these feelings, he suspects it won’t be the last. He also suspects that if she ever caught on to his suspecting–things wouldn’t end well for him. He’s never been great at keeping things to himself, but in this case, he makes an exception.
Much to Melissa’s surprise, the food is actually good. Initially, she wasn’t sure what to expect from a meal that she practically invited herself to, but the night isn’t turning out half bad.
The truth is that Barbara has always been closer to Jacob—and by extension, Zach—than she has. The kids are nice, eerily similar, and somehow perfect for each other. She has nothing against them, it’s just that she doesn’t find herself having much in common with them. Barbara enjoys gardening with Jacob and conducting caroling and other musical performances with Zach. They all seem to get along splendidly, never letting the conversation dwindle as there’s always something to be mentioned or discussed.
Melissa doesn’t have the first idea what to talk to them about, admittedly she feels really out of her element. They don’t have similar hobbies or even common interests. The only thing Melissa really has in common with either of them is, well—she takes another long swig of wine.
There’s not much to bond with them over. Except for this lovely dinner, the Italian food she happily confirms as ‘authentic’. And perhaps Barbara. She could bond with them over a mutual friendship with Barbara.
The conversation has gone on for several minutes without her, and when she finally checks back into the dinner table she finds them discussing Jacob and Zach’s three-year anniversary which they’ve apparently been trying to plan something special for.
“We just want it to be really special, but do you think dinner is enough?” Jacob is clearly overthinking as he usually does, asking for input that he doesn’t really need.
Looking over she can see that Barbara is clearly wounded. The kids don’t even realize they’re essentially rubbing their happy relationship right in the poor woman’s face so soon after her divorce. She won’t say anything, though, she’s always been too polite to put her needs in front of anyone else’s.
Melissa clears her throat, “Look kid, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you do to celebrate the relationship, as long as you’re together. Usually, people who overcompensate by celebrating anniversaries are compensating for something else, that’s the way I see it.”
Barbara scoffs, elbowing her lightly, “Don’t listen to her, if you want to go all out celebrating, you go for it! Whatever makes you two happy.”
Zach takes that advice with another sip of wine, “How do you two ever agree on how to celebrate?”
Melissa shrugs, “Celebrate what? Not much to agree on, we don’t usually need to make up excuses to do dinner.”
Zach glances around the table, looking a little perplexed, “You don’t celebrate your anniversary at all?”
“Our anniversaries of teaching? They don’t really coincide sweetheart,” Barbara explains, not understanding what he means.
Melissa picks up on what’s happening quicker than she would ever like to admit but hopes that the conversation might just naturally come to an end. Perhaps Jacob will intervene, to save them all from what will assuredly be the end of a very nice night.
“Your wedding anniversary, how many years has it been and you’ve just let them pass by?” Zach asks innocently before he takes another swig of wine, looking on at them eagerly.
He hardly notices when the energy at the table takes a nosedive, Jacob’s eyes widening while Melissa and Barbara exchange curious glances.
Before Melissa can find the words to clarify or deny or halt the conversation, she looks over at Barbara. Barbara, eyes wide, shoulders tense, the woman looks as if she’s nearly curled into herself, trying to shrink herself down to size. Time and time again; this is the part Melissa cannot stand. Watching Barbara act as if their being together romantically would be the end all be all of her life.
Jacob clears his throat finally, although it sounds more like he’s choking. “They’re not together like that, honey.”
Barbara nods slowly, carefully. “Just recently divorced from my husband of thirty-five years, actually.”
Melissa tries not to notice the way her stomach turns, “I’m dating a vending machine repairman, which is about as exciting as it sounds.”
“Oh gosh, I am so sorry,” Zach puts his hands up, almost wanting to hide his face in shame. “Usually we always go on double dates, but I should not have assumed, how terrible of me.”
“You’re not the first one to make the assumption, and I’m sure you won’t be the last,” Melissa writes it off entirely, not wanting to embarrass him any more than he already has. This earns her a burning look from her best friend, one that she won’t allow herself to unpack now for her own sanity
Barbara nods, forcing a tight-lipped smile to her face, “No harm done.”
The tension that follows them through the rest of the meal tells a different story.