Between the lines

It wasn’t hard to realise that she was now talking about her own situation with Sarah instead of your own so you tried your best to give her relevant advice without making it too obvious that you knew what she was asking about.

“I guess that’s not for me to decide. If she doesn’t want to respond then I don’t think there's anything I can really do to make them do it. Another message might seem okay for me to send but then I might be adding more pressure to them to respond and then it might make it even harder for them. You can’t control how someone is going to react so why bother? I can’t exactly say I’ve followed that line of thinking myself but I still think it’s true” you explained, shrugging your shoulders at the end when you had clearly not practiced what you preach.

Plus you did literally have a seemingly all-knowing app that could control how people reacted so it felt like some of the rules didn’t apply to you.

Jessica seemed to take your advice for the moment and she didn’t respond for a little while, clearly thinking to herself about what you had said. You were happy to let her be as well and with no other subjects to message, you were about to spend the time relaxing while waiting for both Grace and Rebecca to return.

That idea was quickly interrupted however as your phone buzzed in your pocket and upon checking it, you saw you had had a reply from Izzy, the response being much quicker than you had expected.

You could see Jessica out of the corner of your eye briefly looking over to you but quickly went back to her thoughts while you read through the message you had gotten back.

Izzy: Hey you, trust me you don’t need to worry about it ever being the wrong time, I'm always happy to talk. Me and Jack are doing well. We went to the park this afternoon and I think being out and about did us both some good. How are things now that you are back home?

From the wording, you could tell that your father wasn’t around but it still looked like Izzy had avoided using your name, whether that was because he could potentially check her phone or if she wanted to keep your anonymity, you weren’t entirely sure. Still it looked like you were safe to continue your conversation with her as long as you were careful and that was very good news in your eyes.

Max: Glad to hear your outdoor adventures are going well :)

Things are going well. I’ve got exams this week but I’m looking forward to the weekend. The plan for that is still up in the air but we have someone visiting from out of town that I’m looking forward to meeting again.

You were happy to get an update from her about them both and you gave one in return. You spent a little while checking your wording but you wanted to make sure that anything you said couldn’t get her in any sort of trouble if she needed to explain the message to anyone taking a look at her phone.

A message didn’t come back immediately and you couldn’t see that she was typing a reply so you put your phone away again to see Jessica looking in your direction again, as if waiting for you to give her an update on what you were doing.

“They seemed okay with my message and asked how things were going with me. Not anything too exciting but it’s a start” you revealed, showing what had happened to you before you went back to relating it to her scenario.

“But if she hadn’t have responded, I would have let her be. Whether she was busy or if she just didn’t want to reply, it’s no longer anything for me to worry about until they get back in touch.” you said, trying to take a more relaxed approach when that clearly wasn’t your style.

“I didn’t really ask but okay” Jessica shot back, kicking her legs up so she could lean back in her chair.

Her body language other than that betrayed her though as she tapped her finger on her leg and generally looked nervous about whatever was on her mind.

Another few minutes passed where Jessica saw that you hadn’t received a message and when she looked to see that you hadn’t changed your demeanor while being ignored, she seemed to see the truth in what you had said and took a moment to calm down.

You tried to keep her in the corner of your eye while avoiding looking directly at her in case that somehow annoyed her even more but suddenly she straightened up in her chair and acted like she now had something important to be doing, her earlier slacker energy completely vanishing.

Looking up, you saw Grace and Rebecca returning far quicker than you had expected a tour to have taken. Both of them however seemed to be happily talking with one another and smiled in your direction when they got closer. The quick turnaround from Rebeeca’s earlier anxiety should have been a good thing but with the two of them in a good mood, you started worrying about what they could have possibly discussed to get them both on the same side.

“Sorry I’ve had to cut the tour short as a work thing popped up but that should hopefully be the last thing I need to do before we can leave. So in the meantime one of you can finish taking Rebecca around. Let’s say…” Grace announced, looking over the desk at the two of you to see who should be the one to take Rebecca around.

Jessica was eager to take on the role and you could see that she was almost brimming with energy.

“Max, you can finish it up” Grace added, all of you watching Jessica visibly deflate but Grace continued, “But Jess I do have a favour to ask if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure!” Jessica replied, making you feel like you were watching someone switch emotions constantly with every new sentence.

Grace gave you a nod of the head and you took the hint and left before she spoke any further with Jessica, letting you direct Rebecca to the other side of the gym that she hadn’t visited yet.

You got close to some of the treadmills and other cardio equipment that wasn’t as busy at the moment and while you weren’t sure if you wanted to know the answer, your curiosity got the better of you and you had to ask.

“So what did you end up talking with Grace about?” you asked, slowing your walk as you wanted time to have a proper conversation.

“Oh not much. She asked about me and I asked about her. We talked about you a little and the current situation but she managed to put my mind to rest. She told me a few things I didn’t know actually” Rebecca said with a smile, worrying you even more.

“I’m happy for you to hear more but I guess it depends on what she told you” you replied.

“Hmm, I wonder what she said…” Rebecca teased, going back to her normal walking pace to leave you behind.

You wanted to go after her to confirm but as you went to speed up, you felt the buzz of a reply on your phone and had to choose which to prioritise.