Elephants in the room

After your speech, you were expecting to be the one to start a conversation first but almost as if it was planned, Lucy started chatting with Sarah at almost the same time that Grace decided to talk with Rebecca.

With this many people at the table, it felt like it was natural for multiple conversations to be going on but you were stuck in the middle of the two for the moment and you tried to figure out which you should try and focus on more.

Lucy was talking with Sarah about her outfit choice more quietly and a quick look to Emma confirmed that she was gonna focus on that too, her foot hitting yours under the table as if to signal when she would need your attention later down the line.

Instead you turned your attention to the other side of the table where Grace was trying to get to know Rebecca a little more.

“So, how do you find teaching? I’ve held a few classes at the gym before but having to keep dozens of kids entertained sounds a lot more frustrating than my regular clientele” Grace asked, not having to explain her own job given their prior connection.

“It’s… challenging to say the least but honestly it changes day to day. Some days it feels like everyone has made a secret pact to behave themselves and other days it’s just chaos for reasons beyond my understanding. But I’m kinda getting used to that. It feels like I haven’t been teaching that long and what all the other teachers mainly complain about is the admin side of things and our current principal doesn’t really help things easier in that department” Rebecca complained, finally having a chance to talk to someone outside of the school system about all this.

“So do you enjoy it?” Grace asked again, hearing only the negatives.

“Oh I love it! It wasn’t what I originally intended to do as a career but I do enjoy what I do. I get that feeling at the end of most days where it does feel like I’ve made a difference in my students' lives and that does a lot to wash away the stress of the day. Sorry I know it sounded like I was complaining…” Rebecca replied, feeling guilty about her first answer.

“No no you have nothing to apologise for. I’m just glad you enjoy what you do. I had no idea what I was doing with my life when I was your age” Grace commented, waving away Rebecca’s concerns.

“Oh you aren’t that much older than me and you seem to be doing a lot better than me” Rebecca said back, hinting at Grace’s gym.

“So how old do you think I am?” Grace asked, the smile on her face looking as sinister as possible.

Rebecca opened her mouth to speak but she paused and thought it better to not provide a quick response.

“I’ll jump in and let you know there’s no right answer to this one” you added, not really helping Rebecca out of her situation.

“Grace, leave her alone” Mom said, saving Rebecca and giving Grace a little nudge with her arm to admonish her.

“You said teaching wasn’t what you originally wanted to do?” Mom asked, getting the conversation back on topic.

You could tell Mom had tried to steer away from a risky topic but she had unknowingly drawn it back into one when Rebecca’s past had come up.

She had talked briefly about it with you and how she had had other athletic aspirations but you didn’t think now was the time to **** her to explain herself.

“I think…” you went to interject, feeling Rebecca place a hand on your upper thigh to stop you.

“I was aiming to be a full time gymnast” Rebecca started to explain, giving you a smile to say she was happy to talk and an extra squeeze on your leg to prove she meant it.

At the mention of sports you could see that Sarah had also locked in on the conversation as the talking on your other side died down and you could tell everyone was listening in.

“I was pretty good at it too. Not to boast or anything but I was in a few national tournaments and I was looking forward to maybe applying to go beyond that” Rebecca explained, everyone at the table now locked on to her story.

“That’s incredible” Sarah piped up, leaning around you to speak to Rebecca.

“It was really fun. I could see I was making progress but… I ended up injuring one of my legs and after missing a year, I felt like I was too far behind to catch up. Especially with a slower start to training again and when my Mom presented me with a job for teaching, which had always been my backup plan, I just ended up taking that path instead.” Rebecca continued, not sounding negative about her current life but just stating the fact of what had happened.

There was a silence as everyone digested what she had said but it was starting to turn uncomfortable when nobody else spoke up.

“Do you miss it?” Lucy asked, piping up unexpectedly.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But recently someone has been making my life a bit more chaotic and I haven’t really thought about it these last couple weeks if I’m being honest” she joked, shooting you a look.

“I know that feeling” Lucy nodded in agreement.

Everyone seemed to murmur a similar sentiment as after the two had spoken up.

“Hey I’m not that bad. Right?” you asked, the silence then only appearing uncomfortable to you.

“So you are thinking of getting back into the gym so I assume there's no lasting damage?” Grace said, carrying the conversation forward and letting you stew in the consequences of your own actions.

“None that I know of. But I haven’t really been wanting to actively test that out. I plan to start slow and see how it goes” Rebecca said, keeping her expectations in check.

“Well you are more than welcome to join us. I know Mary has been thinking of going and with Max occasionally having a shift there I’m sure there will be someone to keep you company if you need it” Grace offered with a smile.

Mom looked ready to refute that but Rebecca didn’t seem to notice the conflict and carried on before Mom found her words.

“That would be lovely. I feel like Max is more likely to interrupt my workout than with it to be honest” Rebecca joked.

Another round of murmurs filled the room but it got quiet again when it seemed that everyone realised what that actually meant, all of them having some form of sexual connection with you that hadn’t really been talked about openly yet.

A topic that brought up the implications of what could happen later in the night if they all wanted to.