Pleasant Conversation

“So what days are you planning on working at the gym?” Emma asked, filling the silence while also trying to keep the conversation from turning back towards herself.

“I’m not quite sure yet. It depends on what shifts are available other than the Sunday and Monday that I should be doing as a minimum but adding anything else is where I’m unsure. Maybe if my Mom joins then I’ll do a shift for the days she wants to go. Or maybe if Rebecca joins I’ll try and rota myself in then” you answered, getting a nod from Emma in response.

You were torn between using the gym as your main means of getting some spending money or only doing the bare minimum as a way to further your levelling with some of your subjects, either option had its benefits but again you were leaving the decision until you had a bit more experience to work off of. The shift you had worked with Grace by your side had been quite fun all things considered but you didn’t expect her to be there every time you had to work and sitting at the front desk was unlikely to be the only task that would be given to you.

“Who’s Rebecca?” Grace asked, seemingly having not heard her name come up in conversation before.

Bringing up Rebecca hadn’t been part of any of your plans yet to try and introduce her to the group and the topic wasn’t something you hadn’t given any thought to. Your brain suddenly seemed to go into overdrive as you had to switch topics, trying to figure out the best way of bringing Rebecca up to Grace but you thinking about it for too long would only leave an awkward gap in the conversation.

“She’s mine and Max’s biology teacher. Miss Ryan” Emma replied, not noticing that you were struggling to find any words before she threw the conversation to you to explain the rest.

“Y-Yeah she’s the principal's daughter. She’s been helping me with some college work and said she’d been meaning to find a gym she could use when the topic came up. She hasn't been at the school long since she finished her training so I’m not sure if you’ve ever met her for parent-teacher stuff. If she does join I think she’d appreciate seeing a friendly face or two” you continued, getting a nod from Grace as she concentrated on her driving, bringing the car to a stop while you waited for the lights to charge back to green.

You struggled to find the best words to bring her up but it seemed that Grace didn’t suspect that anything was going on. Hearing that she was a teacher probably helped in that regard but you still felt a little nervous at needing to come up with a reasonable explanation.

“I’ll try to keep her name in mind but I’d have to see her first before I recognise her” Grace replied, apparently only just hearing the name for the first time and thinking nothing else of it.

The lights changed to green and the car rounded the corner towards the final stretch of road before the school, the road fairly congested with all the parents dropping their kids off at the school. Grace managed to grab a spot towards the back of the school's parking lot and left the car on idle while both you and Emma started to grab your things.

“Alright I’ll see you both later. Emma don’t forget, I’m at work again late tonight so I’ll leave you some stuff to heat up if you don’t fancy cooking for yourself” Grace announced, looking a bit worn out by her admission.

“Sure sure” Emma casually replied, getting out of the car and closing the door behind her, leaving just you and Grace still in the car.

A sigh escaped Grace’s lips after Emma had gone and you could tell that her work situation was something she wanted to hide from Emma if she could help it.

“I’ll see if my Mom can make Emma another plate to join us. You know she likes being the host and although there's probably gonna be some embarrassing questions directed towards the two of us, I’d feel better if I know you aren’t worrying too much” you declared, knowing that if you only suggested Emma join you, Grace would definitely refuse the offer.

“I’d …appreciate that to be honest, she might be popping over before I head off to work anyway so if you don’t get a chance I’ll bring it up to her face to face.” Grace responded, trying to lower the burden she thought she was putting on you.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll call her as soon as I can to let her know” you replied, placing your closest hand on her shoulder in front of you to give her a reassuring squeeze.

You would have wanted to try and give her a hug to hopefully reinforce your point from last night about being more friendly but given the seat in between the two of you, a shoulder squeeze was all you could get away with without trying something awkward. With the dinner plans sorted out for Emma, you had little reason to stay in the car and with one final pat on her shoulder, you opened your door and exited the car. You caught up to Emma before the both of you gave Grace a little wave as she drove off and out of the school grounds, giving you and Emma a brief moment to relax before you had to go to your classes.

“What took you so long by the way?” Emma asked, wondering why you stayed behind for as long as you did.

“You’ve been invited to come have dinner at my house tonight” you replied, pulling out your phone from your pocket to get ready to call your mother.

Emma seemed happy to be invited but you could see her realise that the conversation would likely end up being about the two of you.

“Do I need to dress up or anything? Did you tell them we’re going out? What about the…” she rattled off, getting increasingly more agitated as she added question after question.

“Just relax. No dress up and yes they know we’re going out. It's just gonna be a normal everyday meal so there's no need to worry. It's not like your meeting everyone for the first time and trust me, Sarah and Lucy will be the ones trying to make it awkward for me but I can guarantee they’ll take it easy on you” you reassured, getting a small smile from Emma as she calmed herself down.

“Serves you right for teasing me the whole way here” she grinned, happy to see that she was getting at least some payback from the teasing she had to endure during the car ride.

Emma didn’t seem against the meal and after getting a quick nod of the head from her, you brought up your contacts and told Emma you would be calling your Mom. You expected the call to only last a minute or two but you told Emma she might as well go ahead and meet up with the others just in case it took a while. You rang the house phone as Mom still hadn’t felt the need to buy herself a cell phone and waited for her to pick up the call on the other end.

“Hello?” you heard from the voice on the other end of the line as the call connected.