Her Melting Point

And One More, And Another One

The mood in the office was understandably tense. Ella, whose underperformance as the school's social media and marketing person was now under review, tried to make herself as small and quiet as possible. Also, rumours must have spread, because neither the teachers nor the pupils seemed to have any questions to bring to Jackie's door.

Despite it all, and to her own immense surprise, Jackie was having a rad day. After her meeting with Ms. Brown, which was a blast on its own, they went out for a friendly lunch. Jackie only noticed that it was time to go back when Ms. Brown's phone burst into shrieking, demanding her attention. They both started laughing and shyly admitting that they were finding it hard to stop chatting and to separate. Having agreed to meet for another lunch on the upcoming Saturday, they ended up lingering on the pavement, unable to interrupt their effortless and lively conversation, as cold as they both were. At the end, it was Margaret's third sneeze that convinced Jackie that she needed to let her new friend go; to which Margaret, sniffling and rubbing her pink nose, immediately answered that she was the one keeping them from parting.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Jackie caught up on some paperwork and headed home. Alexander would be still in Sugar Cloud; and Jackie kicked off her shoes and plopped on the sofa. Earlier that day, she'd been checking the school's socials, and anything tagged Fleckney online. She was hardly tech-illiterate; but overall, the modern online cacophony gave her a headache. There was, however, an aspect of the 'tik-tocking-and-instagramming' culture that she found rather up to her liking. She scrolled, searched, and soon she was looking for tutorials.

That was how Alexander, who returned home unexpectedly early, found her: practising the moves she saw in a viral video - to be precise, following a recording of a class of a fit totty teaching a group of middle-aged unathletic women, much like herself, to do the Rasputin dance. The preposterous mad nature of the so-called 'shuffle dance' was just so very liberating!

She was industriously wiggling her hips when a calm 'What are you doing?' came from the door - making her scramble, flail, and yell at the smart home gizmo to turn off the telly.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed and hid her hands behind her back.

He studied her. She could feel a curl stuck to her temple, so her face was probably red and sweaty. Jackie shrunk in embarrassment.

"You don't have to turn it off," he said, throwing a side glance at the dark screen. "Whatever that was."

"It was just a tad of... nonsense," Jackie muttered.

He waited for her to elaborate, but at this stage Jackie decided to just play dead.

"Have you done the washing up?" he asked.

Jackie swore internally. He'd specifically texted her mid-day, which wasn't his usual style, asking her to finish up what he hadn't done the night before.

"Um, sorry, I forgot." She cringed guiltily. "I'm sorry, I know you needed the pan for your risotto. I'll do it right away!"

"I'll do it," Alexander grumbled, turned sharply around, and left for the kitchen.

Jackie jerked at the collar of her top. Resuming her silly hopping and shimmying felt wrong; and the mood was gone anyway. She was picking up bits and bobs that she tended to scatter around the cottage when she came in from work; when she heard a series of loud bangs and clanks from the kitchen. She was still pondering whether her coming in and asking if everything was alright would irk him more, especially if he was already somewhat discontented; when another thud made her jolt and press her head down into her shoulders.

She realised that she was on the bottom step of the stairs, fully prepared to retreat to the bedroom, to make herself scarce - when she remembered whom she was living with. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she slowly turned around and dragged herself to the kitchen.