The Lovely Miss Maine

|| twelve ||

May 20

4:30 pm

"... so you and Phil made up now?" Patty asks her that afternoon while they are cleaning up after giving the kids' some snack.

Maine nods but her eyes lack the usual happiness, she looks more tired than happy.  Shrugging, she turns her back on Patty hiding the fact that she is still a little uncertain of what exactly she is feeling at that moment.

To be truthful, she is more bothered with seeing the flirtatious encounter between Richard Faulkerson Jr and the mother of one of her students than Phil going back to the usual habit. And she is also bothered by the fact that she is jealous and it shouldn't be.

Patty shakes her head and lightly chuckles as she observes her troubled friend. "Enlighten me, you and Phil are OK now but you don't seem too happy,"

Maine makes a face, "Yeah, we made up and we're OK but he has gone back to the usual drinking out late and spending more time with his lads while waiting for a call back from the companies he'd applied in,"

Patty sighs, "Honestly, darling. Why are you wasting your time with him?"

"Because I love him," she replies, dismissively.

"That's a mess up kind of love if you ask me," Patty looks at her seriously and she sighs. She has known for a long time that Maine deserves better than having a sloth for a boyfriend. She has met Phil a few ocassions and she has always find him a little shady. He usually just stands by the corner and refuses to socialise with Maine's colleagues and most of the time, he will ask her that they will leave the party early.

Patty almost feels sorry for Maine, her friend has no other friends beside her because she is too busy working for her and Phil, who does literally nothing and just depends on Maine. She finds their situation very wrong and has tried to voice out her disapproval to her friend several times but of course, Maine remains a softie and Phil will always be her weakness.

Changing the subject, Maine just gives her a forced smile. "I'm going to leave early today. I have a meeting with the parents about the end of term play,"

Patty just nods, "Yeah, that's cool," Patty sighs. And then she looks at Maine, trying to figure out her friend for the hundredth time. Maine seems different, she normally vents out about Phil while they're on duty but now she is more quiet, conflicted and she keeps on looking at the wall clock as if she cannot wait for something. "Something is bothering you,"

Maine looks at her friend in confusion, "Nothing is bothering me,"

"Maine Mendoza, I know. Something's bothering you and I know it's not Phil because if it is, you'd be talking nonstop about him. Spill it girl,"

Maine rolls her eyes, she cannot argue with Patty. Her friend has a degree in Psychology. "You know... ah, nevermind Patty. I'll spill it when I'm actually sure about it. I don't want to assume,"

Patty raises her perfectly plucked eyebrows but she already figures out her friend, and she knows it has something to do with the uncle of the two kids under their care.

5:15 PM

Maine is more comfortable talking to children than talking to adults. Adults make her nervous and in her two years of being a teacher, she always dreads parents meeting. There are a two types of parents: the parents whose children's education aren't really their top priority and look like they are forced to come in to meetings because they have to and they will just sit in the room, on their phones and not listening at all. And there are the overly active parents who ask too many questions and raise too many concerns regarding their children.