The next morning, I told Sam that Joey and I wanted to talk to him that afternoon and he nodded with a serious face. He knew what it was about. I dropped him at school, hugging him gently before he got out of the car and then drove the rest of the way to Pinewood with a heavy heart.
I met the headmistress, Mary, in the administration office so she could give me the rest of the tour but I was confused when Connor didn't show up too.
"Connor said he won't make it to this tour today. He had a rough night at home, apparently." Mary told me and I nodded. "Alright, let's get going so we're not running late."
"Great." I smiled and followed her, trying to get a mental grip on how to find my way around the massive school. Somehow, I figured it would take me a while to get used to it.
--------------------
When the tour was done, I went to the staff-room in the Arts building and shoved my things into one of the lockers there. My first class wasn't until half past nine so I had some time to spare. I made myself comfortable in one of the sofas with my laptop to get some work done, glancing up every now and then when the door swung open to reveal another teacher arriving. I did a double take, though, when Connor arrived. He had his arm in a sling and looked absolutely exhausted.
"Hey, Connor, are you okay?" I went over to him and he nodded through a yawn.
"I smashed a plate in my hands and one of the shards cut me. I'm okay, though. Just tired."
"Oh. Thank god. I was imagining so much worse."
"Worse?"
"Sorry, I'm a little dramatic at times and when you walked through the door, my mind went straight to domestic violence." I dropped my voice to a whisper at the last few words and his eyes went wide.
"No. God, no. I mean, it was because of an argument but Jacob didn't do anything. It was my fault..." He started rambling but I cut him off.
"You don't have to tell me everything. I didn't mean anything did happen. Just, my mind goes to the worst possible scenario. It's just who I am."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, I'm not really myself today. God, I don't usually talk about this stuff." Connor leaned his forehead against the wall and sighed.
"It's okay. Clearly you went through something. If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to be an ear." He smiled sideways at me.
"I might just take you up on that, but right now I have to get to class and deal with a million questions from teenagers."
"Okay. Have fun. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"
"Thanks, Troye." He picked up his things and headed out the door. I went back to my spot and turned my attention to what I'd been doing before, waiting for my first class to arrive.
--------------------
"Troye? Can we talk?" At lunchtime, I was sat at the table in the staff-room with a few of the other teachers, discussing a couple of students when Connor approached me. I looked up at him and nodded.
"Sure." I followed him to the far corner of the room, feeling a little like a teenager keeping secrets. "What's up?"
"I've been thinking all day about what happened last night and it's driving me crazy. I need to be able to tell someone."
"Go ahead. I'm a good listener." I promised.
"Okay, uh, where do I start?" He rubbed a hand over his face for a moment. "Well, Jacob was, let's just say, annoyed about you driving me home. For reasons I don't get, he doesn't really like you. And I guess he was a little jealous. So we argued. And I got angry and crashed a couple plates together hard enough that they shattered."
"Wow. That must have been some force you used." His eyes went wide.
"Really? That's what you took from that?"
"What? You thought I'd comment about your husband not liking me? I don't mind. I've met plenty of people who don't like me."
"Oh." I smiled.
"Like I said, I don't mind." In all honesty, I was a little hurt to hear that this guy who I'd barely even met didn't like me but I wasn't going to let it upset me. "I'm more concerned about you getting angry and injuring yourself."
"It's not normal. I think I was just a bit overwhelmed from the day and then I got frustrated over Jacob being petty."
"So, he just didn't like the fact that I drove you home?"
"I don't know. He's been so weird whenever you're involved. You remember the meeting night? We talked for, like, a minute and he already told me straight away that he didn't like you."
"All I said to him was 'hi', though." I was confused.
"I know. I don't get it. He's never been like this before. It's like he's jealous or something."
"Maybe he is. I know there's been times that I've seen Joey talking to a guy and I've had a flare of jealousy."
"I guess. I kind of hope so. I mean, I don't want it to be an ongoing thing between us. I hate what happened last night. Even Penny was subdued this morning and I don't think I've ever seen her look so down."
"It'll pass. Hey, maybe if you guys come over for dinner one night, he'll see that I'm okay and we can be friends." I suggested but I saw his face falling.
"That's kind of why we were arguing. He doesn't want you and me to be friends."
"That's not..."
"Fair?" He cut me off and laughed bitterly. "I know. But I don't want to push it right now. Can we maybe leave it for a while?"
"Uh, sure." I was disappointed and I guess it showed on my face.
"We can still talk here at work. Just no rides home or things like that."
"Oh. Okay." I smiled at him. "Just remember, I want to be your friend, no matter what your husband thinks of me."
"I'll remember." The bell rang then, signalling the end of lunch and there was a sudden rush as everyone grabbed their things to head off to their afternoon classes. I waved to Connor as I went to my classroom, our conversation running through my mind.
