Unexpected

Movie Night

After the whole episode with my translation work during the morning, my afternoon classes seemed tranquil even though we were going over the intricacies of international espionage, which made my mind spin with all the rules that blended together with a sense of moral ambiguity. By the time I left the Triskelion, I was aching in both body and mind for my weekend. I managed to drag myself up the flights of stairs to the third floor, internally bemoaning the soreness in my rear from my week of working out and the fact that I had been pretty stationary sitting on it for most of today. Unlocking my front door I dropped my purse on the floor and moved to collapse on my couch, burying my face in one navy and teal throw pillow.

I had only lain there for a few minutes before I heard my phone's text tone. Groaning I pushed myself off the couch, wincing as the joints and muscles of my arms and legs revolted against me, and went to pluck up my phone from where it was stashed in my purse. Unlocking the screen I found that it had been Steve texting me, asking when we were going to meet up today. I hadn't seen Rogers since we had made these plans for Friday evenings, but we had decided over text that we were going to start exploring the Fifties today. In what little free time I allowed myself I had done some research, planning what we were going to go over. I responded to his text saying that he could come by any time after six. This gave me time to switch from the professional blouse and skirt I was wearing to a comfortable pair of jean capris and t-shirt and to go over my French flash cards I'd made to help me memorize a list of technical words I'd need to know moving forward.

Steve knocking on my apartment's door at six sharp startled me from my studying. Quickly pausing the soundtrack to the Lord of the rings that I had been listening to while going through my flash cards, I rushed to the door, not liking to keep Steve waiting. "Hey! Come on in!"

Steve smiled at my greeting and strode in rather awkwardly, "Hey neighbor." He was dressed in a pair of tan slacks with his shirt tucked in again.

"Long time no see."

He nodded. "It's been a long week. How's your first week been?"

"Long." I sighed with a laugh, gesturing for Steve to follow me to the living room where I had set up my laptop to my television. "So, shall we get started?"

"Sure." Rogers took a seat on the couch and looked curiously at my set up. 'We're going over the Fifties right?"

"Right." I turned the television on to show the PowerPoint I had set up on my computer, "I was thinking that we should start with the history, you know, what was going on in the world, then start going in to the culture, music, movies, fashion, cars and such."

"Sounds like a plan." Steve assented, an amused grin growing on his face as he realized I was about to go into lecture mode.

I started telling him all the information I had gathered from the Fifties, from the Baby Boom to Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower's years as President to the Suburban Boom. We spent a good hour on the Civil Rights movement, integration, and on the story of Rosa Parks before moving on to the Cold and Korean Wars. As we went on we went over the invention of color televisions and the polio vaccination, the building of Disneyland and the interstate highway system, the Space Race, the additions of the states of Alaska and Hawaii to the U.S., and much more. Anytime Steve had a question or wanted to go more deeply into a subject we veered off and did more research on it.

The pair of us was so engrossed in our history lesson that it was nearing nine o'clock when we finally pulled ourselves away from our discussion and research to get food. We had decided to try out a pizza place a few blocks away from the apartment building and after calling in our order we decided to walk to get it. The sky was a watercolor of orange, purple, and pink as sunset melted into night and the air was cooling to a comfortable temperature. As we strolled I tried to hide the slight waddle in my step born from sore muscles, but Steve seemed to notice my discomfort.