After Hours

Less Than a Kilometer

January 18, 1971

The second week of a new semester was in bloom, as she checked her calendar she couldn't believe today was already January 18th. It seemed like '71 had just started. Soon enough, it would be the summer and then Christmas yet again. She thought of her parents saying to her that time moves so much faster when you're older, she thought they were full of it but with each passing month, it seemed they were onto something.

Her first class of the day was an easy one, creative writing. She took lots of those classes when she was at King's College and because of her background, the school administration began offering the elective. The size of the students that took the class grew in comparison to last year and as this was halfway through her second year of teaching it, the class size was a record thus far. It had grown so much that her headmaster recommended adding another section for her to teach in the upcoming fall to deal with class overload. She thought about going back and getting her masters in English to be able to teach at the collegiate level but as always, money was the issue.

As the day progressed, the two Year Eleven classed came and went, with a lunch break in between thankfully, and the final class was Year Thirteen. Getting those students ready for their A Level courses always caused her a lot of stress, knowing you have the ability to make or break the students comprehension based on shoddy teaching can be difficult. For the spring semester, she liked to focus on poetry with the oldest students. They thought they were smarter than they are and liked to think they could understand what the writer was trying to say in their poems so it made for great debate between them. She couldn't blame them, she was the same way when she was their age.

After the dismissal of students, the tube ride was particularly cold, nothing a warm cup of tea couldn't fix as she changed into warmer clothes along with woolen socks once she arrived home. She settled on her couch to decompress from the day, picking up the Orwell novel that she was disrupted from yesterday. Jane had only flipped through a few pages before the familiar ring called to her from the hallway, she set the book down a little forcefully before going to the phone. Of course when she wanted her peace and quiet, she couldn't get it.

"Hello?" She answered the phone with an agitated undertone.

"Jane? It's.. it's Brian."

You could've seen her face light up all the way from Hyde Park, "Brian, hi." Jane replied with a slight lilt in her voice.

"I got your note. I'm sorry, my days got away from me and I didn't get the chance to answer you in a more timely manner." Such a liar, those three scribbled words occupied his every waking moment. He just wanted to practice his conversation so he wouldn't sound like an idiot and jumble his words.

"No worries, I know you're a busy man. Did you have a good weekend?" She pulled her shoulders back and stood up straight, foolishly thinking he could see her.

If you consider agonizing over you a good weekend, then yes

He thought to himself, "Yeah, a lot of studying and preparing for teaching this week. I'm sure you've been doing loads of that too."

She chuckled softly, "Oh yes, I've been trying to do some reading too. I've been awful at making time for myself so I guess you could consider that my New Year's Resolution."

"Reading anything good?" He absentmindedly pulled at the hem on his trousers of his crossed leg.

She smiled more, thinking about his elegantly written epistle, "Yeah, actually. I've been reading '1984' again."

He smiled for the same reason she did, he paid 20 pence for that book. He didn't have much money but he asked his parents to help him buy Jane a birthday gift that year, they agreed as they knew how important Jane was to him, "Do you still have the copy I gave you?" He knew the answer already from his quick snoop around her flat.

"I sure do, I kept all three of the books you gave me." She glanced down at the phone cord, untangling it to test its length as she began to walk back to her couch.

His smile grew, "You still kept them? You must have a soft spot for me, then."

Dear Brian, you have no idea

She thought to herself, "Guilty as charged, you know I always did." She pulled her feet up on the couch, wrapping her free arm around her legs and resting her elbow on the arm. She leaned awkwardly over the side of the couch, making a mental note to find a longer phone cord.

After an attempt to slow his heart rate down, he nutted up and asked her, "Are you free on Wednesday for lunch?"

Finally, she question she had waited approximately sixty hours for.

"I am as it so happens, my free period is during lunch that day, lucky for us." While keeping her calm and cool exterior, her chest tightened to hold back an excited squeal.

He wiped the thin layer of sweat that had gathered on the palm of his hand onto his trousers, the hard part was over.

"Y'know, we never asked each other exactly where we worked." He switched the handset to his now dry left hand to repeat the same routine with his right.

"I teach at Tenison's, in Lambeth."

"Are you serious?" He sat up a little more.

She couldn't help but chuckle, "Yes, why would I joke about that?"

"I'm at Stockwell Manor."

The two sat in silence, they had been working less than a kilometer away from each other for the last five months.

"A hell of a coincidence, isn't it? Us working near each other, I'm surprised we hadn't run into each other on the bus."

"Yeah.. it is. At least we won't have to worry about spending our entire lunch break traveling."

'Was this meant to be?' they both thought to themselves. It was hard not to ponder upon that question. Come to think of it, there were several ways they could've reconnected. If she had not met Freddie they more than likely would've run into each other in Lambeth, or Denise could've brought her to see them one night after seeing their show at her bar.

"There's a cafe right round the corner from you if you'd like to go there." Her arm was starting to cramp from the awkward position, she sat on the back of the couch to give the phone cord some more slack.

"I know the place you're talking about, I'm looking forward to it, Jane."

"Me too, Brian. I'll see you around.. 12:30?"

"Sounds wonderful," The last thing he wanted to do was get off the phone but he didn't want to prolong the conversation to awkward territory and it sounded like she was busy as he heard rustling over the phone, "I'll see you then, have a good rest of your day."

Her tone of voice softened, "See you then, you too." She held the phone up to her ear until she heard the click on the other side.