Remembering the Past - Jacob Cunningham [Finished]

[Jacob Cunningham]

"Thank you, Amita."

When she relented to his offer of a safe home and a warm bed, he let go of her arm and breathed a sigh of relief as well. He didn't realize how tense he had been until his whole body relaxed and slumped a little after she accepted. Jacob's expression had immediately changed to a welcoming, toothy smile as he gestured back toward their table. Looking back around, he also noticed the looks they were getting, and he still couldn't bring himself to care now that Amita agreed to the arrangement.

"Now lets sit back down. We should eat before we head back to my place."

Jacob retook his seat, sitting back in his chair in a much more relaxed position than before. He was obviously very relieved and his gentle chuckling showed it too, or maybe he was chuckling out of bit of embarrassment from the scene he made.

"I apologize for being so forceful like that. But you gotta understand... It'd haunt me if I just let you go like that."

Their food finally came out, and the server gave him a bit of a look. Fortunately, they didn't say anything else about what just happened and let it be.

"Now tell me... How much of a crazy person did I look like just then?"

[Amita Bosko]

Amita noted the stress leaving Mr. Cunningham's shoulders as she accepted his offer. Was this really that important an issue to him? She watched as he smiled at her, and she realized that he hadn't smiled since she waved at him almost an hour ago. It completely altered his countenance. He even let out a laugh as he sat down, and it reminded her of the old Mr. Cunningham again. She again relaxed and sat down.

When the waitress stepped out with the steaming plates of food, the smells blew Amita away. As the plate sat in front of her, Amita slowly took up her fork and took a bite of shrimp, as though in a dream. As the food landed in her mouth, she realized how much fast food, Oriental, and Cinnabons she had eaten. It had been awhile since she had such great seafood.

She laughed at his question. "I'd give you an answer, but I'm afraid you might get offended," she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"This shrimp is delicious. Thank you!" She popped in another bite to demonstrate.

"So how has teaching been going for you?"

[Jacob Cunningham]

Her reply got a chuckle out of Jacob as he started on his own plate of food. After that little incident, a nice hot meatball sub was a nice way to come down and just enjoy the company of his former student. He would have offered a reply to her thanks for the food, but he was too busy working on his own to really say anything. But he took a break between bites to answer her question.

"Been goin' as well as could be expected. Fulfilling at times, trying at others."

That was a pretty mild, yet succinct way to put it. He wasn't so much teaching teenagers as he was "handling" them sometimes. Some people said handing small children was a hassle, but teenagers were far worse, mostly because they could talk back and they possessed just enough knowledge and experience to think they know what they're talking about. It was also an interesting time as they learned and grew into adults. It all sort of evened-out in the end.

"But I'm not teaching at the high school for much longer. I was offered a position at a private school, and I took it. Mostly cause it pays more."

He hoped that working at the private school would yield more agreeable teenagers to work with. But being raised with more money didn't mean that the kids would come out better. In fact, he feared the opposite would be true and that the private school kids would be worse somehow.

The upside to maybe dealing with snotty rich kids was, of course, the salary and the bigger apartment he was able to afford because of it. The bigger place was partly the reason Jacob even offered up to house Amita. He didn't have a spare bedroom at his old apartment.

[Amita Bosko]

She nodded at his first response. It wasn't very descriptive, and she wasn't too sure how to carry the conversation on from there. It didn't help that she kept getting distracted by a baby at a nearby table; his cries were only quieted when his parents finally gave him chocolate milk, and Amita could relate. Chocolate milk was her favorite.

"But I'm not teaching at the high school for much longer. I was offered a position at a private school, and I took it. Mostly cause it pays more."

Amita pulled her eyes away from the baby, now cutely sucking his thumb. "Oh! Well that sounds like an adventure. Is it far away?"

Amita knew of a few private schools, but none of them were particularly nearby. In fact, a few of them were 20-30 minutes away. She wondered what that would mean for her if she were to stay with him for very long. She was starting to get used to the idea of living in this neighborhood again, but maybe not living in a place full of old memories would be for the best.

She wondered why her head wasn't hurting from all the inner debates she had been having with herself today. Maybe the fresh shrimp was already proving how much more healthier it was than hamburgers.

[Jacob Cunningham]

"Actually it is kind of a drive, from here anyway. I had to move to an Apartment farther into the City to save on travel. From there, it's not too far."

That's probably the one thing he honestly did not like about still having to work at the high school for a little while longer. It was a longer drive from his new place of residence to the high school, or it seemed like a longer drive since he now lived further into the city with the traffic and whatnot. But he kept telling himself that it was only temporary and the payoff was definitely worth the hassle for the time being.

Looking up at the sign to the grille, however, he felt a little disappointed that this particular place would be farther away than before. It had some really great hot sandwiches and he remembered being a regular patron during his lunch hour at the high school. But maybe a drive was worth their meatball subs.

"So what do you say we head to my place first? We can drop off your bike and belongings there."

He finished up his sub and when the server came by, he went ahead and asked for the check. He figured if Amita still wanted something later, he could cook something up at home for the two of them. Though he wondered if he had enough food considering he usually only bought for himself.