* This story follows on from A Night Out With Work, but can be read as a stand alone story.*
The new school year started on September 3rd, with a teacher training day. This usually meant a quick catch up meeting, dates for your diary and time to get everything set up for the children's first day back.
The staff room was full of people talking over each other, catching up with any news and gossip they had missed during the 6 week break. Emma always felt this was a bit pointless. With social media as prolific as it was now, everyone knew how everyone else had spent their summer break already! She made her way through the crowd to the kettle. The early start had not been a welcome one and she needed another coffee.
As she waited for the kettle to boil, tapping the teaspoon impatiently on the worktop, she heard Jon's voice through the crowd. She blushed suddenly as she poured the boiling water into the mug. They hadn't contacted each other once since their hook up at the end of term. It had been completely out of character for her and she had no idea if things were going to be awkward now. Lost in her nervous thoughts, she slipped with the kettle; scalding her hand with the hot water.
"Shit!" Emma cried, as she quickly stuck her hand under the cold water tap. Cath rushed over, "Oohh," she winced, "That's going to be a bad one! You should get Jon to check it."
"What?! Why?? It's fine... I'm fine...no..." Emma babbled. Surprised by her outburst, Cath replied, "But he's the first aider? He'll know if we have something you can out on it to sooth it quicker. I'll call him over..."
"No, really it's..." But Cath couldn't hear her over the noise of conversations and called Jon over to have a look. "Can you have a look at that burn for Emma? It's a nasty one!" Cath explained to Jon. Jon smiled at Emma, but she quickly looked away at the blisters forming on her hand, still under the running water. "Really, it's fine." Emma mumbled, still looking at her hand.
Jon reached past her to turn the tap off, taking her cold, numb hand gently in his to take a look. He sucked a breath in between his teeth. With the cold water gone, Emma's hand was starting to sting again; as if the skin underneath the blisters was still burning. "Um..." Jon thought out loud, "We'll have to check in the medical box, see what's in there."
Emma pulled her hand from his and held it up to her shoulder out of the way. Realising she couldn't avoid it, she followed him to the medical room. Awkwardly, she sat in one of the small blue chairs, watching Jon rummage in the schools medical supplies. After a moment, he pulled out a tube of cream and a packet of plasters. He knelt on the floor in front of her and reached out his hand for hers.
Emma's pulse quickened at his touch, as he gently rubbed the burn cream into the back of her hand. She winced a little as he rubbed it over the blisters, jerking her hand away instinctively.
"Sorry." She mumbled, letting him take her hand again and finish what he was doing. "Good summer?" Jon asked, starting to sort through the plasters for the right size. "Yeah, goes too quick though doesn't it?" Emma chuckled weakly, "You?"
"Same." Jon replied, carefully sticking a plaster over her burn. He continued holding her hand gently, even though he had finished. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Suddenly, they both went to stand up at the same time, awkwardly trying to step around each other, both going to follow the rest of the staff to their first meeting. As they were the last to arrive, they had no choice but to sit next to each other in the two remaining seats.
The morning passed quickly in a haze of information for the term ahead. Emma always enjoyed this half term. It was fun getting to know her new class and doing nice activities; like designing their tray labels and coat pegs, decorating the classroom with their first pieces of work. She was looking forward to welcoming them all back tomorrow. The staff structure had changed from last term, which meant Emma was moving into a new classroom with a different teacher. It was a bit awkward as she was now in the room next to John and Laura, but she was sure it would all blow over soon and go back to normal - even if she did blush like a schoolgirl whenever he was near.
The windows of the classroom they were using were open, letting a warm breeze in. Emma was sitting so close to Jon, she could smell his aftershave on the breeze. She couldn't concentrate on the meeting. She felt herself getting hot and her mind wandered to their night out at the end of term. Truth be told, Emma had thought about it a lot over the summer break. She could count on one hand the number of times she and her husband had made love during the long break; and it didn't make her feel anything like it had with Jon in the alley. She blushed again, reaching down for her bottle of water, brushing Jon's leg accidentally as she did.
"Ok?" he whispered, "How's the hand?"
"Fine, fine..." Emma replied quickly, drinking from her water bottle. Jon watched the curve of her neck as she lifted the bottle to her lips. His mind wandered to the sight of her bent over in front of him in the alley. He had thought about her a lot over the break. He'd even gone to text her a couple of times, but was never sure what to say. He felt his cock stir in his trousers and quickly crossed his legs.
By the time the meeting was over, everyone was keen to have lunch, before going off to work through their to- do- lists.
Looking for some peace, Emma grabbed her lunch bag and headed outside to one of the picnic tables. She took a moment to close her eyes and listen to the light rustling of the leaves in the breeze.
Emma jumped at the sound of his voice, "I thought I'd be the only one needing some peace!" Jon joked, sitting opposite her at the table. Emma sat there open mouthed, no words coming out. Jon laughed, "You ok?"
Before Emma could answer, Laura sat daintily next to Jon at the table. The picnic tables were a good size, but Laura still sat as close to Jon as she could. Emma saw Jon roll his eyes and start eating his lunch. Laura started gushing noisily about how much she was looking forward to working with Jon again. Every sentence was punctuated with a touch to his arm or shoulder and a pointed look at Emma. Quickly, Emma finished her yogurt and stood up to leave. Jon hadn't uttered a word since Laura had started talking! She did feel a bit bad for him, after all, he had to put up with Laura behaving like that everyday. Clearly their antics with the tequila shots hadn't put her off.
Emma went back to her classroom, checking the to- do- list her class teacher had left her. She used the computer to put some music on while she worked. Shortly after, she heard Jon and Laura's voices going into the room next door. She needed to focus and pretend that night never happened. She was happy with her lot in life and she should just accept that.
*
The first few weeks of the new term passed by in a blur. With so much happening around the school, Emma had managed to put her night with Jon out of her mind. Jon on the other hand, found himself looking for her amongst the crowds, volunteering to swap break duties so they were outside on the same day, finding reasons for their paths to cross. He had no idea what he thought would happen, but he couldn't help himself. He was drawn to her. They had really connected that night; not just in a sexual way. They had a lot in common too.
One friday afternoon, after the children had gone home; he spotted her sat at the computer in her classroom. He walked in quietly, checking to see if anyone was around. He quickly looked at what she was doing, making a vague comment to look as if he had a reason for coming to see her. Emma sat back in the computer chair and sighed. She rubbed her hands over her face, as if she was trying to clear her vision. "Bad day?" Jon asked, sitting on the corner of the table behind her. "Same old thing." Emma replied, rubbing her face again, "A couple of kids playing up, stuff I need to finish before I go and my shoulder's acting up again..." She stretched her arms out straight in front of her, trying to sooth the tension. "Which one?" Jon asked quietly.
"This one," Emma replied, touching her right shoulder with her other hand.