Phones never seem to survive the journey through the tear and Wes had given them up entirely only a few months into his unfortunate predicament. Watching the woman from across the greasy Formica table, his hands folded over his gut as his half-eaten dish of steak and fries grows cold before him, his shoulders deflate with a quiet sigh. “Listen, Ms Rosenthal,” he begins hesitantly; he doesn’t even remember who her son is, what he looks like, how he did in class; unable to connect a student, however former, to his parent, Wes isn’t sure he has their surname right, “your son didn’t like my class - it’s fine, I get it. I was a hardass and statistics is a difficult, unforgiving field.”
Were she one of his students, he might as well have finished his little speech there and let the true meaning of his words speak for itself: statistics are not for the weak-minded nor weak-willed. However, Ms Rosenthal is, unfortunately, not a student, and despite the pause having stretched there for a moment too long, Wes then carries on. “I’m sorry to say you’re barking up the wrong tree, I don’t teach it anymore.” And really: if his unkempt, overgrown hair, the fingerprints on his glasses, the mud staining his knees and the dirt under his fingernails isn’t proof enough of that, Wesley doesn’t know what is.
“I was withholding my judgment, you see.”
She’s exclaiming this - although using what is an overall perfect, in-door tone. But, the bright easiness that comes from her mouth - and her manicured hand is giving these delicate gestures that seem to be enhancing the punctuation that could not be attached to her words. “Even a man donning ripped skinny jeans can hold a doctorate degree. I just won’t know until we speak.”
Then, June touches the table - well, somewhat. Fingertips are piratically perched, because as Lourdes says ( and she agrees ) these areas can be positively filthy. “May I sit with you?” she asks. There’s a lot that needs to be discussed in her mind, and she certainly wouldn’t be standing for a prolonged time in heels.