Got a problem?

"Hey now. Don't say that. I consider you a friend."

Jacob reached over and put a hand on her shoulder while giving her a warm smile. It always broke his heart to hear a student say that they had no friends, or that they felt so alone. No one should have to feel so isolated, ever.

"And don't think that things are simply over between you and her. Your lives might have gone in different directions, but that doesn't mean you can't rekindle something you once had. You'll never know until you try."

He too sighed and leaned back, looking up into the tree.

"There was a period after my ex-wife and I split up that I thought I would never find someone else to be with. It was not like she was my first relationship either. I've had girlfriends and break up before her, but when we split... I felt like that was the end of ever being close to someone.

I thought I was too old to start dating again and moving here to start teaching really put a damper on any efforts I might have had.

But then... I started trying again. Sometimes it didn't work out--like REALLY not work out--but I also met a fair share of people I could call friends, even if I couldn't be super close them. Then Lenn just... dropped into my life."

He chuckled at the memory of their first meeting.

"I was just trying to be friendly and make some small talk. One thing lead to another, and now she's moving in with me.

So I guess my advice from that story is that you just need to put yourself out there. Just a little. And with a girl as pretty as you, who knows. Maybe your old friend will find that spark again, or you'll get a deluge of possible beaus."

The moment Jacob saw that little smile etch across Kiyana's face, he knew he had done some good in the world that day. She had taken his word regarding his friendship. It was the kind of reaction that Jacob lived for as a teacher, and the feeling he got from it made up for any amount of annoying students and paper work. He wanted to follow up by saying that she could come to him for anything, or if she needed someone to talk to. But the brighter her smile became, the more he knew that she already knew that.

"I'd love to get to know you better too. And you know where to find me around here."

Giving up was an all-too-frequent occurrence with some students, Jacob found. Not in the sense that they give up on life and consider... Well, there have been a few rare instances, but Jacob jumps on that immediately. But more in the sense that kids give up on love, relationships, schoolwork, agency in their future, and the like. To so many young people, it feels like the entire world is working against them.

Now if Jacob could help them not give up, one by one and bit by bit, his purpose as a teacher will be fulfilled. His true purpose, that is, beyond simply educating and mentoring.

"Heh... Yeah~"

He blushed slightly at the memory of how he acted back at the bar, and at Kiyana's assertion about other girls. If only she knew how many of his students had very obvious crushes on him as the "hot teacher". Now some of them were trying even harder after seeing Lenn around, to results that ranged from embarrassing to scandalous.

"Um, so... Sorry for actin' like such a fool back then. I don't handle my alcohol well and I tend to get ever-so-slightly flirty. It wasn't my best moment."

Flamboyant. Jacob would have used a stronger word like annoying or touchy feely to describe his inebriated self. But if Kiyana simply wanted to think of him as jovial, if unrestrained, then she was more than welcome to feel that way. He too had to laugh a little at her word choice. Already he was feeling he was getting to know Kiyana better than if he had spent several nights getting tipsy with her.

He felt a little sorry for her though, hearing that she had never actually gotten a good buzz. Now Jacob was by no means a drinker, even of the casual variety. He was sparing with how much he drank and when. But even he knew it was okay to get a little buzzed every now and then. It could be fun with friends, assuming no one went too far. It sounded like that was exactly the case with Kiyana's former friends though.

"If I remember correctly, it wasn't a bad day at all for me back then... I think I was just having a few drinks to commemorate finally having fully settled into Manta Carlos, and possibly having found a girlfriend. Not Lenn, another woman."

His clarification came out of his mouth before he realized what it sounded like, and he kind of wished he could have taken it back.

"Um, I was pretty flirty back then too. You probably saw some of that in the bar. I didn't know anyone on the island that well, and I guess I was tryin' my luck at wooing ladies. Too much."

Everything Kiyana said was a tiny pin prick to Jacob. Nothing that really hurt or made him bleed, however it was enough to make him flinch and wish she had not done it. She may not have been referring specifically to Jacob, or just referring to his drunk self, but she was still accidentally getting to the heart of some of Jacob's past problems.

His eyes lowered from her's, feeling slightly ashamed of himself. Or at least his old self.

"Well, Kiyana, I can definitely say that you have better judgement that I did when I was your age. Or even the me of now, on occasion."

Jacob thought back to his wild young man days. The days where he had a different "girlfriend" every week, and was well-versed in the art of sneaking into and out of a girl's bedroom window. The days where he had literally been chased out of said bedrooms at gun point, and the days where his father, then and now, was utterly baffled that he had not knocked up any girls. It was nostalgic, but also cringe-worthy.

"If you were off-put by my clingy drunk self, you would have been appalled at eighteen-year-old-me. I would've... geez... I would've been all over you, with or without a drink."

He blushed as he thought about what his past self would have done in that situation.

"And I would've used that stupid life philosphy I had back then to justify it. I was just trying to make you feel loved Or It pains me to see any woman feel lonely, in this world."

Jacob wanted to punch himself.

Jacob had no idea that recounting his past wild child, playboy life would trigger such an outburst from Kiyana. Her tirade immediately pulled him out of his funk regarding his past self, to be replaced with shock. He assumed that talking about how pseudo-philosophical his young self would be offensive to anyone who could think about it for a second, but he had no idea a sensitive nerve would be plucked so hard. It was amazing almost, and he contributed to the awkward silence that followed.

Then Kiyana he was more familiar with came back, calmer and more thoughtful than angry.

"No. You make perfect sense."

He reached out to place his hand on her's. Not in the flirty way he would have normally. But in the reassuring, "I understand where you're coming from" way.

"What you're talking about is self-respect, and I wish you coulda told young me that. Instead of filling the whole in my heart with conquests, maybe I would've been doing something constructive.

But YOU know that now. Now you need to act on it. Have some confidence in yourself before looking for someone else. That other person will benefit from it too."[