Chapter 5: I'm sure tomorrow will be better

Sue tried to spend the rest of the day burying herself in work. It seemed to her that everyone in the office knew who she was now.

As she got on with her work, every so often she would hear the sound of laughter escape from Jake, and when he turned to look at her, Jake would simply shake his head, still laughing, and say, “eyebrows.” She didn’t know why it was still so funny to her new friend.

It was nearing the end of the day when she got an email alert. She opened it reluctantly, hoping that she wasn’t once again being called down to Human Resources. She released a tense breath when she saw that it was from Sarah.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Cake and coffee?

*****

This right here was why she loved her. She quickly typed out a reply telling her that she would meet her outside in an hour. By the time she met her, it was raining a very fine, misty rain, the kind that she hated.

As she walked through the lobby, she grumbled to herself. Luckily, there was a cafe just across the street so they wouldn’t have to go far.

“Hey you,” Sarah called from behind her as she came over to her. “Need to drown your sorrows in some chocolate cake?”

She gave her an unimpressed smile and linked arms with her as they walked toward the door. “Was it as bad as I thought it was?”

“Oh, sweetie. It was worse.”

“Awesome,” she sighed. They paused in the doorway while Sarah got the umbrella out of her purse and held it over both their heads.

They were both a little disheveled when they stepped inside the cafe. While Sue resigned herself to the fact that she was just going to have to sit there slightly damp and ruffled, Sarah shook her head once and instantly looked perfect again.

Once they had ordered, Sarah looked over at her and smirked. So much for sympathy.

“So you have a thing for a man with a nice set of eyebrows, huh? Well, to each their own,” she said playfully.

“You’re all heart.”

She laughed again and reached over the table to take her hand. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad. You certainly left an impression on Knight.”

“I don’t want to leave an impression on that guy. I think I’ve already done that enough for my first week on the job, don’t you?” Sue cried. “God, why am I such a weirdo?”

Sarah’s smile turned fond as she looked at her. “That’s just one of the things people love about you.”

“What, my endless ability to humiliate myself?” she asked.

“Yep, that and your cute face..” she told her, knowing the best way to cheer her up.

She smiled at her and let go of her hand. “You know, this is all Knight West’s fault. If he hadn’t been glaring at me through the staff meeting yesterday then I never would have sent you that email. Then, to make things ever better, he gives me that same look today and totally throws me, so I end up humiliating myself in front of everyone.”

Sarah didn’t respond to her, instead looking down at her empty place setting with a small frown on her face.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she quickly said. “It’s just...Knight’s actually pretty great. I’ve known him for a few years now and he’s never been anything but nice to me.”

“Well, maybe he doesn’t like humans.”

Naomi glared at her for that, completely unimpressed. “That’s not fair, Sue. You can’t make an assumption like that about people.”

“You’re right,” she quickly said, realizing she had basically just called the guy a speciesist when they didn’t even know each other. “I’m sure it’s just me he doesn’t like.”

“You know, I think you may be reading too much into things,” Sarah told her. “You just need to chill, and stop freaking out.”

Sue nodded and leaned back in her chair. “Sound advice. I can’t possibly fuck up three days in a row, right?”

Sarah nodded, but her smile was forced. She’d known her long enough to know that she was a lost cause.

“I’m sure tomorrow will be better.”

When her cake came, Sue practically devoured it. She thought it might be time for her to start exercising more. She felt like she may have put a couple of pounds on while she had been between jobs.

It was time to get her old bike back out.

.............