PROTAGONIST’S PoV
Considering the average height of American women, mother dearest was not tall .
Delilah Hayes was a pale woman who was definitely not in a good physical condition because she was an alcoholic and a druggie, yet somehow managed to look pretty. Her chestnut hair ended at the middle of her back. Her green eyes being my inheritance.
You’d never see her not being dressed up, always ready to somewhere. When I was a kid, I almost thought she went to sleep wearing big earrings, tons of rings and makeup and the dress which stuck to her like second skin.
We were kinda rich, so I guess half of the rings were real.
Mother turned into an awful alcoholic and a druggie when I was around five and since then, I have had no support.The drugs helped her feel empowered for a moment. I rarely saw her not stumbling and sober. Before she turned into a woman I resented, she used to give me eye smiles which were enough to get me through the day.
She was the person hated but loved at the same time because she was my mother.
I felt the old heavy feeling coming back as I watched Zaira cry, it reminded me of that day. The day which changed my life for the worst. It felt as if there were a hundred layers of crap, then bedrock and then me.
Anyway…
Mr. Fitz barged into the office like he does everyday. Greeting empty walls. His energy radiating through the walls. He the first one every day after me. Maybe his wife’s crazy, that’s why he wants to get out of his house as soon as possible.
On hearing Mr.Fitz’s voice, Zaira stopped in the middle of her sentence and got up. She hid her feelings and buried her pain somewhere inside and pretended to be normal. She dusted off her pantsuit, wiped off her half dried tears from her cheeks, tied her hair into a messy bun, took a deep breath, smiled and thanked me for the coffee and left as if nothing happened. Like she was not crying fifteen minutes ago.
I just peered at her from behind the couch as she strutted out of the lounge in her heels.
She and mother had quite a resemblance in their physique.
For the next ten minutes I sat in the shadow of the couch, drinking my coffee and the rest of hers. The faint chatter grew denser as minutes passed and employees started filling in.
I rinsed the cups and arranged them on the tray beside the coffee machine. Just as I turned to exit the lounge, Rio Brown handed me a stack of papers to scan, so that he could make it into a presentation for the meeting.
New-ish big scanner/printer/xerox/fax machine, here I come. This machine was more competent than I probably was.
Work didn’t take long. After finishing it I just sat in the lounge until a work was given to me. Everyone one was busy with the meeting with the boss.
My shift ended so I picked up my stuff and was en route to the front door when I heard the boss’ firm voice in the back say
‘‘You should not be slacking off Ms. Baxi’’
Geez cut her some slack, it has been a bad day.
I wonder if she has a place to go tonight.
I silently walked back to the lounge and pretended to do some cleaning work. Just so I could ask her if she was okay.
I sound pathetic and desperate. Fuck.
Do you think she’ll care that you ask if she’s okay or not? Why the hell is my conscience so negative. Never mind, I was negative myself.
I wanted to talk to her.
For some reason, I needed her to notice me maybe because I felt something for her. I wanted to give up my fear.
I waited till everyone else left.
She sat on her desk, her head resting on her arms.
“Are you going to sleep here again, miss?” I asked her in an amused tone while raising a brow.
She sat up straight in her seat and turned her head in my direction.
“Nope, I’ll be staying at a friend‘s place”
She said.
“Are you fine?” I asked , concerned.
“I’m fine!” She said in Ross’ tone from friends. Thus concluding, not fine. I really had no idea about how to make her feel better, so I decided to leave because it was better than making a fool out of myself.
“Okay then, take care. See you tomorrow” with that I made my way towards the door like a looser but her words stopped me.
“Have you had dinner yet?”
She inquired in a small voice, maybe feeling embarrassed. Damn, I could have asked her that. You are stupid. Before I could reply, she continued
“I really don’t want to eat alone. I know it may sound weird because we don’t even know each other outside the office. But I really don’t want to be alone.”
I think this is the most I have seen her talk in one go. Nevertheless, why will I give up a perfectly nice opportunity to get to know who this beautiful woman is outside the office.
While trying to contain all the excitement in me, I replied “Pizza sounds good?”
She grinned at me and picked up her coat ad purse.
“My treat.” With that we walked out of the office and went to Pete’s Pizzeria at the end of the street.
Half an hour later, our eyes and stomachs were blessed with pizzas.
“So tell me a bit about yourself” she asked while taking a bite of the garlic bread.
I really had no idea what I should be saying. I haven’t really tried to be friends with anyone outside the school people.
So I started with the basics: hobbies.
“Well, I like to watch TV shows a lot”
Everyone does, it’s nothing new.
“Ditto but I assume everyone else also does. We ain’t special” she laughed and took another slice.
And the dinner went on while I made jokes trying to sound cool and somehow, it managed to crack her up.
She was beautiful when she laughed. She tilted her head backwards and covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes when she laughed. It showed actual happiness. Same eye smiles as mother. I was so happy that I helped her get her mind off of the jerk she was dating. Not for long, i hope. She was laughing because of me. I wanted to make her laugh everyday.
It’s safe to say that we are now friends.
_____________
hello to all!
hows quarantine life ?
Some FRIENDS references for a change lol.
hoping you are liking the story thus far.
till then.
ns 172.68.23.114da2