Love Finds A way

005

Laura didn't come home that night. Neither did she answer her phone.

Being away from home wasn't new to me. Laura had done it so many times, it was normal. But she didn't pack extra clothes earlier, and from the her room was in good shape, she never came back home.

I tried calling her number thrice, but she never responded. If it was another person, I might have been concerned. But this was Laura. She could go for days on end.

In the empty room, my thoughts began swarming once more. I tuned them out and focused instead on the room. It had been a while since we'd been able to clean it.

It didn't happen often enough, but people all over the world cleaner their rooms at night, right? Right?

Starting from the kitchen, I thought of rearranging the way things were ordered, but the house wasn't mine alone. There were two of us and should Laura come tomorrow to find things out of place, she might go crazy like that one time she had me up all night because I didn't arrange things properly.

A smile sat on my lips as the memory came to life. I shook it off, along with the feeling of nostalgia that always came with it. I didn't have the time for such thing this night. There was too much strength required for those and I didn't have the strength for it. Not after the day I'd survived.

I ordered pizza and went to clean out the bedrooms, putting extra care in returning Laura's things to where they were thr previous night.

When the pizza came, I called her again but she didn't respond. Deciding it wouldn't hurt, I sat with the TV, rewatching 10 Things I Hate About You while the night washed away.

When my alarm woke me the next morning, I was on the chair, pizza box stuck to my cheek. I shook it off and proceeded to prepare for work.

By the time I was ready to go, Laura was still not back which equalled to her boss needing her away. It was only bad that she didn't call.

I opened the front door, ready to go face criticism at work when I found Laura at the door, looking through her bag for her key.

“Hey! I've been calling you for ages!”

Laura responded with a smile and I knew she was hangover.

“You okay?” I asked as she staggered in. There was a small nod and I couldn't help walking in to make sure she was well settled. “Need me to stay for a bit?”

She knew I'd stay. Jeremy would shout but that's all there was to him. Minutes later, I'd be stuck at my table with more work but it didn't faze me.

A shake of the head as she staggered towards the cushion.

“Any progress?” I asked.

As selfish as it might sound, it was the first thing I thought of when she walked in. Plus, she wasn't talking. I was running out of questions before I freaked.

“Yes. Later. Need sleep.”

The words settled in one after the other. My heart was too full to carry me as I headed to work.

Operation turn Xavier into mush was yielding results. Nothing could make me hate the day, I thought.

I should have known that things like that didn't apply to me.

My body was buzzing, a mix of thrill and anxiety running around my body as I anticipated whatever happened the previous night.

As was my usual now, eyes followed me front the front door, all the way to the Fin-Acc floor. I stopped looking away, but I also made sure to show nothing.

Truthfully, I didn't care what they thought. Laura had news for me and there was nothing that could too that. Nothing. It was going to be a good day.

Following instincts, my eyes darted towards Jeremy's office. It was usually closed but since the glass was see-through, you could always tell when he was in.

That morning, his office was empty and I felt even better as I strolled toward my table. As long as I kept my head buried in work, I was sure to have a great day.

It turned out so. Work was smooth. The background noise didn't vanish, but it wasn't distracting.

Until I started noticing that people walked past me. A lot.

One of the reasons why I loved my seat was its positioning. Placed at the edge of the room, where people didn't necessarily need to go through, I was usually free to work without moving bodies dragging my attention. But it seemed there was a wind blowing them towards me today.

Still, I ignored them and continued working. Nothing could dampen my mood today.

“Hey Sam.”

It took two seconds for me to realize that the person being spoken to was me. I wouldn't pretend and call myself “extremely gorgeous” but that didn't mean I was an eyesore. I was just a girl. That's was usually overlooked.

So the fact that someone came to my table and actually called for me was surprising.

I looked up, a quizzical look on my face. It earned me a nod from Jerry, leaning over my table, smiling at me.

He was one of the assholes in the department, a huge fan of Jeremy. He has the athletic build and good enough face to help him win girls over. But that didn't change the fact that he was a d**k.

“Yeah?” I responded, after debating the benefits of being rude to him. I didn't like him and I'd appreciate if he was gone too soon. “I'm kinda busy at the moment.”

He nodded, the smile still on his face.

“I know you're busy,” he responded. Sweeping the space with his hand, he added, “We all know you're busy.”

The way he said it, like it was some inside secret that I was the only one who didn't know about made my guys twist.

Had they found out the truth about Laura? No, Laura wouldn't betray me. But she did say there was progress. She didn't specify what. Was I being paranoid?

“What. Do. You. Know?” 8 asked with more veenon than I intended.

Jerry's smile grew as he stared at me, relishing my nervousness.

“You're sure you want me to say it here in public?” he asked.

My swallow was audible, my heart sinking as I stared into those eyes of his and watched everyone turn towards us.

Holy gods.