Working Days

chapter five: her

The back fence of her former workplace rattled as Ollie finally managed to pull her body over it.

Her skirt had ridden up to her hips. She yanked it down, palms covered with rust and dust. Her clothes were streaked with brown stains. She aggressively tried to brush them off, but it only made it worse.

Just as she took her first step, an alarm started blaring.

Shit.

Two mid-sized security guards rushed out with confusion on their faces and batons in hand. She recognized one of them and figured the other was a new hire. A look of recognition passed over his face briefly.

“Ollie?”

The other security guard’s eyes flitted between the two of them and he rolled his eyes.

“You have got to be kidding me. This when I'm almost done with my shift?” He raised his hands to gesture between them, visibly fed up. His fingers tightened on the baton in his grip as he stood behind his colleague.

“Al! My man!” She playfully punched his shoulder. She went in for a hug — which he dodged, and awkwardly wrapped her arms around herself.

“How's the wife?”

“Ollie, why the f**k are you sneaking in here? And why do you look like… that?” He looked her up and down with a disapproving expression.

The alarm blared.

They stared each other down, motionless.

This felt a lot less friendly than the last time they saw each other.

Ollie gulped, gripping her bag and stalking away in an attempt to escape. Al promptly grabbed onto her elbow and stared at her with a deadpanned expression.

She huffed. Her hand reached into her purse to pull out a couple of coins and she stretched it out to them. “Please let me pass. Just this once?” She opened her fist. “This can buy you a muffin” her eyes blinked at them with as much innocence as she could muster. Al’s colleague forced down a dry heave behind him.

“Do you think they’re paying us with slices of toilet paper here?”

Ollie snorted as she gently pried Al’s hand off her arm.

“Are you with anyone? Look, I know we know each other, but as far as I’m concerned, you are trespassing right now. Is this you being plain dumb or illegally dumb?”

“OMG, Al. One compliment wouldn’t kill you!”

Her phone buzzed in her bag and she threw her head back.

“I’m just trying to go around back. I’m alone. It’s complicated, Al. Please. I’ll explain later.” Her franticism became more obvious.

Al looked at her with skepticism for a moment then sighed. “So help me God, Ollie. If you’re pulling off some weird s**t and I lose my job, I swear, my family and I will stalk you.”

“Oh. Thank you?” She stammered out. “Please don’t tell anyone you saw me! Let’s meet up soon.” She put the coins in his pocket and scurried off, not before sending the other security guard a glare.

Ollie finally walked around the building, ducking below the windows just in case and holding onto the wall for support. The alarms finally stopped wailing and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

Halfway around the side of the building, she spotted her friends. An unconscious grin came over her face, and she started waving at them when she was in their line of sight. Her pace quickened as she skipped over, no longer being conscious of her surroundings.

Just as she was about to step into Juno’s car, a surprised voice called out.

“Oh my God. Is that really Angie?”

Her head snapped back sharply.

Oh, brother.

“Ren!” She drew out, slowly turning her body to face her. Her eyes scanned over some of her former coworkers standing behind Ren who sported either looks of confusion or blatant disinterest.

Juno’s head tilted in Ollie's periphery. “Angie?” She muttered. “Well that's new.”

They walked closer to each other and shared a terse hug.

“I love your outfit! It's… bold!” Ren kissed her teeth, unable to form an enthused expression. “I love how you're so non-conforming.” She waved a fist in the air.

Ollie scoffed, smirking as she rolled her eyes. They pulled back from the hug and gave each other another once-over.

Ren looked disgustingly put together; her wispy black hair framing her diamond face in just the right way, a black dress that hugged her perfectly, amber eyes that almost blinded Ollie in the sun.

Ollie hated it.

‘I still can't believe I haven't seen you since you were-”

Her hand quickly flew over Ren’s mouth; tinted lip balm staining her already rust covered palm.

“Haha, you're so funny!” Her eyebrows raised in confusion. She licked Ollie's hand to get it off and immediately regretted her decision. Ollie shrugged and drew her hand back, dabbing the moisture off on Ren’s black skirt.

“Anyway, I can’t talk right now, actually. I’m in a time crunch. I’ll see you!” Or not.

She practically ran off to hop into Juno's car and shut the door with a bang, urging her to drive off.

“Okay, Angie.” She mocked in a sing song voice; starting the car and driving off from a very confused Ren.

The group of 4 bantered and jammed to music as the evening air caressed their faces.

“Where are we going?” Ollie asked finally.

“We’ll probably go somewhere close by, at this point. We've been driving around in circles for probably the last 15 minutes because Juno here and doesn't know her way anywhere!” Charlie said in a playfully accusatory tone.

Both of them argued as Ollie barked out directions to the nearest restaurant and Amara failingly tried to stay awake.

Juno slowed as she pulled over to park on the narrow street in front of the restaurant. Ollie shook an exhausted Amara awake and they piled out of the car and into the restaurant.

Red and cream lights lit up the retro space. The sounds of chatter engulfed them as soon as they stepped in and indistinguishable aromas wafted into their nostrils.

Ollie suddenly felt self conscious and tried putting her hair and clothes down. Charlie noticed this and looped one of her arms around hers, smiling at her.

Amara perked up at the smell of food and they laughed at her expressions.

Juno, the celebrant, led them to an empty table and they gestured for the waitress to come take their orders.

Their orders had barely been taken when the front door creaked open. Ollie’s eyes flew up, and her stomach tightened.

Ren and the rest of her former coworkers were walking in, like they knew exactly where to find her. Again.