Working Days

chapter three: her

“Ollie. Don't tell me you're still thinking about it?” A deadpan voice snapped at her, pulling her out of her trance and making her flinch. Ollie blinked, taking in her surroundings after reliving the memories of her unfortunate engagement. She sat crisscross applesauce in front of her favourite loveseat, bag of chips in her lap and some sitting tight in her month old bra that she put on because her friends dragged her out for a walk.

She put her hands over her face and groaned, leaning her head back on the chair.

“Shut up, Juno. I’m not” Ollie retorted, heaving a long sigh.

“Girl, it’s been half a year now,” her other friend Amara piped in, poking her head out of Ollie’s kitchen. “You need to move on.” She smiled wryly, pointing her knife at Ollie’s impassive face and drew her head back from the doorway.

“Yeah. Winona just across the street got remarried in less time.” Charlie grinned mischievously as she agreed with Amara, shaking her head in disappointment from the kitchen island stool even though the walls of the kitchen blocked her from their line of sight. It helped that she already had a bad first encounter with her friend’s ex, and she couldn’t stand her being that hung up over him.

“Maybe it's because he was a deadbeat, Charlie! Keep up!”

Ever since her friends answered the call of their snot riddled, sobbing best friend who was dumped, their hangouts consisted of them visiting Ollie, forcing her to look alive and cooking together.

“And it’s not like I’m the worst case scenario,” Ollie started, trying to assure herself with her words.

“People take longer than a year, smartass. I don’t know why you can’t give me the same grace you give strangers on the internet.” She bit at them. Juno and Amara covered their mouths in shock, murmuring ‘ooh’s in unison.

Charlie stomped out of the kitchen, knife still in hand. Her face twisted up slightly.

“What’s with the attitude? How hard is it to get my point? I can’t keep ignoring this debilitating behaviour!” there was a bite in her voice as she said this. Charlie was fed up, and rightfully so, she believed.

“What’s not with the attitude?” Ollie straightened her spine, jutting her chin out in defiance.

“Life is not a movie, Charlie. It does not matter how bossed up you want me to be. I genuinely loved that man. So what if I want to grieve the relationship? Is it a crime?” The once lighthearted atmosphere quickly shifted.

The smell of burning food began to fill the tense room. Charlie blew out a breath and let the knife in her hand fall onto the kitchen island with a loud clang as she brushed past Amara at the kitchen door to turn off the gas. Amara muttered a quiet sorry with a wry smile; clearly being too invested in the conversation instead of paying attention to what she was cooking.

“Look, no one said you can’t grieve,” Juno piped in with Charlie’s absence from the conversation. “We just don’t like how it has become the essence of your being now.”

Ollie threw her head back with a groan. “Who said it is?” She said exasperatedly.

“Don’t start with that bullshit, Ol. All you do is sleep, wake up, grieve, go to work and shower once in a while. Why are you losing yourself to this? This isn’t you, and I don’t think you’d have ever wanted this for any of us.”

“I do all of that and work! I’m doing enough right now. I really need you off my back, honestly. This happens way too much now.” She looked at Juno incredulously, waving her hands around with emphasis.

“I wonder how you live so awfully and work.” Amara thought out loud as she brought a dish of half burnt pasta out of the kitchen.

“Honestly! She must probably make her co-workers feel so shitty.” Charlie spat out.

“Work is just fine, thanks for asking.” Ollie said quickly.

“If it is going so well, why did Ren from your workplace get promoted to your role? You know we follow each other on social media, right?” Charlie’s voice was laced with suspicion. “There’s something you’re not telling us, so you better speak up right now.”

“What?” Ollie blinked.

“Yeah, Ren. The one you introduced me to at the plus one work party for your company? You said she takes sick leave all the time?”

“Oh yeah, right,” Ollie nodded slowly and unsure. “She really earned it!” she said in a strained, fake enthusiastic voice.

It was their turn to be confused. “What the hell is ‘She earned it'? She has the same job title as you. This is not adding up at all.” Charlie prodded, finally sitting down across Ollie and placing dishes and cutlery on the coffee table in-between them.

“Uh… yeah! We’re both team leads now. Isn’t it crazy that we’re all connected now? Anyway, let’s start eating. Food is getting really cold.” Ollie started dishing out food for the four of them, avoiding their skeptical eyes.

“Yeah, right.” Juno uncharacteristically scoffed. “You better not be bullshitting.” She took a plate from Ollie and piled more food onto her plate, turning her gaze towards the tv.

Ollie’s mouth dropped open, waiting for her other two friends to come to her defence, but they just gave knowing looks and did the same.

The rest of the night was spent sharing their thoughts on the movie that was playing and scarfing down food as they threw jabs at each other. Ollie would’ve revelled in it, but she could only try to force down the impending sense of doom she felt from almost being found out.

As midnight neared, they began leaving one by one; first it was Charlie who stayed way past her bedtime, and then Juno who had an early day to prepare for. Ollie and Amara were sprawled out on her furry rug, trying to keep out of their self induced food comas.

Amara cleared her throat and checked the time. 10:42pm. She gathered herself as best as she could and beckoned for Ollie to lock the door.

“Make sure you pack the leftovers so you can eat later!” Amara called out from in front of Ollie’s door as she put on her shoes.

“Yeah, okay!” Ollie replied, walking to stand behind Amara.

“Ol, by the way, I don’t know why you were acting weird about Ren’s promotion, but you do realise that you’re going to have to tell us the truth eventually, right? You can trust us. We’re locked in for life, after all.” Amara turned to face her with a soft smile on her face.

“Love you, bye!” They shared a short hug before Amara walked out of Ollie's door, leaving her house as empty as it was a couple of hours ago.

Ollie forced a smile on her face, packing up the leftovers before she’d forget to refrigerate them. She thought back to the words Amara said, and she knew they were true. She just dreaded the day she'd have to come clean to them.