Strange day at the office yesterday, sharing the same space
with her for the first time since the debacle at the bar a week ago.
She came up the stairs from the first floor, pausing briefly
to glance over at me in the alcove, before prancing up and out of sight to the
floor above.
She was cool, and calm, bearing the same demeanor she had
when I saw her teaching on career day at the high school, perhaps artificial,
covering up the rage her poetry exposed, or perhaps creating distance to make
it very clear we are not at all back to what things were before.
Yet, briefly, I saw her pause again near the top of the
stairs, hand on the railing as if she was listening to a conversation I was
having with another employee on the phone.
Was she curious? She had done her best to shut all the
doors, even unfriending me on Facebook.
In the meeting – seated across the large table from me – she
folded her arms across her chest as I did my best not to look at her, so she
wouldn’t have to look back. Afterwards, when I stopped to speak with one of the
other employees in the bullpen, she stormed out and took refuge in the office
of our temporary boss.
Later, I emailed her business account and told her to stop
acting weird. She emailed me back to tell me this was the way she acted towards
me prior to our involvement.
That seemed so long ago, I could hardly remember what
occurred between us here or anywhere else.
I told her I still considered us friends, even if she hated
me, and promised not to contact her except through the office phone or the
company email.
Later, she overheard another conversation I was having with
someone on the phone. She dumped a packet of information on my desk and walked
off. And still later, she actually came down the stairs to ask me a question
about something.
I assumed we are still not friends, close or otherwise, and will
never be again.
But she’s unpredictable and that scares me a little.
No comments:
Post a Comment