Coffee and Lunch

The sun was out, and it was another glorious summer day.

During the walk to Starbucks, the three of you found a comfortable formation - Karissa walking between you and Jayne but a half a step in front of you with Jayne on her right. The crowded sidewalks meant you had to shuffle occasionally but it still allowed you to converse equally, although Karissa was more quiet than usual and seemed content to just turn to her left and right to smile at you and Jayne as you two chatted about not much. No one brought up TAM, and you for one were quite happy to leave the topic behind. You had entered the unlock code, the program was doing… something. Recompiling? How did software back then work anyway?

Never mind. You can worry about that later, and look up the names on the unlock screen for clues. But now, a pair of wonderful women were smiling in the summer sun and the mystery in your office seems so very far away.

Standing in line, Karissa spun around on her heel to face back towards her two coworkers-and-maybe/probably-more, which caused her inevitable mid length powder blue sundress to twirl in an eye-catching way. “Hmm, I think I’m going to try that Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade. I normally get an iced tea but the peeps on my Insta feed all love the mango. Are you getting your standard Zach? I see you with an iced something most days.”

Jayne grins at you, probably enjoying how everyone in the office sees you with an iced caramel macchiato constantly. “I had one earlier and finished it an hour ago. Even I try to not have two of them before lunch. Usually.”

“Your restraint is incredible Pritchard,” Jayne smirks, “I’d be even more impressed if I didn’t know you’ll be getting another one this afternoon. No wonder you have to pee so often, it’s not a tiny bladder it’s just that you drink a large coffee beverage every couple of hours. I’d be shocked if your blood isn’t 25% caramel!”

“Or all his fluids maybe,” Karissa says it softly, but her eyes have a wicked gleam as she looks between you both. “I mean, maybe that’s why he’s so yummy, right?”

With a start, your face blushes even as your work casual khakis stiffen. Jayne is fighting back her own shocked laughter. “Uh, well, heh I dunno Karissa,” Jayne says quietly, “only one way to find out, right?”

Karissa, normally so confident and outgoing, catches her breath and looks down, her own expression suddenly shy and yet eager. She glances at you as if unsure but you give her a wink that has her blushing too.

You affect a casual expression, saying in a normal tone of voice, “Speaking of eating out Karissa, I had an amazing meal at Jayne’s house last week. A Portuguese dish. Couldn’t get enough.”

Jayne is struggling to not laugh or cover her face with her hands. “Oh really Jayne?” the young clerk says innocently, “Maybe one day after work I can try it out too?”

Taking a deep breath, Jayne can’t help but look around. No one in line around you seems to be paying attention, so she mock frowns and says, “Well, hah, I suppose maybe. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” She gives you a stern look, or tries to at least, but she can’t quite get the smile off her face. “That reminds me, Karissa you should ask Zach to tell you about meeting my sisters. Quite a story!”

Now it’s your turn to be alarmed as Karissa turns to you, hoping to hear more. “Oh, uh, I’ll tell you some other time.” She accepts your reply with a nod, clearly understanding the story isn’t one to share in public.

As fun and sexy as this discussion is, you don’t want to get any more excited standing in public, that’s for certain. You give the ladies one last smile and then turn to pretend to look at a sign on the wall.

At the counter you make your order and join the ladies who are waiting for their drinks. You are holding a bagel (sprouted grain vegan, a choice quasi-healthful enough to earn an approving nod from Jayne… or at least healthier than the chocolate muffin you really wanted) and you offer a bite shyly to Jayne, not really knowing if she’ll share a bite of your food. Is she the sort who would be grossed out by the thought?

She is not, in fact, and her smile widens as she daintily tears off a small corner of the bagel. “Want a bite Karissa?” you offer, and she almost solemnly reaches out to pull off a small piece of bagel.

The three of you share the bagel, and the moment, in a comfortable silence, surrounded by the chatter of dozens of coffee shop patrons.

It’s almost 12:30 when you realize it’s lunch. Grabbing your lunch bag, you walk to the break room to use the microwave to heat up your mediocre cup of noodles. As you enter the room you notice most of the tables are full as the office workers and public health nurses eat and chat.

You smile at Karissa as she sits with a couple of the other clerks, and she gives you a radiant smile back. Her lunch mates’ glance at you but don’t otherwise react as Karissa is openly friendly with almost everyone.

Standing next to the microwave you hear the noise of more than a dozen women talking rising and falling. Karissa and the younger clerks she seems to be closer to stand and leave the lunch room, and just as the microwave beeps one of the nurses approaches you. At first you assume she needs the microwave but she’s holding a booklet of some kind.

“Hi, Zach, right? Wine tickets?”

Maybe it’s just the way you were watching Karissa walking out of the room while trying hard to not look like you were doing exactly that, but you blank for a moment. “Oh, sorry?”

She holds up the booklet, and you realize what she’s holding even as she laughs and says, “Wine raffle tickets, are you interested? Tickets are only two dollars, three for five, first prize is 30 bottles of wine.”

“Ahhh,” you stop the beeping of the microwave and fumble for your wallet, “Yeah sure, one second.”

Movement behind her catches your eye, and for the first time you notice Alice Voronkov sitting at one of the tables, looking at you with disdain. You don’t have the time or energy to waste on her any more - if she hates you for no reason at all then whatever.

Opening your wallet, you are pleased to note you actually have some cash, a convenient $5 bill. “Uh, three tickets I guess,” you say.

“Excellent, but I do have change if you only want one ticket,” the woman selling you the tickets say. You’re sure you could remember her name if you thought about it, but now Alice is whispering something to Staci Morris, and she also looks at you with a frown.

With an effort, you turn back to the woman, who is standing at the counter and writing ‘ZACK’ on a slip of paper with a raffle number on it. “Can you put your phone number on this?” she asks, pushing the raffle book to you. As you fill in your contact info on the part of the ticket she will keep for the draw she continues, just making conversation. “Thank you again, this is for my daughter’s daycare, as you can see on the ticket. I swear they have had 3 fund raisers this year already, it’s outrageous how much extra money they get out of us. At least this raffle has good prizes, there is a wonderful selection of wines for all three prizes!”

You make a polite noise and nod while handing her the ticket book. Honestly, you don’t drink much wine, so you’re not sure what you’d do with 30 bottles. Does Jayne like wine? How about Karissa?

As the woman makes a final note and tears off your part of the ticket, she asks, “Do you have any kids in daycare? Or any kids period, I guess?”

Blankly, you shake your head. “No. I don’t.” A sudden, sharp, ugly laugh from Alice’s table, and you can’t help but look again at this woman who seems to hate you. She is shaking her head, not looking at you but saying something quietly but urgently to Staci, who is staring at you still. You are very clearly the topic of conversation, and their expressions verge on disgust.

“Well, good luck,” if the woman noticed your odd expression or split attention, she doesn’t remark on it. You turn to leave, your face burning in shame and you can’t quite say why. You go to take a step before remembering your food, and you grab it and retreat back to your office.

At your desk, your noodles sit ignored as you stare at your computer. You don’t know why, but Alice’s bizarre dislike of you seems to be turning into actual hatred. It’s upsetting to you, and your first instinct is to talk to Jayne about it. But she is in a meeting and besides, you don’t know what to say to her. Alice is still being mean to me, can you beat her up at recess?

Actually, that would be pretty cool. The silly mental image cheers you up a little, and resolve to ignore Alice and her cronies. Or, if she says something again in a private setting, you’ll simply ask her what her problem is.

The rest of the afternoon is spent doing actual work and taking a quick break to search for information about the names on the unlock menu - Grace Cooper and Eckert-Mauchly are actually easy to find, but they might not be much of a clue after all. During the afternoon you message Jayne between her meetings. She has plans with her mother for the evening, as does Karissa when she joins you in a text convo, and so the three of you agree to have another date soon.

As you walk home, you have mostly forgotten about Alice and instead you are thinking of another date with Karissa and Jayne. The TAM unlock will be done by Wednesday when you get in to work, so maybe you can suggest a casual hang-out with them both tomorrow night? Just to talk about TAM, of course, not any other reason.