Mostly.

It took a bit longer than you expected even when they were your sole focus, but you spent a lot of time making sure everything was formatted correctly and was above all correct. You were a couple hours past closing, but you wanted to really impress Marie. You gathered up the reports, clocked out, and headed to Marie's desk to drop off the reports. Her office was a corner office at the end of a hallway. As you rounded the corner you noticed she was just stepping out of her office and locking it up.

"Oh, John, are you finished with your work" she asked seeing you approach.

"I was just heading to your desk to see if you were done or needed help" she added.

"Yes ma'am, I didn't want to disappoint you after all" you stated with a smile. Marie took the reports from your hand with a smirk on her face.

"Well...good job" she said abruptly. That may have been the first time you'd heard her say that. You both stood silent for a moment before you broke the ice.

"Er...well, I'm going to head back to Cedar Springs then" you said with a wave.

"Cedar Springs" Marie asked surprised "I didn't know we lived in the same town" she said with half a smile.

"Born and raised" you replied. "Actually, I was probably going to a dive to get a few drinks and destress a little bit if you wanted to destress as well. You can vent about your job all you want and I promise you'll have my full attention" you offered. Marie seemed suddenly unsure.

"Oh...I don't know if that'd be appropriate. I'm married and your boss after all" she explained.

"Pfft...I won't tell if you don't. Besides, it isn't like we'd be doing anything other than throwing a few beers back to blow off some steam after a hard day of work" you replied. "No big deal if you don't show though, but I'll be at Marshall's Pub if you change your mind. See you tomorrow regardless" you offered with a wave again and turned to leave.

"Uh yah...see you John" she said in thought. "Marshall's pub is the one of Pine Drive right" she called out right as you were about to turn the corner.

"That's the one" you called in reply and dipped around the corner. That went better than you expected. Not only was she not her usually bitchy self, but she may have seemed actually interested. You figured it was fifty fifty for her to show up, but the fact she was entertaining the idea was certainly promising. No worries though, even if she didn't come tonight you'd relieve a little stress with some beer and maybe find a woman for the night for some extra stress relief.

The trip home was thankfully pleasant. You'd stayed long enough for the rush hour traffic to not be a factor so traffic was non-rage inducing for once. Always a few lane changing assholes though. When you made it home you quickly showered off and got into some casual clothes, and you called for an Uber to pick you up. You weren't surprised to see she wasn't there when you arrived. If anything she'd be showing up later, so you spent your time sipping on a Coors Light so you weren't drunk if she arrived, and you walked around talking with drunk people to pass the time. After an hour your second beer was getting warm and you were debating leaving when you noticed Marie standing in the entrance looking through the crowd. You waved your hand and she smiled when she noticed you. Wow...she had a really beautiful smile you thought. Shame she didn't smile all that often.

She made her way over to you and you both went to a booth to have some space to talk. The waitress came to take your orders. You'd ordered another beer, and surprisingly Marie ordered a shot of rum and a beer chaser. You awkwardly sat with each other until the waitress brought your drinks. Marie instantly downed her shot and followed it with a swig of her beer.

"Looks like you did need to destress after all" you joked.

"You have no idea John" she replied with a sigh.

"Tell me about it then" you offered. For the next hour you'd finished two beers to her four while she unloaded all her stress on you about the job. Apparently she hated being a manager for the department. She admitted that she thought everyone hated her because of how it looked when she got her position. Her dad was a Vice President of the company so it wasn't uncommon to hear people talk about how that must be how she got her job. The truth was her father didn't help at all, and she'd worked her butt off to get the promotion. You nodded your head as she talked and talked.

"I just don't know how to talk to the department, because any time I try to be nice the work doesn't get done, and the only time it gets done is when I'm being a..." she hesitated.

"Bitch" you finished with a chuckle.

"Yah...a bitch, but that isn't me and I hate it so much" she said taking another gulp of beer.

"Maybe I can help get the department to be a bit nicer" you offered.

"How" she asked.

"Well you know the power of a well placed word or two in office gossip" you said and she nodded. "I'll just tell a few people that you're actually really nice when treated nicely and they get their work done. If anything you'll probably have a few employees acting nice, and you can reciprocate, and zip zam, you got yourself a foot in the door to having employees who think you're great. You know...like me. Might work or it might not, but I'll give it my best" you offer.

"Well it can't hurt I guess. Worst case nothing changes" she replies. You can tell she doesn't really think it'll work though. You did notice her smile when you mentioned you thought she was great.

"Regardless though, seems like you put a lot of effort into work. That's got to tax home life a bit I'd imagine" changing the topic a bit.