Back to Work

Tuesday morning after a long weekend should probably have given you a ‘case of the Mondays,’ but ever since you’d started dating Gemma and Sabrina everything had felt lighter. Work, with them across the table from you, was still work but it didn’t feel heavy. And waking up with them, getting ready together, and taking the bus downtown to the office… it all felt good in a way that you couldn’t really describe.

It made you think of how your friend Corey had explained the domestic-ness of his relationship with Victoria. There was something about knowing you were with someone, or in your case someones, that made the little things feel like nothing at all, and the big things feel like little things.

But, still, not wanting to signal to anyone that there might be more going on, the three of you split up before reaching the office. Sabrina headed in early, while Gemma went with you to the coffee shop to pick up the morning order since Tuesdays were your day. Even standing in line at a coffee shop, holding her hand, felt good and you couldn’t keep a smile off your lips.

Back at the office, Gemma opened the door for you and the two of you entered the lobby with Becks grinning at you. “Hey you two,” she said, standing up and coming to the side of her reception desk. Gemma strode over to her quickly and hugged her, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek before handing Becks her coffee. “Sabrina said your weekend was eventful.”

“It was,” Gemma grinned. “But that’s definitely Girl’s Night talk. Drinks tonight?”

“Sure,” Becks agreed, then glanced over at oyu. “Hey, John.”

“Hey Becks,” you said with a smile, your last phone call running through your mind as she begged you to give her permission to come. “How was your weekend?”

“Boring,” she said. “One bad date, and I got bailed on by a couple of my friends. I mostly stayed home and did a mid-summer cleaning.”

“Well that’s got to make you feel a little better, at least,” Gemma said.

“Oh, it does,” Becks said, then let a saucy smile slip through for a moment. “Especially cleaning out the pipes, if you know what I mean.”

You snorted and Gemma rolled her eyes with a smile. “Well, I’m glad John could offer you some ‘tips’ on that,” Gemma chuckled. “Anything new otherwise?”

“Nope,” Becks said. “And I don’t have any other news from the She-Devil either.”

“We were going with KillJoy,” Gemma said.

Becks smirked and shrugged. “Either way, no movement there.”

“Alright, thanks for keeping an ear out,” Gemma said.

“We should get up and deliver these,” you said, lifting the stack of hot coffee and other drinks you were holding. “Nice to be back and see you, Becks.”

“You too, baby,” Becks said, then flushed and looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. “God, sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“It’s OK,” Gemma said with a smile, patting her arm and winking.

“I’ll talk to you guys later,” Becks said and went to her chair still blushing slightly as you and Gemma headed for the elevator.

You waited in silence for a long moment until the elevator arrived, then stepped in and Gemma hit the button. As soon as the doors closed she sighed heavily. “Shit.”

“I can talk to her,” you said.

“No, it should be me and Sabrina,” Gemma said. “Becks is great, but you’re ours. I’m happy to have more ‘rendezvous’ between us, but if she’s Freudian slipping like that she might be… I don’t know.”

“I love you,” you said, leaning into her a little to nudge her since your hands were full.

“I know, love,” Gemma sighed, leaning right back and resting her head on your shoulder for a moment. “Don’t worry. We’ll handle it.”

The office was quiet, as usual this early in the morning, and Gemma helped you make the rounds to deliver the steaming cups of coffee. There was only one other person in the office as you went around, one of the Associates getting an early start before he had court later in the day and he was on the upper floor, so you and Gemma were surprised when you got to the Intern conference room and both Eric and - most surprisingly Andy - were already there with Sabrina.

“Hey, guys,” you said as you walked in. “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is Garrison has been riding our asses while you three were on vacation,” Eric said.

“We were gone one extra day,” Gemma pointed out.

“Well, he still rode us!” Eric grunted. “He said my processing output needs to be higher and made me lock up my phone during work hours yesterday because he said I spend too much time on dating apps.”

“You do spend too much time on dating apps,” Sabrina said. “Plus, I thought you were trying to make things work with Lucy?”

“That’s a whole other story,” Eric grunted. “But he said I needed to make up for time lost. And he told Andy he needs to put in more hours before and after work this week or else he’s going to get shitcanned.”

Andy, while present, seemed to be asleep sitting up in his chair.

“Garrison actually said ‘shitcanned?’” you asked.

“Well, no,” Eric said. “That was my paraphrasing.”

“Is it because Andy shows up late every single morning and barely gets anything done during the day?” Gemma asked.

Eric pursed his lips in a way that told you that was definitely the truth, but he was annoyed and on a tear and didn’t want logic or facts to stand in his way.

“Look,” you said. “That sucks. But it’s not our fault, so why are you taking it out on us? I think you’re not even that mad about the phone thing. What happened with Lucy?”

Eric sighed and slumped a little bit, glancing over at Gemma.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Gemma said, holding up her hands as she sat down in her office chair at the opposite end of the table from Erica. “Lucy doesn’t like talking to me at the best of times, and I was barely home yesterday.”

“But,” Sabrina cut in. “Just to cut to the chase a little bit - please tell me she didn’t ask you to be OK with a gangbang. I’ve had enough of that kind of drama for one twenty-four-hour period.”

“What?” Eric asked, his jaw dropping. “You… what?”

“It’s a thing about my roommate and the girl he’s seeing,” you said. “Not a thing any of us were involved in.”

“Oh,” Eric said, breathing out as if he was relieved that he hadn’t misjudged one of you dramatically. “Well, no, it’s not that bad.”

“So spill,” Sabrina said, leaning forward. “Before Garrison gets in and interrupts.”

Eric made a face as if he wanted to argue, but shrugged. “Alright. Well, we were sort of on a break, right? So Friday…”

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