Wait until the next day

“I don’t know man, she called out for the day” Jack said with a shrug. Chris decided to wait until work the next day to apologize to Jess, but she was clearly anticipating this move. Jack, the News Director, was the first person he went to when he noticed a different anchor getting ready for the evening news broadcasts. “It’s none of my business why she called out and, frankly, it’s not yours either. Is there a reason you need to know about her whereabouts?” he asked suspiciously.

“Oh, no, it’s not important. I was just curious why she wasn’t at the desk” Chris explained. “Thanks Jack.”

“Uh-huh, get back to the control bay before the next break okay?” Jack said coldly, going back to whatever he was working on. Chris followed suit, headed to the control room in a worried stupor. Had the date been so bad that she couldn’t even bear seeing him right now? He needed to fix her boob problem, obviously, but could he fix it without pissing her off more?

Chris stepped into the dimly-lit room and was momentarily confused with Courtney’s attire and demeanor before remembering his accidental changes the day before. His bottom-heavy coworker was typically dressed in different shades of black, from her beanie to her lipstick to her boots, with a bitchy ‘fuck you’ vibe constantly radiating off of her. Now she was humming to herself and scrolling instagram. Her neon green sundress ended just below her knees and her bright sandals pumped up and down to whatever tune she had stuck in her head. She turned when Chris came in and smiled brightly at him. With her turn, Chris noted a change that hadn’t been there yesterday... the outline of 4 breasts spread out in a line at the top of her sundress.

“Morning Chris!” Courtney said cheerily, before a look of confusion crossed her face. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Chris shook himself from his stupor as quickly as he could. “Sorry, sorry, long night I guess.” Shaking the cobwebs out, he made his way to the side computer seat and logged in. “Anything on fire today?”

“Nope!” Courtney said brightly, turning back to the multi-paneled monitor. “Other than Jess taking the day off, it’s been a cakewalk so far today.” Her humming resumed where it left off and Chris tried to focus in on his work.

The multiple breasts situation was clearly too big to tackle right now. If he wanted to fix that, he’d have to ask someone if their number of breasts is ‘normal’ or something and, based on how last night went, that wouldn’t work to keep any lasting relationships. Or to avoid being accused of sexual harassment. Maybe he should move on from Jess and find someone else to form a relationship with. With his ring, it wouldn’t be too hard to do as long as he didn’t keep focusing on their breasts.

Chris paused on this last thought, remembering the circumstances that led to him finding the ring in the first place. There had been 2 rings in that box! If he was having all of these complications with his ring, maybe having the other ring would work better!

With his sudden realization, Chris abruptly stood up from his seat, causing Courtney to jump.

“Fuck!” she said, turning to see what was going on. “What was that?!”

“I just realized I left something in the car, be right back” Chris said hurriedly as he rushed out of the room.

Chris made his way to the storage room and wasn’t surprised to find it closed and locked. It was abnormal for it NOT to be locked, which is what spiked his curiosity in the first place last Sunday. Chris looked around to see if anyone was nearby that might be able to help him... or catch him in the act of breaking in. At 11am on a Tuesday, everyone was bustling about in the newsroom. No one was looking down the aisle leading to the storage room.

Chris grabbed the handle and jiggled it, looking around for something flat he could use to try and unlock the door. A vacant office space was the next room to the right, so Chris walked into the dark room without turning on the light and looked around. Everything on the desk was covered in a thin layer of dust except for the potted cactus plant on the corner. Chris could make out vague outlines of fingerprints around the pot. He lifted the plant to look and was surprised to find a crudely made key hidden underneath!

With the new key in hand, Chris returned to the locked storage room door and gave it a try. He had to push the small key down almost to the point of breaking it, but with a satisfying ‘click’ the handle turned and the door opened. Chris quickly stepped inside and closed the door behind him, taking out his phone to use as a flashlight. He wasn’t going to risk flushing the room in fluorescents and explaining why he was in a locked room he shouldn’t have access to.

Retracing his steps, Chris headed to the shelves where he’d found the small black box previously. He looked at the spot he’d left it, but there was nothing to be found. Puzzled, Chris looked around the room. Maybe whoever had left the room unlocked had moved the box after noticing Chris’ tampering. After a few more minutes of moving items around on the shelves, Chris sighed and gave up. He closed the storage room door, returned the key to its hiding place, and headed back to the control room.

Chris walked into the room and was a little surprised to see Wyatt in the room sitting in his seat. Wyatt wasn’t scheduled to come in until tomorrow, and even then, not until the evening hours. Courtney and Wyatt had clearly been in the middle of talking as they both looked at Chris like he’d interrupted a secret conversation.

“Uhh.. Hey Wyatt. What’s going on, why are you here?” Chris asked awkwardly. Wyatt gave him the creeps. He always looked like he was scheming something and today was no different.

“Was bored, figured I’d drop by” Wyatt said, his eyes narrowing. “Can I sit here?” he asked with a smirk.

“Of course-” Courtney started.

“No, I have to-” Chris said at the same time.

Courtney and Chris looked at each other in surprise. Wyatt didn’t look confused though, in fact he looked extremely satisfied with their answers. He stood up from his seat, looked towards Courtney with purpose, and asked “could you ignore everything Chris and I say and do for the next half hour?”

Courtney looked puzzled but she turned back to her work mumbling “sureeeee” under her breath. Chris was now completely lost. Wyatt reached out his arm with his palm open like he expected payment from Chris. Chris finally noticed the ring with a plus sign on it wrapped tightly on his index finger. Wyatt's face had lost all pretenses of friendliness.

“I see you’re the one who found my rings. I’d like the Negation Ring back. Now.”