The Space Between

Chapter 27; I'm willing to try

It's been three days since the talk she had with Xavier in his car and she hadn't been able to rest since. She was stressed to the point that it was staring to become visible on her face. Sarah's heard pained whenever she recalled his tear filled eyes. At that moment, he didn't look like a man who the world saw as someone who had it all rather he looked broken and a child needed for a hand to guide him on.
"Oh oh...what happened. You look like hell"
Rana said coming to sit at her cubicle and Sarah was relieved to see her friend. She had also been in touch with her about her health and was glad to see her back on work.
"Forget about me. How is your health now?"
"My health is fine thank you. Thanks to your remedies I got back up faster. I really thought this flu was going to take me a week"
"I'm glad you're back now..."
Sarah said smiling genuinely and Rana said "Aren't I the best?"
Sarah laughed waving her off and the ladies got to work.

Alan couldn't help himself anymore and decided to meet Sarah at Starbucks again to ask about yesterday night. He didn't know if she would actually come or not but hoped that she would. He released a sigh of relief when she did come along with her friend Rana this time. She sat down across from him and Alan dragged another chair for Rana to place it beside hers. Rana smiled and said thank you while Sarah decided to speak first. "Hey.." she said smiling and Alan also smiled back pronouncing his greeting. After asking the ladies their order and ordering it. When he sat back down he noticed the girls looking at each other weirdly. Rana was smiling as not so discretely and Sarah was trying to waver her off. Alan cleared his throat to announce his presence. Rana spoke first this time. "So is this where you guys usually have your dates?"
"Our what?" Alan said wide eyed and surprised. Sarah hit her friend's head lightly to tell her to shut up. "I'm so sorry. She has the wrong idea here" Sarah said smiling a bit awkwardly.
"The wrong idea?" Alan couldn't understand why her friend would say that and needed clarification. He waited for the explanation
Turning to her friend Sarah said "Rana about that. There is nothing going on between us"
Rana took a minute to process. If there was no such affair happening then what about the gift. Sarah waiting seeing her expression change from confusion, to realisation, to wonder. "But what about that gift? And you admitted this "
"Yes I did play along because I thought it was funny and I was scared to tell you the truth"
"The truth?"
"That gift was actually from Xavier"
Sarah continued "I didn't tell you about it sooner because I was afraid for others to find out. we weren't close then"
Rana understood her point of view. Their initial relationship had been of just merely office colleagues. They are good friends now but Ofcourse Sarah took her time to trust her. Alan jumped in saying "Well now that you know too know about the whole situation. It can be our little secret"
Rana agreed smiling and giving a thumbs up. Alan turned his brown eyes towards Sarah and got straight to the point "Now that we have this confusion out of the way. Can I ask about Friday night. What happened?"
"Well...nothing much. I talked to him and listened as he told me about his inner turmoil. He felt a lot lighter after that but when I pitched the idea about getting help he didn't say anything. So I couldn't exactly tell if he agreed or not"
"I see.." Alan said holding his chin and leaning back as if deep in thought.
"Wait a minute...can someone tell me what's happening. I'm lost here"
Rana said confused as to where the conversation was going. Alan filled her in on all the information and Sarah looked at them as she sipped her drink. She liked to keep to herself mostly. But this was also nice.