The Weekend Arrangement

I Will Search for You Even Where You Will Not Be

Staring dolefully at his untouched pint, Martin winces as the jukebox begins to play another overly loud, overly happy pop song. He doesn't want to be here, and isn't really making a secret of that.

"This is stupid Sasha. I am not signing up for a hookup website. I don't do that. I don't want to do that. "

He had been prepared to go home alone again, when Sasha caught him by the scruff and told him in no uncertain terms he was going out. She had dragged him out of The Institute and down to the pub; and Martin had relented thinking it maybe was going to be a chance for a friendly ear, but now the idea of trolling some phone app for a possible one night stand just makes him feel even more cold and lonely. He buries his face in his hands and barely suppresses the urge to audibly groan at the pub. Martin hates this.

"I really don't know why you are doing this Sasha."

"Because it's been two weeks, Martin. An entire fortnight of you and Jon roaming around the stacks like sad fucking ghosts. If I have to hear you sigh like a Bronte heroine while making tea one more time I'm going to snap and murder you."

"I just haven't put in for a transfer yet."

"Yeah- why exactly have you not done that? It would make your life easier; not seeing him everyday."

"I- I'm just not ready to stop seeing him."

"That is not healthy, Martin. For either of you."

"I know- no I know. I've got all the paperwork done and I'll take it to Bouchard on Monday. Once I go back to the library- things will be better. Until then, can't we just drink this pint and I can cry into it and you can make calming shushing noises and then I can go home and just be alone?"

Being alone has lost some of its sharpness, and is now settling into a grey, barren numbness. Martin thinks that sort of numbness might be the best he'll ever get, and he'd be fine if Sasha would just let him wallow in it; but here he was sitting at a bar and looking despondently at blurry cell phone pictures of other lonely people.

"Nope- absolutely not. This'll be good for you." Sasha opens the search tab in the dating app and smiles a little too brightly at Martin.

"This is the one I used, and I found Tom and he's nice enough. Maybe not a forever type guy, but that's perfect! You're just looking to get OVER Jon- and the best way to do that is to get UNDER someone else! You don't need a Mr. Right- just a Mr. Right now ."

He frowns at her, Martin has absolutely no intention of going through with this. It's much too soon; it might be 'too soon' for him, forever . He's still so angry at the whole situation, and sitting in a noisy pub surrounded by people feels like torture. Sasha just nods curtly and continues looking through the search filters, she doesn't have high hopes of actually getting Martin out of this hole, but even distracting him a little might be something.

"Martin- it's FINE if you just look. We don't have to make you a profile, but we can still see what sort of fish there are in the sea around us. Right?"

"Fine. If you aren't going to drop this."

"I'm not! So, let's see: what sort of height are we looking for?" There's a forced cheerfulness and it itches under Martin's skin.

"Not too tall. I'm tall and people taller than me make me nervous"

Sasha peers dubiously over her phone at Martin "Okay, I suppose. You're looking for someone not too tall, because you're tall and people taller than you make you nervous."