Behind the Screen

Chapter 36

When I got to work the next morning, it seemed like Chloe had thankfully realized that she needed to leave me alone for a while.

I glanced in her office as I walked by, and our eyes briefly met before we both quickly looked away.

Damn it I hated my life right now.

She emailed me a few times throughout the day, but it was all work related. She could go back to barely speaking to me, then it would just feel like none of this had happened. Wishful thinking, right?

When it was close to the end of the day, I heard someone knock, and I looked up thinking that it was on my door. No one was there, so I assumed it was someone going into Chloe's office.

I turned my focus back to my computer, but it didn't last long.

"Hey babe," I heard a man's voice say.

"Mason, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked in an irritated voice.

Great, you couldn't have done this about a month ago and saved me the trouble buddy?

It was weird that this was the first time that he was stopping by, but it was annoying either way.

I got up from my desk and shut my door with a little too much force. I didn't need to hear any more of that conversation.

There was no use in trying to get any other work done for the day, it wasn't going to happen. I wasted the little time that I had left before 5:00, and then got ready to leave.

When I opened the door to my office, I cautiously looked around. Thankfully it looked like Mason was gone.

I tried to sneak out without being noticed, but it didn't work.

"Katie, hold on," I heard Chloe say.

I stopped and squeezed my eyes shut, debating if I should just pretend that I hadn't heard her. She made it over to the door before I had time to make a decision.

"Yes?" I said to her blankly.

"Sorry about that," she said, "I mean about um, about him showing up. He only came here because he knows you found out."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked her snidely.

"I - well no," she sighed, "I just wanted to explain."

"I don't care Chloe," I said as I glared at her, "you can both do what you want."

I left her standing there before she had a chance to respond, I didn't need to hear any more of the excuses.

I got out to my car and got in with a loud sigh.

"I need a drink," I said to myself.

Why the hell not? Drinking alone sounded like a great idea right about now.

I drove a few minutes to a place that was nearby, and I walked in and sat down at the bar.

"Can I get an old fashioned please?" I asked when the bartender came over.

He nodded and started to make my drink when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Still drinking your usual, huh?"

I turned around to find Spencer standing by the bar next to me.

"Spencer, hey," I said, "yeah, I guess I am."

I realized that the bar that I had ended up at was also one of Spencer's frequent spots that he visited. We came here a lot when we were together, but it was still one of my favorite places.

Naturally he would also decide to show up tonight.

"Apparently it's a good night to drink alone after work," he said with a grin.

"Yeah," I laughed, "it's been one of those days."

"You can join me if you want," I continued as I motioned to the empty seat next to me.

"Are you sure? I was just coming to say hi," he said.

"Yeah, I don't mind," I told him.

I did feel kind of bad about how harsh I'd been towards him before, and I thought he might be a welcome distraction.

"Alright, sure," he said.

He sat down in the empty seat and ordered his drink, and a brief moment of awkward silence fell between us.

"So um," I finally said, "I'm sorry about all of the shit that happened between us before, I was a little hard on you."

"No, you don't need to apologize," he said as he shook his head, "I was an idiot."

"Maybe we can just say we were both idiots and leave it at that?" I said to him.

"Sure," he grinned, "works for me."

"Anyway," he continued, "how have you been?"

"Not great actually," I admitted, "but I guess that's probably pretty obvious since I was here drinking by myself at 5:30 on a weeknight."

"I mean...I was here to do the same thing," he said, "no judgment from me."

"True," I shrugged, "so is there anything new and exciting going on with you?"

"No, not really," he said with a sigh.

"Sounds like we're both doing great then," I said as I glanced over at him and grinned.

"Oh absolutely," he said sarcastically.

"So what's not great with you? If you don't mind me asking," he continued.

"Uh," I hesitated, "kind of a long story but - I'm not seeing anyone now, let's just say that."

"Oh..." Spencer said quietly, "got it, well I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"Thanks, wasn't meant to be I guess," I shrugged.

"Maybe not," he said, "that's never fun though...I speak from experience."

I glanced over and he was smirking at me, and I couldn't help but smile. It was nice to be able to talk to Spencer as a friend.

"Watch yourself," I teased him, "and besides, our breakup seems like a walk in the damn park compared to this."

"Wow, that bad, huh?" He asked.

I nodded, but I was hesitant to say more.

"Well I mean -" he hesitated, "obviously you don't have to, but if you want to talk about it, you can."

"Thanks," I sighed, "I'm not really sure honestly. Let's just say she wasn't telling me the truth about a few pretty important things."

"Damn," he said quietly, "that sucks, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's um, it's been a rough few days," I said, "but I don't want to think about it right now."

"Right, sorry," he quickly said as he took a sip of his drink.

"Well hey," he continued as he held his glass up to me, "cheers to forgetting about our problems for a while."

I nodded and gave him a slight grin as I clinked my glass against his.

I could definitely drink to that.

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