Before dawn | Dark romance

Chapter 5 - Backbone

26th of april, 2024
Friday
Dear diary,

Let me tell you about my day.
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[1/2]
"Come on, babe, we need to go," William urges, ready to drive me to the station. It's 8:20 AM, and once again I'm rushing out the door. I would thought that I would spend my day off, completely different.

Will has football practice before his classes, so time is tight. Despite him having a car, he does not drive me to the station often, after a spending a night at his. Morning's aren't his thing, and he extremely values his sleep. I am an early bird myself and don't mind the morning walk— it reminds me of home, where I would often go for walks when I couldn't sleep.

But I suspect he feels bad for short cutting our weekend together, which is why he insists on taking me to that station today.

As we hurry out of his sorority house, and merge into the bustling morning traffic, I steal a moment to breathe. I quickly glance over to my boyfriend. How is it that William looks effortlessly like a model in a Polo Ralph Lauren ad, while I look like Albert Einstein's long lost sister? I mean, we had the same amount of time to get ready.

Soon, we arrive at the station's kiss & ride drop-off. William quickly comes around to help me with my bags and gives me a deep kiss. "Talk to you later, babe. Safe travels," he says, then dashes back to his car and drives away.

I let out a sigh. Don't get emotional, Maddie. I remind myself. It's just a communication mix-up.
But no time to feel sorry for myself, it's time to start the day.

Since it's just 8:50, I head straight to work. The train ride will take over a hour, but if I go in today, it will give me a chance to get ahead, making next week easier. With everything going on regarding my mom, and knowing how emotional I will get, it's wise to tackle work now before I lose my ability to function.

Fortunately, today's train ride goes rather smoothly and is not too crowded— probably because it's a Friday and many are working from home. After about an hour and a half, I use my employee pass to enter the back door of Huntsman. I slip through the building, hoping to avoid my colleagues who all now I have the day off.

Just as I am about to enter my office, I run into Maria, who's carrying cleaning supplies. She looks surprised. "Darling, what brings you here today?."

I chuckle awkwardly and brush my hair back. "Well, there was a bit of mix-up with William about the weekend, so I found myself with some free time and thought, why not catch up on some work?" I try to keep the conversation light; I am really not in the mood to explain the know-hows of the situation. Maria would make a big deal out of it, and I just can't deal with that right now.

She raises her eyebrow in suspicion, "that is a shame, darling." She expresses, and continues "You looked like you could need a few days off," her concerns take over. That is why she is called my 'office mother' for a reason.

I snort, "Is this your way of telling me I look bad," since I wasn't expecting to go into the office today, my outfit is a simple orange tee and some low waist green cargo pants, with some flowers printed on it. Not my typical work attire.

A shocked expression takes over her face, "oh dear, of course not.. I only mean.." she starts to explain herself but I chuckle and shake my head, "I am only teasing you." I try to lighten the mood.

"Is the big boss here today?." I mention as I brush past her into the office. I knew the answer to that already but just to move on from the whole weekend-with-William-failure thing.