Siobhan slumped down in the office chair, placing her bag underneath the desk. She spun the chair, picking up and then throwing yesterday's protein bar wrapper into the bin. The blonde let her eyes wander around the room until they landed on the dead orchid that sat on the windowsill. Sighing, she wished the plant was alive. Orchids were her favourite flower, and she could use something pretty to look at during her time in the office.
Out in the hallway, Vivian was walking into the building, Jamie trailing alongside her. Secretly, she hoped she would run into Siobhan while she was here; she wanted to invite her out for coffee, and thank her again for helping her the other night. A big part of Vivian really wanted to befriend the cold-hearted blonde. She knew there was much more to her than what she portrayed; there was good in Siobhan and she knew it, she could see it.
Viv and Jamie walked past the door to the office on their way to his classroom, right as a phone rang inside...
Siobhan jumped, sitting up and staring at the contact name displayed on her screen,
Roger Knight.
She picked up the call, sighing as she did so. Before she even had the chance to speak, the voice of the man she despised snarled at her down the phone,
"Will you stop leaving without saying goodbye."
She knew he didn't really care about getting a goodbye, that wasn't what he meant. Roger only cared about having control over her.
"I'm sorry," Siobhan replied gloomily. She didn't really mean her sorry, she just knew it was what she was supposed to say.
Roger paused for a moment, and then began,
"I have a suggestion,"
Siobhan's heart dropped, whatever this was, wasn't a suggestion, it was a politely worded demand. She had no choice.
"It would be nice if I gave you a lift to and from work, don't you think?" He spoke condescendingly, the malicious intent almost audible in his voice.
Tears immediately threatened Siobhan's eyes. Being in the car was one of the only times she felt safe and comfortable, like she could be herself, and he was going to take that from her.
"Roger please." she choked. Siobhan knew it was probably a bad idea to push, but she desperately didn't want him to go through with this plan.
"Surley you'd be thrilled to spend more time with me, you should be thanking me," Roger snarled, even though he knew perfectly well why Siobhan was upset.
Siobhan's pleas didn't only stir Roger's attention, though. Outside the office door, was a keen ear listening in...
"You really don't have to pick me up. I don't want you to go through the trou-" Siobhan began, before she was cut off.
"What are you hiding? Clearly I can't trust you."
Siobhan sighed.
"Roger I promise you, you can trust me." Siobhan knew this was a pointless argument, he had made up his mind.
Roger scoffed at her efforts,
"So where were you off galavanting the other night then, for half an hour." He snarled at her sarcastically.
"I was returning a wallet a parent had left at the nursery, I thought we'd moved past this now."
...
"You don't have to do this Roger."
Outside the door, Vivian's heart sank. Alarm bells had already been going off in her head about Roger. Now her suspicions were confirmed.
Viv had always seen a lot of herself in Shibby, and now she understood why.
"I just don't want you to go through the trouble... that's all." Siobhan said, realising what she was doing. She was angering him.
"The more defensive you get, the more I will push. You being so insistent I don't give you a ride makes me think you have something to hide. Do you, Siobhan?" You could hear the smirk in his voice. Roger knew he was scaring her.
"I'm not hiding anything, I just-" Siobhan began, before she was interrupted by Roger,
"Great, I'll see you at 7:30 then."
The blonde sighed, knowing she wasn't getting anywhere, and didn't want to push Roger too far; that never ended well.
"Yes. I'll see you then." She mumbled before putting down the phone. Immediately she buried her head in her hands, before a knock on the door startled her, and the door cracked open slightly.
"Knock knock," Vivian said lightheartedly, "Am I alright to come in?"
Siobhan jumped at the sound of Vivian's voice, not expecting to see her today.
"Yes, how can I help you Vivian?"
Viv smiled before speaking,
"I was going to come and ask you if you wanted to go out for a coffee after work—"
"I... um... can't," Siobhan interrupted, sighing as she spoke.
Vivian looked at the other woman with pity,
"I said I was."she replied, which made the fear in Siobhan's face noticeable.
"Did you... hear ..?" she trailed off.
"The phone call?" Viv replied, "Yeah, not all of it though."
The blonde's eyes widened. One of her greatest fears was somebody noticing what was happening to her. And as much as she did somebody to know deep down, she hated the fact that Vivian had sensed something. Siobhan was terrified what the other woman would do with her newfound information. What if she reported Roger? Surely she didn't know enough to do that... surely?
"I just wanted to come in here and request .. a meeting. With you." Vivian said, a smirk on her face.
"Oh, okay. Uh- what for?" Siobhan stuttered, relieved that Vivian didn't stay on the subject of the phone call.
"Haven't decided yet, but... tomorrow morning okay?"
Siobhan looked puzzled, not realising what Vivian was actually trying to do.
"That should be fine, yes. Is... 9:30 alright?" The blonde replied, still in shock.
Vivian nodded, but she wanted to reassure Siobhan. Sensing how frightened she was, Viv yearned to be a safe space for her.
"I'll swing by the Costa on my way too, then we can pretend I had asked you out for a coffee. But this way, you can actually go, hey? It can just be like ... our little secret." She said with a wink.
Siobhan couldn't help but smile slightly. She could tell exactly what Vivian was doing now, and she felt such immense gratitude that somebody was so willing to go out of their way just to talk to her.
"That sounds nice," She said.
"What should I get you?" Viv asked, glad that she had made the blonde smile. She'd not seen her smile often, and it filled her with such joy.
"Black americano." The blonde replied.
Vivian let out a chuckle, "Oh of course, that's a very... you drink."
Siobhan rolled her eyes playfully, but she secretly felt so appreciated that the other woman had payed that much attention to her. Vivian made her feel so seen.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow," Viv said, breaking the silence, "But I best be off."
"Yes, I'll... see you tomorrow," The blonde replied, with a smile still on her face.
The door to the office closed, and Siobhan sat back down. Such a brief interaction with Vivian had lifted her mood so quickly, she felt on top of the world, so loved and seen. Nobody ever noticed anything about her, and everybody at the nursery hated her. For once in Siobhan's life, somebody wanted to be her friend. Somebody wanted to talk to her.
Vivian's words echoed in her head,
"It can just be like ... our little secret."
The blonde continued to smile to herself as she went on with her day. She was anticipating the meeting tomorrow, and she couldn't get it out of her head. It was just a meeting with a parent to everybody else, so Roger wouldn't know, he couldn't know. But behind closed doors, Vivian was her friend now, and she wasn't allowed friends.
The meeting was their little secret.
