Office Mates

Reconciliation

Kris is waiting for someone at a sushi place. She checks her phone to make sure there isn't a message. After a few minutes, Marian comes in. She looks around and finds Kris at her table. Marian joins her. She looks sheepishly at her friend as she is about to sit down. Marian smiles as she says, "You probably just saved my relationship with Theo." At this, the waitress comes over to take their order. They are going to need lots of sushi and lots of sake. Marian orders both. Then waits for Kris to order what she wants. The two still haven't spoken yet. Marian is waiting to apologize until after the server leaves. No server needs to hear their drama. When the server finally leaves, she looks over at Kris and says, "I am sorry. I have so much on my mind and I want to tell you, but there will be no judgment tonight. Just listening."

Kris looks over at her friend with curiosity. She has always seen Marian as a friendly outgoing talkative person at work. She has never fought with anyone. Even when she and Robin first got into the office. They were as different as night and day but Marian navigated it with ease. She looked at her and said, "Alright. I am interested in what could get under your skin so much that you would fight with a coworker at work." Marian flinches at the mention of the fight at work. "Oh Robin. I thought we were more than just coworkers. I thought we were friends." She sighs and takes a drink of her sake. Kris smiles at this, "I don't think Robin considers anyone at work a friend. Besides Graham." Marian finishes, "and Aurora." Kris looks up and is confused. She has never seen the two talking or going out together. Her interest in tea from work has been piqued. "I don't think Robin and Aurora are friends, are they?" Marian smiles and says all haughtily, "They wouldn't be anything without me." Kris looks confused at her friend so Marian decides to explain. "I noticed Robin had a crush on her and decided to give him some advice on how to go about dating her." Kris gasps. She cannot believe what she is hearing. She doesn't care that Aurora and Robin are dating. They are both on the same level at work so it's not an HR nightmare. But what does shock her is that Marian has been putting her nose into Robin's business. And that he is allowing that. Kris takes a big drink of her sake now and then wonders aloud, "Does Aurora know? I think she might feel embarrassed about all of that." Marian rolls her eyes. "Well, it's not like Robin would have ever done anything about it without my help. And so we have been hanging out more. I thought we were friends, but I assume that relationship got tossed down the drain with my outburst."
Kris may have been distracted by this news about Robin, Aurora, and Marian, but she has been refocused on the real reason they came out tonight. Marian had something she wanted to share with Kris. Kris puts her hand down on the table. "Just come out and say it, why are you fighting with everyone around you?" Marian pauses. She is trying to figure out how to say this in the best possible light. She is going to tell her friend. And Kris is going to finally know her dirty little secret. She takes a big drink of sake for liquid courage and then decides to rip the bandaid off. "I am seeing this guy named Liam." Kris gets a big smile on her face, "Oh! Did you and Theo break up? That would put me in a bad mood too, but if it is for a new guy then it should all be fine. I am glad you finally dropped Theo. He didn't seem like a guy you could bring to business functions." Marian looks down, speaking more quietly. "No. I didn't dump Theo." Kris looks up and is confused for a second. She asks, "When did you meet this Liam?" Marian answers sheepishly, "Five years ago." Kris is starting to understand where this is going. She puts her hand down on Marian's to let her friend know that it is okay to keep going.
Marian looks around her to make sure there isn't someone she knows around them. The last thing she would need is if Theo's friends overheard this conversation. After she is completely sure that there isn't anyone listening to them she continues. "I have been seeing Liam for five years. And Theo for one." Kris nods her head, trying to discern what her friend is saying without saying, but she also doesn't want to assume anything. She asks a clarifying question of Marian, "Seeing them....naked?" Marian nods her head at this. Kris lets go of Marian. She cannot believe that Marian would do this to someone. She takes another drink of her sake. This is going to be a crazy night. As the two sit in silence the server finally brings out their food.
They eat in silence for a while until Marian can't stand it anymore. She puts down her chopsticks, "I would have told you sooner, but there was honestly nothing to tell. It's so on again off again. And it was off again for a while. Then I met Theo and I planned on telling him, but when is the right time to bring that up? Are you mad at me?" Kris puts her chopsticks down at this. "Of course not. But I am also not sleeping with you. I think what you are doing is dangerous. And I didn't think you were the kind of person to do this." Marian defends herself, "I have waited and waited for Liam to want to be something more with me, but that day hasn't come in five years. And so when things got more serious with Theo, I was going to end things with Liam, but I couldn't do it. There is just something about him..." Marian stops. Kris looks at her friend and asks a hard question. This is why Marian and Kris are friends because sometimes Marian needs someone to call out her bullshit. Today is one of those days. Kris, "So Theo doesn't know about Liam? What about Liam?" Marian continues, "Liam knows about Theo, just not the other way around." Marian has turned white. She is starting to feel sick to her stomach. Now that she is saying this out loud the reality of the situation is starting to sink in.
Kris looks at Marian and says, "You need to make up your mind and be honest with Theo. I am not his biggest fan, but he doesn't deserve this. He has been nothing but good to you." Marian hangs her head a little bit, "I know. I will do it this week. I want things with Theo. I can see a future with him when there isn't realistically one with Liam. I will tell Theo about it and end things with Liam this week. I promise." Kris smiles. Because she knows that Marian will keep her word. Kris starts to think about Marian. She was right, this is a big bombshell to learn about her best friend. She has always thought of Marian as a ball-buster like herself. But knowing that Marian has sat around and waited for some fuckboy to start paying attention to her made Kris feel like she didn't know everything about Marian.

Just as they were about to pay the bill and go out for Karaoke, Marian gets a notification on her phone. It's a Snapchat from her friend. A female voice comes through her phone. Marian stands next to Kris to show her the snap too. Kris and Ashley know about each other, but they have never met. Ashley was Marian's best friend from college who is in the middle of a medical residency four hours away. She has been pretty busy and doesn't visit often. The screen lights up with a tall, blonde, slender, and fashionable woman. Next to her is a bearded guy with long hair in a bright suit. He has his arm around the waist of the woman. The woman starts speaking, "Hey Mare Mare, it's your roommate! I am sitting here with Peter. We are about to go out to eat. And we aren't alone. We have someone else with us." At this, the phone screen scans over until it focuses in on the face of a Vietnamese guy with a chiseled jaw. He has his hair perfectly done. He is wearing a tan coat that makes his black shirt underneath stand out. The guy says, "Hello" and waves for a second. The screen snaps back to Ashley. "We are in town! We want you to join us for a celebratory dinner. I haven't seen you in forever please come." During the final part of her message, Ashley makes a cute little sad face. The video stops here.
Kris looks at Marian whose face looks like she really wants to go see her friends from college. Kris tells her, "It's fine if you want to go out with them tonight. We are done with dinner anyway." Marian hooks her arm around Kris's arm, "It's just that she is never in town because she is always so busy with her residency. I will make this up to you next weekend." Marian squeezes Kris's arm and then lets go. Marian is getting ready to leave when it occurs to her, 'oh yeah. That was Liam." Kris's mouth drops, "That was Liam? But I didn't even get a good look at him. He was hot though, I can see why you are having a hard time ending things with him. Are his looks any indication to how he is in bed?" Marian's face nods and turns bright pink. Kris says, "Yeah, you're in trouble." Marian hugs Kris and leaves quickly. She has quite a bit of distance between their restaurant and the one Ashley shared with her.