Office Mates

DTR

A few days later, Graham and Robin eat lunch together in the cafeteria. Marian has been going out to eat lunch every day this week. Robin hasn't had the opportunity to tell Marian anything. She has been very quiet at work and leaves when Robin is taking a break. Robin is also nervous about telling Marian because she might feel worse about her and Theo fighting. Robin hasn't told Graham much either. Since he wanted to tell the both of them. Graham and Robin are eating lunch together. Graham has been showing Robin different videos from Tik-Tok and is laughing hysterically at them. Robin is watching in silence. He doesn't even pity laugh right now. Just as Graham is about to pull up another video on his phone, Robin and he are interrupted by the arrival of Aurora. She has food on her tray and walks right to their table. Robin and Aurora don't want to make it too obvious that they are seeing each other, so they plan to eat together in the work cafeteria only once a week. They also plan to go get lunch together outside of work on Fridays.

Aurora asks "Hey Robin and Graham, can I join you?" Graham immediately throws his phone into his pocket and smiles, "sure!" he replies. Robin instantly goes to pull out the chair closest to himself. He motions for Aurora to sit. She does and then Robin sits next to her. The two are staring awkwardly into each other's eyes. Graham asks, "How are you doing this fine day?" Aurora stops looking at Robin and smiles at Graham. She knows that Graham is Robin's best friend so she needs to win over Graham to fully win over Robin. "I am great. Thank you so much for asking." She answers in her most polite manner. Graham takes this as a chance to ask her, How was your date with Robin this weekend?"

Robin chokes on his drink. He tries to give Graham a look that tells him to mind his own business, but instead, Graham thinks that Robin just wants to hear from Aurora too. Aurora's cheeks get rosy as she tries to answer without giving too much away. "I think it went fine." After this, she looks over at Robin to let him lead the conversation. Aurora isn't sure how much Graham knows. Robin is annoyed with Graham and looks upset. "Why are you making things so weird?" Graham is unaffected, "What do you mean weird? I was just asking about your date." Aurora smiles at Graham, this may be her chance of winning him over, "I guess it's not a secret we have been going out." Graham replies with a quick, "Definitely not." Aurora's smile falters for a minute. She had no idea what Graham meant by that, but she didn't like the sound of it. First Marian's little remark and now Graham. But her smile quickly returns with, "I guess you talk about us." Robin stutters his response, "My friends are very invested in my dating life, for some reason." Aurora asks, "And why are you so lucky, Robin?" Robin responds honestly, "Graham's dating life is not appropriate for work." Graham starts laughing hard. It's true.

Aurora decides to give in. After Graham stops laughing, she tells him more about their date this weekend. "In that case," explains Aurora, "I invited Robin to join my family for Thanksgiving and he said yes!" Graham gets very excited after hearing this. He immediately pats Robin on the shoulder. Robin cringes at his friend's attempt at physical touch. "Awesome!" Graham says with a giant grin on his face. "You are already meeting the family. Things must be going super well." Aurora also gets excited, but Robin doesn't want the two to read into this, "It's nothing serious." Aurora deflates somewhat, "He's right. I just didn't want Robin to be alone for the holiday." She looks at Robin and he smiles at her for assurance. Aurora smiles back, but not as much as she had been earlier with Graham. Graham puts his hand up to his beard and starts rubbing it. He is thinking. "I thought that you preferred holidays by yourself. That's what you told me. It's why I never invited you to my parent's for holidays." Aurora's smile fades even more at this. She looks at Robin with a worried look, "Oh no! Did I make you feel obligated to say yes to spending Thanksgiving with my family?" He pulls Aurora in closer by her chair, "No! I am excited to see what Thanksgiving with a big family is like. I simply was trying to avoid spending more time with Graham." Graham looks offended for a second and decides to get some revenge. He asks Aurora, "so how are you introducing him to your family?"

Robin is confused, "What do you mean?" Graham explains to Robin, "Are you Robin the coworker? Or friend? or boyfriend?" Robin's face goes bright red at the last statement. He is suddenly very uncomfortable. He looks around the cafeteria to make sure that no one is listening in. But Aurora's curiosity has been piqued. She looks at Graham and then at Robin and replies, "He does have a point Robin. We should probably figure this out before heading to my home." Graham looks at Robin, "Yeah, it's better now than awkwardly trying to decide on the day of..." Robin winces. He understands the point that Graham is making, but this is also a conversation he would rather not have with an audience. Graham continues, "I am just trying to help you DTR before meeting her parents." Robin is confused, "DTR?" Graham explains, "Define the relationship." Robin looks annoyed. He rolls his eyes at Graham. "I am not having this conversation with you around." Graham looks offended, "Why?! I am chill." Robin shakes his head no. Graham stops himself. Robin looks at Aurora, who also looks uncomfortable. He gives her a partial smile, grabs her hand, and rubs it a second before he remembers they are at work. He drops her hand quickly. He then speaks quietly under his breath, "Let's talk about this later tonight. How about I treat you to some dinner?" She smiles sheepishly, 'Ok."

The trio sits in silence for a while, finishing up their meals. Eventually, Graham perks up, "I know what we could talk about...MARIAN and YOUR fight!" Aurora looks surprised at this, "What? Did something happen with you and Marian?" She can't help but feel a little excited about the thought of a problem coming between the two. They have seemed super close lately and Aurora can't figure out why, but it bothers her. She waits to hear about it from Robin. "We already patched things up. She was just having a bad week last week." Aurora starts feeling anxious. Graham comments, "Oh, must have been that time of the month." Robin immediately stops, he looks Graham in the face when he firmly replies, "Never talk about Marian that way. It was about something very personal, that I can't tell you about." Graham is sufficiently chastised. Aurora on the other hand is even more anxious now, because it's very obvious that Marian and Robin have a close enough relationship to share their personal lives. Aurora can only imagine what Marian is telling Robin.