Jaded

Workaholics

Fridays are said to be the best day of the working week, on this particular Friday, however,this wasn't there case for William Wilson. Despite of the gleaming sun, a rarity for mid November, William had a stormy face. William sighed to himself as he entered his office and slumped down on his chair. He wasn't entirely sure why he was so depressed, he'd made double the amount of money required for Ann. Ann... He remembered the words that had fallen from her plump lips, so earnestly they requested what could be such a simple task for anybody other than him:

"William, I have one more question."

"Yes?"

"You work with Dave, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Can you ask him whether he wants to meet up with me?"

The exact words that she had said rung clearly in his ears, over and over again they had tormented his very thoughts. He was a man of his word, so, when David carefully opened the door (he didn't want to disrupt the productivity of his colleagues, which was always disrupted by another of the employees on a daily basis), he rose to his feet.

David was placing a hoard of paperwork on his desk, the various seemingly meaningless facts and figures seemed to daunt him. He no longer looked entirely consumed by worry, though the rings under his eyes suggested otherwise.

William stood next to him, he them proceeded to tap him on the shoulder to gain his attention. This startled him, causing him to pour his freshly made cappuccino all over the the pile of rather important looking documents. He looked devastated. William felt highly guilty, though there was no purposeful intention behind his actions, he felt that it was entirely his fault.

"I'm...I'm so sorry David." William's greeting was met with complete horror.

"All of my work. All of it..." David anxiously replied, fearing for the worst.

"David, don't worry about your work, I'm going to fix this for you. It's my fault anyway." He calmly responded, his face softening a little. Relief filled David's face.

William was certain that the fellow had worked himself into the ground. He'd take the slack for David.

"Anyway, I have a favour to ask you. Are you aware that Mrs Clarke is currently residing with me?"

"The receptionist?" The absurdity and the coincidence made and slight chuckle leave his mouth,"No I wasn't aware of this. Why do you need to tell me this?"

"She wants to..." William thought for a moment, he needed to stop being a selfish individual and let Ann make her own choices. Otherwise, he would be acting exactly like her husband."She wants to meet up with you sometime."

"She's just broken up with her husband." He added to cement her intentions, David thoughtfully placed his hand on his chin.

"But my work..."

"You know you're a complete workaholic." He stated,"Live your life while you can." He reassured him.

"Okay, does she mind meeting up tomorrow? I know this really good Italian restaurant downtown if she doesn't mind and if she can make it with her bad leg."

"Thank you, I'll ask if she's alright with that." He concluded.

William hadn't been living his life, he been exactly like a slightly more demanding version of David. He didn't want David...Dave to have a similar life experience to him.William took the blame for the large amount of destroyed finance records, he took it gracefully and with a great amount of dignity.

After work, he once again picked up Clare, she was splendid however the other parents were another a story. A rumour had been spreading about him, its nature was distasteful. He hadn't had a long term affairs with Ann. It was demeaning and impossible, he'd only met her last Sunday.

As soon as he entered the house, he was greeted by the call of a voice that he knew well.

"So, what did he say?"

"He said that he'd like to meet up you tomorrow at a nice Italian restaurant downtown."

"Really?! Thank for this and for everything that you have done for me recently. You are a great friend to me Will, I've felt so alone for so long..."

William smiled, maybe it wasn't meant to be love, but he didn't mind. He'd rather be a good friend than jealous lover.