It had been 6 days since my phone screen had smashed into 86 different pieces (I had counted on a particularly dull day of getting coffee) and Will and I were okay. I had spent an extremely long time contemplating what to do, whether to stay with him or to leave him to have fun with Dem, whoever she was. But my mind just kept replaying and replaying what Will had said to me that night because he was right. Where else would I go? I haven't lived in San Fransisco long, so technically Janice was my best friend. Will and I had each other and that was that. He was all I had. And I loved him, of course. Love looks past peoples' mistakes, right?
That had been the past week for me, which had now climaxed into a big birthday breakfast blowout, meaning I got cream and marshmallows on my hot chocolate instead of just plain and a chocolate croissant instead of the usual slice of toast from the cafe. Holding my birthday present (from me to me), I held my lanyard in my teeth and practically headbutted the wall trying to pass my card past the reader, looking elegant as always.
Finally, I managed to get my card close enough to the stupidly small machine for the door to unlock and I turned my back on the door to push it open hands-free. To my absolute surprise, evident by the way I jumped out of my skin for the second time this week, Oscar was stood watching me.
I froze, only breaking my stillness when my card dropped out of my mouth. I was completely at a loss of what to do, finding absolutely no way I could get out of this embarrassment-free. I dreaded to think how long he'd been stood there.
There was silence before I decided to go down the oblivious route and act like that didn't just happen.
"Good morning, Oscar." I smiled at him, the authenticity of my cover up definitely questionable.
"Morning, Eliza." He replied, his tone formal and 'office-like', but his face giving away how difficult he was clearly finding it to keep a straight face. He was obviously fighting away a smile as he walked past me, stopping to hold the door open. I smiled gratefully, muttering a thank you before continuing my journey to my 'desk' (see also: part of table I claimed to make me feel like I fit in here).
"Oh, Eliza?"
I whipped my head back around to face him, silently praying that this wasn't some weird punchline, revealing my embarrassment to the whole office.
"Happy birthday."
I couldn't stop the smile across my lips as well as Oscar was able to, so I just let it show. It was ridiculously kind that he had remembered and actually made me feel like the 'Kyle Industries cares about their employees' video that was emailed around wasn't entirely made up.
"Thank you."
The moment of silence between us, where we just seemed to smile at each other, was enough calm to allow me to gain my composure again, feeling pretty good as I practically strutted towards my desk/claimed area of table.
When I got there, I was greeted with a sight that almost made me tear up... Okay, did actually make me tear up.
There was a box, with a handwritten note attached to it that read 'Happy Birthday, Elizabeth' on it. I looked around, trying to find someone who might have left it. There weren't many people in yet, as I usually got here quite early, and anyone who was in seemed either completely uninterested or hadn't ever acknowledged my existence and was therefore very unlikely to get me a gift.
I put my breakfast on the table and my bag on the floor, freeing up my hands so that I could open the box. Inside, there were three pens shaped like cacti and a peach coloured pastel highlighter, neither of which helped me figure out who the sender was.
After moving the downright adorable stationary, I saw a note. I unfolded it, reading in the same handwriting as before:
'Your peach highlighter is running out.
-Oscar'.
