FRICTION

Ch. 6: Connections

-Eric-

I stared at the computer in disbelief, reaching out and lightly grazing my fingers across the monitor just to make sure I wasn't imagining the large cracks that were going across the entire screen. This computer monitor had clearly seen better days... and likely a large rock or two.

"Huh," I muttered, warily glancing up at Jacqueline before clearing my throat, nervously preparing myself to convey the unfortunate news. "This monitor is old enough that you're probably better of just buying a new one. A screen replacement might cost a bit less, but it'll be more of a hassle than it's worth, quite honestly."

Jacqueline pouted, rubbing at her temple in annoyance. "Yeah, I figured."

I flashed an apologetic look, wondering how she was just as oblivious about tech as Shawn despite being closer to my age. Still, I shook my head, pointing towards the biggest crack on the monitor. "Yeah, I can't do much here. Sorry."

Jacqueline grumbled out a few expletives, but she ultimately nodded in agreement while shifting some of the clutter on her desk. I hadn't missed the stacks of papers currently littered across her workspace, which were clamoring around in earnest, taking over most of the surface area.

Then, she took out a laptop from a brown, leather bag and set it down, sighing to herself. "I really don't have time for this," she explained, concern etching into her features. "I need to get all this paperwork sorted out, but this work laptop is unbearable to use."

"Laggy?" I asked.

"Worse. A Mac."

I snorted under my breath, snickering at that. I somewhat understood the struggle. Shifting between operating systems was a bit bewildering at first, both possessing different ways of organizing and displaying files. I could see why she'd feel lost, especially if she was in a time crunch and wasn't very familiar with the device.

I caught myself just as I was opening my mouth to offer help, wincing to myself upon realizing that I didn't know what time it was. I should just leave, right? I'd clearly overstayed my welcome by quite a few hours.

This was the perfect time to remove myself. The next bus would be passing soon, most likely, so I could be home within the hour.

"Thanks for trying to help, though. I'll just call someone from IT to figure this out tomorrow," she explained, releasing a distressed huff before focusing on her work.

And of course, I made it my business.

I sighed, a deep and wearied breath that seemed to drain the literal life force out of me. "Need some help with that?" I offered, feeling the words leave my mouth before I could even stop them. "Two heads are better than one, right?"

Jaqueline's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously?"

I nodded my head, flashing a small smile. "Why not?"

She pointed towards the laptop, flashing a weak, questioning smile. I slowly nodded my head; certainly, I could figure out how it worked and help with some basic paperwork. Though, before I'd even wrapped my head around what was happening, we were already in the midst of organizing files and inputting the necessary data in a surprisingly productive silence, which was only occasionally disturbed by a question from my confused brain.

Surprisingly, we quickly fell into a comfortable rhythm, with Jacqueline doing most of the important work and relying on me for the busywork. It wasn't as tedious as I expected. And she seemed quite pleased with the development, thankfully.