"I mean, she's not a fan of mine either. There's nothing wrong with her per say. I just personally don't like her." Joe shrugged as he sat with his friends.
"She was lovely, actually. Joe is smoking something, I'm sure." Ben had clearly disapproved of Joe's treatment of his new coworker and he only knew the smallest bit of it. When they'd started working together, Joe's friendship had made Ben feel more comfortable, as a lead actor on set of that scale.
Gwilym and Rami, who knew nothing about this girl until now, were listening with a great deal of confusion. Joe was usually such a kind, welcoming and good guy.
"Okay but have you tried to get to know her? Like finding a common ground or something? You can't decide that you just hate the woman, if you don't know the first thing about her." Gwilym tried to reason.
"I don't hate her."
"You know what I mean." He brushed that off, in order to receive an answer.
"I know that she can't afford a car, has a very controlling boyfriend and her mom is possibly dead." He listed
"Brilliant." Gwilym threw his hand up.
Rami frowned and exchanged a look with Ben, who sat across from him, beside Joe. The youngest man only offered raised eyebrows and a shrug. He seemed to deem it a lost cause. Joe was just determined to dislike her.
"So you don't speak to her at all? How do you know that?" Rami spoke up before taking another drink from his glass.
"She takes the bus to work, so I asked her why; and she can't afford to drive. Her boyfriend texts and calls her a hundred times a day with some unsettling shit, he's a bit of a creep if you ask me" And Joe drank.
"Are you worried about her?" Rami continued.
"Nope."
"Is she pretty?" His long time friend was prying. Rami knew Joe just a little bit better than the other's, they'd been friends for over a decade and had worked with each other before. Rami had seen him react with passion in certain situations, especially when it came to work. Joe was a little bit possessive of his work and lashed out when he felt undermined. But the relevance of Rami's question was lost on Joe.
The others laughed and Joe didn't answer, deeming it too stupid of a question.
"She's gorgeous." Ben spoke up.
Joe gave him a sidewards look. Well, she wasn't ugly but Ben only saw her for 5 minutes anyway. The boys began their teasing once more with whistles and whoops.
"Why does that matter?"
"Alright, but what about her mum? Did she tell you that, or?" Gwilym asked, calming the group down a little.
This was the part that had caused Joe to bring up the situation at work. He'd felt bad about that. If her Mom was dead, then he'd just made a very insensitive comment that he himself would have blown up over. The sadness in her eyes was familiar and reminded him of his own.
"I kind of made her mad and she snapped at me. I just know y'know?" Joe's tone became melancholy as the boys knew he was talking about the loss of his father last year.
"You still won't cut her some slack though" Ben shook his head, looking down at his drink. He was blunt when he wanted to be.
Joe glared at him but thought about what he said. He had a point. They were possibly in the same boat and he was making things harder.
"Yeah well, we have a truce. We're being civil. So get off my back and let's talk about something else. In a few months, you'll never have to hear me talk about her again."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
