Not Your Fairy Godmother

6 - Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho!

Bang! Cara slammed her bag on the desk, ruining Matilda's concentration on her work.

"Jeez, we talked about this, Cara. You're supposed to leave your mood swings outside the office." Matilda said harshly. But Cara was impervious to her cold demeanor. She had worked with Matilda for two years now and had figured out what others did not; that Matilda's bark was bigger than her bite.

"Matilda, sympathize with meeeee." The petite woman whined like a child. Her cherubic face was scrunched up like a five year old with an agenda.

"Nobody has time to baby you Cara. You are paid to work. Get to it." Matilda replied. Cara proceeded to shimmy her seat over to Matilda's side.

"But Tildaaa. I'm saaaad." There were actual tears in her eyes though the unnecessary pout was probably fake. Matilda relented with a sigh.

"Ladies room." She said. It was their regular conference area.

The women's toilets were a cramped little area where three stalls were squashed together with barely any room between them and the sinks. There was only enough space for three women to stand in front of the mirror in a line. It was disappointing that in a company that boasted a female empowerment—with almost half the staff as female—that there wasn't enough toilet space to accommodate them.

Sneaking glances into the male toilets had revealed that a much spacious area had been reserved for the gentlemen. When Matilda had asked Andrew, her boss, why it was so, he had admitted that the company had not expected that many women to be present in computer science.

Matilda peeked in the toilet before entering. The place appeared to be empty and Matilda didn't bother checking the stalls. 

Cara will think I'm paranoid. 

"Calvin is such an ass!" Cara began, "He totally forgot our one-year anniversary yesterday."

"It's been a year already?" Time flew so fast.

"Of course it has! And I had this entire meal prepped for him but that idiot got stuck up in work and didn't come home till one in the morning! I fell asleep on the table. Everything was ruined."

"Did he make it up to you?"

"No! He didn't even remember, that bastard." Cara said. Matilda winced uncomfortably. "He actually thought I had mistaken yesterday as his birthday." 

"Shouldn't he be the one decorating the room in flowers? It's usually the other way around isn't it?" Matilda genuinely did not know.

"There's no rule as to who does what." Cara explained.

"Well did you finally remind him it was your anniversary?"

"Of course I did, Matilda! He still didn't care! He told me we should just drop the celebrations because it's too overbearing." Cara was legitimately crying now. Matilda grimaced at the sight and tried to comfort her by patting her shoulder. Cara took it as an invitation for a hug which took Matilda by surprise. After a moment's hesitation, she hugged Cara back.

Then, since she knew Cara and her over excitable nature well, she asked, "Cara just how many anniversaries do you celebrate with Calvin?"

Cara sniffled, "Well, there's the one week anniversary, the one month anniversary, the six month—"

"Cara, Jesus how many are there?"

"Um... seven?"

Matilda pulled her back, "Seven? In a year? Cara are you mad? Of course Calvin forgot! So many anniversaries... I'm getting overwhelmed just thinking about it."