He sat down in his chair, booting on the desktop. The day he could never come back here again was a day that wasn’t coming soon enough. Whilst he waited for his computer to boot up, he grabbed all the documents he needed from his filling cabinet. Rebecca was tapping her pen like always, and it drove him absolutely insane.

When his computer turned on, and he put in his password, he clicked onto his email. Jerome replied quickly, so he was sure that the man had sent him the files already. And there it was, at the very top of his unread emails. The man was not one to disappoint when it came to efficiency. That’s probably why his boss tortured Jerome the most.

|From: Jerome Wexley|

|Subject: Files for Lydia’s Project|

|Erik,

The files are attached to this email. I know you might not be stoked about the extra work, but you’re really helping me out. Let me know if you need any help. I owe you one.

Sincerely,

Jerome Wexley|

Damn straight, you owe me one, he thought. Jerome was going to buy him lunch twice this week if he had anything to say about it. He opened the attachment, groaning when he saw that it was over one hundred pages long. The amount of work this was going to add to his load made him want to scream. Maybe a trip to the vacant bathroom on the 14^th floor was in his future, so he could rage in peace.

Monica peered over the wall that separated their cubicles. She asked, “How long?”

“132.”

She whistled before chuckling, “Boy am I glad that I’m not you right now.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, but there was no heat behind it. Monica was one of the few he tolerated, and he knew she would find a way to life his spirits and distract from the pulsating headache that wrapped around his entire head. The woman knew her way around a margarita mix.

“Up to coming over? Jerome said he could come tonight,” she leaned more over the wall, “He said he would bring his girlfriend.”

He raised an eyebrow, “A girlfriend? He didn’t tell me about that.”

“It’s because he knew you would tease him. You should see how he talks about her. I could practically hear the love in his voice.” She mimed gagging.

“And he’s worried about me teasing him! But yeah, I can come over. No one’s waiting for me at home.”

“You and me both.”

He laughed, and she sunk back into her own cubicle. They couldn’t joke around for long before the boss came to check on what they were doing. Thinking of the man tanked the good cheer gained from talking to Monica faster than what he thought was healthy. So, he shifted his focus to the work on hand. If he wanted to leave work on time, which he always did because he didn’t get overtime pay, he had to start on the files.

Breaking when necessary, he absorbed himself into his work. Overwhelming his mind with lines and lines of words made the day move quicker than watching the clock did. He pulled him mind from the files completely when he saw that ten minutes remained of his shift. Monica had already left because she had to come in earlier than him. Rebecca, unfortunately, was still there and still clicking her pen.

After he finished packing up, he walked back down the stairs and swiped his badge again as he left. As he went toward the bus stop, he glanced at his phone to look at the time. He then sped up because the bus was about to come, and he would rather listen to his boss wax sonnets about his wife than miss it. He got there right as the bus was pulling up.

Placing a hand on his chest in an ineffective notion to calm his beating heart, he grabbed the same seat as this morning. Unlike earlier, he was the only one on the bus. A fact that pleased him to no end. When he looked up, he locked eyes with the bus driver in the rearview mirror. He managed an awkward smile that the bus driver returned.

Right as he was sinking into his routine daydreaming, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He grumbled to himself, but he took out the phone to see who was calling. He groaned out loud when he saw that it was his mother. He knew exactly what she wanted to talk about, and he didn’t want to talk about it at all. However, he also knew that his mother would call him until he picked up, so it was in his best interest to get it over with.

“Hello,” he sighed.

“Don’t greet your mother like that, Erik,” his mother snapped. Off to a great start.

“Sorry, mom. What did you want to talk about?”

“I was wondering if you found anyone yet. I met a nice girl at the farmer’s market last Sunday and a sophisticated young man at the courthouse yesterday. They informed me that they were single, so I’ll put a word in for you if you aren’t taken.”

“Why do you ask random strangers if they’re single? Do you know how embarrassing that is?”

“Do you know how embarrassing it is to hear about how everyone else’s son is doing good, important work while mine lazes around an office? The least you can do is reassure me that you won’t die alone.”

Ignoring the slight against his job, he focused on the important bit, “I’m not going to die alone, mom. I’m 25, not 95. I have plenty of time to find someone.”

“You’re not getting any younger! I want grandchildren!”

Unlike what his mother thought, his single status didn’t elude him. He just wasn’t up to getting into a relationship. His last had ended poorly, and another heartbreak was not what he desired at the moment. If only he could get that through his mother’s thick skull. He said, “You know, you have two other children that can give you grandchildren. Do they also get interrogated?”

“Your sister is fifteen, and your brother is seven.”

“So?” he shrugged, not that she would see, “You’re not dying anytime soon. They’ve got plenty of time to grow up, settle down, and have kids like you want.”

His mother huffed, “I don’t know why you’re so reluctant to have kids. Do you not like them? Even if you happen to settle down for a man, that doesn’t mean you can’t adopt or have a surrogate.”

He wanted to bang his head against the metal side of the bus. “I’m not ready. I will have them when I want to, not a second sooner. You’re going to have to accept that.”

“Fine.”

He knew by her tone that she had not dropped the topic whatsoever. However, he would take any victory he could get. “Thank you. I’m going to hang up now, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, I love you.”

“Bye.”

He pressed the end call button and slid the phone back into his pocket. He looked up and saw that the bus driver’s gaze once again met his in the rearview mirror. There was a glint in the man’s eyes that he didn’t like, yet he wasn’t too worried about it.