Make Me (Editing)

thirty nine

Over the next few days, work became a painful distraction from my even more painful reality.

Without having Tyler around, the jobs seemed to pile up for everyone else, which was good for getting my mind off everything, but made me all the more irritable and tired by the time I went home each afternoon.

Rather inevitably, there were also a countless number of reminders of Mr Gray everywhere around the office. And even though Mr Baird was the official Acting Manager while Tyler was gone, everything still seemed to be about 'Mr Gray wants this' and 'Mr Gray does that'.

After almost an entire week of being in these conditions, I was practically going insane. And considering that this was the case when he wasn't even at work, I didn't even want to imagine the struggle my life would be when he eventually made his return.

But no matter how pissed off I may have been at the guy, I couldn't help but to feel so much sympathy for him. In the short time I'd spent with his sister Zoey, I'd been made very aware that his mum was the single most important person in the world to him. And here she was, lying in a hospital bed, with her time ticking down before his very eyes. I couldn't even begin to imagine a pain like that.

"Just a reminder that we've got a meeting in five," Mr Baird spoke through my intercom, bringing me out of my daze.

"I'll be there in two," I buzzed back, gathering up my papers and heading for the conference room.

As with all meetings in the last few days, I hardly paid much attention to what was going on. I took the odd note or two, for the sole purpose of making myself appear useful, but had very little idea of what was being discussed, and even less input in the matter.

"Well if no one else has anything to say," Mr Baird scanned the room to confirm his assumption, "then I think we're done here."

The various businessmen vacated the room, leaving me and my boss and to clean up the bit of mess they'd left behind.

"You got any plans for tonight, Miss Carson?" He asked as we cleared the papers off the table.

"I've got my sort-of-boyfriend coming over for dinner," I replied. "But not too much else."

"What's 'sort-of' boyfriend supposed to mean?" He chuckled.

"Oh, we just haven't made it official yet," I explained. "That's all."

"Fair enough," Mr Baird smiled over at me. "Well you enjoy that."

"I will, thank you Sir."

With the dream of ever making Tyler come around to the idea of settling down officially dead, I'd slowly fallen back into the routine of hanging out with Nate most nights. We weren't quite at the point of having our alternate sleepovers yet, and hadn't really gotten intimate in quite a while either, but were simply enjoying each other's company and getting to know each other better each day.

As I'd mentioned to Mr Baird, he also hadn't tried again with the girlfriend proposal just yet. I'm sure I'd turned him completely off the idea after my first rejection, and wasn't expecting it again anytime soon. But that didn't bother me. In fact I was sort of grateful that I wasn't being forced to make a commitment while I was stuck in my current mental state. I was certain that I'd eventually come around to moving on from Tyler, but couldn't give my all to Nate until I'd done so.

After another whole week had passed me by, with Mr Gray still away on his ongoing carer's leave, and my life still sucking just as much as ever, I decided to employ the help of my trusted colleagues on the situation.

"On a scale of one to ten, where are you at right now in terms of happiness?" Conner asked as only he could.

"Happiness?" I chuckled. "Probably a solid five."