* * *
I remember her complexion falling as pale as a corpse when she was lifted away on the EMS stretcher that day. My eyes practically stung for hours on end after what she had foolishly pulled! I did warn her not to eat sand like it was honey, but present-day she seems to have resorted to coffee instead.
I swear, nothing phases this girl. She's still as lively as ever.
I remember counting the days until she returned to grade school. Mondays would pass, then it'd be Tuesday, then Wednesday, and so on. But with every passing second, minute, and hour, I can still recall missing her.
And I'd miss her so bad.
I'd miss her scent; the living embodiment of spring itself. I'd miss her smile, lighting up the room with all its pearly whites. Oh! And her eyes—those dainty, emerald eyes I could stare into forever.
But what I came to miss the most about her was her robust nature. So free-spirited and incoherent—for better or worse—that it shot millions of arrows into my heart, really giving Cupid a run for his money. There was never a dull moment whenever she was around. Come to think of it now, it was as if she made it her personal mission to torment me to madness with longing for her. And while it was unnatural for a 10-year-old to be so enamoured at such a tender age, the fact didn't hold me back in the least. I'd happily dive into her love with every seized opportunity within a fraction of a heartbeat.
However, as it is universally known, all good things do come to an end because it was beginning to near the end of the school year, and still, no news about her ensued. So I did what any logical child would do to think at that situation.
I circled a date, making it my top priority to confess to her before the year came to a close; which I did.
Afterwards, I marked it again, naming it, "The day we reunite anew".
* * *
"CHEERS!"
The whole gang clanked and reveled their beer bottles together in incoherent unison. They'd decided to send Ruby off with a barbeque at a street-side food stall as a quick farewell—any formally planned-out party would probably attract minimal guests and make her departure seem as if she were coming back instead. Plus, the following day was a hefty day at work, so this was no excuse to slack off. Quick and simple was how they chose and kept it.
"AAAAhhhhh, feels good," Arian let out, downing a can of chilled beer. "It must especially feel good for you, Ruby."
"You bet! I don't take shit from anyone anymore!" she enthused.
"You could've at least. " Still-angry-Blaze harshly sterned. "Manager Vladimir was trying to set things straight but you went and messed it all up!"
"Yeah, you putty-mouthed peep-squeak."
Then taking him by surprise, Ruby yanked his food-searching hands into her embrace and said, "And I appreciate that. Really. BUT! I would still fire myself, myself despite any outcome. There is no way I'll bring myself that low for such a FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" she gave a wide, drunken smile, splattering the chewed up meat stored in her mouth on the unsuspecting, relaxed man. "I wanna work in an environment that sees and respects me as a person, not my worth! I won't beg him to hire me—"
"Despite competition for your position growing on the market these days," Blaze saw a need to add, sipping out of her drink in silent judgment.
"INSTEAD, THAT MOTHERFUCKING SHIT SHOULD BEG ME ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES TO COME BACK INSTEAD!" Her rash use of words turned eyes of close radius in to get a load of the hectic spar.
BANG!
Rouge slammed a heavy beer bottle—probably her sixth one—hard on the table.
"First off, zip it. Two, I'm eating. So three, stop it with the motherfucking swearing; we've had our fair share of it from this afternoon and I promise you, we don't need anymore!" She did not hold back lashing out at Ruby, who curled herself into a drunken, sheepish ball. "Spreading bad vibes everywhere," a murmur escaped her lips, accompanied by some dancing chopsticks whirling strange, chilling patterns in the air.
"Sowwiee," Ruby ducked down into her seat.
"Swearing doesn't fit you," Manager Vladimir commented, wiping her food debris from off his face. "Sowwiee," she repeated again. Then after that was over with, it went quiet for a short while; everyone roasting and eating their beef for themselves.
Well, mostly.
Gideon found himself doing it for Rouge who whole-heartedly gobbled them up.
"Thank you."
"No problem... eat up."
"Say," Elena broke in, redirecting the flow of conversation, "You've been really quiet the entire time but, why did you choose to come with us, Juliet?"
All eyes turn to the silent guest who downed her fair share of bottled pop, stating she could not have any type of alcohol because of religious reasons when, in actuality, she just could not hold her liquor too well, or, at all. "Oh. Me?" Her blue eyes lit up at the invitation to join the tumultuously, jolly group, "I've got nothing better doing, really! Coming here sure beats getting off work, going home, doing nothin', and getting knocked out!"
Silence dawned on the group again.
"Sleeping," Blaze implied the question written on everyone else's faces.
"Yeah... what else would I be doing?" Her chocolate-freckled skin dyed deep mahogany and her nerves twitched with a profound realization of the implications of her words. Semantic nuances were frequently grey areas that messed with her brain's linguistic processes for speaking. It was a wonder how she worked in the marketing team department with such habitual slip-ups. "Oh, no! No! No-ho-ho-ho! The answer is no—I swear I DO NOT do drugs! I just think of sleep like my body knocking out itself—that's what that's about!"
"Just checking," Blaze sipped again; an irritating habit to those who didn't know her—or to anyone, really—and that contentious quirk was unexclusive to the irritated Juliet.
"We wouldn't judge you even if you did partake in such activities... we couldn't condone it." Elena sought to reduce the silent tension which sprouted from thin air again.
"Surely, there must be more to that statement though," Rouge shot an unforeseen, hot bullet in Juliet's direction, annulling Elena's efforts. "Everyone else at work already hates Ruby enough for some questionable reasons. Quite frankly, she should thank God she has us—"
"Thank you, Jesus!" Drunk Ruby rejoiced over-excitedly.
"Manager V is actually a good boss, so of course, he'd show."
"Thank you," he took a shot to that.
"But you... " Rouge continued, "What reason do you actually have to be here in the first place? Why are you really here, Julie?" It went quiet as the two persisted in staring each other down like a snake and mouse in combat—the loser, obvious.
"Actually, the name's 'Juliet'—"
"Gosh, stop being so intimidating Rouge! Juliet was just trying to be nice! Nothing more." Arian forced an affable laugh.
"Hmm," She disagreed. "So, Ruby! How's Louis taking the news about any of this so far?"
Eyes turn to Amy this time.
"Who's that?" Manager V inquired. Juliet burrowed behind him, just as agog.
"Her boyfriend," Gideon whispered a reply. "They've been going strong for 3 years now."
That impressed the attentive guests.
"Pardon?"
"You did tell him, did you not?"
"Oh! Nope!" She gleamed in drunk delight and the whole table groaned, slapping their foreheads hard, transfixed with mixed feelings. "Why would I tell him that now when I could tell him on his birthday? The element of surprise is lacking in such celebrations, don't you think?"
"Well, it's been a lovely night but I'll have to retire! It has been a pleasure working with you, Miss Ruby Rose," Vladimir shook her goodbye.
"Yeah, I'm done for the night too!" Blaze wearily got up. "And... Ruby, you really do not know what you're missing. Well, sure more companies will want you for your scarce skill set, but competition is rising; especially for such a huge corp like the Marquis'! I can't believe you kissed six figures a year goodbye just like that!"
"Hey, hey..." Arian chimed in, smoother than a baby's bottom. "I have something I've got to do so I'll be heading in your direction." Leaning in, he picked up and placed her coat perfectly over her shoulders. "Mind If I accompany you home tonight?"
"W-well, It can't be helped," she turned bright red but tried not to lose her composure. She'd always been the mother figure in the group since day one after all. "I'll wait for you outside,"
Gideon jocked while getting up and fist-bumping Ruby as he followed the exiting crew. "Bruh! Smooth, bro!"
"Good night, Ruby!" Elena bounced out hand in hand with Rouge. "Night'," Rouge bid just the same.
Arian simply rushed out, so ecstatic, that his coat and briefcase almost slipped from his grasp at the thought of his unofficial late-night date excitement.
"YOU TOOOO! I LOVE YOU ALL! MWUAH! MWUAH!" Ruby kissed them goodbye. And just like that, she sat there all alone.
"Woah. They really left you to your own devices?" Juliet baffled at the sight. "You call those friends? Mister! The check please—we're done here!" She yelled for the bill, pulling Amy's hand up and over her shoulders for balance. "Get up, now! As a Catholic, I can't let you die of alcohol poisoning or possibly impaired driving. It's against protocol."
"Thank-chu!" Ruby gleamed, shooting invisible hearts with her fingers at Juliet's dumbfounded visage.
"You owe me big-time."
"Okay!" She, at first, smiled. "Hold on! That's not very catholic-like!"
"... why are you outwitting me all of a sudden! I thought you weren't sober!"
" I'm a heavy drinker though."
They stare at each other in betrayed, dumbfounded belief.
"Well, that changes everything. I see why they left you, plus gas is getting super expensive lately and I can't afford to make two trips tonight," she said, breaking away from Ruby's drunken grip.
"Why did you come?" Ruby yelled at Juliet who was already halfway down the street, "W-we barely e-even know e-each other!" pitifully shivering under the city's cold mist.
"I..." Juliet paused. "I envy you." Smiling, she faded into the busy night streets—a hint of pain brimming in her pale-blue eyes.
* * *
I swear I have no sense of moderation at all! I'm pretty sure I had 15 or so of those bottles last night and It's really starting to hit hard right now.
"UGH! My head," I grunt, entering my department office building. I arrived early prior to sunrise so I could finish cleaning out my desk because seeing the contentment on the faces of my rude co-workers wasn't jotted on my bucket list last I checked.
Scanning my ID card, It'd only just dawned on me—now that I was sober and not in a temper tantrum—that I would be leaving behind everything I've worked for my entire life.
As annoying as everyone said I was, I was that smart kid who derived pleasure from correcting the teachers' and my classmates' mistakes in any subject. I even reminded them of homework on days that it slipped their forgetful minds. What can I say? I was that helpful! And upon hearing about the cool job a friend's uncle had as a data engineer, I wanted to be just as great. No! Even better!
The idea of being a software architect was all that rang in my head since pathing ways with high school and walking into my first lecture hall. It was the best feeling I had ever experienced! For the first time in forever, I was sure I chose the path right for me, and it came to fruition because it was where I met the friends I have today, acquired my dream job—which I'm about to lose—and met the love of my life, Louis Marquis.
He happened to share the same major as me and the same lecture hall. We'd geek out about tech whenever we were assigned a project together and meet outside of school to "finish up" the rest of our work. Which we didn't by the way; we were too busy being in love with each other. We'd hang out at the internet cafe like a Sunday ritual until Louis took me by surprise with a love confession.
I swear, he was at his cutest that day! I can still picture it!
Wrapping up school with him was when he landed his first job, but it was a struggle for me because of my crappy luck—or at least that's what I blame it on—which threw me into the depths of depression. But whenever the darkness tried to win me over, Louis would pull me right out all the time like my very own spider man; me, his Mary Jane. Matter of fact, The only reason I got this job was because he contacted a friend of his who had close ties to the corp on my behalf to act as my reference. After that hurdle, we promised each other we'd work super hard at our jobs so we could have the most extravagant wedding ever—I'd go extra with the wedding gown, Him, his suit, and the venue would be immensely grand! A treat to the eyes.
Yet here I am. I've gone and annulled my part of the deal with a stupid decision.
I sigh, sitting down at my workstation taking it in for the last time.
Heh.
My own office desk even caught my scent yet. I couldn't even leave a nonsensical legacy that I was here. I guess this really does prove how this cruel world sees people like me; nonexistent. And no matter how much I rage and diss it as I may, it still won't budge.
And it won't. For the longest time.
I lay my head down on my desk and press my cheeks into its cold embrace.
"Goodbye..." then taking in the room for the last time—my desk turning into the empty dessert it was designed to be— I leave for good. I head for the elevator and towards the front entrance when a wee Fox calls me over with a friendly wave.
"Ruby Rose?"
"Uh, yes? Can I help you?"
"My name is Miles. Miles Jacques," He closes in on me, offering a handshake to which I comply. "Where are you headed? And why so early in the morning?"
"Sorry, sir, but do I know you?" Why was he talking to me on such casual terms?
"Ah! I'm the driver. I drive Mr. Marquis from place to place and I heard it's your first day as his secretary, so I wanted to make your acquaintance—"
"Hold up! Hold up! Hold up! What?"
"Ah! I can help you with those," he takes my boxes from my hands, "You must be moving things into your new office. I'll alleviate the stress there a little," then he nimbly takes off, leaving me to stand there all alone.
... what just happened?