Almost

Breaktime Partner

CHAPTER TWO

"I have late night conversations with the moon; he tells me about the sun and I tell him about you."
- Anonymous

Wanna go up?

It's almost so common for Rye to message Jamie about going to the company's cafeteria, like, everyday, to the point that she expects to receive a morning invitation from him to grab something to eat for breakfast. And, if he fails to do so, she'd end up wondering what's wrong or how busy he was. Normally, she'd invite him if he fails to make the first move in the morning, and usually, he'd say yes, unless he's super busy.

Just like today. He spotted her anxiously pulling her hair due to all the stressful noise around her: the annoying sound of the drilling machine from the construction of comfort room just outside the office, apparently a door away from her; the voices of people on the floor; the numerous phone calls she's answering, to name a few.

Oh well, it's Monday! It was never a stress-free day for her on Mondays. Especially when a bunch of Sales people are present on the floor. It was worse than sharing the entire hell with those people. She'd always end up getting headaches or panic disorder.

And every time Rye sees her going crazy about the inevitable triggers of stress of the day, he'd always do something or give her something to divert her attention.

Sure, she replied and in a matter of few heartbeat, he appeared beside her desk, nodding his head and waited quietly for her by the stairs.

"Look!" He showed her the sole of his shoe, which has damage on it. "Both of them has it." He said, laughing, stressing out humor on a sure not so funny situation. He's just always like that, quick to convert serious matters into something to laugh at, and oftentimes, she has the energy to laugh at it - regardless if it's funny or not. She hates seeing him throw punchlines and not get the benefit of it.

"Guess, it's time for you to replace them." She advised him. "How much are those?" She asked, following him to where he leads going to the building's cafeteria.

"Barely 4 dollars." He said and opened the door for her that led them to the reception of the second floor towards the next two doors leading to the stairs going to the cafeteria at the third floor of the annex building.

She nodded. "At least they served you well. Gotta replace them." In her mind, she wondered if he's getting his feet soaked during rainy days with those pair of broken shoes.

Once they got to the counter of the cafeteria, with almost no customers around, Jamie headed straight to the nearby chest freezer and got herself her favorite ice cream stick and placed it on the counter, and took one sachet of her favorite chocolate powder drink. Rye went straight to the communal restroom of the cafeteria while she pays her bill and walked to their spot there as he pick his own ice cream flavor.

In the morning, they'd usually grab themselves something for breakfast, while in the afternoon, she'd either have a coffee or hot chocolate drink or an ice cream, sometimes she's having both. Rye, on the other hand, gets either of the two. But whenever she asks him to go up for ice cream, he'd get it and nothing else.

As soon as they reached their spot in the cafeteria, she started talking endlessly, to not get the awkward silence.

"So, how's everything going with data gathering? Two days left still?" She inquired and threw a split-second glance at his table to her left. Apparently, it's the start of the week and during times like this, he's always running late in gathering sell-out reports because of the weekend that passed. Collecting sales report for more or less a thousand and six-hundred stores nationwide for one person is such a pain in the neck, especially if he has to collect a two-day report. Month-end is coming and it's another hellish story to tell.