Rule No. 1: No Romance (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 8

Surprisingly, Louise hasn't made any new moves since the last time we spoke well over a week ago. Things have been extremely professional between us but I'm not naive enough to believe she has had a change of heart - she's either trying to prove she's mature or she's just gotten that offended after the realization that I wouldn't fall for her cheap games that easily. Either way, I'm happy with this fake sense of peace. Louise had brought a thunderstorm into my life and I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that I've enjoyed some of it.

"Still here?" Joane asks, peeking her head into my office completely pulling me away from my thoughts. "Our team's dinner is tonight, have you forgotten?" she continues, fully walking in and closing the door behind her. There's no escaping her, it seems.

"I'm just finishing up some things."

"You're trying to bail."

"Of course not."

"You're not even putting in the effort to make it sound believable," she raises an eyebrow. "You're the boss of this department, Esthy. You can't just not go."

"I can though," I smile at her, she simply shakes her head, sitting down in front of me as I put my things away for the day. I'm an introvert by nature, sure I get my way with people easily at work but at the end of the day, all I want to do is to retreat to my cave - like a crab, or perhaps a gecko, those are kinda cute.

"Are you perhaps afraid of Louise?" she asks after a few seconds of silence.

"Yes, I'm terrified of young women with dyed silver hair," I deadpan.

She sighs, massaging the bridge of her nose with her fingers. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to deal with someone like me but I can't help it, she's the one who chose to take the 'friend' role, not me. "You know what I mean."

"I actually just really want to have a nice Friday night at home," I groan, although I do want to avoid Louise as much as I can, these dinners have always been dreadful to me. And this is not even the first time I've attempted to bail on them. "Look fine, I'll go - but I'll stay only for an hour, no after-party for drinks."

"Good enough."

"And no pep-talking, no one likes them. The free meal should be motivating enough," I say, walking to the door, impatiently waiting for her to get up so I could lock up.

"At least tell them they're doing a good job."

"So you're asking me to lie?"

.

I met with Joane later in the day, she wanted to make sure I'd go. "We can go in the same car to save gas," she said, her gas, I'm wasting more by picking her up.

She lives on the opposite side of the city, nearly bordering the very end of what we call civilization. Where you could see sheep walking down the fields in the distance, and the freedom to roam around your house naked with the curtains open because your closest neighbor lives 2 miles away. I can see the appeal, but I'm not sure I'd replace the honking cars and constant ambulance sirens at night for crickets dueting outside my window. There's also the part where you'd have to share your house with at least three lizards — not that I'd care, and not because of Blackie, she would not move a limb to try to catch them... or maybe she would, it'd do her good, she could lose some weight.

"You're awfully quiet, it's freaking me out," Joane says, nearly whispering, trying to act frightened but I can see amusement in her eyes. At this point, I was completely driving on autopilot. "What were you thinking about?"

"Crickets," I answer simply.

"Crickets?"

"And lizards."