REM // Van McCann

26. Control

Bondy was already at work when I arrived and there was no sign of the puppy. It's like he read my mind because he went on to explain.

"They brought their son home last night and the little bugger's keeping him company." I miss him but he's needed at home.

"Glad to hear he's doing okay," I told him, putting water in the electric kettle to boil. I was eager to see the puppy but even more so to hear how Larry's date went. "How do you reckon his date went?"

"Date? I thought they were going for dinner," Bondy replied, surprised.

"Oh, we all know it's a date. It's obvious they're interested in one another." Bondy chuckled.

"My guess is that it went fine but I'm surprised he didn't text us last night gushing about their date. Unless...." Bondy trailed off and I walked back to my desk.

"I don't wanna hear it," I waved him off. Larry's sex life is none of my business. I don't need that mental image in my mind.

"We'll talk about somethin' else then. How was taking the bus home with Florence?"

It's obvious he finds the dynamics of our relationship humorous. We find each other annoying and he gets a kick out of us complaining about each other. I didn't want to think about our session this afternoon.

"It was fine," I replied flatly, not wanting to waste my breath on her.

She was surprisingly polite, I'll give her that. Bondy waited for me to go on but that's all I'm telling him. She lives a few blocks away which is terrifying to think about. Am I gonna run into her at the store or restaurant?

"Whose dream is it gonna be today?" he pondered, smiling. That bastard knows exactly what he's doing.

"Well she's not going under mine. That was a one-time thing."

"If you say so."

Bondy turned his attention back to his computer leaving me to wonder why he said that. Does he know something I don't? I wanted to ask him about it but didn't want to give in. Perhaps he was baiting me, trying to elicit a response from me. Well I'm not falling for it. The door opened and Larry walked in as if it was any normal day. Bondy and I took notice, waiting for him to say something but he didn't.

"Mornin' Larry," I finally called.

"Morning," he mumbled back, proceeding to put his stuff away. Bondy and I exchanged looks, begging the other to say something. After our brief stand-off, I sighed and took it upon myself to ask him.

"How'd your da—erm—dinner go?" I was certain I fucked it up. I was set on saying date but his mood told me otherwise.

"She couldn't make it but it wasn't entirely her fault either. I just wish she told me earlier so I could've canceled my reservation."

"What happened?" Now I'm curious what her excuse was. The way Larry didn't want to put the blame on her was interesting.

"Her nan wasn't feeling well and asked her to take her to the hospital. She didn't think it'd take so long to figure out what was wrong. Luckily her nan is okay; she suffered a minor stroke and was admitted to the hospital. She was shaken up by the whole thing and forgot about dinner until I called asking if she was coming.

"I was sat at the table thinking she had stood me up but she would've told me, ya know? So I waited twenty minutes before deciding to call her. I felt like a twat telling the waiter to hold off on ordering because I was waiting on someone who never came."

"Oh, that's a shame. I'm sorry," I told him, feeling horrible. Here I was thinking it went well but Larry ended up eating dinner by himself. Maybe that's why he was so quiet. He was probably too embarrassed to tell us.