Ace of Hearts - All We Are Series [NaNoWriMo 2014] [#JustWriteIt]

Chapter Twenty Six [Edited]

October and November were loaded with work. The office was busy as we were trying to finish everything we needed to in time for deadlines. Antony was on my back about a lot of the reports, many of which were not up to the standards he wanted. Billy Xane was apparently giving him a hard time, too, as the company wasn’t doing as well as they were hoping. Our team was starting to fall behind, and I was worrying a lot about it. If our team didn’t perform well, people would be fired and replaced, and we needed everyone on our team. We didn’t have time to train a new employee.

There was a small incident with chemicals recently. Now, Human Resources was making random visits, trying to make sure we weren’t abusing our employees. It was a complete accident, but HR made everything so much more stressful. I had to fill out some incident reports, which cost me valuable time.

A lot of our casual small talk had disappeared as we all worked in a frenzy. None of us wanted to have work over the holidays, and the end of November loomed on the horizon. There were no more Friday night bar trips, and everyone was always serious at work. Once again, the weather was turning cold, and we all were bundled up with coats, scarves, and hats.

Unfortunately, heavy workloads meant I didn’t get to hang out with my friends as much. I only saw Daniel a few times. Olivia and her casual boyfriend broke up, so she was upset for a while. We hung out a lot more after their breakup on October 8th. Now, though, Olivia was doing pretty well, going out partying with Margaret on occasion and having fun. I wasn’t sure of how Margaret had the time for that. Shelly was still worried about Margaret, but she voiced it less as Olivia was keeping watch.

Sometimes it seemed like Margaret was a child, and we were all trying to raise her to be a better person. Funny how she acted more immature than Kaleb and Kory sometimes…

Margaret and Velisa finally resolved their conflict, though they were still a bit bitter around one another. They were civil now. Kaleb was seemingly unaware, and his and Will’s birthday celebrations went smoothly, much to my relief. Both of the sisters stepped carefully around each other and neither wanted Kaleb to know what was going on. I wasn’t sure how Will and Sheila managed to make them talk to each other again, but I wasn’t going to get involved. I heard that the normally calm Will made Dave take Kaleb and yelled at the two sisters. Now that Velisa and Margaret were speaking, Margaret had stopped going to the bar and partying every night, much to Shelly’s relief. I don’t think Shelly knoew how often Margaret went out with Olivia, though.

“Are you free to go to yoga on Saturday?” Shelly texted me.

I hesitated. I had some research papers to edit, but I hadn’t been able to work out in nearly three weeks now.

“Sure,” I responded finally. “Do you want to meet there?”

“Sounds good!”

Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed, forcing myself to eat breakfast and get into the car. I arrived at the gym, freezing, but I was thankful that I was at least away from the computer for once.

“Anaya! How are you?” Shelly bounced her way over to me, stretching her arm across her body.

“I’ve been really busy,” I responded. “How are you?”

“I’m doing pretty well. Jack’s birthday was last Thursday, on the 12th. We went out to dinner for it and Jack hung out with some of his friends. He’s not one for parties, but it’s his thirtieth, so I made him go out and celebrate. He seemed to enjoy it, so all’s well that ends well.”

“That’s good. You’ve probably been having a lot more fun than I have.”

“You haven’t been out in a while,” Shelly observed.