find your love

ꜰɪꜰᴛᴇᴇɴ.

airie walked into her office to find a myriad of balloons, cards, and flowers on her desk, nearly dropping her coffee cup out of her hand. it was reminiscent of when sydeny's mother had passed away; everyone came together to leave encouraging words and a little bit of love to spread on the first day back at work, to hopefully help ease the pain of losing a parent. she felt tears welling in her eyes, turning around to see everyone's heads poking around their cubicles with smiles, eventually laughing as she wiped her eyes clear. "y'all didn't have to," she whined out loud and laughed softly, walking fully into her office. they'd all wrote sweet notes, making her feel all soft and putty like inside.

she was feeling a bit better about her father's passing, even after opening up to aubrey the previous night about it. she explained to him how she'd practically disappeared from the earth, and he understood where she was coming from and why she'd done it in the first place, because he would've been the same way. even if she was an emotional mess at the moment, she felt loved and appreciated by something as simple as her coworkers getting together to make her feel a little better. after passing out hugs and sharing a few laughs, she took pictures of her desk to send to her friends, mom, and aubrey. it felt...nice, to have his number unblocked now.

as she carefully moved the bigger flower vases off of her desk, she heard a knock on her door and looked up, finding jalissa standing in the doorway. "hey, hi, jalissa," she smiled softly at her. she didn't let their previous interaction get in the way of what she thought of her; she was simply just asking questions, albeit inappropriate ones, and was trying to get to figure out their relationship. she set her phone on her desk and leaned her chin on her palm.

"is it cool if i come in?" she asked, dressed down in a loose black sweater, ripped jeans, and a pair of doc martens. "oh, sure. it's an open office day, i'm just getting back to work today," she answered and motioned for her to come in, pressing the power button on her computer to turn it on. "so what's up?" she asked as she peeked over at her, jalissa looking at her with an unreadable expression. "um, i just came to give my condolences. i heard that your dad passed away and just wanted to say i'm sorry for your loss."

airie blinked and soon gave her a little smile, her phone vibrating on the table. "thank you- hold on, i'll come over and give you a hug," she answered and jalissa smiled a little at her, reaching out to hug her and peaking over her shoulder as she hugged her to her phone, the name 'aubrey' with a white heart to it beaming across the screen. she felt a little pang in her chest, but hugged her anyway. "i just wanted to come by and speak, you know."

"you didn't have to, but i appreciate it. it's been a little rough getting used to not hearing from him all the time, but you know," she shrugged and grabbed her phone to peek at the notification, a little smile graced across her lips and she peeked back up at jalissa. "it's a learning process."

"well, i'm always here if you want to talk to me," jalissa gave her a smile before perking up. "hey, do you wanna grab lunch? on me."

"oh- you don't have to," airie shook her head, "i'm already going out for lunch. we can schedule for another day, yea?" she gave her a little smile. "actually- here. i'll write my number down so you can just text me," she grabbed a notepad and wrote her number on it, sliding it to her and jalissa smiled. "sounds good. i'll catch you around," she waved at her as she headed out, heading down the hallway to sydney's office.