The next day, at work, Maisie’s coworker Ted Chang came into the lab where she was working, buttoning up his lab coat over his black henley and yellow jeans, his fine straight black hair swooping the way it always did over his left eye. “Hey, how was game night?”
She pulled out her earbuds and tucked them into her lab coat pocket. “Oh… it was fine, we played this game that was set up to be like an escape room, which isn’t really my thing but everyone else seemed to have fun. How was your weekend?”
“It was great, I went for a hike at Devils Lake right away Saturday morning. Some of the leaves were just starting to change, it was gorgeous. Then I just hung out at home the rest of the weekend, you know.”
“Good for you!” She smiled. “I really need to go hiking at Devils Lake sometime.”
He laughed and gave her a side-eyed glance. “You always say that.”
“And, I always mean it! One of these days!”
Mark, at work, took his earbuds out and stared at his computer monitor. He had just spent an hour trying to track down a software bug, and he thought he had it fixed but either way he needed a break. He grabbed his badge, which he always took off when he was at his desk because otherwise he would keep strangling himself fidgeting with it, hung it around his neck and headed down to the cafeteria for some coffee.
He worked at a large software company, with a unique office space and perks like free beverages at the small kitchenettes located on every floor, but he wanted something a little more sugary, and a walk.
He stepped into the large cafeteria, with its dark green walls and jungle theme, and made a beeline right for the coffee kiosk, where he ordered an iced caramel latte. He didn’t even bother to take a seat before taking his first sip. MMM.
“I don’t know how you can drink that sweet stuff. That much sugar…”
He grinned. “Hello, Andrew,” he said without even turning around. He listened to Andrew ordering a plain black coffee, then started in on the same joking argument they always had. “I don’t know how you can drink that bitter stuff, it’s basically rage in drink form. You know, ‘orders black coffee’ isn’t actually a personality trait, right?” He turned to face his friend.
“Oooh, spicy.” Andrew Roy sipped his coffee, running his free hand through his black curls. “Unusually aggressive, for you.”
Mark sighed. “It’s Monday.”
“Yeah. Do you have time to sit and take a break? I just finished that upgrade for Michigan and I’m about ready to cry.”
“Hey, good job, man, I know that’s been hanging over your head for a few months now.” They walked over to a small round table and sat down.
Andrew nodded, sipping his coffee. “How was game night?”
“It was pretty good, we played one of those games that are set up like an escape room and managed to beat it in about an hour and a half, pretty proud of that. Missed you and Lisa, though.”
“Yeah, I’m hoping we’ll be able to make the next one now that I’m done with that upgrade.”
“How is Lisa, anyway?”
“Oh, the same as always, works too hard.” Lisa was a doctor, and working the emergency room through the pandemic had to have been hard on her, but she never complained, Mark mused.
“How’s Maisie?”
“Oh, she’s ok, she’s been seeming really down recently, I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
“Maybe she’s just tired, aren’t the summers her busy time at work?”
Mark shrugged. “I guess.”
“You guess?” Andrew chuckled and shook his head. “She complains about it every summer I’ve known her.”
“She complains about a lot of things.”
“She really doesn’t.” Andrew frowned. “Is everything ok?”
“I don’t know, man, she just hasn’t been her usual cheerful self for… for awhile, I guess.”
“Is she seeing someone for that?”
Mark snorted. “Like, a therapist? How am I supposed to broach that subject, ‘Maisie, you need a shrink and Andrew agrees’? That’ll go over like a lead balloon.”
Andrew smiled and changed the subject. “Did you see the trailer for that new superhero movie?”
“Yeah! ‘Captain Starblood??’ They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel for new content, aren’t they?”
“Hey, I used to read Captain Starblood comics all the time as a kid, you don’t know what you’re missing…” Andrew’s eyes were twinkling, and Mark was about 95% sure he was full of shit.
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