Office Drama

It’s lunch time, I am having lunch with my colleagues. Something I rarely do but today is different.

“You look a mess,” Brenda says as everyone turns to look at me, “are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” I answer, looking at my food. I can’t look at her, I am scared she will see what I am actually going through, which is none of her business.

“Honestly you look sick. Or maybe it’s just the hangover” Brenda won’t let it pass, “Wait!! You are actually hangover. I remember the way you rushed out yesterday, you never told anyone you were leaving.”

Ignoring her, I continue to eat my food that still tastes like Njahi.

“So who was your drinking buddy the whole night?” she winks at me as I do my best to swallow the irritation growing in me. I’m just not in the mood for silly chit chat.

Truth is I did not sleep well last night. After the whack date, I tossed and turned thinking of James. Why hadn’t he called yet? And why was I not just picking up the phone and calling him instead. Maybe he is doing the same thing waiting for me to call first. “Please, don’t call him” my inner voice begs me, “If you call and he doesn’t pick, things will be worse, so let’s just stick with the unknown.”

“Oh my God!! You actually spent the night drinking with someone!!” Brenda startles me back to the present. I didn’t even realize I had zoned out, “So are you going to give us the details or what?”

“Come on Brenda, It is none of your business,” Tangaza says.

I am surprised to hear him talk and defend me. He is always quiet and I have never bothered to initiate a conversation with him. Plus the fact that I am always in my office, we rarely get a chance like today, to have lunch together. I look at him, really look at him, and then get horrified when he frowns. Oh My God, I didn’t realize that I was actually staring at him. He frowns then smiles, which makes me blush. Oh, crap! WTF!! I have to get out of here. I stand excuse myself and head back to my office.

He’s actually good looking, I think to myself as I settle back to my seat. Slightly taller than me. With a skin the color of tamarind shell, his head is clean shaven while his face has a trace of a goatee and very smooth like he goes for facials or something. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your perspective) I have a philosophy. Never indulge in office romance. “But this might be your cure for James’ hold,” my inner voice tells me. I am having none of her advice today. Tangaza is a beautiful colleague, and he is going to remain that, just a beautiful untouchable colleague.

To distract myself, I take my phone and go straight to Tinder. This time I find a message.

Him: Hey, My name is Don. I want to be your friend.

I go through his profile. His status says, “I live for God I’m Unashamed.” Well I am interested. His photos are not so bad either. He looks like a guy I wouldn’t mind dating.

Me: Hello…

He seems to be offline because my message does not go through so I go back to scrolling through the other profiles. I’m interrupted by Brenda when she appears on my door to tell me I have a client. And just like that my afternoon is taken up. I don’t even notice when the time flies away.

When I pack my stuff to call it a day, something happens that changes the tide’s direction of my evening. Tangaza knocks on my door. Then gets in when I answer.

“Hey Maselinah”

“Hello Tangaza.”

“So…. we are heading to this new joint for coffee, was wondering if you would like to join us?”

I do the calculations fast in my mind. I am tired and stressed out because of James, all I want to do is head home and feel sorry for myself. On the other hand, this is a chance to catch up with my colleagues whom I have neglected since I started using Tinder. Plus I might end up having a good time and forget about stupid James.

“Yes I would love to. When are you guys heading out?”

“In the next 15 minutes. Wangare and Isaac are still working.”

“Okay then.”

He stands in my office awkwardly like he wants to say something more, but then he turns and leaves without another word. Well this is going to be interesting.

30 minutes later, I find myself on the top floor of this new structure in the middle of the CBD. The Ambience is awesome. We walk in and find the place is almost full, fortunately we get a place to sit. Five of us cram in a corner and wait for a waiter to come pick our orders.

“How did you know this place?” I ask no one in particular.

“This is what we do most of the evenings, scavenging for awesome places to hangout before we head home,” Brenda answers.

“How comes you never invite me?” I pretend not to notice her accusing eyes.

“Well, you clearly have other drinking buddies,” her voice now oozes accusation.

It’s like we are in high school. I do not understand why it bothers her this much when I live my life. It’s not like we are family. I have my life she has hers. We are just colleagues.

“Come on Brenda, let’s just have fun,” Tangaza interjects, clearly annoyed.

Something is going on here and I haven’t figured it out yet.  Tangaza sits next to me, a position he made sure was his, only now he seems so tense. Brenda who was jovial and excited, now seems angry. She keeps sending glances our way with a scowl on her face. Isaac and Wangare are oblivious to what is going on.

We are in the middle of a heated conversation about the BBI and the constitution, when our orders are brought. I’m having a white double chocolate with lots of cream. Tangaza and Isaac hare having double mochas while Brenda and Wangare are having white tea. I am surprised that I’m actually enjoying this. Where have I been all this time, when these guys were having so much fun? Well… Tinder happened.  If I had not met James, I would have had so much fun. Speaking of James…. Where is he? Maybe he went back to Scotland. Maybe he is just out of town or out of the country. I’m sure he will call when he gets back.

“Hey Maselinah, where have you gone to?” Tangaza brings me back to the present.

“Sorry, just a lot in my mind.”

“Do you want to talk about it? I might be able to help.”

“No thank you but I’m good.”

“Okay if you say so.”

“Yeah I’m good. Thank you.”

“But let me say this, you look beautiful when you are zoned out.”

Mmmmm… for a moment I don’t know what to say, but then I recover quickly.

“Well thank you Tangaza.”

I turn and my eyes lock with Brenda for a second. If eyes could kill… It then becomes clear to me. Tangaza is clearly interested in me (too bad for him because it’s never going to happen) while Brenda is totally into Tangaza who is either assuming her or trying his best to annoy her, the later seems to be working.

Well I love me some office drama but not when I’m in the middle of it. I prefer watching from the sideline. So I get my phone out of my bag to check the time. It is 6:30 pm, still early, but I have to get out of this place. I quickly text my sister to call me, stating how it’s an emergency. This game is never going to be out of touch. Lucky for me my phone rings after two minutes. I excuse myself and walk from the table.

“Thanks for calling.”

“So what’s going on? Are you in your usual troubles?”

“Not really, though this is a bit of a drama than a trouble, will give you the details later on.”

I walk back to the table, excuse myself once again, take my bag and walk out without looking back.