I'll Be Good

29

This whole morning I have been staring at a screen. My neck is stiff and my eyes feel dry. I'm going to have to do this for the rest of my life. Eric told me this was the job that came right below him, but this is the simplest thing to do. Just look at numbers and call Eric when something is up. I remember that I have to meet with George for lunch, so I go down when we have our lunch break.

It seems like whole dauntless has a lunch break and it is hard to find George in the dining hall between all these people. When I find him I see that he is sitting with Trina, Ross and Tori. I walk over to them. My palms are sweaty and my heart beats fast. They look up when they notice me and I sit down.

'Hi,' I say awkwardly. They greet me back. None of us really knows what to say and Tori and Trina look really annoyed at us three for acting like this. 'Look... I don't want you guys to be angry at me or be angry at you guys.'

'I get that,' George says.

'Can we just make peace?' I ask.

'I can do that,' Ross says and takes a bite from his sandwich.

'Ok,' George says.

'Okay, so what happened with you guys?' I ask. Ross tells me how his job is and it seems like we both have boring jobs now. Then I tell them that I quit the leadership program and started a new job. I also tell them that I have top-surgery in two days, which makes them really exited for me. George tells me that he and Trina are getting married two weeks after my surgery. I tell them that I'll think I'll make it, but I'm not sure how awake I'll be. It is getting close to two o'clock so I tell them I'll see them later.

I go back to the office and on ny way I meet Lex.

'And... what do you think of the job?' He asks. There is a sarcastic tone behind it.

'It makes me question my life,' I say. He laughs. 

'I know, it is very boring, but look on the bright side. You can often make trips to the other factions, which gets you out of dauntless. And we also get a christmas present every year and it is always something good.'

'Good to know,' I say and grin at him.

'Do you want to get a drink after work? Just to get to know each other.'

'Sure, do you have a place in mind?'

'Have you ever been in a gay bar?'

I laugh. 'No I haven't.'

'Then this will be your time to shine. It the most colourful place in dauntless, but there are mostly leather gays.'

'I'll see,' I say and laugh.

We get back behind our desk and work the rest of the afternoon. We have a small break, but that's nothing special. Most of them use that to go smoke on the roof.

-

It is 6 o'clock and Lex and I leave together. When we enter the bar I don't see a lot of people. Most of them are just chatting and drinking coffee. This is jot what I expected.

'This is not what it always looks like,' Lex says. 'After 8 they go crazy.'

'You know what's weird?' I say.

'What?'

'I always find other LGBTQ+ people to hang out with. I often don't know from the start that they are. Obviously they know I am, but... yeah.'

He laughs. We both order a coffee and drink that. He asks me about initiation and we compare our experiences, because it was so different 10 years ago. He is shocked of how brutal it has become. When we finish our drinks we decide to do this again tomorrow, but then later, so it is more of a club.