AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve tried.”
“Maybe I could—”
“Don’t. Don’t try to get in the middle.”
“We could eat lunch tomorrow,” Yemi suggested.
“I don’t need a pity lunch.” The words came out sounding bitter, and Yemi flinched. She forced herself to smile. “I mean, we see each other all day, right? You should spend lunch with Jinny.”
Yemi looked uncertain. “Okay.”
“It’s fine.” Esther smiled wider. She was smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. Maybe if she kept doing it they’d freeze that way. “Really. Enjoy your lunch.”
She turned around and went back to work. Or tried to, anyway. What she actually did was spend most of the morning staring into space and feeling sorry for herself.
She shouldn’t be this upset. Yemi was just a work friend. It wasn’t as if they hung out regularly outside the office. Nothing had to change between them. They’d still sit beside each other all day, and still be able to talk about work stuff.
So why did she feel like she’d lost something important?
Because Jinny had staked her claim on Yemi. She’d played a trump card that beat everything Esther was holding. If push came to shove, he would choose Jinny now. As he should.
At 11:55, Yemi got up to go to lunch. “I’ll see you later,” he said, sounding sheepish.
Esther nodded. “Yep.”
She didn’t go to the cafeteria. Instead, she cobbled together a measly lunch of snack foods from the vending machine down the hall. She stayed at her desk, munching on salt and vinegar potato chips and Famous Amos cookies while she caught up on the work she should have been doing all morning.
Yemi came back an hour later. He looked happy. Glowing, almost. The glow faded a little when he saw Esther. His eyes took in the empty potato chip bag on her desk and he frowned.
“How was lunch?” she asked, pushing the evidence of her own dismal, solitary lunch into the trash.
“The enchilada pie was under-salted today.”
“That sucks.”
“I’ll eat lunch with you tomorrow,” Yemi offered again. A consolation prize.
Esther didn’t want it. She shook her head. “Thanks, but I can’t tomorrow. I’ve got a call with one of the offsite testing teams.” It was a lie, but Yemi wouldn’t know that. He’d be off at lunch with Jinny tomorrow. And every day after that, probably.
Esther packed her own lunch on Tuesday, even though it was kung pao chicken day. Instead of enjoying delicious kung pao chicken and egg rolls with everyone else, she’d be eating peanut butter and jelly at her desk. A sad, pathetic lunch for a sad, pathetic loser.
She’d already abandoned her dressing-up initiative and reverted back to her old, comfy work wardrobe. What was the point? If she was going to be miserable, she might as well be comfortable in her misery.
At 11:55 on the dot, Yemi got up from his desk and gave Esther a sheepish nod on his way to lunch. She nodded back. Neither of them said anything.
When he came back an hour later, Esther had her headphones on. She pretended to be engrossed in her work so she wouldn’t have to see the pitying look on his face.
They didn’t talk the rest of the day. Esther kept her headphones on and buried her head in a spreadsheet. When five o’clock rolled around, Yemi packed his stuff and stood up. He tapped her on the shoulder and waved. She waved back, and he left.
Wednesday was meatloaf day. The meatloaf wasn’t anything special, but they served it with macaroni and cheese. Esther loved the cafeteria macaroni and cheese.
She figured she couldn’t hide from Jinny and Yemi forever, so she worked up the courage to brave the cafeteria alone.
She had a strategy all worked out. First, she waited for Yemi to leave, and then she let him get a five-minute head start before heading down herself. By the time Esther got in line, Jinny and Yemi had already gotten their food and were sitting at a table by themselves.
It was the first time Esther had seen Jinny since their fight. She and Yemi were huddled together talking and smiling at each other—beaming, more like. In their own little world. So caught up in each other they hadn’t noticed Esther walk in. Jinny had her full-on smitten face going, and Yemi was gazing back at her with his heart in his eyes. Esther had never seen him like this before. It was a revelation. She never would have pegged him for such a hopeless romantic.
They both looked so happy.
