AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good morning, Sophie,” I heard from the corner office.
“Good morning, Amy,” I replied, breathing in through my nose and trying to focus on staying calm so my anxiety didn’t send all of my thoughts exploding into a nonsensical burst of nerves.
Edie wasn’t in her office when I reached my cubicle, but I’d come in early, so she was probably still downstairs getting coffee.
I fired up my computer, but as I read through the printed memo that’d been left on my desk, I heard the Slack notification.
Someone in the office was IM’ing me.
I narrowed my eyes and sawStuart’sname.
What in the actual...?
Stuart:Are you okay?
I looked around my empty department and I wondered if this were a joke. Why would Stuart be messaging me?
I didn’t get it.
Maybe he was trying to hijack my promotion.
I typed:Fine. Why?
Stuart:Because you didn’t insult me.
I typed,What?
Stuart:You’ve insulted me via “Good mornings” every day since we broke up. You looked distracted today and called me by my name. So... are you feeling okay?
I looked out the window, at the bright morning sun, and thought about what he’d said.
I’d forgotten to call him a name.
Since the day we’d both returned to work after the wedding, I’d made it my mission to come up with new and interesting insults to call him upon my daily arrival. At first, it’d taken some Google searching, but then laziness had settled to where I used low-hanging fruit likeassbaganddoucheballon the regular.
Either way, I’d never missed the opportunity to make him feel like a cockroach every time I saw him.
But today... today I’d forgotten.
This felt like a breakthrough.
I closed out of Slack, done engaging with Stuart, and texted Max instead.
Me:I think I just had a breakthrough!
Another thing that had been born from my insomnia—relief that we’d cut out the sexual activities. Even though I would miss it and absolutely thought we could continue hooking up without issues, it was comforting, being on solid footing.
Without the physical intimacy, I wouldn’t have to overthink things like texting Max every time I had news.
We were friends and everything was fine.
Max:Details, please.
Me:I FORGOT to insult Stuart when I saw him today!!
Max:Holy shit! Proud of you. You’re on your way.
Me:To...?
