"What is this?" Anna asks and continues reading the page that drew her attention on Mikes laptop. Sliding over more as she scrolls down to comfortably continue reading, she looks back at by the breakroom coffee machine, "Can I mail this to me?"
"Sure." Mike says without ado, and he just continues making his coffee before heading back to the couch.
Looking down at Anna who now has his laptop on her lap and is reading intently, he waits a few more moments, "Move." Mike says in his usual monotone.
"Oh sowwi, I mailed it to me. Great writing, I can't wait to read the rest. Did you write it? "Anna rambles off as she shifts back to her side of the couch. Break is almost over then they need to get on with work.
Proof reading other peoples work can be very dreary. Mike and Anna are the types of people made for that job though, the boring parts are all but forgotten when they discover a gem among the asphalt.
It helps that most of the writing they get to read are the flowers from the weeds, and for the most part can be considered better than the majority. There are some that the proofreaders find baffling at times. All the proofreaders from the fiction department agree on one thing though: At least they do not work in non-fiction.
After an hour back at work, Anna remembers that Mike never answered her. Slightly standing up from her desk chair Anna leans over and taps Mike on the shoulder to get his attention. Rolling his eyes as he feels the intrusion, Mike removes his headphones and turns to look behind him, eyebrows raised questioningly.
"Sorry," Anna starts, " I just wanted to know, " she continues "do you know that author of the story you were reading?" she stops. It can be awkward speaking to Mike but in the whole office, Anna is probably the one who is best at just saying what she wants and then not expecting too much of a response from him. It seems to work very well, but sometimes she still gets sideswiped.
Mike turns back to his desk and places the headphones on again, taking a moment longer to comb forward his fringe again and brushing his longish black hair back over his ears. Once the headphones sit comfortably he looks back at Anna who is patiently leaning over still, and unknown to Mike ready to pounce with a superior shoulder jab if he does not answer.
"Nah, I don't know them," Mike says and turns back to his final position.
"No shit, " Anna thinks as she sits back behind her desk and clicks the link she mailed herself then continues the story from where she left off when Mike so rudely asked her to move.
"Are you coming?" Mike says from behind Anna.
"What?" Anna responds immediately without missing a beat in her reading.
"Come." Mike says again.
Clicking off the page and looking at the clock she sits a bit more upright, "Oh, shit!" Then she slams her laptop shut and reaches for the bag. Combing her summer red hair to one side with her hand, she gets up and shoves the chair back in one movement.
"Sorry, I got lost on that blog. Some seriously good writing, how long have you been reading them?" She asks Mike as she shoves her laptop in place, the last zee in the zip sounding that she is ready to go.
Mike has been walking Anna home for about 6 months now, mostly because he found it a hassle to always time when he left work after or before her in such a way that it seemed natural. So one day they just left at the same time and the rest is history. She lives in the apartment building opposite his so it is not really like he is walking her home. She just always refers to it as that.
Neither minded the walks, even Mike wondered why he thought it best to try and avoid Anna outside of work.
"So are you going to tell me about that dude's blog?" Anna asks as they wait for the light to turn green.
Immediately Mike replies hoping to get off the topic before it begins, "It is just a blog."
Knowing she is being told to find a new topic, which is the key to getting Mike to talk instead of silently walking for twenty minutes. Anna decides to leave it for now. "Ok, but you should share the good ones with me you know. I am clearly the bigger fiction nerd here. That basically makes me the Queen." She says with a smile and a step forward just as the light turns green for crossing.
"Yes ma'am." Mike mocks her in his more friendly manner.
Anna places her hand on his shoulder as they walk and says, "You know Mike. You are not that insolent of a pleb after all."
Getting home, she grabs a drink from the fridge and a bag of crisps. Then heads to the couch and slumps down into her mould from the day before and all the days before that. Anna takes her shoes off and for a moment thinks how nice it is she does not wear weird suits to work before opening her laptop on her lap and leaning back into the couch's armrest and a fluffy turquoise blanket covering her legs for that cosy feeling. She continued to read:
Azeal urged Maelca to keep moving with a firm placement of his palm to the dragon's neck. They had just escaped a close call and where they were heading now was uncharted territory. The rush of air mimicked their focus to find safety, the ground blurred below the two travelers as though it was recalling their memories.
It was an intense battle, Azeal thought but beyond that he could hardly recall anything. Surely in the days to come the details will be revealed but in that moment Azeal leaned forward and whispered. "Let's rest Maelca."
The dragon plunged down towards earth and veered sharply to head to a lake that appeared to the right. Hitting the water, no trace of the travellers remained. Not even a ripple.
"You know, I never really thought what kind of stories Mike prefers. I should ask him.'' She muses aloud while waiting for the next page to load.
@dreemport with Scholar and Scribe Community Challenge. Unfortunately, I am horrible at time management and thankfully there are so many who are not so there are many great entries to the challenge itself.