Back At The Office
Ben arrived back at the office parking lot, and he looked at the clock on his dashboard. He knew he was going to be a little late getting back from lunch, but fifteen minutes late was outside of his comfort zone.
The anxiety crept up as Ben imagined everyone would be staring at him as he walked down the hallway back to his office.
Taking a pause, Ben grabbed his lunch bag from the passenger seat, made his way into the office, and walked down the hall. He breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like everyone was at lunch, and he made his way to his office.
As Ben was getting settled one of his coworkers, John, came into his office. “How was lunch?”, John asked.
“It was a nice day for a walk in the park. Glad I went.”, mentioned Ben. He really just wanted to get back to work.
“Do you ever meet anybody on these walks?”
“No,” replied Ben, “Just pass people by, smile, and say ‘Good morning!’, mostly. How was your lunch?”
“Same ol’”
“Did you need anything?”, Ben asked, not really in the mood to entertain conversation.
“Nah, just stopping by. Maybe some day I’ll come for a walk with you.”
“Sure,” Ben answered, knowing it would never happen. John turned around and left Ben’s office.
Ben logged into his workstation, getting back to work on his spreadsheet.
Laura, meanwhile, was still sitting on the bench, talking to a voice she didn’t expect to hear.
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The End
(But don’t miss Ben’s camera roll on the next page!)
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