Carol rose her head from the computer and looked around for a moment. Not to many colleagues were still at the office. She tried to sit down properly while she stole a glance at Daryl's office. He seemed very focused on his computer and he was writing something on a piece of paper. She laughed to herself. He was one of the few at the office (along with her) that was still writing everything on paper. He had an agenda that went everywhere with him, full of post-its and annotations. He owned an Iphone which he used only for calling and a laptop he used just for work. She looked across the main office and she watched Merle, Daryl's older brother typing fast in his laptop while he was on the phone. Merle was everything Daryl wasn't. He was a technology junkie and he was always buying and trying all the new devices. He tried to change Daryl attitude towards technology but he wasn't very successful.
She was just working back on her asset spreadsheet when she received a new echat message from her colleague Andrea.
→ Carol...do you have the "loverstein" case docs?
→ hmmmm...I guess… why?
→ he's complaining about some shit...pff i hate the guy.
→ RELAX. I'm sending them to you right now.
→ Thaaaaaaaaaaaanksss! You are a life safer.
→ Yeah yeah. You should talk with the Merle though.
→ You think? Something like...wanna go to the bathroom...together?
→ Andrea! Jezzzz.
→ what? He's hot.
→ You realise this is a work chat, right? They can read it.
→ Pfff….
→ They can. Actually they can read everything we write.
→ Ok,not that I'm really worried about it. Probably your sweetheart Daryl doesn't know even how to use this chat. And If Merle read it...well…
→ ANDREA! He's not my sweetheart.
→ that's what you say...but I know you like him.
→ I don't.
→ Honey, you have a BIG BIG CRUSH on him. Quite sickening.
→ Andrea, shut up.
→ Ok, ok...LOL.
→ I need to finish the report, ok?
→ Wait for a minute, wanna ask you something.
→ Ok, what?
→ If you met him on a bar, one night and he actually talked to you, will you take him to your house? Yes or no. BE HONEST.
→ Andrea….
→ Answer the question.
→ YES.
Carol has changed her status to busy.
Carol was trying to finish her report, not thinking too much in what Andrea had said. If she was honest with herself, she liked Daryl. He was nice to her (to almost everyone) and he was very handsome. He was also very shy, and even at christmas party remained mainly alone. Carol suspected that he had someone in his life, but she wasn't sure. He had watched Daryl rejecting every woman who had approached him. Younger girls and very pretty ones.
She was just saving the report when a new chat popped in her screen. This time, was Daryl.
→ Ms. Mason, could I have copy of your conclusions?
→ I'm not finished yet, Mr. Dixon.
→ DON'T WORRY. I JUST NEED A BRIEF DEScriptiON OF YOUR OPINION. WE CAN DISCUSS TOMORROW. IT'S ALREADY quiTE LATE.
→ Ok.
→ FUCKINg CAPSLOCK...BLOCKED AGAIN….SOrrry
→ I will send you the conclusions in a bit. Maybe you should talk to Gleen? He can work miracles in computers.
→ YeAHH. THANKS.
She was summarizing her ideas quickly, ignoring the chats both Andrea and Michonne were sending her about some party that weekend. He was managing to write down what Daryl wanted when her phone buzzed. It was Sophia, her 12 year old who was supposedly at school.
¬Honey?
¬Mum..where are you?
¬At the office, why? What happened?
¬I...well….Mike was being stupid as always...and I...well, you told me that I shouldn't take any crap from anyone, so well...I punched him in the face. Several times.
¬WHAT?
¬I'm sorry mum...I...will you come to get me? Principal Greene want to speak with you.
¬Yeah, I'm on my way.
She hung the phone and explaining briefly the situation to both Andrea and Michonne, she copied her conclusions and pasted them on the chat, while cutting her previous chat with Andrea and pasting in a blank document.
She switched the computer off quickly and grabbing her jacket she left the office.
Daryl watched as Carol left in a hurry and he realised it was way past her finishing time. She was hard working but he knew she had a kid. She should be out with her kid, not working extra hours. He made an annotation in his agenda to speak with her about it.
He opened his chat with her, but instead of the conclusions he asked, he found a copied conversation between Andrea and Carol. They talked about work first, but then, Andrea made some comments about his brother, and teased Carol about liking him. WHOA. He blinked twice and read it again. And again.
→ If you met him on a bar, one night and he actually talked to you, will you take him to your house? Yes or no. BE HONEST.
→ Andrea….
→ Answer the question.
→ YES.
He smiled to himself and switching off his computer he left the office. He needed to think about it.
Carol was driving home with her daughter sobbing quietly in the backside. She was expelled for a week. Apparently she had broken that kid's nose. He was a rich kid with a rich father who gave big quantities of money to the school, so that erased anything wrong he could do. She realised that nobody cared about what he had said to her daughter. The only care about a broken nose, inflicted by the kid raised by a single mother. FUCK THEM ALL, she thought, glancing at her daughter. They were arriving home when she received a message from Andrea. As soon as she parked, she checked her phone.
Carol, WTF are you sending some report conclusions? BTW you didn't copied our conversation in our drive document. Not that I care, but you were the one insisting of doing it. "Not leaving traces, or some shit like that".
She read the text and suddenly understood what happened. "FUCK FUCK FUCK. If I have send the conclusions to Andrea….I must have sent the chat to Daryl. FUCK FUCK FUCK".