So I took what 2 days? Not too bad, thought it would be longer. Well this chapter is a little longer than I had expected, but I think it's worth it. Hope you enjoy. Please R&R. Promise I'll post the next chapter soon.
Joanne was sitting at her desk, her hands covering her face, what the hell just happened. She felt something wet hit her hands, what's this she was crying. Why though; was she upset because she had cause Steve's pain, his comments, or maybe because she had feelings for Steve. No, that couldn't be it, she loves Maureen too much. She felt stupid for even considering the fact she had feelings for Steve any longer. About then a frantic Maureen burst into her office, she quickly wiped her tears away and tried to compose herself before Maureen noticed anything was wrong.
"Pookie, what the…" she was basically screaming as she made her way into her office, "baby," her tone became much softer, "are you ok? What's wrong? What did Steve say, I saw him leaving here." Joanne could see the concern in her eyes and how protective she was becoming.
Maureen walked over to Joanne and knelt down in front of her. Maureen wiped some stray tears from Joanne's check, "Joanne?" She could tell something was wrong, by now her stomach was in knots.
"Honeybear, get up, nothing is wrong." Maureen looked a little suspicious of her answer. "It's just been a long day."
"You swear?" Maureen got up off her knees and sat on Joanne's desk.
Joanne pulled her chair in front of Maureen, grabbed her hands, and looked straight into her eyes, "Promise. Now what are you doing here?"
"Oh right." Maureen had almost completely forgotten about her encounter with Steve. "Well I was coming to say hi and on my way I ran into Steve, he was coming out of your office. We got in this little spat, he told me you were going to leave me because you could do so much better than me." Maureen couldn't even look at Joanne; she was kind of embarrassed that she would even consider this to be true.
"Maureen, look at me," Joanne gently placed her hand on Maureen's chin raising her head so that their eyes met. "I love you and I'm not leaving you, not now or ever. I'd never leave you for Steve," oops that last part kind of just slipped out.
"What?" Maureen pulled away from Joanne, that last comment confused and shocked her, why would she even say that, was she thinking about it?
"Well see Steve was just in here before you came in and he told me he loved me and wanted us to start dating," Joanne was hesitant while saying this, her voice very quaint and quiet, she knew Maureen would flip out.
"I knew it!" Maureen jumped off the desk, she was pacing the floor now, arms flaring about, "I saw how he looked at you. I've seen…what a minute. He said he loved you? But you've only known each other for a couple of weeks. How could he love you already?"
"Well see Maureen, that's the thing." Maureen froze her heart was in her stomach. No Steve couldn't have been right, Joanne said she wasn't leaving.
"Come over here and sit down baby," Joanne had gone over and sat down on a couch she had in her office, she was patting the empty spot beside her. Maureen just stood there, staring at her. "Baby please," Joanne pleaded. Maureen made her way over to the couch, forcing every step to happen. "Ok, Maureen listen and try not to go ballistic on me."
"Wait" Maureen interrupted, "I have to tell you something first. I love you; like I've never loved anyone or anything before, even myself. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you, get married, have children, the whole package. But if…" Maureen cleared her throat this part was not easy to say, "But if being with Steve makes you truly happy, then well…" she again hesitated, tears were now beginning to well up in her eyes, Joanne tried to speak but before she could get anything out Maureen's hand was covering her mouth, "then go ahead. I'm going to hate it and I probably won't make it easy for you, but go ahead."
Joanne was crying, "Maureen I can't believe you actually think I'd want to leave you for Steve. I'm not leaving you for anyone. And if I did try to leave, you better make it hard for me."
Maureen was now too crying. She pulled Joanne into a hug. And that's how they stayed for awhile, embraced into each other's arms, crying.
Maureen was finally the one to pull away, "But then what did you want to tell me?"
Joanne now became nervous herself, how is she going to react to this news. "Well Maureen I knew Steve before he got his job here?"
"Did you work with him at another firm?" please say you worked with him at another firm.
"No. We actually went to high school together." She paused, "you see baby Steve was my high school boyfriend, we dated for about four years." Maureen quickly jumped up, but Joanne grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the couch, keeping a tight hold on her, so she just couldn't run away. "I broke it off when I started dating Kelly." Maureen shot her a look; I don't want to have to hear about her too.
"So why didn't you ever tell me about him before? I've always been open with you about my past relationships. Is it so much to ask of you to be open with me as well?" Maureen was getting heated; she jumped up too quickly this time, causing Joanne to loose her grip on her.
"Well, Steve wasn't just some boyfriend. He was…"
"No, I don't want to hear how great he was and how much you missed him and that shit. Not now, too late." Maureen fired back.
"I wasn't going to tell you about that stuff. I was going to just say that Steve was my first love and you don't like hearing about Kelly, who I'm not even sure I truly loved, so why would you want to hear about Steve?" Joanne was becoming very defensive by this point.
"A name would have been nice or to know you had a boyfriend at one point."
Joanne looked completely shocked, "You knew I dated a guy before."
"Just that you broke up with…" Maureen paused realizing she knew Joanne had a boyfriend at one point, "a name wouldn't have hurt."
"Oh geez Maureen."
"So were you guys pretty serious?"
"Yeah, we were pretty serious," Joanne was being completely blunt by now, not even once considering what she was saying so nonchalantly, "we had actually gotten engaged."
"What you never told me that!" Maureen was screaming by this point, pissed off that Joanne never told her, not even when Steve came back into her life.
Joanne was now too on her feet. "Baby that was a long time ago, what does that matter?"
"Are you serious? Of course it matters. It's bad enough you were engaged and you never told me, but then he comes back into your life, obviously wanting you back, and you still don't tell me." Maureen looked angry and hurt all at once.
"Maureen I was going to tell you." Joanne had walked over a once again grabbed hold of Maureen's hands. "Baby, I was going to tell you, I just needed to figure out…"
Maureen jerked away, interrupting Joanne before she could finish her sentence, "so you could figure out what Joanne, your feelings?" Joanne didn't respond, "oh my gosh, that's why isn't it? You still have feelings for him don't you?" Maureen was crying of frustration and pain now.
"Maureen, no listen to me. I'll admit yes when Steve first got this job and I saw him, the old feelings rushed back to me. But baby that's just it, they are old feelings." Joanne was trying her hardest to convince Maureen this was the truth, cause it was.
"Joanne you were really questioning your feelings for me, you know how bad that hurts to hear?" Joanne could tell how much pain Maureen was in right now.
"Baby, no I never. You know what I told him when he asked why I wouldn't give us a chance again; I told him because he wasn't you and…"
Again, Maureen quickly interrupted her, "wait, let me guess, your mom hired Steve, that bitch. I knew that bitch never liked me but to do this," Maureen had now passed frustration and was irate.
"Now wait a minute Maureen. I know that my mom doesn't like the fact of us being together, but I don't care, I still wouldn't be with you if I cared. But don't call her a bitch," she too was now becoming quite heated at the situation. Even though Joanne wasn't always fond of her mother, who did Maureen think she was calling her a bitch, plus this gave Joanne a reason to be pissed.
"Joanne if you want to break up, so you and Steve can pick up where you left off, fine by me." Maureen had decided to appear not really to care, because if not she was going to break down right there and she didn't want to, not now anyway.
"You don't mean that Maureen."
"Wonder if I do, so what?"
"I never said I wanted to break up. I was just telling you earlier that I didn't want to." Joanne was so frustrated at how difficult Maureen was being at this point.
"Well, maybe you need a break, cause I don't want your feelings for him or me to be confused."
"Holy shit Maureen, what the hell? Are you not listening to me? I don't love or even like Steve like that anymore, I love you."
"I don't know if I believe you Joanne."
The scene became frighteningly silent then. Joanne was standing, looking daggers into Maureen's eyes, from disgust at what she had just said.
"Well, if that's what you want to believe, then fuck off Maureen Johnson."
Maureen turned around, leaving the office. Joanne followed her to the door, making sure the door was slammed hard enough for everyone in the building to hear. Maureen turned to walk to the elevators; Joanne turned to walk back to her desk, but they both suddenly stopped, turned back to reach for the doorknob, wanting to apologize, but their egos and stubbornness wouldn't let them.
Maureen stormed down the hall, pissed off at Joanne, Steve, Joanne's mom, and herself. While she was waiting for the elevator, Steve walked up beside her; oh Steve now is not a good time.
"So she left you didn't she? I told you. She doesn't really love you," he was so smug in his comments. "Guess I'll just go pick up the pieces now. I'll make sure you're invited to the wedding."
The elevator door opened, but before getting on Maureen turned to Steve and hit me, laid him completely out, she had a damn good left hook. She felt a little better now.
Ok, so yes they got in a big fight, I know a lot of you aren't liking that fact. But it just had to happen. I hope you liked it anyway. Thanks for reading.