Chapter 4: Lies
Mary sat at her desk. It felt as if every muscle in her body were tensed up as she awaited Greg's appearence. Today was his first day there, and the longer he waited to show up, the more and more she was dreading even showing up that day. She had to do it though. There was no way that she could just hide her entire life. Besides, she didn't want to make him suspicious of anything.
Feeling nausea begin to wash over her, Mary quickly stood up and ran for the bathroom. Both Lou and Murray just watched her. There was no reason to say anything, to bring any attention to her.
Mary walked out of the bathroom stall and washed her hands. As soon as she turned the faucet off, she looked up at herself in the mirror. Looking back at her was a somewhat pale looking version of herself. Her eyes though, they showed how vulnerable she was at the moment. How fragile she truly could be. "I guess I can't hide in here all day," she softly said to herself and then left.
Walking out into the hallway, she passed the elevator and stopped at the drinking fountain for a quick drink. While she sipped at the water, she felt a hand on her shoulder. A hand that made her tense up, and she knew that he could feel it. She knew who it was. Instantly, she stood up and turned around to face him. "Greg!" she tried to sound more like she was warning him, but it came out as more of a gasp.
"Mary," she said watching her closely. "You haven't changed a bit from the last time I saw you."
Mary just rolled her eyes and walked away. There was nothing to say to him. As far as Mary was concerned, she didn't even owe it to him to waste her time on screaming at him again. On telling him how much of a bastard he truly was, and always will be.
Mary walked into the news room and rushed to her seat. "Mary!" Greg called as he passed through the doors. "You can't go on ignoring me!"
Mary pulled out a file that she was working on and pretended to actually work on it. There was no way that she could actually block him out and concetrate. His voice alone brought up too many memories and emotions.
"Mary," Greg attempted again.
Murray looked up to Greg. "Hey, why don't you go and see if Lou is ready to see you?" He wanted to get him away from Mary without causing a scene."I think he'll get mad if you show up late."
Greg sighed in defeat. He actually considered what Murray had said. He didn't need to get in trouble on his first day there. "Fine, I'll go and check."
Greg walked away from Mary and over to the door. As soon as she knew that he wasn't watching her, Mary looked up to Murray and smiled. "Thank you," she mouthed to him.
Murray simply returned the smile and then looked up to see if he was getting any response from Lou. The door did open up and finally, Greg walked in as David walked out and then closed the door behind him. "Hey, did Lou and Greg get in a fight or something?" David asked.
Both Mary and Murray looked up to him. "I don't think so," Mary said. "Why?"
David sighed. "When Greg walked in there, Lou looked like he wanted to kill him."
Mary looked back to Murray and softly smiled. They both knew what that was about, and Mary found it somewhat touching. It was comforting to know that she had people on her side, to know that others were willing to stick up for her. "I think you're going to have to ask Greg when he comes out," Mary said as she looked back to David.
David just waved it off. he didn't care enough to actually bring himself to talk to Greg. "Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?" It was completely off topic, but he had to make sure.
Mary smiled. "Actually, maybe we could do dinner tonight instead? I really need to talk to you." With the way Greg was acting, she wanted to talk to David as soon as possible. He didn't need to know everything that was going on, but she did want to let him know that they had broken up, and probably most of the story behind the break up. She thought that he and Greg must talk a little, and the last thing she wanted was for David to be asking her questions about Greg's twisted version of what had happened between them.
"That works with me," David smiled as he walked over to her desk.
Mary grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down her address. "You think you can find that?" she asked handing the paper to him.
David took it and looked over the address. "I think so," he said looking over the paper to her. "Seven okay with you?"
"Yeah," Mary said. The sooner, the better. She didn't want to have all that much to sit back and convince herself to not go. "I'll see you then."
"All right. See ya," David said and then stuffed the paper into his pocket as he walked off towards the film room.
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It was lunch time now. Mary stood at her desk as she grabbed her purse and waited for Rhoda to show up. While she was preoccupied with removing the clutter from her desk, Greg walked up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. It had the same affect on her that it used to, a chill went through her entire body. Something that she used to love was now the most uncomforting feeling to her. "Greg," she hissed. Mary quickly turned to him, breaking his hold on her.
"I was just saying goodbye. And I was also going to invite you to lunch with me."
His eyes seemed to penetrate her. The crooked smile teasing her. All the sudden she felt weak, like he was taking control over her. "No," she answered.
"Okay," Greg said. He casually turned and walked away.
Mary turned back and held onto her desk to steady herself. Tightly, she closed her eyes. What had she ever seen in him? How could she have ever trusted this creep?
"Mary? Are you all right?"
Mary opened her eyes and looked over to see Murray standing beside her. He looked like he was getting ready to catch her when she fell. "Yeah, I just got a little dizzy there." She stood up and composed herself. "I just needed a second," she said reassuring to him that she was okay.
Murray watched her for a second. She wasn't okay, but what was he going to say to her? No you're not? He could see that she was preoccupied as she stared down towards the floor.
"You ready Mare?" Rhoda asked as she walked into the room.
Mary quickly looked up and forced a smile. "Yeah," she said. "Just let me grab my coat and we can go." Mary picked up her purse from her desk. "Bye Murray," she said as she passed him on her way to the coat rack.
"Bye Mary," he said.
"Bye," Murray said. He stood there and watched her leave. He was beginning to get truly worried about her.
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Greg sat at the booth in the restaurant by himself. There was no one out here for him to join for lunch. The place was mostly quiet today, so he sat there and read over the news paper.
"Thank you."
Greg looked up from his paper. That voice. He knew that voice.
"So Mare, how's your first day of working with the creep going?"
He knew that voice too. Instead of saying anything though, he decided to stay silent and listen in. All he wanted to know was how she truly felt about him. It was obvious to him that they liked each other, maybe even loved each other up until she found out about his wife. He wanted that back. He wanted the weekends they spent, the late nights, laughing together, kissing, everything.
Mary and Rhoda sat in the booth behind Greg. Mary didn't even bother looking over the menu as she sipped at her water. "I don't like it. He keeps trying to get my attention. He even grabbed me before I left for lunch."
Greg rolled his eyes.
"Just ignore him kid. You don't have that long to go do you?" Rhoda asked.
"I sure hope not. But something tells me that the rest of this week alone is going to feel like a year." Mary finally picked up her menu and started to look over the lunches. "I just hope he's gone before I start showing," Mary said keeping it hushed.
Rhoda looked up to her from over the menu. "I thought you said that he wasn't supposed to be there that long."
"Yeah, but something tells me that he's going to try and stay as long as he possibly can."
"Didn't you say that you told Lou about the baby?" Rhoda asked.
Mary nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't have anything to worry about." Mary looked up and started to smile. "David said that when Greg walked into his office today that he looked like he wanted to kill him."
Greg just sat there. She was pregnant. That was all that he knew so far. It was most likely his baby. Hopefully it was his. A smirk slowly cracked his face. He know knew what to do to get her and keep her.
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After lunch, Greg quickly got back to work and waited out in the hallway. He was able to sneak out of the restaurant early without being caught. Everytime that he saw the elevator door begin to open, he grew excited. And everytime it was not her, he knew the next time there was a better of it being her.
This time, it finally was her. The doors opened and revealed Mary standing there, alone. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw Greg standing there. How could he always be there? Was this what she had to look forward to the entire time that he was going to be there? She could feel the nausea beginning to overcome her again, but this time she ignored it. She couldn't put on a show in front of him.
Instead of even giving him the satifaction of noticing him, Mary stepped off the elevator and started towards the news rooom.
"What's your problem?" Greg asked as she passed him. "Not even a hello for the father?" He asked as he slowly turned to face her.
Mary froze. It suddenly felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under her. Somehow, she could feel him watching her. She could feel his cold eyes set on her, waiting for her to respond. Waiting to finally push her over the edge. Slowly and carefully, she turned and discovered she was right. "Wh... what? What was that?" she asked.
Greg stepped towards her. "Don't play dumb Mary, you were never much of a lair." He took another step towards her. "I know all about the baby. The one, that I have yet to hear about from you."
"How did you know?" Her blood was beginning to boil. After what he had done, he had no right to act like she was keeping things from him.
"Lou threatened me this morning. Just something that slipped out I guess," he said.
Mary's face completely dropped. She went from angry to betrayed. She glanced over towards the door and then hopelessly looked back to Greg. "Mr. Grant told you?" she asked while she vaguely pointed in the direction of the news room.
Greg nodded.
Mary rushed over through the news room and into Lou's office.
"Don't you believe in knocking?" Lou asked as he heard the door close. He then looked up and saw Mary close to tears. "Mary? What happened?"
"How could you?" she asked. "How coud you? I trusted you." Mary took a second to try and prevent the tears, but it was no use.
"What are you talking about?" Lou asked.
"You told him! I asked you to keep it a secret and you told him! Now he knows everything!" Mary yelled.
Lou stood up and walked around the desk. "Mary," he said. he tried to grab her shoulder, but Mary pulled away from him.
"Just stay away from me!" Mary went to open the door, but stopped for a second. "I thought you were my friend," she said and then stormed out of the room.
Lou went and stood in the doorway "Mary!" he called out, but it was no use, she didn't stop. Murray walked into the room as Mary was leaving. He stopped at his desk and looked to Lou with confusion. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing!" Lou snapped. "Now get back to work," he said and then slammed the door behind him.
Mary got out to the hallway and rushed over to the elevator. She was about to push the button to go down, but Greg stepped in front of her and blocked her. "I don't think you should be so worked up in your condition."
"Let me through Greg! I don't know why you can't get it through your head. We're over. As a matter of fact, we never had anything."
Greg leaned back against the elevator door. "Not to pull your halo down, but if you're so innocent in this whole situation, then why are you pregnant? Is this one of those special virgin Mary type births? The name does fit the situation, too bad it don't fit the person."
Mary stood there and tried her hardest to keep calm. All she wanted to do was get downstairs and go home. She tried again to reach for the button, but Greg grabbed her hand.
"Hold on there," Greg said. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners? Wait until I'm done talking."
Mary pulled her hand away and turned around. She knew where the steps were and found no other choice than to use them. She started down to the other end of the hall.
"Hey!" Greg called out as he ran to catch up to her. "I just want to talk to you."
"No you don't," Mary said as she began to speed up.
"You can't keep me from my child," he said. "Do you know how unfair you would have been to me to have kept that baby a secret from me?"
Mary stopped and looked back to him. "How can you talk like that? After you lead me on? After you lied to me? Made me the other woman in your dirty little affair? How dare you tell me not to keep things from you."
"I loved you," he answered.
Mary had never been so mad at someone. She never knew she could feel so betrayed, so angered. Without thinking about it, she punched him. Right after she had done it, she jumped back and turned and wentdown the stairs. Greg stood there, grabbing his nose which was now bleeding.
Ever the optimistic one
I'm sure of your ability
To become my perfect enemy
~ Passive by A Perfect Circle