January 2nd, 2017

Avoiding Kyle's persistent texts and phone calls over the weekend had been hard, but coming to accept and understand that his life as he knew it was over had been even harder; and as Craig spent the rest of the holiday weekend locked in his room, he had plenty of time reflect and think about what his next move would. In the end, he came to the conclusion that there was only one thing he could do.

When Craig shows up to the office on Monday, it's in a whirlwind, shoving through the suite doors as if they aren't made of glass and prone to shattering. The room falls silent as everyone turns their attention towards him, but Craig doesn't hesitate even for a second. He marches straight for his work station and begins to empty his desk.

"Jeez, dude. When's the last time you got some sleep? You look like shit," Clyde chuckles, oblivious to the tension around him. Craig says nothing as he dumps the contents of his drawers into his bag. "Craig? Dude? Hey, wait—what are you doing?"

"I'm leaving."

"But you just got here?"

"No, I'm leaving. I'm done."

"Wait, you mean like quitting? Like for real?" Clyde gawks. "But what about—?"

"Craig? Can I talk to you in here for a second?" Kyle asks, poking his head out from his office. He's visibly anxious, probably dreading the conversation as much as Craig is. Good news for him is that it's not going to happen. "Craig? Did you hear me? Wait, what's going on? Why are you packing your things?"

"He says he's quitting," Clyde answers, equally confused.

"What? Why?"

Clyde shrugs.

"Craig, is that true?"

Craig says nothing, just heads for the door, whatever camera equipment he could manage to carry tucked under his arm. Kyle calls after him, shouting his name in a near frantic panic. "Craig! Craig, wait! Stop!"

"What's everybody screaming about?" Stan asks, coming in from the hall with a toasted bagel in hand. He's blocking the exit. When Craig elbows past him, he grabs Craig by the shoulder and forces him around. "Dude, what the hell—?"

Craig shoves him into the desk behind them.

The two of them stare at one other in the middle of the office among baited breath, waiting to see what will happen. Nothing does. Neither Craig nor Stan makes a move to continue the altercation any further. Anything that needs to be said between the two of them is done so wordlessly, and although Stan looks as if he'd enjoy nothing more than smashing Craig's face into the watercooler, he only just stands there.

Craig is the first to break their standoff to glance around the room—at Clyde, Bebe, David, and all the other sad, pathetic faces in that stale, crème-colored office—all gawking at him, staring at him, as if he's some sort of monster. "This is it," they're probably thinking, "I knew this would happen." Their shocked expressions tell Craig all that he needs to know. "He's finally snapped and gone off the deep end. It was only a matter of time." Kyle is the hardest to look at out of everyone.

Nobody tries to stop him when he leaves this time, except for some irritated delivery guy that he slams into while rushing to get off the elevator. He doesn't stop to help clean up the mess.

Received 9:29 AM

Did something happn? You've been acting weird all weekend and now im worried.

Received 9:31 AM

Kyle is super pissed dude. Are you really not coming back? Were u for real about quitting?

Received 9:38 AM

Should I grab the rest of your stuff?

Received 9:48 AM

Talk to me man…

Craig flips his phone over as it lights up with another incoming text. Ever since he stormed out of the office it'd been buzzing out of control with phone calls and messages, all unanswered and ignored. The fact that not a single of them had been from Kyle is more upsetting than Craig would like to admit.

Wanting to be alone and without a lot of options, Craig had ended up at the café, much to his displeasure. He couldn't go home to his apartment; that'd be the first place Clyde would look for him. It was too cold to wander the streets, and though the buses were heated they didn't accept plastic. The only real place that Craig could go for some peace and solitude without freezing to death was the busiest, noisiest place he knew.

He sighs and drops his head in his hands.

Jingle!

"Hey, jackass!"

It's not his given name, but Craig whips his head up anyway. Charging towards him from the biting cold outside is Kenny McCormick, part-time barista and full-time questionable human being. He doesn't look happy. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right now, you fuck!"

"What?"

"You know what!"

Craig thinks about it.

"What were you doing there?" he asks, once it dawns on him that the guy he'd bumped into in the hall was none other than Kenny; that explains the messy brown splotches all over his coat. Craig didn't even know they delivered.

"I think a better question is what the hell were you doing? Running out of there like you stole something." Kenny eyes the camera equipment at his feet. "Did you?"

"I quit my job."

"Still stealing if it's company property. Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"What were you doing there?" Craig asks again.

"Besides doing my job, unlike some people I know?" Kenny quips. Then he shrugs. "Just thought I'd be a good friend and drop off some breakfast after everything that happened. Stan just happened to ambush me before I could make it to the third floor."

"Stan?"

"The vet tech? Well, ex-vet tech."

Craig blinks. "He was a vet tech?"

Kenny deflates. His initial readiness to rip Craig a new asshole is replaced with visible exhaustion. "Jesus. Kyle wasn't kidding—you really are dense."

That's when Kenny shucks off his coat and pulls up a chair. Yes, Stan had been a vet tech. Yes, the two of them know each other. In fact, they all know each other, Kyle and Wendy included.

"How come you never said anything?" Craig asks.

"How was I supposed to know that the guy Kyle's always complaining about was you?" Kenny counters. "I didn't realize you two even knew each other until the other night."

"At the New Year's party?"

"No, afterwards. I wasn't there for the party, had to work late since I took an extra shift for the holiday pay. But I saw you come out of his room when I was getting ready for bed. I tried to say something but you didn't even notice me. Figured there might've been an emergency or something since you were in a hurry, but—"

"Wait, Kyle and Stan are your roommates?" Craig cuts him off when it suddenly clicks. "The gay one and the straight one. That's them?"

"Do you even listen to me when I talk half the time?"

"Not really."

"I know I don't talk about them a lot, but I've mentioned them by name at least, like, three times. So if anything, you're the one who should've said something," Kenny tells him. "I bet you weren't even listening when I told you I was changing shifts so I could work on my pre-reqs for the pharmacy program at UC."

That would explain the textbooks. "So, Stan and Kyle," Craig presses, failing to acknowledge Kenny's academic ambitions once more. "They're not…?"

"Fuck no, dude. I told you, Stan's straight. Or something. Honestly, I dunno anymore, he's weird. But him and Kyle are definitely not together."

"Then why does he smell like Stan's aftershave?"

"You mean that cucumber shit that Kyle bought him for his birthday?"

"I guess?"

"You must've caught him on one of his shave days. He usually uses our shit since the guy can barely grow a mustache." Kenny laughs. "He's pretty conniving though, buying the stuff he wants and saying that they're gifts. You know he bought me some cologne once for Christmas? I haven't even touched it yet and it's already half gone."

Now that Craig thinks about it, Kyle hasn't smelled like Stan's aftershave since that night at the office. Maybe Kenny's right. "And Wendy?"

"What about her?"

"Did she and Kyle ever…? Or are her and Stan…?"

"I'd certainly hope the fuck not. I'm the one dating her."

This is probably the hardest thing for Craig to process.

Thankfully, Kenny is more than happy to explain—not what the hell someone like Wendy is doing with a guy like him, but everything else at least. That yes, actually, Wendy and Stan used to be on-again, off-again, but that was way back in grade school; and how ever since graduation, they've just been friends. Close friends, but friends. Same goes for Kyle.

"I think he might've had a crush on her at some point way back, but he really just sees her as a sister," Kenny says after some story about how the two of them had run together on the same ticket for student body president during high school and won. "Can't really blame him, though. She's hot."

The sneaking sense of hopefulness that'd slowly been creeping its way into Craig's thoughts is crushed when he checks his phone: six new text messages and one missed call. None of them are from Kyle. Craig sighs and lets his phone slip out of his palm to clatter to the table.

"Hey. You alright?"

"What do you think."

"Aw c'mon, don't be like that," Kenny says, prodding him from across the table. "Quit your moping around. You can always go back, you know. He's probably waiting for you."

"I told you already. I quit."

"At least go talk to him."

Craig doesn't even validate Kenny's suggestion with a response. There's nothing for them to talk about; Kyle has made it painfully clear where he stands without even saying a word, and honestly? Craig doesn't blame him. Not after spending all that time running away and acting like a jealous, paranoid fool. He kind of deserves this.

After almost a full minute of silence, Kenny exhales and leans forward onto his arms. "Alright," he says soberly, accepting Craig's fate for him. "Then what are you going to do?"

Craig shrugs.

"I don't know."