The Office

Connie and Joe have both made an appearance. Bottles of wine are being held up as they come into the house, and I shut the front door. Cheering on, we make our way to the kitchen, and I begin getting us women some wine glasses. Connie’s eyes widen as she sees the sizing of these glasses and I laugh in disbelief. Joe tells her not to be daft and takes her wine glass, gulping down the liquid and raising it up afterwards so we can toast. We do so and promise ourselves not to get messy tonight. Not believing a single word, I tell them I need an extra five to touch up on makeup before we leave. We head upstairs and gossip about work affairs. The ins and outs of who’s hot, who’s not on the single hot list anymore and just general work shenanigans. We all disregard the whole redundancy thing, as I’m sure we will all be hearing about it later on tonight. Plus talking about hot men is miles more interesting and fun! The taxi ride Is not long- pub first and town later is our itinerary. Coming to a halt, we open the taxi door and get out. Cold air hits our lungs, but it’s quite refreshing. Tightening our jackets, we walk towards the pub entrance. I allow Connie and Joe to go in first and I follow them both quietly after. Multiple stares are thrown in our direction, but we continue making our way regardless. Connie occasionally looks back to ask Joe where everyone is. Joe shrugs her shoulders. As we continue walking through a forest of people, finally, we spot our crew in the back corner. My eyes begin searching to see who is here. They stop when they spot Noah. My stomach suddenly feels knotty, and my mind is desperately begging for a drink. Instead, I smile when I see Alice approaching. I greet her and ask if she’s okay. Alice is not one for night outs unless its team related or day outs. So, I’m surprised she came. Nevertheless, I give her a tight hug and she returns the gesture. My eyes begin scanning the room and I’m stunned when I see a gaming area. I didn’t realise they had one. I also see Wilson. He gives me a smiling nod and takes a swig of his beer. I look to see who is next to him and realise it’s just the rest of the lads. They are all playing darts. I focus on the board, trying to figure out what all the numbers and colours mean. It looks fun. I watch for a couple of seconds and begin placing my bag down. It looks easy but I don’t really know the rules. I want to play, but I would never dare. Not with Noah here, I can’t focus enough. Speaking of which it looks like it’s his turn. Collecting the darts from the board and making his way back, Noah shoots me a mystic glance. Passing by me, I take in his cologne and watch him carefully as he begins to shuffle his feet behind the starting line. Lifting his right arm, his shirt rising slightly and his bicep showing, he grips the dart firmly and takes a full force swing forward. The dart digs into the board, hitting the red middle circle. Bullseye. The lads cheer and I bite my lip, crossing my legs to hide my excitement as the lights are now dim and the pub infused with people chatting. I hit the smoking area; the calming night and chilly breeze cooling me down from the moment earlier. I greet and hug more colleagues, trying to get on board with their conversations. One of the trio lads is back and I cannot help but think about Beatrice. I glance in her direction, she’s happy socialising. She’s another one who doesn’t normally do these night outs, but guess she fancied a change. I then look back and see the lad brushing a hand through his hair, staring at her, almost drooling. With my throat becoming dry, I want to heave. This is sickening, I don’t want to see this. I eye up Connie who’s happily vaping and ask her if she wants to go and get a drink. She nods, putting her vape back in her pocket and saying bye to the people. My ears are heightened as the music is now blasting and the crowd is cheering. Football is on. I meander between people until I finally reach the bar. There is hardly any space. I eye up a boy who I knew from high school, as he now works here. He comes over smiling and asks what we’d like. He puts our order through, and I go back to chatting with Connie. We talk about her relationship and how she’s wanting to be a wife so badly. I assure her, that her boyfriend of 10 years will most likely be popping the question soon. She continues on ranting, and I listen to her sporadically, my main focus being on these drinks now. Two doubles of rum and coke should set me straight. I’m thirsty. Grabbing our drinks, we attempt to go back. We make it. I go over to Mike and tell him to grab everyone so we can leave and head to town. Wilson suddenly bumps into me, nearly knocking my drink over. I give him a look, and he responds to me with an apologetic face. 30 minutes later, we are all gathering in town waiting for Max. I message him asking how long he is going to be. He responds he is not coming, so I tell the group and we hit our first club.