As Friday ends, Robin finishes his final review comments in a notebook. He sends off the notebook to the author and is done with his own so he begins to close up his workstation for the week. He takes his headphones off and hangs them up on a hook next to his computer. Then, he takes out a wipe and wipes down his desk and computer. He finally turns off his computer. He looks at the time. It's closing time. He looks over to Marian who is still working on her project. "How much longer until you are finished?"
Marian is stressed. She still has all of her stuff out around her desk. She grabs one of the piles of papers, looks at it, sets it back down, and then grabs a different pile of papers. She is reading through it frantically. She is trying to finish her work, but she isn't ready to leave yet.
"I just need 20 more minutes. I can meet up with all of you later."
Robin looks at the clock and doesn't want to keep everyone waiting so he starts towards the main entrance. "Alright. Sounds good." He is about to leave when he stops himself. He torn. Should he help his office mate out with her last project so she could join the group earlier, or should he leave her to deal with the consequences of her waiting to do work until the last minute? Robin knows that this type of behavior is typical of Marian. People are always waiting for her feedback to finish their work. Robin decides that since other people are waiting, he should leave Marian and join the group. "You know, if you didn't mess around all week you could get more of your work done."
Marian looks offended at this. She already feels bad about being late and Robin's snarky comment is not going to help her in any way. "Mess around? Not all of us can just put on our headphones and disappear. I do my best work when my mind and body are ready." Robin replies before he can stop himself, "You do your best work on a Friday afternoon when you have drinks waiting for you." Marian looks like Robin just shot her in the heart. She shakes her hand at Robin and says, "Hey, procrastinators are people too." Robin looks at her with pity in his eyes. He begins to offer to stay and help when Marian cuts him off, "Just order an appetizer and I will be there in time for the main course." She then looks back at her computer screen and under her breath mumbles "...why aren't you working?!" She then looks back at Robin and finishes her line of thought, "I only need to be there to get the check anyway."
Robin is about to close the door when he tells her, "I am going to order two appetizers since you are both late and you are paying." With this, he walks out the door and heads down to the main entrance of Blahco to meet up with the rest of the coworkers.
Robin is striding down the stairs when he meets up with his friend. Graham. Graham meets up with Robin and they continue to the main door. Graham tells Robin all about the date he has set up for tonight after the dinner with their coworkers. Graham is listing all the things that make this girl hot. By the time the two get to the bottom of the stairs, they have caught up with Kris, their supervisor, and Darrin. Graham doesn't know either of these two people well so he stops talking about his date when they catch up with them.
Darrin is office mates with Aurora, he explains that Aurora went to change into an outfit she had in her car that was not her work clothes. The four wait about two minutes until Aurora strolls in with a new outfit. She manages to look even more amazing than she did during the day. Kris greets her as she walks back in and compliments her cute outfit. Aurora asks if they have been waiting long, to which the group replies no. Aurora relaxes when she realizes the group hasn't been waiting for her.
Kris then asks, "Where is Marian?" Robin tells everyone that she is finishing her reports and she instructs everyone to go ahead without her. Aurora then offers to go help her finish up the reports when Kris stops her. "Don't you dare! That woman needs to get her shit in order." Kris looks around to see if Jace is anywhere in earshot. She shouldn't be swearing at work, it sets a bad example for her coworkers. They all walk together out of Blahco.
Theo is waiting at Fatty Catty when the group arrives. He also asks about Marian. Robin fills him in about Marian running late. Finally, a hostess seats them all at the table. They individually start looking over the menu without much interaction. Then the waiter came to take everyone's orders. Aurora asks, "Should we order some food for Marian too?" Robin replies, "I don't think Marian is too concerned about eating tonight." Theo starts laughing and goes to give Robin a high five. He says, "Sounds right. Marian is rarely as excited for the food as she is for the drinking." The high five that Theo is holding up for Robin is left un high-fived. Robin doesn't know Theo well enough.
Aurora then asks Robin while looking at his eyes "Oh, are you dating Marian?" Robin feels the need to quickly clarify, "No it's not like that at all. I am just her office mate. Actually, she is dating Theo." At this, he points to Theo who waves as soon as his name is mentioned. Robin had to make sure that Aurora understood that he was very single.
Theo takes this as an opportunity to introduce himself to Marian's coworkers. "Hey, I don't think I know everyone here. Maybe we should do some introductions? Marian should be doing them, but she is not here. I am Theo, I am Marian's boyfriend. I don't work with you all at Blahco. From what Marian tells me about her job, you couldn't pay me to do that all day. I am a personal trainer. Each person takes their turn introducing themselves to Theo. Kris, who is the boss, Darrin who shares an office with Aurora next to Marians, Graham who works downstairs in accounting who is Robin's friend, and Aurora who just started at Blahco a couple of months ago. They have all had a chance to introduce themselves, but Marian isn't yet there. So Robin asks, "Theo, how did you and Marian meet?"
Theo starts smiling. He leans in closer to Robin. "I am on an ultimate frisbee team with her roommate. Marian came to one of our matches and started talking with me immediately. I guess you could call it love at first sight." Kris rolls her eyes as Theo tells this story. This is not at all how Marian would tell this story. As Marian's best friend, she should let Marian know that she may have to do some damage control.
After their introductions, Marian finally shows up. She walks into the restaurant and immediately heads towards their table. A seat is left between Robin and Theo. Marian settles into the seat. "I am here! I am sorry you guys had to walk over without me, I had a ton of work to finish this week." Robin takes a sip from his drink. He knows that what happened today was nothing new for Marian. She has time management problems.
Aurora is the first to speak, "I am so glad you made it. And that you finished before our food got out. You still have time to get in your order." At this, a waitress comes to the table and asks Marian if she wants something. Marian orders without thinking, "A whiskey sour!" The waitress pauses. "Did you want any food to eat?" Theo laughs, "Babe, the rest of us haven't ordered any drinks." Marian looks around at the table and then looks at the waitress waiting to hear her answer. "I don't mind starting the party myself."
Robin is just grateful that it is the weekend. At least Marian won't be coming into the office tomorrow smelling like a night out. There have been days when she came to work after a night out and she accomplished nothing. He doesn't have to share an office with her tomorrow and be distracted by her hangover behavior.
A little later that night, but still at Fatty Catty. The coworkers finish their meals and drink and talk about work. Kris is in the middle of a rage vent about their boss, Jace. "And then Jace walks into my office without knocking. He tells me what he wants me to do and then he leaves. WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE. Who does that? Does he have no personal skills? It's so awkward. Does he do that to you?"
Graham answers first, "Jace doesn't come down to accounting much. He is afraid that if he interrupted us, we might forget what number line we were on." Then he starts laughing at a joke that is only funny to him. Kris responds, "I am serious. Is it too much to want Jace to behave like a normal person?"
Theo chimes in, "Why is it always that the boss, who is over the largest number of people in a company, is always the one with the worst people skills?" Kris is excited that someone else gets it. "Exactly! It's called delegation and he expects me to do all of the talking with everyone. I mean what about you Aurora? You're new. Has Jace even come to see you?"
Aurora gets a little nervous so many people look in her direction. Usually around new people, Aurora would rather listen than do the talking. But since she was asked so directly. "Not since my first day at Blahco. I just assumed he was busy." Marian smiles at this, "Too busy to talk to the prettiest girl in our office? Most other guys have made any excuse to come talk to you." Aurora looks away and blushes. "I...I don't think that's true."
Darrin her office mate chimes in. "It's true. So many people stop by to ask you questions or to see how you are doing. If I wasn't gay, I would be a little threatened." Graham adds in, "I know that applies to the number crunchers too." Kris suddenly feels bad for Aurora. "Hopefully not in a sexual harassment way, right?" Aurora looks visibly uncomfortable now. She hates being the center of attention. Robin notices and decides to change the subject.
Robin gets up and stands in front of the table. He looks at Kris, the instigator of the whole conversation, and asks her, "Hey Kris, can I buy you another drink?" This is enough to change the conversation. Kris looks put out slightly and says, "I am an independent modern person, I can get myself a drink. I can get a drink for you since we are celebrating you. What do you want?" Robin looks around and sees that Aurora isn't drinking at all. He responds, "I don't need another drink." Graham interjects, "You can buy one for me, Kris. Unlike my friend, I don't turn down a woman." Darrin joins in with a "me too. I rarely get a night away from my kids so I want to enjoy myself." Kris, Darrin, and Graham all get up to leave and get drinks from the bar.
Marian notices that it's just her, Theo, Robin, and Aurora and she gets an idea. One that will help these two nervous lovebirds. She starts to pretend to look for her wallet. "Oh No, Theo, I think I left my wallet in my car. Can we go check? If you don't come, I might get mugged." Theo stands up and reaches down to help Marian. "Or get hit on. No one gets my woman," says Theo. Then the two of them walk towards the entrance. Now Robin is left at the table with Aurora. He knows exactly what his office mate did. She already used her wallet to pay for dinner. She is looking for an excuse to get him and Aurora alone at the table. But he decides to enjoy Marian's gift and sits down for some time with Aurora.
The two sit in silence for a few minutes. Robin wants to say something, but he can't think of where to start. He takes a sip of his beer. Aurora finally breaks the silence. "It's great that your friends invited me to dinner. Sorry, I am not drinking It is probably spoiling the fun." Robin puts his drink down on the table. "I don't think anyone notices." Aurora feels encouraged by Robin's confirmation and continues. "I am not the type of person who is comfortable making a mess of myself in front of people I don't know that well." Robin folds his arms and says, "That sounds very smart. I will join you." With that, he fully pushes his drink away.
Aurora leans in closer to Robin. "Congratulations on making it through your first year at Blahco." Robin responds, "Thank you." Aurora decides to keep talking to fill the silence. "Is this your first job out of college? Or did you work somewhere before Blahco?" Robin starts to lean in closer to Aurora, so she can hear. "Blahco is my second job out of college. I used to work as an engineer at No Fun Inc. I was there for two years before I switched jobs." Aurora leans in a little more because she wants Robin to be able to hear her in the loud bar restaurant. She shares, "This is my first job out of college. I am just grateful I found one. I interviewed for a year before I found a decent job. But you started at No Fun Inc. That's a very successful, well-known company."
Robin starts to feel a little nervous. His job at No Fun Inc. is not his favorite thing to talk about. "I know what you mean. I left No Fun Inc and was worried about paying rent. Luckily someone had just left Blahco and I got hired. Not the same type of engineering, but you take what you can get." Aurora wants to know even more. She asks, "Why did you leave No Fun Inc? Was it a bad job?" Robin is quiet. He never knows how exactly to handle this topic. He starts wishing he could pick up and take a drink of his drink to buy himself some more time. But, he should say something about his old job. "No, the job wasn't the problem. I was just ready for a new chapter of my life." Robin thinks to himself, that's mostly true.
Aurora decides to change topics. She can sense that Robin doesn't want to share more. "So how do you get along with Marian?" The two stop to see if Marian and Theo have come back. They have. They are posted up next to the bar and Marian is sitting on Theo's lap as they look through something on his phone. They both start laughing. Robin starts, "Marian had the office before me. She has been at the company for about three years. Her last office mate told me about needing headphones. Marian loves to talk. I think Marian's a year older than me, but she hasn't moved up in the company yet. She has other things going on that take up the majority of her attention." Almost on cue, Marian and Theo start making out at the bar.
Aurora and Robin watch Marian awkwardly and then look back at each other. They make eye contact and start to blush. Aurora, "I am guessing you mean her relationship?" Robin thinks, "Yeah, but Theo is a pretty recent addition. I don't think I saw him until a few months ago." Aurora, "But they seem pretty into each other now. I wish I had her confidence, kissing someone at a bar in front of everyone. But that isn't my style." Robin puts his hand on top of Aurora's to assure her, "Mine either. I am more of a gentleman." Aurora blushes as she responds, "Really? Because I have always seen myself as a lady." The two then start holding hands for just a minute on top of the table. They start smiling at each other.
Marian had been back from the "car" for a while now. She was a little sad that when they got to the car Theo started looking for her wallet. Marian stopped him and pointed to the wallet that was in her hand. "I used it for the bill, of course, I have it. I was trying to give Robin and Aurora some alone time." Theo stops, closes the car door, and starts laughing. "Marian, you schemer. Isn't your own love life enough?" Theo puts his arms around Marian's waist and pulls her close. He kisses her while they are having their own alone time. Marian pulls back after a minute and says, "I don't want to leave Kris all alone in there with Graham". And the two returned to Fatty Catty.
Once they were back inside with everyone, Marian took a chance to watch Robin. She didn't know if her grumpy officemate could flirt with Aurora. He was so awkward at everything he did. She watched the two get closer and closer together. She started to relax. Obviously, he didn't have too much trouble talking with Aurora. She wanted to watch the two of them a little longer but Kris came over and then they began talking about the latest episode of a K-Drama they both watched. When Kris finally left, Theo pulled Marain in for another kiss. He was feeling a little left out with only Marian's coworkers here. So Marian decides that Theo should get the rest of her attention tonight.
Aurora gets a notification on her phone and she turns to look at it. She immediately pulls her hand away. "Oh my gosh, it got so late. I wasn't planning on staying this late." She immediately goes to grab her purse sitting next to her. She looks at Robin and stands up. Robin, "What time is it?" "Twelve thirty" responds Aurora. She starts walking away and Robin thinks he should offer to walk her to her car. It would be the polite thing to do. So he stands up. Aurora looks back at him and stops. Robin, "It was great getting to know you. Can I walk you to your car?" Aurora starts to blush a little bit. She answers, "I think I should be okay." Robin presses forward. 'I know, but remember that whole thing about being a gentleman? My mom would never forgive me if I allowed a lady to walk alone to her car after midnight." Aurora giggles at this and says, "Well we can't upset your mom." The two proceed to walk out together. Just as they are leaving. Marian, while she is still making out with Theo, gives Robin a thumbs up as the two walk out together. Her master plan worked.