How May I Help You #9
Eden had demanded they do a virtual happy hour via video chat. Rita had teased asking if the drinks had to be virtual.
“What you think Ben’s deal is?” Rita asked sort of surprised that the question exited out of her mouth all fully formed like that. Her phone was sitting on the table so she could drink with both hands.
“In what way?” Eden said, eyebrows raised in do tell fashion.
‘I don’t know, I guess I mean I talk about books and stuff, and you talk about your family, and like other than he really likes ‘Space Race’, I feel like we don’t know that much about him.”
“Do you know more about him than Carla?” Eden asked.
“Maybe,” Rita said. “Although like, I know Carla started like us and worked her way up to management. I don’t even know what Ben did before.”
“Do you know what I did before? To be honest, I don’t even know what you did before,” Eden said.
“Yeah, I guess I’m not making sense,” Rita raised her glass like the seven sips of cider she’d managed had already made her weird. But she felt like something was going on with Ben, something she couldn’t put her finger on or even define. And so now it felt weird that she couldn’t just be like dude, what’s happening. Rita knew she could in fact ask him that. But she also knew he’d make a joke, or do something else. She didn’t even know if he had pets. Why didn’t she know that? Of course, coworkers and friends were not the same thing. Nobody had to be friends with the people they collected paychecks alongside. But Ben was cool. He seemed like someone she would want to be friends with. So why hadn’t she done the work, like she had with Eden. Ugh, talking about friends like they were work was such a sure sign of how capitalism got everywhere.
Rita took another sip. She definitely did not want to be thinking about late stage capitalism right now.
Note: If you missed the prior installments, you can start at the beginning here.