Thanksgiving was approaching.
Jyri had no idea what Thanksgiving was, nor did Ran or Faye. Brittney seemed to have heated feelings towards the holiday, given she’d often rant about Native Americans being slaughtered. And Shawn would argue back, saying Native Americans slaughtered people too, and she was a buzzkill, and he just wanted some god damned turkey without her white guilt thrown over it.
Jyri did not like turkey. But apparently, the day before Thanksgiving, they were to have a company party during lunchtime where there would be turkey. At least he liked potatoes and bread, which would also be served. His plate wouldn’t look too empty. Even still, he dreaded it.
The day of, Jyri found out that guests were invited as well. Some people brought spouses, Shawn brought his girlfriend, and Jessica…
“This is my boyfriend, Cliff.” Jessica smiled as she introduced a burly man with his arm linked in hers.
So this was the infamous boyfriend everyone kept reminding him she had. Jyri held out his hand. “I’m Jyri. Nice to meet you.”
Cliff gave him a firm handshake, but otherwise ignored him. It was probably for the best. Jyri had a feeling he should act as nothing more than a coworker to Jessica. And yet, after he filled his plate with potatoes and bread rolls, he sat at the conference room table next to Jessica. Faye sat on his other side. Oliver, Shawn, and Shawn’s girlfriend sat across from them. Brittney sat on the other side of Faye. Personally, Jyri thought Shawn and Brittney should sit at opposite sides of the room.
Not everyone sat at the conference room table though. Folding tables and chairs had been brought in, for others to sit. The warehouse workers took over the break room.
Chatter filled the air. Jyri kept his body hunched over his plate, in an attempt to hide his food choices from view. And he kept his mouth shut to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Rarely did this tactic work. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed. Someone always noticed.
Who would be the first to point it out? He guessed Shawn, followed by a snarky comment from Faye.
“Is that all you’re having?” Jessica asked.
Her voice was lowered, undetected by everyone else. But it still hurt, her being the first to point out the contents on his plate. Jyri forced a smile. “Yeah. I don’t care for turkey.”
“There’s green beans.”
“I don’t like green beans.”
“Jyri doesn’t like anything,” Faye piped up, taking a bite of bread.
Jyri elbowed her. “You’re not part of this conversation.”
“What?” Shawn looked up from his turkey. “Jyri doesn’t like anything?”
From the folding table behind him, Tim jumped in. “He sure likes Jessica!”
Jyri could feel the color draining from his face as Cliff turned his attention towards him. “What?”
“Ongoing joke,” Jessica said quickly. “Everyone thinks Jyri’s in love with me because he stuck up for me one time. That’s all.”
At least the subject of the food on his plate ended. Jyri took a bite of his potatoes.
“Is that all you’re eating?” Shawn asked, frowning at Jyri’s plate.
“That’s rude!” Brittney called out.
“How is that rude? I’m asking a simple question.”
“You’re commenting on what someone is eating. Maybe Jyri has reasons for only eating potatoes and bread. Reasons he doesn’t want to disclose with you!”
Shawn ignored her, and continued drilling Jyri. “There’s gravy for the potatoes, you know.”
“No, thank you,” Jyri said.
“Butter?”
“I’m fine.”
“Anything? Don’t you want anything on your-”
“Shawn!” Brittney shouted. “He said no!”
“I’m offering in case he’s too shy to ask for it himself. It’s the polite thing to do.”
“Just drop it,” Shawn’s girlfriend muttered. For the first time, Jyri actually looked at her. Shawn had introduced her as “Valerie.” He’d barely glanced at her then. Now that he properly looked at her, she looked familiar to him. Like he had seen her somewhere before. But where?
Shawn “dropped it” while Brittney moved on to asking Faye about her Thanksgiving plans. Valerie continued the subject with Shawn. “You’ve got weird food habits too, you know. Always eating your food in order, never switching it up. The only thing you’ve taken bites of so far is your turkey.”
“Huh?” Shawn frowned down at his plate of untouched potatoes and untouched bread. But he only had a couple bites of turkey left. He looked at his girlfriend’s plate of food, in which each food item had bites taken out of. Then, he stared at Oliver’s plate, which was much the same. “Other people don’t eat one food at a time?”
“It’s okay.” Oliver smiled at him. “I think it’s cute.”
Valerie jerked her head towards Oliver. “You think it’s cute?”
“I meant interesting! It’s interesting, that you do.” Pink-faced, Oliver fumbled for his drink, and took long sips from it. Right as Jasper and Ran walked in. Jyri realized he hadn’t thought to save a spot for Ran, and a twinge of guilt hit him. But Ran didn’t seem to mind. He gave Jyri a smile, before filling up two plates with food.
“I hope I didn’t miss anything,” Jasper said cheerfully, grabbing an empty chair at a table behind Brittney.
“Just Brittney and Shawn fighting about Jyri not liking food,” Craig said.
“Nonsense. Jyri loves cheeseburgers.” Jasper watched Ran set one of the plates down in front of him. Ran took the chair next to Jasper, and dug into his own plate.
Jasper knew he liked cheeseburgers? Jyri frowned, finding himself staring in Valerie’s direction. Valerie stared in Jasper’s direction, and Jasper kept glancing back at Valerie every so often. The memory of Jyri’s first cheeseburger struck him. Jasper was there, on a date with a woman. A woman who looked a lot like Valerie. Jyri’s jaw grew slack. No wonder Jasper told him to keep quiet about it.
Shawn should know about this. Not that he deserved to know. But he should know. Jyri looked at Shawn, who was in a whispered conversation with Oliver, sounding rather distressed about the way other people ate their food. Oliver kept assuring him that both eating methods were valid.
“Are you going to finish that?” Faye asked, pointing to Jyri’s half eaten potatoes.
Jyri had long lost his appetite, and pushed his plate over to Faye, who dug right in.
“Is everything alright?” Jessica asked.
Jessica... Maybe she’d know what to do. “I need to talk about something, alone.”
Cliff raised an eyebrow. “Alone?”
“Nothing like that.” Jyri glared at him. “None of your business what.”
“I think it is my business, actually. I come here and find out some guy likes my girlfriend, and wants to speak with her alone-”
“It’s a joke,” Jessica said. “Jyri doesn’t actually like me.”
“It involves Shawn and his girlfriend,” Jyri whispered, so Shawn and Valerie couldn’t hear.
“And you can’t say it in front of me?” Cliff asked.
“I’d rather not. It’s something that happened that I’m not allowed to tell anyone but I want Jessica’s advice.”
Cliff raised an eyebrow. “Why Jessica in particular?”
“Because we’re friends, okay?” Jessica said in a snippy voice. “Am I not allowed friends now?”
“Not with a guy in love with you."
“I’m not,” Jyri said. “Tim jokes around like that.”
“Tim wasn’t the first to mention it.”
“It’s all workplace gossip,” Jessica said. “Nothing is going on between me and Jyri.”
“Fine. Whatever. Go have your private conversation.”
Jessica stood up and Jyri followed her out the door, to the empty lobby.
“Sorry about him,” Jessica muttered. “He gets like that sometimes.”
“I’m sorry I caused a fight.”
“Everything causes a fight these days.” Jessica let out a sigh. “What’s the problem?”
Just then, Jasper walked by. Jyri held his breath, hoping he wouldn’t stop to interrupt their conversation. But he continued on in the direction of his office without a glance.
“Shawn’s girlfriend is courting Jasper,” Jyri whispered, once Jasper left the room. “I saw them alone together at a restaurant, a couple months ago, and Jasper told me not to tell anyone I saw them there. I didn’t know she was Shawn’s girlfriend until now.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re sure about this?”
“She and Jasper kept looking at each other.”
As if on cue, Valerie walked by.
“See,” Jyri whispered. “I bet she’s on her way to Jasper’s office.”
Jessica rubbed her chin as she watched Valerie walk in the direction of Jasper’s office. “Hard to argue against that. Poor Shawn.”
“Should I tell him?” Jyri asked. “I feel like I should, but he might not believe me. And Jasper might make my life miserable too, if I tell.”
Jessica agreed. “It’s up to you, but I think he should know. I’m not sure if he’d believe it, coming from you.” Rubbing her chin again, she stared off towards the room of cubicles, where Jasper’s office was located. “I have an idea. Let’s go back to the conference room.”
Jessica and Jyri returned to their seats in the conference room. Brittney had managed to make room for Ran next to her. She, Ran, and Faye were discussing something. Shawn and Oliver were laughing. Cliff kept to himself as he finished up his meal.
Cliff looked as though he were about to speak to Jessica, but Jessica had her attention on Shawn. “Hey Shawn.”
Shawn barely glanced at her. “Yeah?”
“What’s your girlfriend doing with Jasper?”
That caught the attention of everyone at their table.
“What are you talking about?” Shawn frowned at her. “She left to go to the restroom.”
“I just saw her follow Jasper to his office.”
“Why would she follow Jasper to his office?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you. I thought it was weird.”
Shawn’s eyes darted between Jessica and Jyri, then he turned towards Oliver. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s weird too.”
“Go check for yourself, if you don’t believe us,” Jyri said.
“Alright.” Shawn pushed his chair back, and stood up. “I will.”
The group watched him leave the room.
“Do you know something about this?” Oliver asked Jyri.
Jyri nodded. “I saw Valerie and Jasper together, a few months ago. And today I noticed they kept staring at each other.”
“While Jyri was telling me all this, we saw Jasper go to his office, and a minute later, Valerie went the same way.”
Off in the distance, someone shouted. More yelling followed.
“What the hell’s going on out there?” Tim asked.
Everyone shared a look, then hurried out towards the ruckus.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVSaTy9lyZ
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