Status: Sorry I haven't been posting again.... I'm hoping in the next 2 weeks to have time to get one out!

Take My Hand, Just Hold On

Chapter 14 - I'm Getting Over You

The drive home seemed short to me. I tried to concentrate on the radio and not think about... things, but when I got home it all caught up to me. I felt tears brimming my eyes and had to wish them away - I haven't cried over a guy since high school, no way was I starting again now. The only thing to do now was to move on quickly, like I always do.

Later that evening I received a text from Robert saying he just landed and already had work to do. We texted until he arrived at his meeting, and then said another good-bye.

***

I spent the last few days drowning myself in work. I asked Tom if I could read through a few manuscripts that he's chosen to publish so I could better understand what exactly the company is looking to publish. So, needless to say, I've basically just been reading when I go home. Robert and I will text each other a few times a day, just talking about anything.

On Thursday I head to Subway for lunch - as I am usually too lazy to actually make anything to bring from home. I walked in and saw the regular guy, "Hey Brenna, same thing today?"

I nodded, "Yeah, thanks." I took my sandwich and coke and sat down in one of the booths to eat.

About half way through my sandwich someone slid into the seat across from me. I looked up, "Can I help you?" I inquired of the man smiling at me.

"It's Brenna, right?"

I nod, "And you know that how?"

"I work with you! I'm the head of the junior editor's department... My name's James McCallister."

I smiled, "Ah, nice to meet you. Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you around! Tom's been keeping me pretty busy though, I don't have a lot of time to get to know anyone."

He chuckled, "Yeah, I used to be his intern as well, believe me when I say that I completely understand."

"He's a great guy though, definitley helping me understand the business better."

We continued to talk for the remainder of the lunch hour and he seems like a really cool guy, and we agreed to go out for lunch together tomorrow as well - he wanted to show me his favourite Indian restaurant.

***

That weekend I went to a movie and coffee with Ruby. Aside from that, I mostly spent it going over more manuscripts. Some of them were really good, and it was interesting to be able to read through someone's work without it being edited beforehand - I had to refrain from actually editing them myself; instead I just made the points in my head and tried to read through it.

The next week I apparently gained a lunch partner. James and I started going to lunch together every day, trying out new restaurants in the area and just enjoying each others' company.

Currently we're eating at Kuru Kuru, a Sushi place somewhat near us - although, far enough away that we did drive.

"No way is the U.S. a better place to live than Canada!" I retorted, after he made an appalling statement over how the U.S. is clearly a better place than Canada.

"Come on, we're better in nearly every way," he replied, shrugging back in his seat.

"Not true. America is retardedly congested, your political system is completely fucked, you've got a terrible education system, don't get me started on your healthcare policies, and to top it off you're living in the dark ages when it comes to same-sex marriage!" I spewed. Okay, the U.S. isn't that terrible, but Canada is obviously better...

He laughed, "Are you saying Canada is perfect? You can't honestly say that your politicians are any better than ours, and I can't believe your education system is better than it is here. And about the same-sex marriage thing, I don't even understand why that's such a big issue anyway."

I scoffed at the last part, "You don't understand why it's a big deal? Them wanting equal rights?" I bite my tongue - literally - to try to calm myself before replying in further detail. However, before I got a chance my phone vibrated in my pocket. "Excuse me," I said as I dug my phone out.

Robert: Hey, was just thinking of you. How is everything?

A small smile formed my lips as I responded quickly and shut my phone. "Sorry about that. Let's move away from the whole same-sex marriage thing. I can only feel a fight coming on, and that's certainly not what I want on my lunch-break. Instead, let's talk about how fucked your political system is!"

James laughs, "Sure. And by the way, I'm not actually against same-sex marriage, I just don't get why they are making it into such a big issue is all."

"My last words on this topic: They are not the ones making it an issue, the fuck-tards who are making it impossible for them to get married are the ones making it such a big issue," I responded. After that we moved into lighter topics... Luckily he didn't know much about Canadian politics, so he couldn't point out the (many, many) flaws that there actually are.

We finished up our lunch and drove back to the office talking about music now.

"What's your favourite genre?" I asked him.

"Probably hard rock, I guess. Stuff like Zeppelin, Guns 'N Roses, and Metallica. How about you?"

"I usually can't pick one genre, so I always say Porn Groove," I answered honestly.

He laughed, "And what is 'Porn Groove', exactly? Like bow-chica-bow-wow?"

I chuckled, "I'm not entirely sure. I saw it one day under the genre list of my iTunes and just decided that's what I would tell people if they asked my favourite kind of music."

"Alright.. And who was listed as Porn Groove?"

"Brand New. And I believe it was their first album, which I would probably classify as something almost pop-rock. Definitely not their best album, that's for sure."

"Not their best, but you still say it's your favourite genre. Very nice!"

"Mhmm," I responded as we pulled into work.

He put the car in park and turned it off. I reached for the door until I felt a hand clasp around my wrist. I turned to look at James, confusion etched on my face. He let go quickly, "Sorry. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tomorrow?"

I thought about it quickly and couldn't see the problem in going out with him. He seemed nice enough, might be a good way to get over Robert - you know the old adage; the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else?

"Yeah, that sounds great."
♠ ♠ ♠
Song: The Click Five - I'm Getting Over You. It's sort of the sentiment, except I'm pretty sure the relationship ended a lot differently than it obviously did in this story....

On another note... I am so sorry for the long absence. I've just had a more hectic schedule than I thought that I would here (even though I don't have a job yet... Eff this economy!), plus a bit of writer's block... I did originally mean to write a longer story, but honestly it took me all night to write this, and I know it's crap. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to a better schedule in the next couple weeks... I'll try to set one day as my day to publish a chapter. Get one out a week. That's my goal, but not until after Thanksgiving (Canada's Thanksgiving, not the U.S. one!)