Live In Reality

Lenore slowly made her way out of the conference room and her head was pounding. It had been a long day and all she really wanted was a hot shower and some comfortable shoes. But at the moment, neither was possible. Chantal was stalking down the hall towards Lenore and there was nowhere she could go without walking towards Chantal.

“Why haven’t you talked to him yet?” she asked.

Lenore looked away. She didn’t want to talk about Sidney.

“Lenore,” Chantal said firmly. “Look at me.”

“What, Chantal?” Lenore asked with a frown. “What could you possibly want?”

“I want you to buck up and talk to him dammit,” she stated.

“Maybe I don’t want to talk to him,” Lenore breezed past her friend and towards her office. Hopefully, Chantal would take the hint. She didn’t.

“Maybe I’m only looking out for you!”

“How are you looking out for me when you’re making me do something that I’m against?” she asked as she packed up her bag.

Chantal groaned. This was not going to be easy.

“The two of you are supposed to leave for Vancouver tomorrow afternoon. Are you really going to make Sidney get on that plane alone?” she asked.

Lenore shrugged. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. That all depends on if he has his act together in time.”

“Why are you acting like this?” Chantal wanted to shake her friend by the shoulders. “All of a sudden you don’t care about your relationship?”

“Of course I care!” Lenore burst out as she slammed her hands onto her desk. “Of course I care about Sidney and me. But right now, you’re really pissing me off. I don’t need to deal with this right now.”

“Uh, yeah you do,” Chantal said. She put her arm out to prevent her friend to leave the room. “You’re kinda living in my house right now.”

“Don’t remind me,” Lenore grumbled.

Chantal gave her shorter friend a look.

“What? What do you want me to do?” Lenore asked.

“You know what I think you should do,” she nodded. “But it’s up to you whether you take action. Think about it,” she implored. “Do you really want Sidney leaving the country when you two aren’t on great terms?”

“No,” Lenore shook her head. “But I just don’t know what to do.”

“Do you still love him?” Chantal’s question caught Lenore off guard.

“I-I… of course I still love him.”

Chantal looked at her friend. “Think about what you just said and then make your decision.” She gathered up her own purse from her desk outside Lenore’s office. “I’m headed home. Pick up dinner on your way back.”

Lenore retreated to her desk and dropped down into her cushy chair. Her headache had just gotten a lot worse.

*****

Out in the parking lot, Chantal was sending a quick text to almost the entire Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.

‘Stage 1- complete.’