Ryan wasn't sure how much of it was that they genuinely liked each other and how much of it was because they knew that it would drive Michael crazy, but Ryan and Toby had become friendly.
It started with all the complaints Ryan had. He wasn't usually much of a complainer; would rather have no interaction with these people at all, but once your male boss tells everyone how he'd choose you to sleep with... well sometimes you had to talk to someone.
And Toby was a good listener. Just took things down and shook his head a lot.
Michael would get so angry when he'd look for Ryan for some humiliating errand and find him in the annex talking to "a loser." And then Michael would make some comment about Toby's divorce, or current lack of girlfriend, or prior need for antidepressants, and wait for Ryan to join him in the scorn.
When he didn't get the reaction he wanted, Michael would tell Ryan to do some kind of pointless task, telling him one day he'd thank Michael for rescuing him from the horrors in the annex.
Okay Michael.
Ryan and Toby went out for beers after one particularly humiliating day (Ryan had been sexually harassed and Toby had just been harassed).
Ryan told him about friends of his - friends who currently worked at places where their bosses didn't comment on their physique, where their coworkers weren't quite as quirky or obnoxious. His best friend from childhood, Ryan said, was working for some finance company in London.
London.
Not Scranton.
"Never been to London," Toby said thoughtfully.
"Me neither," Ryan said. "You said you went to Amsterdam though, right?"
"Right. Awhile ago. When I needed to get away."
"Amsterdam," Ryan repeated. He really needed to start travelling more. Making contacts, expanding his knowledge and experiences. He was always thinking ahead. "And what did you do in Amsterdam?"
Toby opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to change his mind. Finally he said, "I'm not really too clear on what I did. I was just sort of there."
Of course, Ryan thought, immediately understanding.
It made sense.
And that, from what he heard, was a great reason to go to Amsterdam.
And then, because he was enjoying this kind of camraderie with a coworker who was reasonably sane, he told Toby he had bought some stuff from Creed, which he was a little nervous about, and did Toby want to sample some with him.
"I should really say no."
He didn't though. And so the two of them went to Toby's and sampled some of Creed's stuff, agreeing that they had had better.
Ryan had his eyes closed and heard Toby say, sounding very regretful, "I could really get fired for this."
Ryan opened his eyes. "Fired for what?"
"Yeah," Toby said. Then he said, "Drugs. Let's not and say we did."
Ryan snorted, remembering Michael's lecture last week. "More people will use cocaine than read a book to their kids."
Toby laughed. "You know his head would just explode if he knew about this, right?"
"Yeah." It was a nice thought. "Hey, thanks for the grilled cheese by the way. It's really good."
"Secret recipe. Preferred by six-year-olds and stoned temps everywhere."
And then they were both quiet, because it was kind of weird. Ryan knew he probably shouldn't be doing this kind of thing with a coworker.
Although he supposed if he was going to it might as well be with the HR rep.
But still something about it just seemed kind of wrong.
They probably wouldn't be doing this ever again.
"This is really weird," Ryan said. "I feel like I'm smoking with my favorite teacher or something."
Toby laughed again. "I'm smoking with the temp. I feel like I'm corrupting today's youth."
Ryan closed his eyes again, feeling very relaxed. Away from Michael, from Dwight, from Kelly, who had already left him several indecipherable text messages and a few hysterical-sounding voice messages, begging him to call her.
Kelly could wait.
"I applied for a job a few weeks ago," Toby confessed out of nowhere. "But when they called me I lied and said I wasn't available for an interview."
That didn't make any sense to Ryan. "Why would you do that?"
"I don't know. Part of me is regretting it. But it was in Philadelphia, too far from Sasha. She only lives twenty minutes away from me now and that's way too far." He sighed a very sad-sounding, shuddering kind of sigh and Ryan worried for a second he'd start crying. What would Ryan do if that happened? But Toby only said, "And then I had this really weird thought. What if the boss is worse than Michael? I don't know if that's even possible, but what if? I mean the devil you know..."
"Yeah," Ryan said, "but not all bosses are devils."
That was very philosophical. He was pretty impressed with himself.
"True."
"I would have interviewed," Ryan said. "I mean yeah I don't have a daughter or anything to worry about, but I would love to get away from this terrible job."
"You're a temp," Toby said, and his voice, kind but also slightly disappointed, made Ryan think his earlier "favorite teacher" comment was spot-on. "Call your agency and have them move you. This isn't the only job around."
"I know," Ryan said.
Neither of them said anything. Ryan picked at the remains of his sandwich.
"I'm going to own my own company some day."
Toby looked at him. "Really?"
"Definitely. And I'll need an HR person. So I'll hire you away. I mean it."
Toby smiled at him. It was a very tired-looking smile. "Okay Ryan."
He said it like he didn't quite believe him.
"Maybe I'll end up running Dunder Mifflin," Ryan said.
"That's very ambitious."
Damn straight it was.
"And if that happens," Ryan said, "I promise I'll have your back. I'll look out for you."
Another tired smile.
"Okay Ryan. I'm holding you to that."
That was good, because Ryan always kept his promises.
His cell phone rang again. Kelly.
He ignored it.
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali