Happiness and Other Future Possibilities
by Steph
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Season 6, including Double Date.
---
Kelly was wearing her favorite dress the day Ryan dumped her. It was the prettiest shade of pink and whenever she wore it she felt sexy and hot and not at all like the kind of girl who would get dumped a third time by the same short, arrogant prick.
“What?” she asked because she couldn’t have heard him right. No one in his right mind would dump her looking as awesome as she did right now.
“I want more, Kelly,” Ryan said. “I’ve always been the kind of person who has wanted, needed more than the average man. And for awhile here, with you, has been okay. I told myself that this could be enough, but I was only deluding myself. You see, Kelly, there’s a time and a place for everything and I think the time for us is done. I fear that if we don’t end this now our relationship will get in the way of my happiness and other future possibilities.”
“What?” she shrieked. “You are not dumping me! Not again!” She reached for a binder on her desk and threw it on the floor. She also may have stamped her foot. “You’re so going to regret this Ryan Howard. Mark my words.”
“Oh Kelly,” he said shaking his head indulgently at her. Like she was some stupid kid or something. Whatever! She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset; instead she smiled sweetly at him and said something about how of course he was right even though she was like totally dying inside.
She started crying immediately after he left, loud, gasping sobs that made her weak. What had she done wrong? No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t her fault that he was an immature, douchey bastard who was barely taller than her. She could do so much better.
Couldn’t she?
She opened her compact to survey the damage to her makeup. Her eyes were definitely puffy, but the waterproof mascara was still doing its job. She smoothed her hair, reapplied her lipstick and stood up. She would march over to reception as if nothing had happened and ask Erin to go out to lunch with her. Erin was so sweet and funny and would cheer her up and tell her she was way too good for a punk ass like Ryan.
She stopped short a few feet away from the reception desk. She watched, openmouthed, as Ryan leaned against the desk, talking softly. Erin stared at Ryan with rapt attention, smiling and nodding at whatever he was saying. The two of them continued their intimate conversation for a few more seconds, before Ryan turned away from Erin to look back at Kelly. He grinned at her, a slow, cocky grin that at one time she might have found a little bit sexy. And then he turned away, no doubt grinning that same grin at Erin.
She remembered a few days ago when Erin had giggled and confessed to kind of having a crush on a coworker, but was all secretive about it when Kelly had pressed for more details. Kelly had assumed Erin had a weird crush on someone creepy like Creed or Kevin and was embarrassed about it, but it looked like Kelly had assumed wrong. It was so obvious now; Erin had a thing for Ryan and the two of them would probably start dating. If they weren’t already hooking up.
“Hi Kelly!” Erin said when she noticed her. “We were just talking about...”
“You skank,” Kelly spat out. “You’re supposed to be my BFF. And you’re just a...a...” Kelly tried to think of something that would hurt. “You’re just a whore and an orphan. You’re a total whorephan.
“You can’t make fun of her being an orphan,” Ryan said. “It was on the list.”
“Whatever,” Kelly said. Now he was defending Erin? Her eyes started watering again and she was so glad she had her purse with her, because she was able to walk right out the door. There was no way in hell she was coming back today.
---
Once she got home, she crawled into bed, still crying. She didn’t even change out of her perfect pink dress; who cared about things like that now? She turned on E! and let the soothing sounds of gossip relax her enough so she was able to sleep.
She woke up to the sound of Lady Gaga. Her cell phone was ringing. Ryan coming to his senses - she thought hopefully until she saw the number. Erin. Kelly didn’t answer the phone.
It wasn’t fair, Kelly thought. Erin was supposed to be her friend, her loyal sidekick. The one who always told her she was pretty and cool on those rare occasions she needed a confidence boost.
She got out of bed and headed for the fridge. She needed junk food. She opened the freezer and found some Ben and Jerry’s. Cinnamon Buns. Perfect, she thought to herself and, quarter-full pint in hand, went back to bed.
--
The next day, she considered going back to work. It would show both of them if she came into work dressed to the nines, in the cutest skirt and her highest heels (so she’d be taller than Ryan) and her hair done up in curls and makeup applied meticulously. False eyelashes even.
But all that upkeep took energy that Kelly simply did not have so she stayed at home under the covers again. She watched game shows and soap operas and reread fashion magazines and ignored her cell phone every time Erin called. It was after the fourth ignored called that her cell phone started beeping. Kelly took her eyes off the TV and stared at her phone. Stupid thing needed to be charged. Where the hell was her charger?
At work, she realized with dismay. She had brought it in yesterday and had forgotten it in her rush to leave. This wasn’t good.
She watched more TV and when she got bored went online and unfriended and then refriended Ryan and Erin about ten times and changed her relationship status and then changed it back and then did some online shopping and cried just a little bit more.
The phone rang about quarter to five. Not her cell which was beyond dead, but her regular phone which she hardly ever used. Curious, she picked it up and said hello in as miserable a voice as she could muster. She needed some sympathy.
“Uh...hi Kelly.”
The voice, soft and annoyingly mumbly, was instantly recognizable. “Hi Toby,” she said. “Why are you calling me?”
“You weren’t at work today and...”
“And you missed me?” she asked. Nice that someone did, even if it was just Toby.
“And I know you left midday yesterday and haven’t come back. You can’t do that without letting someone know. You have to let us know ahead of time that you aren’t going to be in.”
Whatever. She rolled her eyes even though no one could see her.
“So I just am calling to make sure there isn’t some emergency going on and to find out if you’re coming to work tomorrow.”
“It’s a total emergency,” she said. “Ryan is now hooking up with the Whorephan.”
Toby coughed. “That being said, you don’t have a lot of vacation days left, so I would advise...”
“Toby!” she interrupted. “Go to my desk! Do you see my cell phone charger?”
She could hear him sigh. “Hold on.”
After what seemed like forever, he came back on the phone. “Yeah, Kelly, it’s right here. I’ll put it in your top drawer for you to get tomorrow.”
Tomorrow? She looked at her now useless cell phone and thought of all the voicemails she was probably missing. Maybe Ryan had called begging for forgiveness and she had missed it. The thought of it was almost too terrible to bear.
“Toby?” she asked, her voice sweet as sugar. “Can you come by after work and bring it to me? Please?”
“I’m sorry, Kelly. I can’t today.”
“Why not?”
“I have to pick my daughter up from her friend’s house,” he explained.
“So bring her with you,” Kelly said. “It’ll just take a minute.”
He sighed again. “Fine.”
“Thank you so, so much! I’ll owe you big time. Oh and can I ask you one last favor?”
“Uh...”
“I ran out of ice cream. Can you please bring me some? Anything chocolate. Thank you,” she said hanging up before he could tell her no.
--
“Here you go,” Toby said when she opened the door. He handed her her cell phone charger and a container of chocolate brownie ice cream. She squealed in delight, forgetting just for a second about all the atrocities that had been committed against her. Then she remembered, her good mood fading.
Kelly looked past her coworker to stare at his daughter. Sasha looked so much more grown up than the last time she had seen her. Kelly had no idea how old she was now. She was pretty, skinny and blonde. Super adorable.
“Okay,” Toby said putting his hands in his pockets. “See you tomorrow, Kelly.”
“Okay,” she said. Then she had an idea. A way for thanking them for coming. “Oh do you guys want to stay? We can all have ice cream!”
“We should probably get going,” Toby said.
“Oh come on,” Kelly said. After more than a day of being alone, she was ready for human interaction again. Even if it was just Toby and Sasha. She told them to follow her into the kitchen and then scooped massive amounts of ice cream into three bowls.
“You’re going to ruin your dinner,” Toby said to Sasha who merely smiled and shrugged. She accepted Kelly’s offered Hello Kitty spoon and sat down with Kelly at the kitchen table.
“So,” Kelly said to Toby, “did Ryan mention me today?”
Toby took a small bite of ice cream. “I...I didn’t really talk to him.”
Kelly wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. “Whatever,” she muttered. “You’re probably just defending him. I know you like him. You two are like kinda friends or whatever. You’re like the only person he hasn’t badmouthed at work. I think the worst thing he’s ever said about you was that you seriously needed to grow a pair.”
Toby cleared his throat loudly. Oh right. Sasha. “So, Sasha,” Kelly began and then couldn’t think of anything to say. Normally she would have no problem talking to a kid, especially a kid like Sasha who everyone knew was super smart and sweet and not a brat like Darryl’s daughter or her own sisters. She would normally have no problem talking about school and friends and clothes and pop culture, but her head was full of questions about Ryan and Erin and what was going on and she wanted to ask Toby and she totally didn’t want to worry about censoring herself so she just asked, “Do you want to go watch TV in my room?”
Sasha looked at Toby. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’ll just be for a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she said. She got up and once she entered Kelly’s room she called out, “It’s like a princess’ room.”
Kelly laughed, taking it as the highest compliment. Then she tried to remember if she had left anything embarrassing in her room for Sasha to find like lingerie or Cosmo magazines. Kelly didn’t think so but well, a girl’s got to learn about things some time, right?
Kelly stood up from the table and motioned for Toby to follow her to her couch. The two of them sat down and Kelly stared for a second, thinking how out-of-place he looked in her cute apartment. He was wearing his usual dark brown suit and it was rumpled and wrinkled and ill-fitting and she didn’t understand how a person could be so clueless about so many important things. Yeah so he was supposedly colorblind, but any moron should be able to tell whether a pair of pants fit or not. And if not that’s what salespeople were for.
“Toby,” Kelly said. “Did Ryan seem upset I wasn’t there? What about Erin? Were they ashamed of being the worst people ever? Were they totally being gross and making out and everything? I will hurt them I swear it.”
Toby shook his head. “I really didn’t see either of them much today.”
Kelly frowned. She needed more info before she could decide what her next action would be. Before she could decide if she could go into work tomorrow. “Now what?” she asked him impatiently even though she knew he probably wouldn’t be much help. Then again maybe he would have some advice. After all, he was old and sometimes old people knew things.
Toby didn’t say anything which frustrated her even more. “What do you think I should do?”
He sighed. “I’m really not the person to be giving advice to anyone.”
“But it’s your job,” she whined.
“Well...it’s not really... well I guess if I had to give advice I’d tell you to come into work tomorrow morning. Even if you’re feeling upset or depressed...”
“You’re just saying that because you’re an HR person,” she said suddenly feeling very cranky with him. “You have no idea what it’s like to come into work feeling depressed.”
He raised his eyebrows at her and the slightest half-smile formed on his tired face. She realized what she just said and she couldn’t help but start to giggle. “I’m sorry,” she said, still giggling.
“It’s okay,” he said. “But if you really want some advice...maybe make sure what’s going on before you draw your own conclusions.”
“I already know what’s going on,” she said. “But now that I have the charger and my phone isn’t completely dead I guess I can listen to Erin’s messages.” And see if Ryan had left her one or two of his own.
He stood up. “I’ll just get Sasha and we’ll leave.”
She waved her hand around. “No! Stay until I find out what she says.”
“Well... I’ll give you some privacy then.” He nodded toward her room where Sasha was watching what sounded like The Disney Channel, but paused, waiting for permission to go in.
Kelly racked her brain again for any possible offensive or way too personal item that could possibly make things awkward between them. She couldn’t think of anything so she just said, “Okay. Whatever. Don’t mind the mess.”
Kelly was just entering her voicemail password when she heard Sasha laugh. Then, even better, she heard Toby’s laugh, shocking in its heartiness. She thought that in all the years of sitting in the back with Toby she had never heard him laugh like that. It was nice to hear it.
The first two messages from Erin were teary apologies, saying that Kelly had misread what had happened; that there was nothing going on between her and Ryan. The third message from Erin said that Kelly was her best friend and even if she had been interested in Ryan, not that she was because she super wasn’t, she would never date him because of his relationship with Kelly. The fourth message, sounding more tired than teary this time, was Erin whispering, saying that there was no way she was interested in Ryan; the guy she was kind of sort of interested in was Andy. “I think he’s awesome,” Erin breathed. “Please call me.”
Kelly shrieked when she heard that. Toby walked out of her room. “Bad news?”
She shook her head wildly. “Erin’s not dating Ryan. She’s got a thing for Andy. Can you believe it? Andy Bernard! That’s crazy!”
“Hmm,” he said. “Does he... does he like her?”
“Why wouldn’t he? She’s so cute and sweet and funny and like the greatest friend ever. And even if she wasn’t Andy would want her. I mean he wanted Angela and Erin’s so much better. But yeah Andy would date anyone; I think he’d probably go gay for Oscar if he asked.”
“Well,” Toby said. “I think Sasha and I are going to head out. She still has homework. Come on, Sash,” he called.
Sasha came out. “Your room is so pink,” she told Kelly.
“Isn’t it fabulous?” Kelly grinned. “You can come over and visit again. We can have ice cream and watch TV and do each other’s hair and nails.” Now that she knew that Erin wasn’t a backstabbing whore, she felt a little better. She definitely was still upset about Ryan, angry and hurt and that wouldn’t go away any time soon, but for now she felt just the tiniest bit better.
Not a lot better, because that would take forever or until she started dating some super hot and rich and tall guy to make Ryan super jealous, but a very tiny, tiny bit better.
“Sure,” Sasha said. “But we have to go home now so I can do my homework. I have a math test to study for.”
“Here,” Toby said handing Sasha her jacket, all puffy and blue and cute, and Kelly watched him help her with it and there was something strange for a second, some stirring feeling, some urge that made Kelly think to herself, “Remember this.”
She wasn’t sure why she thought she needed to remember the simple sight of Toby being so sweet and caring and great dad-like with his adorable daughter or what it signified but somehow she knew watching her coworker in his ugly brown suit talk to his daughter about her math test and what she was studying exactly and what she wanted for dinner not that she had any appetite left or anything after the ice cream, somehow Kelly just knew this sight would mean something important to her in the future.
Toby’s eyes left his daughter and he looked at Kelly. “Come to work tomorrow. And I’ll mark yesterday and today down as you having the flu.”
“Great,” she said. “Okay. Thanks for the charger and the ice cream.” And, she thought, the company and the advice.
“Kelly,” he said. And he held her gaze for a second and then another and she waited for his words of wisdom, but then he seemed to think better of it, because he looked away from her and said a quick, impersonal sounding, “You’re welcome” and Kelly was left curious, wondering what he had intended to say to her. She bet it was something wise. Or maybe something incredibly kind.
She wished he had said it.
When Kelly was alone, she considered what to do next. She would pick out her sexiest outfit for tomorrow and find her false eyelashes. Then she would call Erin and say that she was so happy that she wasn’t a skank like Kelly thought she was. And that she would do her best to try to hook her and Andy up so someday Erin could become Mrs. Nard Dog and they’d live happily ever after.
And oh yeah, then she would totally apologize for calling Erin a Whorephan.
Even if it was totally funny and clever of her.
Ryan never would have been able to come up with something like that.
The end
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali