[sub][color=bdbdbd]Word Count: [color=ffffff]866[/color][/color][/sub][center][color=f6989d]P O T A T O E S[/color][/center][hr][color=bdbdbd][color=ffffff]"It's been pretty much the same routine everyday. I sit at my desk and type away at my keyboard. Watch little black letters jump onto my screen and find their place in line. Around nine..ish I get my first phone call. Usually just some irate person complaining about the powers that be making decisions a couple pay grades above me, and I always give them a pass. It's too early to fight and honestly, I'm a little upset too... I'm tired, I'm incoherent, I'm unbalanced, I'm not ready for the day. Right now sounds are just... too loud and all I want to do is drown it all out, but then I hear you... and so my day begins, the same way every time:

[center][color=ffffff]'Would you like some coffee?'[/color][/center]
I can't see your eyes. Or your mouth, or your... face. I can see the cups of steaming brew quite well actually but nothing else. You're always blocking yourself from my view. But I accept anyways, grab a cup off the tray and get back to my work... At least that's what I usually do. Lately however, I've been watching you.

You walk away on those skinny legs of yours with your back turned to me, your face always hidden. I watch as you carefully carve a path through each cubicle. Watch as you pass some joe to Amy with the fat lips. Watch as you pass some joe to David with the silly hair. Watch as you approach Carl and his fucked up arm.

It's been two months. He's mindfully typing away with one hand and wholly aware of your presence but also aware of the date. His review is just around the corner and it's painfully obvious that productivity has slowed since his accident. He's well on his way out the door and he's knows it but then you... you surprise me. It's even more surprising when I realize that you've been doing this almost every day. There you are, reaching out to lend a hand... and he takes it. And you move on.

By now Lily's at the front door and because of a bum leg, she can't get in. She's late... or she's going to be and it's clear by the panic in her porcelain eyes that her next write up will be her last. She can't help it of course but then again, neither can the job. It's not their fault that she's been reduced a limb and sadly, that's just the way of the world. The others? their too busy with their heads buried in the five by five foot square that is their world. Me? I'm too busy watching... And you? Well look who it is showing up to her rescue. She's missing a leg and so, you lend her yours. She makes it to her shitty job on time where she can do her shitty work. You leave her, one time punch closer to keeping her job, and then move on.

Mike. What the fuck would he do without you. A promotion too soon or may be one taken too late. He sits and stares are spreadsheets on his table all damn day. Illustrates graphs on a computer screen and gawks at them through blank eyes unable to absorb any of the information he's putting down. There is a meeting in forty minutes and it's calling for ideas and direction and what is Mike doing? He's looking for your eyes and ears. As soon as you're within earshot it's on. He runs his mouth like a motorboat, pointing at everything on the table and then nothing at all. He doesn't even let you speak and yet there you are, a wall for him to bounce his ideas off of until they start to make sense. And when forty minutes are up, he's gone, satisfactory presentation in hand... and you? You move on.

Your cubicle is across from mine and for a while now I've been trying to catch a glimpse of your face. But I can't. I can't find you because for whatever reason there is always something in the way. I could never quite see you and even when I try to be very quiet, I can't... [i]hear[/i] you... and that's when I realized.

You've never asked me if I wanted coffee. Every time you came up to me in the morning, I threw those words into the air between us because that's what [i]I[/i] wanted. Carl? He needed a hand. Lily needed a leg. Mike needed your eyes and ears and I just wanted someone to come up to me and ask me if I wanted some coffee because I was feeling miserable about being at work. I needed you and I took from you just like everyone else and that's why I can't see you. There's nothing left.

So... today, it's about nine thirty-ish and you've already made your rounds... and... I've just started making mine. I know it's a little strange because I don't normally do this but I thought you could be my first stop and I wanted to give you th-"[/color]

She took off her [color=f6989d]smile[/color]... and stuck it on his face.[hr][sub]Edit: Grammatical.[/sub][/color]