When her hand gently graced across Laury's thigh, Giselle said, "Tell me about that future". Her coworker blinked and the corners of her lips curled into a weak smile. Then she started. It was a story about attitude, about ideals, about a simple life of a simple woman trying to find a path to happiness. It was about sharing a space, about being cared for, about love and success. It contained a fair amount of failure and struggle, and how she would deal with it.

At first Giselle expected a romance. An utopian view on a perfect life, similar to how little girls look at a princess and dream of that. When Laury had finished, melancholy and sadness made her gulp down another glass in a single go. But that story hadn't been a romance. Instead it was the hope of a lonely person to find someone to share her life with. She wasn't looking for a prince, but a person with flaws and problems.

The brunette stared at her coworker until way beyond the story was over. "What? Am I too ordinary for you?", Laury asked and snickered. "Not really, I'm just surprised. Guess lately you surprise me a lot", Giselle said and decided to keep her expectation a secret, it wouldn't be helpful to tell.

"We've been working at Dean's for five years, but we've not known each other for all that time", the other woman said thoughtfully. "You're right. Looks like that's changing now", the brunette smiled over and filled both glasses with more wine.

"Haaah, getting this off my chest felt good", Laury let her head fall back on the backrest and glared up at the dark ceiling, "And now we get more wine and I'll strip you out of those kinky pajamas". "Uh, no", came the flat response. "You're no fun! And here I thought we were friends!", Laury kept teasing at her friend that stared back with both eyebrows raised and her arms crossed in front of her chest, "Alright alright, it's too early for these kind of jokes". Chuckling and visibly light-footed despite the alcohol, the host went into the kitchen to get another bottle of wine.

When she returned, Giselle held her glass over for a refill. After today's events, she wouldn't say no to more alcohol. It won't drown her sorrows, but it sure as hell pushed them far away for now. "How's things with Ian? Is it going any better?", Laury wondered when she was done with her waitress job, sat back down and crossed her legs.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Giselle put her glass away and rubbed both her hands across her face, "If we start this, it'll likely take the evening". Her friend sighed back at her, "That bad, huh? Can't you give me a summary for now and then I decide?". "Sure. He doesn't talk much to me, is barely home and he's hiding something", she explained briefly. "Hiding how? How do you know?", Laury wondered. The brunette took out her phone and showed the previous messages he had sent her, "He used to wine at me like a kid when something came up at work once. Now it's every second day and he doesn't even look annoyed. That's how I know".

"So what could he be hiding? Gambling? Drinking? New friends?", Laury suggested, but Giselle shrugged at that, "Probably not drinking or gambling. I can still see our account balance and it's rather normal. It could be new friends, but why wouldn't he tell me? It's not like I ever complain when he goes to Poker Night and all that?".

"Maybe he thinks you'd be jealous? It's what I'd do if I was seeing someone", her friend said slowly, softly and reached for her hand, "Do you think that's possible, that he met someone that he somehow doesn't want you to know about?".

Giselle weighed her head left and right and gave it a serious amount of thought. It didn't feel right to her. It made no sense. Sam had said he was devastated. When would he meet new people in a state like this? "Somehow it feels unlikely. But how are we going to figure this out when we're both already borderline drunk!?", she grumbled and ruffled her own hair out of the bun. While taming her curls back into a new bun, she quietly said, "Honestly I'm not sure he'll come back to me. I'm hoping he will, but the doubt won't leave while he's absent and cold".

Laury had ended the topic with a squeeze of the hand, a compassionate smile and a nod. All of a sudden Giselle wrapped her arms around the woman and pulled her closer, guided the head to rest on her shoulder and started stroking through the died, black hair. Laury took her phone from the table and put a quite romantic jazz mix on the speaker. Then she snuggled up against the warm shoulder and enjoyed the soft, silky fabric brushing over her cheek. Giselle could see all of that, smiled and then defended her breast from Laury's attempt to touch it. "Stop it, I'm not sleeping with you", she grumbled, but her coworker giggled and admitted defeat, "Fine!".