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we used to drop her off along the way


by Erica Hoskins Mullenix


We do it all the time were the last coher­ent words any of us heard Angelica speak before she walked into Brian's office and quit on us. We were crammed as a ridicu­lously large group into the ele­va­tor because it's too much like right to wait for the next car that usu­ally comes only a few sec­onds later. We were jok­ing about send­ing her out for din­ner that night because it was her turn and why were we always treat­ing her so del­i­cately? None of us said the part about the del­i­cate thing, but we were all think­ing it even as Rory rubbed his hand against my thigh, not totally unwel­come, but how cheesy of him to take advan­tage of me in such a tight space.

Quitting meant more work for the rest of us, dunno, kinda good be­cause more late nights led to more shared cab rides home and half-drunky fin­gers all up in there, and one day I'll tell Rory to at least take me out on a date. As the taxi pulled up to my build­ing a few weeks later, and I am com­ing, Rory whis­pered in my ear that he'd heard Angelica was now liv­ing with her mother and was doing much bet­ter. She is, how­ever, inel­i­gi­ble for rehire.

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