dibby truthers☆!

“Didya hear about James?” Tanya asked, voice dropping to a whisper, eyes darting over her shoulder as she leaned forward “he missed the client meeting on purpose, knew the deal was falling apart and didn’t wanna get chewed out by Abby”

Dina gasped leaning closer “God, didn’t he blame it on traffic?”

“Oh he did,” Nadjia snorted, “but like…c’mon you know he saw the numbers tanking and bailed.”

Tanya let out a low laugh “Honestly? Same”

“You know Abby,” Nadjia added, miming a full-body shudder “She’s terrifying"

Across the room the coffee machine hissed, like it agreed. Dina stood up pouring herself one more cup. She didn't need it, not really just needed to move, to do something with her hands. Just as she turned back to the table, the break room door swung open with a soft thud.

The soft whispers continued until she, Abby, coughed. Leaning against the door frame, her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, exposing the toned strong forearms, muscles taut as usual and a prominent vein that ran down the length of it, leading your eyes down to her hands, dusted with light freckles, the kind you only notice if you were really looking. And god had Dina been looking.

She crossed her arms slowly, the cotton of her shirt pulling slightly across the strong plane of her shoulders.

“Breaks been over for 15 minutes guys” she huffed, an eyebrow quirking as she swept look over the concerningly full break room, trying to ignore the way her breath hitched at the sight of Dina. Subtly… almost missable.

Dina didn't miss it. Of course she didn't.

She could feel the weight of Abbys gaze on the red deep blouse that hugged her just right, she knew it did, had picked it on purpose, even if she'd never admit it. Abby's stare dipped right to her open collar, tracing the plane of her throat. Dina watched her cheeks shift just a little too pink for someone trying to play it cool, watched a flush creep up the blondes neck.

The workers started shuffling out of the room, chairs scraped, groaning underneath their breaths, the usual mutterings of “whatever” and “micromanager” following them out

“Yeah, yeah i get it” Abby muttered rolling her eyes, as employees filled out. Yet Dina stayed at the table, still rummaging through her purse, even though she knew damn well her report was already sitting on her desk. Abby lingered, eyes trailing her form mindlessly.

“I uhh..” Abby hesitated, finally meeting Dina's eyes quickly clearing her throat “you having a good day?” she smoothed the hem of her shirt—twice. Adjusted her sleeve for no reason, then lifted her hand rubbing at the back of her neck, her soft blue eyes staring back at Dinas past her glasses.

Dina looked up slowly, head tilted slightly, a loose curl spilling over her shoulder. The neckline of her blouse had slipped slightly askew, enough to be noticed. She hadn't meant to flirt, not really, but she wasn't exactly stopping herself either. Abby's gaze lingered on the exposed skin of her collarbone, her jaw tightening. It was impossible not to notice and Dina hated how satisfying it was to be noticed, especially by her.

“A great day,” she said, voice sweet with something far too close to sarcasm,

“Ms Anderson” she added, lashes fluttering.

Abby coughed, an actual honest-to-God cough as if her body didn't know how to react, hand grasping the doorframe as she took a step back, like she'd been physically shoved. Dina rose smoothly, slipping her purse over her shoulder and brushing past her with a smile that almost could’ve been passed off as innocent. She didn't look back, not when Abby's breath caught again, not even when she could feel the heat of her gaze pinned to the back of her neck.

The rest of the day dragged by in a blur of half finished emails, unread spreadsheets and the sound of Tanya whispering far too loudly about “tension” and “those two”, Dina had to pretend she didn't hear, trying and failing to ignore her words.

“Tanya c’mon” she muttered, not even looking up from her keyboard “you know me and Ellie—”

“Bet she barely touches you” Tanya cut her off, without missing a beat, eyes still scanning the latest budget draft. Dina gasped laughing bitterly as she swapped at the air near Tanyas head

“Oh don’t you make me involve HR” Tanya just rolled her eyes, flipping a page. Dina went to continue until a folder was dropped in front of her with a thud. The report. She opened it, flipping through until her eyes landed on the handwritten note at the bottom of the final page.

“Cleaner formatting next time. Otherwise, good job—A”

The “otherwise” was underlined. Twice.

No smiley face, No thank you, No signature. Just an initial. Just ‘A’. A single letter pressed into the page like a weight, almost a dismissal.

Her hands crinkled the edge of the paper. Dina stared at the note for too long, a bitter feeling settling on her shoulders as she haphazardly shoved the paper into her drawer and slammed it shut.

By the end of her shift Dina was just as exhausted as she'd been that morning. Her expression had settled into a permanent frown, she had barely registered Tanya's parting wave.

The keys rattled loudly in the bowl as she slammed the apartment door shut behind her. She didn't bother bother turning on the lights— just kicked her heels off, one after the other, and wandered through the dark aimlessly.

The apartment was quiet.

Too quiet.

She reached the bedroom, their bedroom. One side of the bed was already made, as if it had been smoothed over out of spite. Ellie hadn’t been back, Or if she had she hadn't stayed

No text, No note.

Just an empty pillow and the scent of her shampoo starting to fade. Dina let her purse slide from her shoulder, hitting the floor with a quiet thump. She stood there a while, arms crossed, gaze fixed on the bed, unmoving, unblinking.

Then her phone buzzed. She scrambled for it— hands fumbling with the lockscreen, breath tight in her chest.

A quiet, bitter laugh escaped her.

She let the phone fall back into her purse, and slumped into the messy side of the bed, not even bothering to take off her blouse.