3
“Good friends are like the wind at your back—silent support that you need in your life.”
—It’s science
Iris
After Hector and Christine insisted I get checked out by the EMTs—both of whom said I had a swollen tailbone and recommended X-rays—I began what felt like ninety-five hours of interviews. Both Ranger Ann Diden and Agent Heather Andrews, as they introduced themselves, had offered to send someone to the hospital to do the interviews if I’d wanted to go, but nothing felt broken—just sore. I’d just wanted to get the interviews over with and go back to work. Work was always a good distraction, and that was what I needed most.
When Christine, Ben, and I finally all returned to work, it was to find two other coworkers, Calvin and Leah, all deep in a very intense conversation. Thatstopped abruptly as we walked in, and I realized everyone already knew what had happened.
“Holy shit. So you, like, really touched a dead body?” Calvin asked with shock and awe written all over his face.
I sighed, not really wanting to talk about it since it had been all I’d talked about and thought about the last few hours. But I also knew that in situations like this, it was better to answer the questions than let their imaginations run wild and start coming up with rumors.
“It was very decomposed, so it wasn’t really a body per se,” I replied.
“I already told him that in a text, but clearly he didn’t believe me,” Christine answered.
“You tend to embellish the truth sometimes, so I needed to hear it from Iris,” Calvin shot back.
“I don’t embellish stuff, and I told you the same thing,” Leah said with a grin on her face, meaning someone had filled everyone in.
Calvin sighed, throwing up his hands dramatically. “Ugh. Okay, fine. I just wanted to hear Iris say it so she could give me more details since you two were too damn vague. Plus, Christine said there were twoveryhot men there to help you with what happened, and I’d like to know if either of them are single and might be willing to help me through my emotional trauma too.”
I snorted. Calvin was a shameless flirt and didn’t care who knew it.
“I’m not a hundred percent, but I’m pretty sure they’re both single,” I said, but quickly held up my hand to stophim from saying anything else. “But I’m also pretty sure neither of them bat for your team.”
Calvin let out a deep, defeated exhale. “Ugh. All the good ones are taken or prefer girl parts.”
“Even if they were interested, why would you have emotional trauma from Iris finding the skull?” Christine asked.
“I don’t, but I would pretend to if I thought one of them would help me through it,” he replied with a mischievous grin.
Ben and Leah laughed, and Christine and I just rolled our eyes.
“In all seriousness, how are you holding up?” Leah asked. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m available if you need to.”
I appreciated her offer and told her as much. Christine had already offered on the car ride back to the office for me to sleep over at her place in case being alone freaked me out. I was definitely freaked out, and sleep would not come easy that night, but I needed to work through this on my own. Just like I always had.
You’d think after you’d discovered a dead body that dating would be the furthest thing from your mind. Instead, it just made me more aware of how short life really was, and I wanted to experience life, travel the world, get married, and have kids.
After I got home last night, I’d reached out to a guy I had been chatting with to see if he wanted to grab some drinks the next day. His response was short but simple, saying he was “no longer interested.” This was my third strike in just as many weeks.
Welp, I guess this was the last straw.
I was officially done with men.
Period. Forever. Full stop.
I didn’t think I could hack it as a lesbian since I would always be comparing my body to any romantic partner, so I guess that meant I was destined to be an old maid.
So be it.
At least I wouldn’t be with a creepy man-child or sleazy bastard. And that’s what all the men I had found lately were. At least the ones who were in my dating pool.
With that thought, I walked into work the next morning, and was quickly met with greetings and hellos, though I could hear Leah shouting from the hallway.
