“It wouldn’t be because of you! Look, I…” she awkwardly hover handed over his tapping fingers wanting to comfort him some way but clueless, “I made a choice, okay? A dumb one, but one I would do again. And then I made a REALLY dumb choice that I would not repeat. But I did it, and now it falls on me okay? I’ll talk to my… friend and clear this up. If anything, they can at least find where that red spy is and set everything back. I’m usually wrong, I’m sure your-ish guy is fine!”
Yeah she was at least 80% sure he was dead. Someone was going to get a talking to.
“But uh, I see you’re writing! Writing is cool! What uh, if it’s okay to ask, whatcha writing?”
Master of redirection. Super subtle.
“I, I, ehehe, have a friend myself. He has a similar attitude to your friend, which is why I try not to tell him about any incidents like that…” Russell said. He still drummed his fingers along the top of the table, “… Hopefully, there can be a chance that he might be able to come back from whatever happened…”
He brought his mug to his lips and downed about half the coffee in a few gulps flat before placing it down again. He seemed only a little bit calmer when he was done.
“I… I guess it is just a mistake, and at least you leaned from it, ehehe…” he decided that he had to try not to make her feel worse. She most likely felt bad enough about it, “I suppose it can’t be helped…”
He still didn’t like it, but could he do? Maybe he could try and make up for it somehow.
Does she think I’m stupid? Ah, Fuck it… it’s better than lingering on this…
“Yes. I’m writing,” he said, as he glanced back down at the notebook, “It’s fine. I’m writing a letter to my neighbour. well, she was my neighbour back in Boston. I figured she would appreciate it.”
“Yeah friends can be interesting. In good ways… and uh intense ones.”
She watched his face, frowning. Poor lil guy. At least he had empathy or compassion left, but at the same time she knew how much it sucked to be in this job and retain them. Not that the alternative was better, but she still felt bad. A plan started forming in her head, but she ignored it as he took the out to change topics.
“Oh nice! Is she a close friend, or are you just keeping in contact? Either way, I love seeing people actually write to people. I can get the letter to her pidge express once you finish, if you’d like?

