The Good Days - Chapter One
Drew Starkey x Reader
OBXCast - TheOfficeAU
Summary: The salesman and the receptionist, one in love and the other yet to realise they’ve fallen. Just little moments with a girl who saw him as a friend. But, even then, he knew he was waiting for his wife.
Warnings: Hints at a toxic relationship, but I don’t think there’s anything else <3
Word Count: 2.1K
Author’s Note: I have been re-watching the office recently and this idea just came to me, please be completely honest with your feedback because I’m not sure if this is the kind of thing you’d want to read etc. Just let me know!! Thanks loves <3
“Hey, could you fax these out for me please?” Drew walks over to your desk, tapping on the wooden surface.
You look up at him and narrow your eyes, “No, no I can’t.”
“You can’t? Why? Are you swamped?” He leans over the edge of the wood between you to look down at your computer screen, filled with images of vacation options, each one a slightly different colour of sand or a slightly clearer pool of water, “Going away somewhere?”
You glance up at him and then back down at the screen, your cheeks flushing a little, “Um, just for the honeymoon.”
Drew pauses for a moment and clears his throat, standing up straighter, and you’re sure he backs away from the table, “Right, yeah, of course.”
“Yeah,” You tuck your hair behind your ear, “Just somewhere close really, we don’t want to spend too much.”
He nods again but doesn’t say anything, eventually breaking the silence with, “Well, I should probably get back to work.”
You smile and he walks the few metres to go to sit at his desk, clicking a few buttons on his keyboard and avoiding your eye contact.
The two of you had been working together for two years now, at an office for selling paper. It was mundane, it was boring, it was typical. You could still remember the first day that Drew had joined here though - looking much younger than he did now even just two years before. You’d walked him to his desk and prepared him for the worst. And every day since then, working with Drew was one of the small victories you had here. He made you laugh, he kept you sane, he was your best friend here.
Before you can think about it for too long, the phone beside you rings and you pick it up with your typical;
“Dunder Mifflin this is (Y/N),” You suppress a sigh into the phone’s microphone, “Please hold, I’ll put you through.”
The phone rings in another part of the office and it’s picked up by one of your colleagues. Beyond Drew, the other people that worked here were probably one of the best parts too. There was Drew, Austin, Fiona and Rudy in sales, then Chase, Madison and Jonathan in accounting, and Madelyn and Carlacia in quality assurance. Beyond that, you had a HR department but that was only Andy in the annex, and Nicholas and Deion worked back there too but you still didn’t know what they did. Charles, your manager, was the best and worse that a boss could be - it normally depended on the day.
“Hey baby!” You recognise the voice immediately as the door to the office opens and closes.
When you look up, it’s your fiancé walking towards you, Craig. He worked in the warehouse and you two had met in high school, both getting jobs here at the same time after graduating. About two years after starting to work here, he’d proposed and you two had now been engaged for the last three years. There was no plans on that changing any time soon. But, hey, you didn’t mind - right?
“Are you ready to go to lunch?” Craig asks, drumming his hands on the wooden bar surrounding your desk.
“Oh, um, Charles needs me to be here to take notes for this meeting,” You explain, “He wants me to stay so I don’t think I’ll be able to get out for lunch.”
He frowns at you and glances around at the office, none of them paying much attention to your conversation, “Alright, we’ll do something tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow,” You smile, “I’ll see you tonight for dinner though, you’re cooking?”
“Oh, no, I promised the warehouse guys that I’d go out for a drink with them after work,” Craig shrugs, “So I don’t know what time I’ll be home. You can pick me up though, yeah?”
You let out a sigh and nod, “Yeah.”
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” He drums his hands on the desk again and disappears back out, the door swinging shut behind him.
You glance over at Drew’s desk where he’s sat back in his chair, the phone in his hand. He’s in the middle of an elaborate explanation about meeting a company’s paper needs before pausing to let them talk. When he’s listening, he glances over and rolls his eyes at you, frowning into the speaker of the phone as he tries to fake interest in what they were saying. You giggle and his face brightens a little when he hears you laugh, continuing his conversation with just a slight smile on his face now.
~~~
By the time five o’clock comes around, you’re sat in the conference room with the rest of the office just willing for the minutes to tick down. Charles is going on about new email accounts, or new software, or something - you couldn’t remember anymore. Drew is sat next to you fiddling with a loose bit of wood on the arm of the chair, his elbow nudging you in the confined space.
“Hey, it’s five o’clock,” You whisper to him, “This is technically overtime.”
He looks down at you and smiles a little, “Are you telling me you’re not willing to go the extra mile for this company, (Y/N)?”
“No,” You hiss in return and he laughs quietly at your response.
“Alright, let’s wrap this up,” Charles claps his hands together, “Good work today everybody.”
The group all files their way out of the room, wrapping up in coats and slinging bags over shoulders before you all start making your way to the elevators. It’s practically a race to squeeze in before the doors close and you find yourself pushed against Drew as everyone clambers to get in.
His form towers over you and he glances down with a smile, his hand bracing itself on the wall behind you to stop him from tumbling into you. The group is relatively silent until you all get to the ground floor, piling out of the elevator and disappearing with a few goodbyes towards your respective cars.
“What exciting plans do you have tonight (Y/L/N)?” Drew asks you as you both walk over to where you always parked your cars at the far end of the lot.
“Oh, well, Craig was supposed to be cooking for me but that plan changed so I guess I’ll have to find something to eat, probably leftovers and reality TV,” You nod, fiddling with your car key between your two hands.
Drew nods and for a second it looks like he fights back the urge to say something, “Well that’s nothing compared to my big plans - drive around deciding which fast food to order and then eating it in the parking lot. Right? That’s some pretty good Thursday night plans.”
You laugh and eventually the two of you reach your cars.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” He comments, walking between the two vehicles to get to his driver’s side door, “Oh, shoot, (Y/N) I think you’ve got a flat tyre.”
“What?” You exclaim, hurrying over to examine it with him, “God, I told Craig that something didn’t feel right when I drove in this morning and he said he’d check it for me.”
“Well, is he around?” Drew scratches the back of his head, glancing around at the empty lot now that everyone else has hurried home, “Maybe he can help now.”
“No he’s gone out with the warehouse guys,” You sigh, pushing yourself back up to stand, “I’ll have to call the emergency thingy.”
Drew pauses for a moment too long like he’s played out an entire conversation in his head before he bites the bullet and says, “Hey, how about I just drive you home?”
“Oh no you don’t have to-“
“Come on, it doesn’t put me out of my way. We can stop and get food on the way home, it saves me from having to decide where to eat. I’ll drive you home and then we can get this sorted tomorrow,” He gestures towards your car, “Or, you know, Craig can get it sorted for you.”
You smile at him through tired features and nod, “Thanks Drew.”
“Now, if you’re getting in my car, there are two rules,” He unlocks it and you walk around to the passenger side, looking at him over the roof between you, “Number one - no judging my music, and number two - the volume always has to be on an even number.”
“Alright, weirdo,” You grin.
Drew fakes a gasp of disgust and climbs into the driver’s seat, “You can walk home next time (Y/L/N).”
~~~
The following morning, you drive Craig’s car into work and he fixes up your tyre - treating it as a practical apology for the fact that he woke you up at 2am last night to pick him up from his night out. He doesn’t kiss you goodbye as you go up to the office and he goes to the warehouse.
“Hey (Y/L/N),” Drew grins at you as soon as you walk in, spinning in his chair to face you, “I’ve thought about what you said last night. And you’re wrong, McDonald’s fries are still way better.”
“What?” You exclaim, “There’s no way you can-“
“You two went out to dinner last night?” Madison raises her eyebrows, looking over at the two of you from the other desk block with a shocked expression.
“No, no,” You shake your head quickly, tugging off your coat and hanging it up with the others, “Drew just drove me home and we stopped for food, my tyre was flat.”
“You should’ve been able to fix that, Drew,” Austin points out, glancing up from his screen momentarily to the desk where Drew sat adjacent to him.
“Thanks Austin,” Drew rolls his eyes, pulling himself closer to his desk and looking away from you, back down at his screen.
You take your seat and log onto your computer, glancing up to see him sat with his pen in one hand, tapping to the beat of a song that you recognise. And then it hits you, it was the one you played him in the car the night before. A smile spreads onto your lips and he notices, from the corner of his eye, looking over at you and shaking his head, setting the pen down as he finishes the beat of the chorus.
“I knew you liked it,” You smirk, wiggling your brows.
“Excuse me, (Y/N), I’m on a call,” He gestures to the phone as he picks it up, pressing it to his ear as it rings out, “Good morning Mr Frank, how can I help you today?”
~~~
Today, Charles had organised a party for you all, it was someone’s birthday but they all seemed to blend into one really - the same decorations brought out for each party, a different cake but the same food on the table. You couldn’t complain. It meant that you got to put the phones to go straight to the answering machine, and you could waste the next few hours of your shift waiting for 5 o’clock to hit.
“So, (Y/N),” It’s Madelyn that speaks as her and Carlacia that walk over to you, “What’s going on with you and Drew?”
“What?” You frown, pausing over your plate as you load on some of the buffet food, “Nothing, we’re just friends.”
“Oh come on, everyone sees the way he looks at you,” Carlacia encourages, “Like, literally everyone.”
“No, I mean,” You glance over to where Drew is talking to Rudy on the other side of the room, “We’re friends, you know? We just- I’m engaged.”
“Right, yeah, you’re right,” Madelyn nods, “Sorry, we just thought there was something there in the way that he is with you.”
You try to ignore it, turning back to the table.
“Is it just me or do these get worse every time?” Drew comes up from behind you.
You turn around and see him stood with the same ‘fed-up’ expression on his face. He’s wearing a blue shirt that brings out his eyes and his top button is undone, navy tie loosened slightly around his neck, hands in the pockets of his trousers.
“This food is terrible,” You comment, setting your plate back down on the table, “And I’m pretty sure Charles is like five minutes away from making a big speech about all of our hard work this year.”
“Okay, well, if you can steal some drinks, I’ll sort the rest, and I’ll meet you on the roof in fifteen minutes,” Drew comments, “Does that sound like a plan (Y/L/N)?”
You glance around at the rest of the party before turning back to him with a nod, smiling. It didn’t matter what anyone else here thought - you and Drew were friends. You were allowed to be friends. And in the mundane insanity of this office, it was nice to have someone that kept you feeling a little more grounded.
Within fifteen minutes, you’re climbing up the escape ladder to get up to the roof of the office building, where it’s already settled dark over the winter sky.
“Do you want to take any longer?” Drew calls out to you from the other side of the flat rooftop.
He’s set up two garden chairs, both looking out over the parking lot and the disappointing view of the city. There’s a crate upside down between the chairs with a pizza box on top, the lid just slightly open.
“How did you manage to get pizza so quickly?” You laugh, carrying over four soda cans that you’d managed to steal from the supply downstairs.
“Oh I ordered it like forty minutes ago, I just knew you’d say yes to getting out of that party,” He jokes, “Excuse the dodgy chairs, I’m pretty sure they’re the ones that Charles uses for picnic day.”
“No, no, it’s perfect,” You smile, taking one of the seats next to him, “What pizza did you order?”
“Half meat feast, half margarita,” Drew opens the box, “What sodas did you get?”
“Two grape, two coke.”
“Oh, grape, please,” He outstretches a hand and you pass one of the cans over.
The two of you settle into comfortable silence, pulling off slices of the pizza that had now started to cool in the fresh air. It was always easy like this with Drew. You were grateful for him. In fact, you were so certain that you’d have quit this job by now if you didn’t have him sat three feet away from your desk. And maybe part of you also knew that you were his reason for not leaving just yet.
“So did you decide on somewhere for your honeymoon?” Drew asks, taking a sip of his drink.
“No, not yet,” You tuck your hair behind your ear, “It seems weird to be looking at honeymoons when we haven’t even got a wedding date yet.”
Drew looks at you for a moment, his eyes scanning your features. When he’s silent for a second too long, you turn your head to look at him, a blush creeping over your cold cheeks.
“What?” You half laugh, your voice coming out more nervously than you’d have expected.
Drew opens his mouth and closes it like he’s pondering over what he should say, “I just think if it were me I’d want to-“
The sound of the door to the roof opening cuts off his words, and both of you turn back to see Craig’s silhouette stood in the open doorway, his hand on the handle of the door.
“(Y/N)?” He calls over, “What are you doing up here? Are we going home?”
You drop down the pizza slice in your hands and wipe your hands on a napkin, pushing yourself up to stand hurriedly, “Yeah, definitely, let’s go.”
You look down at Drew, this time with your mouth opening and no words coming out.
“Go ahead, I’ll clear up,” He encourages, “I’ll see you on Monday, have a good weekend.”
Craig doesn’t kiss you when you walk over, and his hand has left the door before he thinks to hold it open for you. You walk down to the elevators and he doesn’t think to ask how your day was, he just starts to complain about his own. You tighten your hand a little around the soda can in your grip, your thumb brushing around the edge of the top, thinking of who and what you’d just left behind on the roof.
“(Y/N)?” Craig’s voice cuts through to you as the elevator starts to descend, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
