It was getting late. Dustin, well Dustin had disappeared a while ago. Mark doubted he was at the party, not now, he was probably in the building somewhere locked in a room coding and avoiding Mark like the plague he was. Mark hadn't even seen Chris show up, but he doubted that meant anything. The last few hours had been completely filled by code, the sound of his own heart beating in his ears because he didn't have the heart to turn music back on under his headphones and wide dark eyes he wanted to just forget already.
Tonight was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be good. Something he could be proud of, and yet here he sat, alone, with a belly more full of what ever drink Sean had put on his desk before he left than Redbull, and with no red-vines in sight. A million members. It should have been amazing, but it really, really wasn't. Sean had moved on to the after party (thank God) and the few interns still in the office were mostly trashed out of their mind.As Mark surfaced from the code he could hear them shuffling and making... other... noises.
Mark blinked and ran his fingers over the blue and white card he had found so funny earlier that night. Before the phone call from Sean. Before he had made a phone call about Sean... Before...
One million members. He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose and taking the bottle he hadn't managed to forget from the corner of his desk before pressing save one more time and pushing back from his desk. The bottle's neck was tangled in his fingers and he swayed slightly as he stood. Half of its contents were already in his stomach and though Mark was no light weight, the alcohol seemed to be taking effect.
He wandered for a while before retreating to the upstairs office that had just recently been built for him. The office that made him look less like just your average hacker and more like the CEO he was supposed to be, the office he had managed not to set foot in yet, where he crawled under the desk and drank until feet appeared in front of him. Highly polished, professional wear that could only belong to one of two people. One of which had been escorted from the premises earlier that evening.
"Chris?" Mark asked knowing it was him.
“Where is Eduardo?” Chris asked. That was a low blow. As if Chris didn't know. As if Dustin hadn't already told him.
Mark didn’t answer; there was only a flicker of his eyes and a glimpse of I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it. Chris wouldn’t be so presumptuous to think that he could read Mark’s mind, but he knew something was wrong. He took a step back, suddenly feeling like he was cornering a frightened animal.
Mark didn’t say anything for a long moment.
“Shit” was the first thing his scratched liquor rough voice managed to scrape out. Then, he ran a rough hand over both eyes and took a hard sniffle.
It all seemed to close in around Chris then. He left he desk for a moment and closed the door gingerly behind him locking it for good measure as if afraid someone would suddenly walk in and catch a glimpse of Mark's humanity. Then he scooted down to fit himself under the desk beside Mark trying to appear casual and non-threatening.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” Mark said. He lifted the bottle “I'm almost empty.”
“No, seriously,” Chris said, “what’s the matter? Why are you drinking in here? Mark, you're being weird. Weirder than usual… and where is Eduardo?”
Mark bit down on his lip at Eduardo’s name, and Chris was getting terrible knots in his stomach. Mark turned his head and shook it a few times. Mark's heart was racing, soft wheezes of air escaped his throat, and it broke Chris’s heart. Chris instinctively pulled him into his arms and rubbed his hand over his back. For once Mark didn't mind the physical contact
“What happened? Tell me.”
“Wardo… He... He thinks I screwed him out of the company. He thinks I did this. Like he wasn't the one who signed the papers. Like he wasn't the one who shut the account, like he wasn't the one...” the words who didn't come out with me hung in the air unsaid but no less heard.
There was a large part of Chris that didn't want to know anymore; he could already guess. He tucked his chin on top of Mark's head and squeezed him, starting to rock him slowly. Mark was trying to speak; his words slipped in between gasps of breaths.
Chris felt sick to his stomach. He knew Mark was kind of an asshole, but he had been there on the other night like this. On the night Wardo closed the account. He never imagined something like this was going to happen, but he could also see Mark's point as much as he hated himself for it. Mark, for all his cold and asshole tendencies, wasn't actually heartless. To someone else, maybe, but not to Eduardo. Never to Eduardo.
“I’m sure… things will be okay,” Chris said, though he was having a hard time convincing himself so.
“What’s going to happen?” Dustin said.
“What do you mean?”
“I'm alone no aren't I?”
Chris leaned away and stared into Mark's eyes. There was genuine fear there, and Chris wanted so badly to reassure him. to remind him that Mark had Dustin, and he had him... but neither of them were Wardo... and he knew that was the point.
"It'll be okay Mark"
"You don't know that" Mark spat.
“I don’t,” Chris answered honestly. He pulled away and smiled at Mark, hoping maybe it could lighten the mood. “but you've got Facebook. You've got us”
Mark blinked, his eyes glassy, he didn't smile. Chris gave him an encouraging shake and gingerly pulled him out from under the desk dusting of his... was that Wardo's jacket?
Mark sighed and shook his head. That was enough self pity. That was enough worry over Wardo. He looked up at Chris his blue eyes colder than before. He somehow felt years older than the boy he had been this morning. He stripped the North Face jacket off of his shoulders and left it on the sofa before looking over his shoulder at Chris.
”You're right. It's okay. I'm CEO bitch.. Right?"" Marks voice was cold and even as he left the office.
Chris's eyes followed him for a moment.
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
origamiaround
titsay
prguitarman
janainaart
vaporwave
