Bab 27: Doomed To Fail

It was nice to hear that Eden would be missed. That meant Troy would want to stay in contact with her, didn't it? She was afraid to ask for some reason.

She was such a coward. This was the perfect opportunity to ask and she still couldn't make herself spit it out. What was wrong with her? How was she supposed to hold on to what little relationship they had if she couldn't say anything now?

"You'll be better off in your new job though," Troy said before she had the chance to gather her wits about her. "I'm happy for you, Eden. You earned this. You'll have to tell me all about how your first day goes."

She had to stop herself from audibly sighing in relief. He planned to stay in touch. It wasn't over yet.

Eden grinned at him. "Absolutely! Barring anything that would give away my identity as a spy."

Troy rewarded her reference to a previous conversation with a laugh. "That's a given. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the spy organization that employs you. Not when you finally got to leave the wild world of Freddie Funnington."

"Definitely not."

With the thing she was most worried about out of the way, she was able to enjoy the rest of their break like any other. There was one thing that was different though. Once his time was up, he stood and walked over with his arms held out hesitantly.

"Kind of random but can I hug you?"

"Any particular reason?" Eden asked in surprise. She wasn't opposed to it but it was more than 'kind of' random. It was incredibly random.

"No."

She shrugged. She didn't have a reason to say no so she let him even though the mascot head got in the way like it had when she hugged him before. His arms shook slightly and she was about to ask if something was wrong before he disappeared out the door.

"See you Monday!" she called after him.

Troy didn't respond. Was he really okay? Had he actually needed that hug because something was going on with him or what? The end of their encounter left her unsettled long after it ended.

Eden wanted to text him and ask if he was okay after work but it wasn't her place. So she continued to be bothered all throughout Sunday and Monday until it was time for their shared break. But he didn't show up.

Was he sick? Was Mike covering for him today? It was impossible to tell who was who in the Freddie suit unless they used their real voices.

She was so worried that she texted him after her shift was over. He replied while she was in the car on the way home so she didn't see it until she was done washing all of the pizza grease smell off in the shower.

'Hey, sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier. Marty rearranged my break schedule so our breaks don't match up anymore. Total bummer, right?'

Eden's heart sunk. Seriously? This had to happen on her last week of work? It wasn't like she could ask Marty to switch it back either. He was already unhappy with her because he had to interview people again.

Wednesday and Friday were the only times she would be able to see him again at work and now she wouldn't even have those precious fifteen minutes anymore? Was the universe conspiring against her?

Maybe this was a sign that things weren't going to work out. Like she even needed one. She already knew that a relationship between them was impossible since they wanted different things out of life.

Troy was passionate about a dream that may never come true. Eden wanted a predictable life with a normal schedule and always knowing she would have enough to pay the bills. There was no point exploring something that was doomed to fail, no matter how much she enjoyed talking to him.

He could never be more than a work friend. He made things bearable for a few weeks but that was it. The extent of their relationship.

Despite knowing that, she still tried talking to him on Wednesday. That failed because it was a parent-teacher conference day so a ton of local elementary school kids were off for the day and all decided to come here for lunch. It was as busy as any weekend.

That only left Friday. The last day she would potentially get to talk to him if he didn't want to meet up in person later.

At least things were slow that morning so she finally managed to catch him while they were cleaning. "Troy! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Funny how that works, isn't it? You excited that it's your last day?" he asked.

"Yeah. It'll be nice having real weekends starting tomorrow. Listen…I have something for you," Eden blurted before she lost all of her courage. "If you wait for me at the end of the night, I can give it to you. It's too big to slip in your locker."

Troy looked around to see if Marty was watching. "Actually, let's do it now. I have somewhere to be early tomorrow so I have to leave right away."

He led her away as sneakily as possible and they ended up in front of the lockers without getting spotted. She opened up her locker and held out a bag of Twix minis. "Here. You gave me candy for Valentine's Day and I never got to give you any back. I think you're really cool too and I'm glad I met you.

"So even if we never hang out after this…I wanted you to know that. I have a lot of fun talking to you and I'm glad we became friends. That's all I wanted to say really. Sorry for dragging you away from work."

Eden had been debating about doing this since the day Troy hugged her and basically ran away but she finally mustered up her courage. Not seeing him on her breaks made her realize how much she had come to depend on their conversations. She wanted him to know how much they meant to her.

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