pat just stopped by:
“so they’re all gone?” he asked, surveying the empty cubes where the webteam used to sit.
“yeah, i’m sad,” i said.
“but it will be quiet,” he said.
“i hate quiet!”

then he went on to talk about something else i can’t remember.

“oh, guess what?” i shouted.
“what?”
“robert’s teaching intermediate fiction this summer.”

then he made a weird hip-thrusting motion.

“how was your vacation?” he asked.
“fine.”
“you look good, like you got some color.”
“nah, it’s just the glow of seeing robert.”

that’s when he shook his head and walked away.