Only the pure in heart can make a good soup

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one

Bill Gates

#damnrichardcurtis

#blueastheskymovie

#lifeloveandhandbags

 

So the reason I liked Amelie was her attitude to life. Courtesy of one of the loud mouths in the office, she knew all about Victoria, but she didn’t show me any sympathy. She had been told the whole story, but you would never know. Adam told me she knew, but we never spoke about it. It didn’t seem to matter to her, because she lived in the here and now.

All that mattered to her, was how people were with her.

Whenever there was a work event, she got invited. If I went, I would go and speak to her and make a point of spending some time with her. I wanted to. She was very sweet. We started to talk more, and she even started to bring me in a sandwich, each morning, that I never needed to pay for. One morning, she came in and asked me if I was going out with some of the other people from the department, I worked in.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Oh, I was going to go. Well, I won’t bother then.”

“Why?”

“I need someone like you to be there to make sure I don’t get too drunk and go home with an ugly man.”

And so, I went. I took her home at the end of the night and watched this slightly tipsy woman go in.

It reminded me of watching a slightly tipsy woman on an evening out before.

We carried on talking. Because I worked largely on my own, she would come in and see me last of all and sit down and talk to me. It got to a point where I looked forward to my mornings.

It was now the beginning of December. There was a buzz brewing as the Christmas party was becoming the talk round the coffee machine.

The business, now part of a larger group, had hired a huge venue and everyone was expected to go.

I had said no.

Amelie had been invited and as she sat, together with my cheese in a French stick, she asked if I was going. I made a face.

“It will be fun”

“Unlikely.”

“You don’t have to stay for long.”

She kept on at me until I agreed to go, then on at me until I had showed her the ticket.

She seemed genuinely pleased when I did.