Cringeworthy
It happened as I was warming up the leftovers from yesterday in the office kitchen. Said kitchen is a little walk away from my desk, and as always, I do not know the precise amount of minutes to have my meal at juuuuust the right temperature. It has to be somewhere between 'lukewarm' and 'burning your fingers off if you try to even take off the lid'. This attempt landed more in the regions of the latter, so with the very tips of my fingers, I tried to carry my container to my desk.
"Can I help you?" a colleague asked, almost at the same time I said, "Yes, of course", an answer I hastily spoke since I was expecting the question, 'everything alright?'.
We both paused, and she slowed next to me.
I said "No, no..." to answer her previous question, and at almost the same time she asked, "Will you make it?".
We both paused again.
Since I made no attempt to hand over the box, she hovered a little uncomfortably, not sure whether to pull it out of my hands or not.
"I'm quite alright, thank you..." My voice barely louder than our footsteps. She laughed a bit awkwardly, and we had to walk for a full darn 20 seconds in the same direction towards our desks. Once there, I slumped into my chair and made myself as small as possible, trying to hide behind my screens.
Dear God, never let me out in the open air unchecked, for I might even make the atmosphere between me and an inanimate object awkward.
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