A Little Bird Called Magpie

CHAPTER THREE

  I arrive at work just in time. I sit at my desk and open a file I was recently working on. Gene arrived earlier than me and was already sitting at his desk when I got here. Agatha isn't here yet, but that's not uncommon. After a few minutes of work, Agatha arrives and quickly sits in her chair to start working. Despite her moving in a hurry, it's almost as if she's not trying, like she doesn't care. At least that's what her face tells me. Gene waves a newspaper next to me. "Did you hear about this?" He says. 

  The newspaper's headline reads "Bat-Man Locks Up City's Crime Bosses". I take the newspaper from him and take a better look at it. "My God," I say. "I know, right? Unbelievable!" Gene added. I look at Agatha and show her the newspaper. "What do you think?" I ask her. She takes a moment to read the headline before chuckling. "Well, someone had to do it." This is interesting, I never thought she would fall for this bullshit story. "You really believe this?" I ask her. "I believe Falcone is in jail. That the streets are safer now." Agatha reponds. "Yeah, but a man dressed as a bat fighting the mob? They can’t expect us to believe this." I tell her. Agatha shrugs and says, "Maybe it’s true, maybe not. Am I going to waste my time discussing it? Hell no. I think we have better things to do right now." Agatha turns to her desk and gets back to work. 

  I’ve been thinking about getting to talk to her more. I need to make friends. I have to get out of my head for once. I turn to agatha and say, "Hey, do you want to get lunch later?" She keeps looking at her computer and says, "Really, lunch?" What does she mean by that? "Yeah, lunch. Is that a no?" I asked. 

  Agatha turned to me and said, "Oh, I'm saying yes. It's just weird that you would invite me to lunch almost a year after sitting next to me every day." 

  I fake laugh before saying, "Yeah well, I thought it'd be nice to socialize for once."

  "That does sound nice." Agatha replies.

  We get back to work. After just a few minutes of working, I hear someone call me. I turn around, it's Jeremy. I can't stand his voice. What does he want from me?

  He gets close to me, close enough to whisper, and says, "Maggie, I'm looking for a little inspiration. Would you mind helping me with a design?"

  Oh my God. This can't be happening. The man I hate the most is offering me a shot at designing. Fuck, hold your pokerface, Margaret. 

  "Uh, sure, I'd love to!" I say.

  "Great! Come with me." Jeremy asks.

  He takes me to the designer's room. There's four people spread across the room. All of them working with different fabrics. "All of you, out!" Jeremy tells the other designers. They quickly leave without saying a word. He takes me to a table with a few drawings on top of it. There's also a drawing pad and a piece of blue satin. "See, I'm having issues with this shoe design. I need a little inspiration. You seem to have decent taste." Jeremy says.

  I'm sure you can see why I hate him. But I have to go along with it. Opportunities like this are too rare. "What do you have so far?" I ask him. He points at a trash can filled to the brim with paper. I grab a drawing pad and a pencil. I start to think of all the ways I could dress in the winter. I want to match the snow, yet stand out. I don't want to wear bright colors or look like a damn Christmas tree. Much less like Santa's special elf. I want to look like I'm celebrating the holidays in a very subtle way. I start drawing. It's like this image just popped into my head, and it's perfect. I quickly finish it, I take a good look at it. I'm in love. I flip the drawing pad and show it to Jeremy. 

  "It's a short Santa boot?" Jeremy asks. What a fucking idiot. "No, it's a black, low shaft, pointed toe ankle boot with a white fur lining! It's modern, trendy, but most importantly, it's different!" I say.