Colleagues

Chapter 7 | Sadie

"So, how was working with the She-devil?" Cody asked with a smirk. 

"Honestly, it wasn't that bad," I replied.

"You don't need to lie. You're safe now, Sadie," Marcus reassured me from the backseat. Unfortunately for him, "shotgun rules" still applied to Cody's car. "What was it really like? Did she try to suck your blood?"

"Ew, no!" I said in disgust. "It was nothing like that. In fact, I don't understand why you guys seem to despise her so much."

"Because she's rude, that's why!"  Marcus exclaimed. "You even said so yourself. She's the definition of the teacher's pet, and we're not even in school anymore!"

"I guess you've got a point," I conceded. "But it seems like she just takes her job really seriously."

"She's driven, I'll give you that. But it doesn't give her permission to be such a presumptuous jerk about it, you know?" Cody said, his eyes still on the road. "Like, when I first met you I knew you'd turn out to be a nice person."

"What Mr. Simp over here is trying to say is that we already have to deal with being at work. What's the point in making it harder for everyone else?" Marcus said as Cody flipped him off from the driver's seat.

On some level, I agreed with them. But working with Margot today showed me another side of her that made me question all my previous assumptions. What if underneath all that icy professionalism was a genuinely good person?

"Fine, suit yourself," Marcus replied, reminding me that I was still sitting in someone else's car. "But you haven't seen Margot at her worst like we have."

"What's Margot at her worst?" I asked, wondering how Margot could get any worse.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Cody said ominously. 

I wondered what exactly Marcus had done to make Margot upset. What if the tensions between them ran much deeper than surface banter?

"On a much lighter note," Marcus stated, his voice rising a couples of octaves. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Pizza!" both of them screamed in unison, much to my disturbance. It was literally 3 in the morning!

"You guys can't be serious," I protested.

"Sadie please, for me?" Cody begged, his pleading eyes searching mine. He looked completely ridiculous. Maybe that's why I finally gave in.

Both of them cheered as Cody took an extremely illegal U-turn. While cars honked angrily in response, Marcus reached over us to turn up the volume to "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi. 

As we uninhibitedly screamed out the lyrics, I felt 17 again.  Who knew working at a fancy law firm would bring out the "Rebel Without A Cause" in me? Now, all I needed to complete the ensemble were 20 boxes of hair dye, a butt-load of angst, and a crush on an oblivious girl.

~~~

 "Please don't spill," Cody begged as we each inhaled our third slice of pizza. I loved Chicago-style pizza. New York had nothing on stuffed crust. 

"This is soooo good,"I exclaimed in amazement. 

"Not regretting driving with us anymore, huh?" Marcus asked.

"Not at all," I admitted through a mouthful of cheesy goodness. For no evident reason in particular, my mind wandered back to Margot. "Random question, do you guys know Margot's boyfriend?"

"Christian? Yeah, I know him. He's a douche-bag," Cody replied, looking down at his pizza. 

"I don't think he's that bad," Marcus interjected. "We see him at work events and stuff like that. He seems like a friendly enough guy, open to having a conversation with anyone."