"Dee, come on."
"Leave me the fuck alone." On second thought, I added "Please."
But being the persistent goat she was, she kept pestering me until I finally gave in. Madison was like a pesky fly that I couldn't quite get rid of, she always found a way to come back. I grumbled as she let out a whoop of victory. If she ever got fired, I surely wouldn't miss her.
"Why are you so difficult? Asking you to come eat at the cafeteria should make you happy, not grumpy." Her tone had a tinge of amusement and I felt my fingers twitch as they tried to lock my office door.
"Eating makes me happy. Eating with you though, makes me grumpy. There's a difference between the two, Madison." I clarified as we walked towards the elevator.
Her huff made my lips widen by half a millimeter. She was such an emotional, little thing. As we continued our transit to the office cafeteria, she narrated the events that took place in the swearing-in ceremony. I didn't get everything she said, her animated gestures kept distracting me.
"Caramelized Brussels sprout kabobs with grated parmesans for me." Madison's orders always made my face scrunch in mild disgust because they reminded me of a garden. Even if I wanted to be vegetarian like her, the names of the dishes wouldn't let me start.
The server looked at me. "Béchamel lasagne, please." She nodded and left. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"That's so much animal products."
I quirked my brows at her accusing tone. "So?"
She frowned upon my response. "Don't you ever feel pity for the animals that get killed to satisfy your epheremal cravings?"
When she put it that way, it did sound quite cruel. "No, not really."
"That's so mean."
I shrugged in nonchalance. Life wasn't kind, so why do I gotta be? "That's how life is, Madison. By the way, this should mark the end of that particular discussion, it's way too early to talk about animal rights and human philosophies."
She waited a few seconds before opening her mouth. "Apart from the sentimental part, vegetarianism is actually healthier. You know, long life and all that."
The persistent chit! "I prefer an early death to a long life with a vegetable diet. Life isn't even worth that much, to be honest. And no, it's not depression. I'm just being realistic and logical. And like I said the previous time, end of discussion."
Chuckling a bit, she decided to comply and finally dropped it. A few minutes later, our foods arrived and she continued with her storytelling.
"It was the most epic part."
I stopped wiping my cutlery to glance at her. "For real?"
She nodded frantically as she munched her roasted leaves. "Yeah, for real. The moment he went up, it was like time stopped for a moment. The whole room was eerily silent, everyone was hooked. Even Amber looked blown away." Her last statement was hard to believe though, might just be Madison and her dramatics.
"So that's it?" I took a spoon of the Italian dish. "I didn't miss so much then." I frowned and looked around the cafeteria. Who made the lasagne? The noodles were overcooked and the white sauce wasn't hitting right, probably because of the amount of salt in it. I ate another spoon and grimaced. Whoever cooked it, used cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Rubbish!
Madison scowled at my implication. "You missed every fucking thing. It is inexplicable, Dee. No explanations would do proper justice to that moment." She glanced around quickly and drew her head closer to whisper. "You know Gregory?"
"The account guy? The one you think is gay?"
She tittered quietly. "Oh, he is gay. He was sat behind me and I heard him moan." I tilted my head in disbelief. "I swear, I heard it. Loud and clear. And it wasn't sexy at all, sounded like a drowning cat." She laughed at my grimace of disgust. "Even Georgina was spouting some very weird stuffs but for once, I had to agree with her. I mean, if he stepped on my neck and broke it, I'd still cum on that spot."
What the hell was that?! "Right now, I just feel so bad for him. This amount of mental rape and molestation y'all are subjecting him to is homicidal. Poor little thing."
Madison scoffed and continued eating her grasses. "You haven't seen him yet, so I don't expect you to understand."
"And you got that information from where?"
She gaped at me for a few seconds. "You've seen him?"
Nodding, I took one last spoon and pushed the plate away. No way I was going to finish that piece of hell. "This morning and you don't see me wanking to the thought of him. Get your shit together, ma'am."
She gave me a playful glare. "So after seeing him, you're going to sit here and say that he's not worth the hype?"
I took a generous sip from my bottle of water. "This is not a hype, Madison. This is fetishism. Idolization. Pure madness. And I don't encourage it."
Her laughter rang out and I glanced to see who was looking. Since it was around 3pm, most people must had already eaten so the cafeteria was almost empty. "It's already too late, Dee. I'm already obsessed. That's why I forced you to come eat with me." I threw her a puzzled look. "Can you do me a favor?"
"No, thank you." Madison always asked for the most preposterous things.
She pouted her glossy lips at me. "Dee, please. You know I'm just going to pester you till you give in. Why put yourself through that stress?"
My own lips formed a deep frown. She did have a point, I'd eventually give in. Letting out a deep breath, I nodded. "On one condition. It shouldn't involve the CEO at all cos I won't be a part of that." She nodded hastily to my condition. "What do you want then?"
"For you to cut yourself some slack." The confusion I felt inside must had been highlighted on my face because she explained further. "I mean you should stop being such a good worker. That way, I can do better and he would notice me." My lips twitched at the edges when she wiggled her brows at me. "Can you do that for me, darlin'?"
It was a miracle that I didn't burst in laughter. I gotta give it to her, she was determined. "I mean, I could but it'd be a colossal waste. It's already October, even if I stopped working extra hours and weekend jobs right now, I already got this year in the bag. You might want to try again next year. January to be precise."
"Damn, you really are a good worker." She gave me an impressed smile and I shrugged. I'd heard those exact words so many times over the past years that it didn't feel like a compliment anymore. "I have to start thinking of something else then."
I finished the water in the plastic bottle. "Why do I have the feeling you don't even know his relationship status?"
"That's cos I don't." She said in a duh voice.
"What if he's unavailable? He looks old enough to even have a wife."
She shrugged. "He doesn't give off married man vibes."
I stared at her incredulously. If Nelly was sitting in the seat I was in, I was almost sure she'd have thrown the steel spoon I used to eat at Madison. "There's stupid, there's foolish and there's you, Madison, sitting atop both of them. That's the most useless thing I've heard from you and mind you, I've heard some really useless things from you in the past." I bumped my knee as I stood. "We're officially done for today. See you tomorrow."
Her laughter rang behind me as I left her in there. More like escaped from her. I noticed some people kept stealing glances at me while others gaped stupidly as I walked to my office. Stupid souls. They were probably looking for bullet holes or gashes to corroborate the rumors circulated on Saturday.
I grunted in displeasure after checking my schedule in my office. Although it was just one therapy session left, it was an field session. If it were last week, I wouldn't had seen it as a problem but after my pact with Mikayla the previous day, I couldn't go to meet any client outside WeCare Inc building because I wouldn't be able to make it back home for dinner on time.
I contemplated for a moment before arriving at a decision. I wouldn't go to Mrs Smith's house for our session