Chapter 30 Sydney - Life in the Hive
Chapter 30
Sydney - Life in the Hive
T hree days a week, from noon until eight, Austin and I worked in Studio C with three assigned songwriters. For the other four days, we were free to collaborate with others. I didn’t want to work seven days a week, and I took Wednesdays and Sundays for myself. Everyone needs to recharge their batteries, or risk burning out from overuse and exhaustion.
Samson came with me wherever I went. Daisy taught me all her training techniques and Samson caught on quickly. His professional training made him a valuable companion and people mistook him for a service dog. I could set a steak on the table, and he wouldn’t eat it unless I gave the proper command. I loved to take him to visit Daisy when she had a new litter of puppies. He adored them and let them climb all over him, while giving me side eye like he didn’t enjoy the attention.
One Tuesday, I arrived early to work and set up my laptop for our creative session. I heard voices down the hall as they approached.
“She brings that beast with her all the time. I’ve never seen such an ugly dog in all my life.” I knew that voice: Crissy. She always petted Samson and even brought him treats from the dog bakery on her street. She walked into the room with Marcus and Jack .
“Hi, Sydney! You brought my buddy with you today!” She ruffled his ears as she passed him.
After hearing her in the hallway, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “I’m sorry. I think I just hallucinated. I’m going to grab a drink from the kitchen.” I was kerfuffled and didn’t remember to tell Samson to stay. What just happened? I’d never seen someone switch gears that fast. Her behavior reminded me of a sociopath.
I found Austin in the kitchen pouring himself a giant travel mug full of coffee. He put the liquid back on the burner with barely any left in the pot.
“Aren’t you going to be nice to the next guy and start another pot?”
He pointed over his shoulder. “Nope. You see all those skirts behind those desks? That’s what they pay them to do.”
“I didn’t realize I’d stepped into a 1980s movie. My bad.” I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for helping the feminists today, Cowboy.”
“I do what I can.”
I bit my lip. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Shoot.”
I relayed Crissy’s rude comments. “Is it a problem for me to bring Samson with me?”
He took a sip of coffee while he thought. “She’s an idiot. You’ve seen the lyrics she writes. Don’t worry about what she thinks.”
“I shouldn’t let her get to me; I know. Samson shouldn’t ever be an issue. I’ve worked hard to train him.”
“Yes, you have. I’ve never seen a more well-behaved dog.”
“Thanks. I had to run that by you or I would be obsessed with it all day.”
Austin grabbed me by the elbow and put his mouth next to my ear. “Crissy is harmless, but stay away from Jason. I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong with him, but he makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”
“It’s probably too many steroids. But I will keep my distance.” I didn’t know how seriously to take Austin’s warning. Jason seemed fine to me. We chatted like normal and worked together fine. No bad vibes. No good ones, to be honest, but mostly he was a nothing to me. Just a person at work. Could Austin be… jealous? That was a weird thought.
He patted me on the shoulder. “Glad I could help. Now let’s get to work. ”
Austin and I returned from the kitchen. Crissy, Jack, and Marcus lounged around in the oversized chairs around the room. Secretly, I had a crush on Marcus. His gentlemanly ways with Crissy and me got my attention. I wanted to touch his fuzzy brown curls and kiss his full lips that I imagine felt like little pillows of sweetness. Heeding Abby’s advice, I attempted to keep things professional, but I kept hoping he would ask me out.
We’d been working as a team for around six months when we started seeing the payoff. Literally. The songs from our hive started hitting the Billboard 100. On any given week, we had at least two songs on the list. We made our boss, Bryce, a happy man. Our growing paychecks made us happy, too.
We had three half-finished songs on deck. We spent a few hours on the one we targeted for a young female pop singer. The bridge gave us a headache, and we put it aside. Then we worked on a holiday song. Coming up with new and exciting holiday songs is the most difficult task for a songwriter. Once in a blue moon, a new song comes along that resonates and gets added to the standard seasonal playlist.
The day flew by, and at six we called it quits for the evening. I gathered my things while Samson watched from his perch next to my chair. Austin had his weekly poker game tonight; we’d driven separately to work. That meant that Samson and I would eat takeout for dinner. I grabbed Del Taco and got Samson a chicken taco for a treat.
When we arrived home, I checked our mailbox before going inside. Flyers and the electric bill. Nothing exciting. I dropped my keys in the bowl on the small table by the front door and hung my tote bag on the doorknob of the coat closet. Samson headed for his water bowl in the kitchen and lapped loudly. I set our bag of food on the kitchen counter and grabbed a paper plate out of the cupboard. Once I got it together and poured myself a glass of iced tea, I carried it out to the living room. Samson followed closely behind me.
I sat on the couch and scrolled through Netflix and Hulu, not satisfied with anything. That’s pathetic. I settled for watching a couple episodes of The Big Bang Theory , which never failed to make me laugh.
As I finished the last bite of my dinner, my phone started ringing. I rushed to wipe my hands before reaching into my tote bag. I missed the call by a couple of seconds. My caller ID revealed it had been Marcus. Why would he call me? We’d all exchanged numbers when we started working together, but I’d never needed to use them. I waited to see if he left a voice mail, but he didn’t. Now what? I took a chance and called him back.
“Hello! This is Sydney, returning your call.”
“Hey! It’s Marcus. Are you busy?”
“Not now. Just finished eating dinner.”
“What did you have? Anything good?”
“Del Taco. I wish it didn’t taste good. I even got one for Samson. He loves a good chicken taco.”
“He’s got good taste.”
“He would prefer a steak, but it will have to do.”
He chuckled. “That’s not even a contest. But that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Why are you calling?”
A pause. “I want to ask you out.”
Well that caught me by surprise. “Okay.”
“Okay. Is that a good thing?”
“Yes, it’s more than okay. I’m glad you asked.”
“I didn’t want to ask you at work. I didn’t know what your policy is on mixing dating and work.”
“I’ve never officially taken a position on that. There are pros and cons.” I didn’t tell him I had a crush on him.
“Excellent. What day works best for you?”
We chose next Wednesday evening for our date. I decided to keep this to myself. Austin had a knack for teasing, and this would give him miles of material to use against me. In addition, I didn’t want to upset our hive dynamics. At least not right away.
Journal Entry
Crissy Truman. I didn’t realize she was such a phony baloney. How could she call Samson a monster in one breath and then lean over to pet him in the next? I wanted to drop kick her into next week. But I didn’t.
Then Austin warned me about Jason being creepy. I’d never gotten a good vibe from Jason, but he was a brilliant sound engineer, and I knew he and Bryce were good buddies outside of work. I didn’t subscribe to the “kiss the boss’s ass” game. That applied across the board. My work should speak for itself. And it does. My lyrics hang out on the Top 100 charts on the regular.
I’m pretty pleased that Marcus called and asked me out. It’s one thing to crush and hope; it’s another thing to actually be asked out. I heard everything Abby said about the cons of dating a coworker, and it made perfect sense. But I didn’t get the amount of male attention that she did without even trying. Not by a long shot. I decided I’m going to take this chance. More to come on that...