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Shoot, I’d have to head that off immediately. I knew the moment Sadie caught up because she reached for my fingers on the keyboard, trying to pry them off before I could type a response. “I told you not to flirt. You can’t accept!”
“I’m not accepting. Will you stop with the hostile takeover? You’re not being professional.”
“You’renot being professional. You’re just making fun of these people.” She tried to pry my pinky up and only succeeded in sending a row of A’s across the screen. Thankfully, they would all go away as long as I didn’t press send.
At that moment, Wendy stepped out of the bathroom and stopped short, her eyes lighting up in delight at seeing us being interesting again. After over a week of Sadie and I ignoring each other, this was like gossip catnip.
“How’s the BFFing going?” Her voice was so warm and motherly. No wonder she collected such good tea to spill.
“We’re having creative differences,” Sadie huffed out. “But everything is fine.” To demonstrate, she took her hands back and tucked them under her armpits, like she didn’t quite trust herself to not launch them at me again unless they were secured. She was wearing the pink ‘Do Not Disturb’ shirt I’d gotten her. Maybe I should have gone with ‘I Disturb Everyone,’ or ‘Does Not Play Nice with Others.’
I glared at her. “I’ve got this Sadie. I’ll put her off and run it by Marcel, okay?”
“Okay. Sorry.”
She actually did seem sorry, but that only made me feel slightly better. I’d gone to bat for her with Rob last week, and for what? Why had I tried to protect someone who not only wasn’t friends with me, but didn’t even trust me as a coworker?
I told the woman I probably couldn’t make it and then privately messaged Hector. That led to some good news and bad news. The good news? Hector thought me having an admirer was hilarious. He didn’t mind at all. The bad news? He wanted me along on the group date.
I immediately ran to Marcel’s office for advice on what to do next. Marcel was on a call, but he motioned for me to sit until he finished.
After I explained the situation, Marcel pulled up the chat group on his computer and read silently for a few minutes. It was a trait I liked about the guy. Everything he said and did was with thoughtful precision. The only time I’d seen him truly mystified was when I handed Rob that tube of bum cream.
“Where is Sadie?” he finally asked.
“At her desk.”
He picked up his phone and called her extension. “Sadie, come in for this, please.”
Sadie, of course, was at my side in a flash, looking worried. The nice thing about busybodies? They were always in a hurry.
“So.” Marcel laced his fingers together and stuck them under his chin. “With approval from upper management—that’s me in this case—you can go on a date as a secret BFF if you’re asked to. It’s a little hard to blend in otherwise. But it’s one date. We ensure that by having our backup plan in place. Who is your backup, Denver?”
“I have no idea.” All my training flipped through my head, but I truly had no clue where he was going with this.
“Sadie’s your backup. We’re going to throw her into the thread in a few minutes so you two can ‘meet.’ That way, if Hector still needs you after this weekend, Sadie will be your very believable fake love interest in the group, and no one else will get too attached to you.”
“Are you serious?” Sadie scrubbed her hands down her face. “Isn’t that like, dishonest for the users of the app? I have spreadsheets on these people. I can’t meet them in real life.”
Marcel shrugged. “They’ve agreed to it. It’s in the onboarding contract. They know secret BFFs exist and may interact with them. In fact, it makes rejection easier. If someone ghosts them later, they can just assume it was a BFF, someone there for a different purpose.”
I took in a deep cleansing breath. It didn’t help so I took in another one. I’d asked for this. I’d been prepped for this. But Sadie in the thread? Sadie as my love interest? “Sadie’s in data management. She’s not a BFF.”
“No, she’s your backup. In office and out. Denver, if you can’t do this, it’s okay. There are plenty of employees who think they want the BFF requests before they see what it’s really like. It’s a roll-with-the-punches kind of thing, and not everyone can handle it. We have lots of other tasks for you.”
My mind was going in a million directions, and I didn’t know which path I wanted to follow. I had always thought of myself as a roll-with-the-punches kind of guy. But that was before all this.
“What about you, Sadie?” Marcel asked. “Could you handle it?”
When I glanced at her, she was staring at me, looking concerned. If this was out ofmycomfort zone, I couldn’t imagine what galaxy this placed her in.
She took in a deep cleansing breath of her own and turned back to Marcel. “If Denver’s in, I’m in.”
Well, that was unexpected. But also, very expected. The chance to one-up me in front of Marcel? Of course she’d take it.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
Sadie narrowed her eyes at me. “If I say I’m sure, I’m sure.”
