More Than Friends

Chapter 11: Brady

“Okay, I just have to say one thing.” Madison said to Brady and Steph, as soon as they had all been working for a few minutes. She rolled her chair to the center of the cubicle, indicating that she wanted Brady and Steph to do the same. When they were all in a knotted group, heads together, Madison continued softly, “I just don’t get why he chose her.”

Brady gave her a confused look, “Why who chose her? Max?”

“Yes of course why Max chose her” Madison said, looking at him like he was stupid. “I just don’t get it. It’s not like she’s better than any of us. In fact, I think you can make the argument that she’s worse.”

“How do you figure?” Brady asked, aware that he wasn’t necessarily arguing with her.

Madison ticked off reasons on her fingers, “She’s almost always the first to leave each day, she routinely misses easy grammar mistakes, and she complains the most out of all of us.”

“Complaining about your job doesn’t make you a bad employee,” Brady said. “If that were the case, I’d be willing to bet that no one would ever get another promotion again.”

He thought about the other things Madison said, knowing that she was right on both counts. He wasn’t sure how to respond and he resented her for putting him in this position.

“Okay, fine,” Madison huffed. “But you know she always leaves early and Steph is constantly catching grammar mistakes that Charlotte misses.”

Brady glanced at Steph, who shrugged and nodded, “She’s not wrong.”

“Maybe, but she takes a lot of work home with her,” Brady said. “She takes her computer home almost every night. I’ll give you the grammar stuff—even Char would admit that. She’s not super detailed…” he laughed, thinking of how true this was and continued, “she’s more of a big picture person, she has great ideas.”

“Isn’t most of editing in the details?” Madison asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “And how do we really know she’s working from home? Just because she takes her computer home doesn’t mean she’s working.”

Brady tossed his arms up exasperatingly and said, “What are you trying to say, Madison?”

“I’m just saying that out of all of us, Max chose the most attractive, possibly the least talented, and arguably the most naïve,” Madison said. “Why didn’t all of us get the chance to read the book and offer suggestions? Why wasn’t it an equal opportunity and then Max picked the best suggestions? Why is it just Charlotte?”

“Are you saying that you think Max is hoping to take advantage of her?” Brady asked, already knowing that’s exactly what she was saying, since he’d had a similar notion.

“What if the reason that Charlotte is working on this project is because Max wants to get her alone in his office? What if he wants to see if he can ‘teach her a few things?’” she asked, putting air quotes around the last five words. “What if it’s not about giving her an opportunity but giving himself one?”

Brady wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t want to think that Max was trying to take advantage of Charlotte, but once the idea had wriggled its way into his mind, he couldn’t let it go. He couldn’t imagine bringing this up to Charlotte, she would be offended and hurt if she thought they doubted her abilities or Max’s intentions.

“So, are you saying that you’re worried about Charlotte?” Brady asked, doubtfully.

“I mean—yes, of course,” Madison stuttered. “I don’t want her to get herself into a scary situation or something she can’t handle. But I also think that it’s unfair to the rest of us. Why aren’t we getting a chance? Why just her?”

“Maybe he’s going to reach out to each of us or maybe he’s waiting to see how this goes and then make a decision or maybe he just thinks that Charlotte is the best and wants to reward her,” Brady said. “I have no idea. But I think it would really hurt her if she knew that you thought that the only reason she’s in there right now is because she’s pretty and nothing more.”

“So, you’re telling me that you think that Charlotte is the most deserving of the four of us?” Madison nearly scoffed. “You think that this has absolutely nothing to do with how beautiful she is, how closely they might be working together, and how easy it could be for someone like Max to work his magic on someone like her? You’re telling me that you don’t think her looks have anything to do with this?!”

“Okay, maybe there’s something there,” Brady conceded, and the more he thought about what Madison was saying, the more concerned he became. If Max had ulterior motives, it could mean that Charlotte was in danger. Even if he saw real aptitude in Charlotte but wanted to use this to begin a furtive relationship, she could still be at risk.

“That’s all I’m saying,” Madison said, haughtily. “That there has to be something else besides her talentfor why she’s in that meeting and none of us are.” She emphasized the word “talent” in her most condescending voice.

“Jesus, Madison,” Brady said, rolling his eyes.

“You can call me a b***h all day long, but you know I’m right,” Madison said.

“I never said you were a b***h, I’m ju—” Brady stopped midsentence as Steph coughed and kicked his foot. All three of them looked up to see Charlotte standing there. Brady’s stomach plummeted with a splat, and he felt his cheeks burning. He had no idea how long she had been standing there, so he wasn’t sure what she had heard. The look on her face suggested that she had heard enough. She walked to her desk in silence as the rest of them rolled their chairs back to their desks. Brady felt guilt sink to the pit of his stomach like a boulder.

The rest of the morning crawled by in an awkward silence that Brady couldn’t remember ever descending on their little cubicle. They had become such close friends over the last three years or so, helping one another with work, offering moral support, and countless after work drinks. He felt guilty for being a part of the conversation about Charlotte and hoped that she wasn’t upset with him.

As much as he didn’t want to think about it, the things that Madison said about Charlotte and Max and snaked their way into his mind, and he couldn’t shake it. He tried to divorce himself from his feelings for Charlotte and look at the situation objectively. Charlotte had a unique perspective on almost every project she worked on. She was brilliant when it came to the story as a whole, she was, like he said, good at the big picture, and always had excellent ideas. He wondered if that’s what Max had seen in her, which would make perfect sense as to why Charlotte was the one working with him now.

When he considered the fact that their job as assistant editors didn’t have much to do with big ideas and was more focused on the nitty-gritty details, then he’d have to agree with Madison that it wasn’t exactly fair. Plus, she did bring up a good point—Max could have allowed each of them to weigh in, each giving their feedback. He could have either chosen one of them based off their work or gathered all the best advice. Either way, it would have seemed more equitable.

Finally, his mind wandered to what Madison was really getting at, that Max had hidden intentions and they revolved around cultivating a relationship with Charlotte that was more than professional. He hoped this wasn’t the case, that she was completely off base, but he couldn’t help but wonder. He knew how the women in the office felt about Max, but he also knew that Max was a professional, their superior, and if he ever took advantage of his position, he’d be fired… or worse. And Brady really couldn’t imagine it. They’d all watched the Me-Too movement in horror and there hadn’t been as much as a whisper of impropriety at Hughes.

No, he thought hopefully, Madison is just wrong. He tried to convince himself that Charlotte got this opportunity because she was smart, creative, and hard working. Besides, Madison was often jealous of Charlotte’s good looks. Although she took pains to hide it, sometimes it slipped out, obvious and a little embarrassing.

Just last week, Brady recalled, Charlotte rushed into the office, a few minutes later than usual looking a little frazzled, her hair hanging in wet ringlets.

“Sorry, guys, bootcamp ran a little long!” she’d said breathlessly.

When Charlotte had left the cubicle to grab coffee, Madison had scoffed to Steph, “Some of us prioritize actual work over working out.”

Brady had chalked it up to Madison’s hyper vigilance at arriving to work on time, but as he thought through her recent comments, he wondered if there was something deeper at play. If Madison’s jealousy was beginning to undermine Charlotte. He shook his head in frustration, he couldn’t make sense or be sure of anything completely.

If there was any truth to what Madison was charging, not only would it mean that the three of them weren’t being given a fair shot, but that Charlotte was in danger of being taken advantage of. If there was even a chance that Max was singling her out because he was attracted to her and willing to use his position to begin some kind of affair, then Brady had an obligation to protect her. He just wished there was a way for him to be certain.

If he had an idea of what the book was about, he might have a better idea of Max’s motives for choosing Charlotte. If the book was about, say, a sexy intern who gets seduced by her handsome boss, then Madison might have a point. But Brady figured that was a long shot. He thought about Charlotte’s book idea that she had told him about on Saturday night and the irony was not lost on him.

And even if the book wasn’t salacious at all and was just a run of the mill romance novel, he could still have underhanded motives. He worried that Charlotte would be so excited about the opportunity that she might not be seeing it clearly; it was possible that she was blinded by the prospect and all that it held. As her best friend, didn’t he owe it to her to help her avoid these situations?

If only there was a way for him to find out a little something about the novel they were working on, to find out what the book was about, then maybe he could let his mind rest. He could better reason that Charlotte’s best interests were being prioritized and he could start to quiet Madison’s accusations. The only problem was, he couldn’t ask Charlotte, not now. He’d have to find out some other way.