Ogilvie walked in the North entrance of the cafeteria and wandered around looking at the afternoon snacks. He considered grabbing an ice cream sandwich, but decided against it and went for his usual. Extra-large iced tea, extra crushed ice, and a cinnamon oatmeal cookie. After paying, he stood near the registered and watched the team sitting at their regular table. He chuckled and shook his head. They always sat at the same table, in the same positions around it. At least everyone knew where to find them if any issues came up.
Corny sat closest to the registers, his back to him. His arms were on the table and his hand was curled loosely around his coffee cup, fingers twitching and bouncing on the table. York sat to his right, watching people coming and going. Two bottles of Gatorade stood in front of him. Dub sat nearest the walkway, most accessible to everyone walking by, and Val sat next to him, chugging his Mountain Dew. Ogilvie joined them, taking his usual seat next to York.
"How's that thing working out for you?" he asked as Corny fingered the patch stuck to his upper arm.
"Fucking sucks." His eyes were locked on the smokers on the opposite side of the courtyard. Ogilvie looked out the floor to ceiling windows and watched as Roth lit up. His eyes cut to Dub, who was pretending not to notice. Corny's fingers twitched harder, and he took a deep breath, as if he could feel the nicotine from there. He closed his eyes and exhaled. "If it weren't for that fucking bet, I'd say fuck it."
"I told you I could do it." Ogilvie smiled at him.
"Yeah, well, fuck you." Everyone laughed as Corny gave him the finger.
Ogilvie pointed to the two bottles on the table. “Drinking double fisted, York?”
“Nah, taking one back for Milton.”
"Hey, Dub?” A soft voice interrupted their banter. “I think my keyboard's broken. Can you come by to look at it?" A very pretty blonde haired woman stood very close to him at the table, blinking her eyes at him and shifting her weight between her feet.
"Uh, yeah. Give me 15 minutes?"
"Sure!" She smiled and bounced of to another table.
He dunked the teabag in his cup, splashing a little water over the sides.
"Hey, you brought it on yourself," Val said.
"You suck one guy off under his desk, and now everyone wants to take a number." He wrapped the teabag around his spoon.
"Maybe you should have locked the door first," York suggested.
"Or better yet, control yourself, you horny little fucker," Corny supplied. "Should have never done it here to begin with."
"I think you need to slap on another patch there, pal." Dub lowered his eyebrows and glared back at Corny, who popped a piece of gum out of its blister pack and returned the glare as he chewed.
"Are you supposed to mix those things?" Val asked. He held up his hands in surrender when Corny turned his glare on him. "Fine, suit yourself."
Dub took a sip of his tea and grimaced.
"Why do you drink that stuff if you don't like it?" York asked him.
"Yeah, it smells like Froot Loops," Val commented.
"Earl Grey was a very big thing in the Wheeler house. High tea, every afternoon." He shook his head at the memory of his parents, pretending they were something they weren't. "Appearances and all that shit, you know?"
"Yeah, but you're not in the Wheeler house anymore. You're on your own now. Why keep it up? You obviously don't like it." It sounded obvious to Ogilvie.
"To remind myself of what I don't want to be."
Corny snorted. "I think your legendary keyboard fixing skills would be enough."
Dub shot him a death stare and stood up. “I think I’ll go fix Mandy’s now.” He left through the courtyard doors, stopping to talk to Roth for a few minutes. They watched as Roth lit up another, blowing a large cloud of smoke around them.
“Fucker.” Corny drained the last of his coffee and crushed the paper cup. “Now he’s going to smell like smoke all afternoon.”
As if on queue, Dub turned around and waved at them, shooting them a huge smile before going back in to find Mandy’s desk.
“Fucker.” Corny said one more time as they walked back to the stable.
~xxx~
