When Tropes Fail #1

“Hey Sue, wanna get dinner at Lenny's Diner with Heather, Leo, and I later?”

Suzanne sighed with irritation and pulled her gaze away from a stack of paperwork to look at Daniel – he had told her to call him Dan, but she insisted upon calling him Daniel. She studied his face coolly, taking in the neat blonde hair, slightly freckled tan face, and puppy dog-like brown eyes. He looked like a Golden Retriever. She tapped her foot rapidly, her black heels making a satisfying clack clack clack sound as she did so. She'd broken into the habit at a young age, but had never found the need to stop. In fact, it came quite in handy at times like this, when she tried to be as dismissive as possible. Combined with her venomous glare, she had a perfect one-two punch that chased off annoyances like Daniel. Most of the time.

Daniel and his friends had first invited her out the day she had started her job at the office. She had vehemently refused. Suzanne was not working at the office for the sake of making friends, nor was she afraid to use people as stepping stones in order to further her own career. Oh, when times called for it she could be friendly enough, but all relations with her coworkers outside of work were to be shut out. And yet look at her now. Heather, Leo, and Daniel – otherwise referred to as The Trio - insisted upon trying to break into her protective bubble. Frankly, Suzanne was quite fond of her bubble and had made it well-known the first time The Trio had invited her out. Unfortunately, they were all either too nice for their own good or stupid to recognize this fact. She believed that Daniel tended towards the latter, especially after he assigned her the deplorable nickname “Sue.”

“Sue?”

Daniel's confused tone quickly brought Suzanne back to reality – apparently she had been locked deep in thought. It wasn't surprising that she would tone him out so easily, though. They had danced this after work dance no less than a dozen times after that first invitation. Every time, Daniel, apparently the spokesperson for the group, invited her to eat with them. Sue would refuse. He would insist. She would refuse again. And the cycle would viciously go on until he accepted the loss. And then he would try again. Oh, but her mind was drifting again. It was time to end this sickening merry-go-round of unnecessary kindness.

Suzanne stood quickly, pushing back her desk chair in the same motion. A startled Daniel hopped back. He almost tripped when he backed into the corner of her desk. Suzanne approached him quickly with a couple of long steps, dark hair fluttering behind her as if it were a black cape. Once almost nose to nose with him, her red lips pulled back into a cold smile.

“I really appreciate the offer, but I'm currently busy. And I won't be done for quite a while,” she said, injecting as much malice into the words as possible while still keeping a polite tone. With this, she swung around, gathered a few sheets of paper, and promptly went to leave.

“Ah, wait!” Daniel called out. “I know it's probably pretty hard for you being the only newbie in a while. We're a pretty tight knit group around here.” He gestured to the gray, dimly lit office with a smile. “But we all really want to welcome you in as a new part of the team, Sue. I promise we don't bite.”

This guy is stupid, Suzanne thought. Definitely stupid. A total idiot. She could feel her irritation meter hit breaking point. And, yep, that was definitely the sound of it exploding.

Suzanne swung back around and gave up all pretenses of being polite, lashing out with an angry, “I do not want to be part of the team.”

She left.

The Trio never invited her out again.