Cady or Catty?

Things are certainly still settling. Guess that’s to be expected for a while.

In my prior post I compared my arrival to the new job to that of Cady from Mean Girls arriving at a new school. It certainly felt apropos, and of course hilarious, to make such a comparison.

The beloved Regina (from work) certainly has an army of skanks–well, she has two very close friends at work; her allies and loyal court. And in keeping with the theme I will name one G (For Gretchen, though it’s a guy so we’re just going to stick with letters). G is Regina’s closest friend and often reminds me how close they are and how they tell each other EVERYTHING. I don’t doubt their close relationship since I never see them apart. Where one goes, the other follows. “We’re the two best on our team,” she says. “Our stats and numbers, best on the team. Everyone knows this.” She often boasts their similarities.

Until recently I’ve kept my distance from G, mostly studying him… somewhat competitively. You see, Regina has labeled me her “G understudy.” G is also gay and fabulous, so it seemed appropriate for her to name a successor, or backup when G isn’t available. I’m still unsure if this is flattery or just insulting.

On a whim, I thought I’d message G and we soon found out we have a lot in common. (Hold the thought and put on the breaks before you start thinking this is a match made in heaven. He’s very committed and about to get married to the love of his life; his partner of something like 10yrs.) We share a certain witty charm and hilarious moments. For those following me on FB, yes, he was the one that provided me a large PARAGRAPH of a story recently!

Oh man let me tell you about action potentials… once upon a time there was a little neuron just hanging there and minding its own business… keeping its resting potential (via the Na/K pump of course, and don’t forget about the permeability of the K out of the cell)… so this neuron is just hanging out… making friends and minding its own business when BAM… a stimulus comes along in the form of a neurotransmitter from a presynaptic cell…

(there’s a lot more but that’s a sample)

Like I said, funny guy.

The other “plastic” in this triangle is someone I’ll call “K” (yes, for Karen, though this one too is male). K, unlike the character he’s been named after, is incredibly smart. In fact I found myself crushing on him just based on our intellectual conversations about life, religion, politics, sociology, and music. He’s very much unavailable though, not only taken but very straight. Of course, this doesn’t stop me from flirting with him 🙂

And the flirting is something Regina caught on to. Somehow or another (I suspect K showed Regina) Regina saw our instant messaging conversation and called out our mutual flirting. Apparently rumor has it she was very jealous.

So, yes, here I was pulling on the strings of both K and G. I think the climax of it all came most recently when I asked G to ask Regina something for me.

G “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Me “I’m studying the reaction. I kinda like to stir the pot and judge the reaction.”

This amused G and he complied. Sure enough the reaction I got back from Regina was nothing short of amusing. It was in this brief moment that I caught myself saying, “Wow, did I just turn into Cady from Mean Girls?” Of course, no one was there to relish the moment or share the laugh, but I figured I’d write about it in my blog.

No, I’m not turning Regina’s “army of skanks” against her. Though it did prompt me to take a step back for many reasons. This slight crush on K was something that disturbed me. Mostly because Regina’s jealous reaction made me realize that K was perhaps flirting back if for no other reason than because Regina was upset. And of course what guy doesn’t like the attention? Plus, like with G it made me realize both are extremely loyal to Regina and I have to be careful.

Here’s why…

On my birthday a few weeks ago I went out with the roommate, Sebastian, and my friend Kyle. I had one drink and a nice dinner. Sebastian took a photo, which as we all know is a BIG NO NO! My close friends can practically see my blood boil when a camera is turned in my direction. In fact, some have gotten into the habit of stepping in front of me when someone with a camera threatens to take a picture. (Love you, Drew!) Anyway, after much back-and-forth over taking the photo, I agreed to have one taken as long as Sebastian did NOT tag me on FB. Nevertheless, when I got back to work not only did my surrounding coworkers know about my birthday and the photo but supervisors too. WTF? The only person who would’ve seen that photo? Regina, since Regina is friends with Sebastian on FB. (this is why I’ve NEVER friended anyone from work in the past). One has to tread carefully with friending people on FB and those you work with. Of course, in this case it was nothing big, but the mere fact this traveled SO fast upset me.

Oddly enough–going back to earlier in the post–when I asked G to ask Regina something I had him ask her about a Singles’ Date Night in February (Yes, on Valentine’s Day). She replied with something along the lines of “Well, if we were friends on FB he’d know!” I was amused because she’d ask me why I wasn’t friends with her on FB. It was obvious this had been bothering her, though she only mentioned it once. So, the whole birthday thing made me realize I wanted to keep that distance. It’s worked for me the many years in the past and I will continue to have that policy.

Yes, it’s hard for me to trust people. Even if I see someone every day, I’m very reserved. It’s funny how I’m much more open on the internet, with complete strangers or people I’ve never met in real life, yet I’m closed off in real life.

For now, I keep my distance from G, as amusing as he is. K is also another I keep my distance. For as much as I think we’d be good friends, I’m afraid of things getting back to Regina or anyone else. Recently K called me out on keeping my distance and said something along the lines of “like minds like us need to stick together.” The words tugged at the heart strings, I’m not going to lie. But… I’d rather build my walls and keep my distance. I hate getting hurt and… anyway.

So, The Plastics can keep their throne in the workplace. I’m stepping back and studying my surroundings. I tend to have more fun that way anyway. Besides, I’m a writer, we sit back and watch a lot 😉