Sugar and Spite

by Marinda Kotze

He pulled her closer across the backseat of his candy-apple-red Ford Mustang and held her tight. She looked up into his lagoon-colored eyes and felt weightless. Then they kissed, his hands— ­

“Hey, Lola!” A crumpled paper ball bounced against Lola’s head, then landed on her keyboard. “You’re daydreaming again.”

Lola jerked around. “No, I wasn’t. I was just… just… thinking.”

“I think Lola’s in love,” Suzy said from her cubicle on the other side of the open-plan office.

Snorts and giggles rose from the other cubicles like crickets calling each other on a hot summer’s evening.

“Ooooh, Lola’s in looove,” Carly started to chant with a mocking enthusiasm that made Lola’s skin swell pastel pink.

“Am not!” Lola blurted out.

There was a moment of silence. The other women peeked at each other from across their cubicle walls. Then, another wave of laughter ensued.

“Oooh, Lola has a sweetheart. Mmm, maybe it’s someone we know?” Suzy said.

“Mr Silverstein perhaps?” Carly quipped.

The other women burst out laughing. Mr Silverstein was their sixty-three-year-old boss.

“Maybe she finally got her first boyfriend at age thirty-seven. Miracles can happen, right?” Suzy said.

Lola stood up. Her office chair popped up and rolled away. Lola was many things, but not tall. Her head barely made it past the cubicle walls.

“I’m not in love with anyone, okay? Just stop it! Don’t you guys have work to do?” Drops of spittle flicked from her mouth as she spoke.

“Of course. I’m waiting for you to send me the Wagener spreadsheets,” Suzy said. “But no rush. If you wanna fantasize about your boyfriend some more, I don’t mind waiting. I could do with a smoke break anyway.”

The other women howled with laughter.

Lola dropped into her chair so that her piglet ponytail cartwheeled through the air. She huffed and reached for a homemade candy apple in her desk drawer.

Just then, the office door swung open. Ted Gifford strolled in. He wore powder-blue warehouse overalls, top button undone, with a large package under his arm.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Ted called, tipping an imaginary hat.

“Hi Ted!” several women called back.

Carly ducked into her cubicle and applied a fresh coat of red lipstick.

“Hey, stranger. Why have you been so scarce lately?” Suzy flicked her sleek blue-black hair over her shoulder.

Lola rolled her eyes and took a big bite from her candy apple.

“Oh, I’ve been here and there.” Ted winked at Suzy. He weaved through the hedge garden of cubicles toward Silverstein’s office.

“Hey, Lola cheeks. Save some for me!” Ted said, tapping the edge of Lola’s cubicle wall as he walked past. For a moment, their eyes met, and she could see the gold specks in his green-blue eyes.

Lola gulped down the piece of candied apple and wiped sugar glaze off her lips. “Hey… Ted. How are y—”

“Why in such a hurry? Stay a little longer.” Suzy shouted to him.  

Ted chuckled and disappeared into Silverstein’s office.

Lola closed her eyes and tried to savor the aftershave scent that lingered in the air.

The rest of the day crept by.

Suzy told everyone, willing listeners or not, about her weekend escapades with Mr September (she had stopped naming her gentleman callers long ago). When the wall clock struck five p.m., everyone except Lola grabbed their purses, lunch bags and water bottles and hurried out of the office. 

Lola wasn’t in any rush. No one was waiting for her at home. She had no social engagements lined up for the evening.

When she stepped out of the office building, the last rays of sunlight were starting to fade behind the fall-colored sugar maple trees that lined the parking lot. Only two cars were left – hers, a rusted Buick Century, and a sparkling candy-apple-red Ford Mustang.

Lola’s heart stopped.

Ted.

Neon green atmosphere lights glowed through the car’s tinted windows.

Lola walked closer.

She saw the shadows of two silhouettes in the green glow. She recognized Ted immediately by the profile of his face. The figure across from him was less distinctive. Lola tiptoed closer.

The two figures merged into one for a few moments, then broke apart. The other person in the car flicked their dark hair back. The hair had blue undertones, which glimmered briefly in the neon green light.

Suzy.

Lola froze mid-step. From the closer vantage point, Lola could see Suzy’s pale hand caress Ted’s face and slip down his unbuttoned shirt. Lola felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She trudged to her car on the other side of the lot and drove home in silence.

When Lola’s upset, she bakes.

So that’s exactly what she did. 

The next morning, Lola arrived late to the weekly Friday office meeting.

“Miss Lewis, how nice of you to join us,” Mr Silverstein glared at Lola over the top of his glasses.

All the women from the office were sitting around the boardroom table, staring at her. Ted was absent – he was off on his usual delivery route. 

“Sorry, Mr Silverstein,” Lola said. She heaved a large Tupperware container onto the table and took a seat.

Suzy mumbled something that made Carly and the other women snicker.

“As I was saying—” Mr Silverstein droned on about reports for another thirty-five minutes. Then he adjourned the meeting and announced that he would be out for the rest of the day.

Just as Silverstein left the office, Lola leapt from her chair. “Hey, everyone! Before you leave, I made candy apples last night. I would love for y’all to try them.” She popped open the Tupperware lid, revealing over a dozen bright red candy apples, each covered in a thick candy shell and skewered with a white wooden stick.

Lola held the container so that each woman could take one.

Some thanked her. Most just plucked a candy apple from the container and high-tailed it back to their cubicles.

“By all means, tuck in! While they’re still warm,” Lola called out.

She didn’t need to encourage them. Most women had already sunk their teeth into the sticky apples before getting to their chairs.

Lola took the empty container back to her cubicle and started with the day’s work. Around her, the cracking and crunching of candy apples eventually faded and made way for the usual clicking of nails on keyboards, the printing and filing of papers, and the chatter of women amongst each other.

Now and then, Lola heard someone cough.

Then the coughing became more regular.

“Boy, what’s in the air? My throat feels so itchy,” Carly complained.

“Yeah, same—” cough “here,” Suzy said in between stifled coughs.

The coughs continued, punctuating the air like raspy dog barks in a quiet suburb. 

Lola kept a firm gaze on her monitor, but her hands trembled.

Suddenly, someone gagged loudly, jumped out of their chair and bolted for the ladies’ room.

It was Suzy.  

She wasn’t fast enough.

Suzy staggered forward, then vomited all over her low-cut blouse. Food chunks and bile streaks spewed out of her. She stumbled and fell onto her hands and knees next to Lola’s cubicle.

Lola peeked down at Suzy.

A patchy strawberry-red rash and bulging veins pockmarked Suzy’s porcelain skin. Lola’s heart raced.

A loud thud, followed by a cry, sounded from the other side of the office.

Lola stood up slowly and peered over her cubicle wall.

Carly was lying on the floor, clutching her stomach, crying in pain. Inky black mascara smears trailed down her cheeks.

The rest of the women were either scratching at rashes on their arms or retching into their wastepaper baskets.

A wet hand grabbed Lola’s ankle from under the table.

“Y…you…” Suzy stammered. Small bits of vomit and tiny shards of hardened red candy clung to the sides of her mouth and chin.

Lola shrieked and kicked her hand away.

Leaning back onto her knees, Suzy reached for her phone in her jeans’ pocket.

Lola felt a tightness grip her chest. Suzy mustn’t—  

Just as Suzy grasped her phone, she suddenly lurched forward and hurled, landing face-first onto the rough carpet. Then she started to choke. Mushy apple fragments flew out of her nose.

Suzy’s strangled breaths and gurgles made a cold sweat run over Lola’s body.

To Lola, it felt like time had stood still. The cacophony of retching and vomit splattering on the carpet intensified around her.

Suzy’s body shook and spasmed. A weak groan escaped from her blue lips. She twitched a few times and then became still. Lola relaxed back into her chair and sighed.

The sounds of retching steadily gave way to wailing, choking and guttural gasps for air. A sickly-sweet stench hung in the air.

Eventually, it became quiet.

Lola smiled and closed her eyes to savor the moment.

Finally, there was no more laughter.

No more sniggers and snide comments.

No more winks.

No more bragging about Mr September.

No one to stand between her and Ted.

© Marinda Kotze, 2025

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