Against All Odds

Hello there *waving* ,

Thank you for taking a look at my story. Just to warn you, this story is not full-packed with rough fucking, but is an a-typical romance one. :o)

If you should find yourself with my story now, pull up a comfy chair, pour yourself a cup of tea or cocoa and relax….

Any suggestions welcome.

* * * * *

Storming through the big, heavy oak swing door, which slammed loudly behind her, Andrea drew the attention of everyone in the room on her – except for Charles, the ancient, almost-deaf porter who was watering the plants in the corner. She just about managed to find a seat in one of the back rows of the room, apologizing silently to the audience of professionally and rather annoyed looking journalists. The man sitting at the front table facing them continued with his report, pointing at statistics and tables coming from the OHP. After searching in her rather big handbag for a minute, she finally managed to get her Dictaphone out and set it up on the little table attached to her chair.

James continued with the latest economic reports and had to smile a bit thinking, "Rookie of the Year – NOT". He then continued routinely with details of the new survey findings, explaining different factors, influences and groups and answering questions of the journalists present who were busy scribbling his words down on their notepads.

Andrea then found a few minutes to catch her breath, not even paying attention to what the "stuck-up, Armani-suit wearing nanny boy on the stage" was talking about and letting her Dictaphone do the job. She hated numbers of any sort and economics even more. "Thank god for the invention of Dictaphones", she thought and gave the audience an imaginative yawn. Leaning back she went through her mental shopping list, then daydreaming away of her soon to come holiday with her friend Mary. Twenty minutes later she was on her way out again, glad to leave room behind her and happy to breath some fresh air. Andrea went straight on to the Thai Restaurant where she was having her usual lunch-gossip with Mary, who worked in the translation department of the same company.

"You were doing

what

?" Mary asked not believing a word Andrea said. "I had to go to a briefing on the New Economy, you know the briefing sessions they are now sending us to -

Fis if fo delifouf!

" she answered with a full mouth munching her chicken satay. Mary was still sitting there, starring at her and said with a voice full of disbelief, "And

you

think James is not good looking… every single skirt in the company wants him – and Tom too", Mary grinned at Andrea. Tom was their gay friend who, admittedly, had a fetish for businessmen.

Shaking her head she smiled and they continued going over and over the latest gossip, checking out the male objects in "Totally Thai" coming to the resolution, yet again, that there has to be a major problem in the world: so many gorgeous single women and so little supply of gorgeous single men.

After their satay-feast they leaned back on the comfy sofas in the restaurant and Andrea lit a cigarette and told Mary about the "clown's" explanations on the economy and she started yawning immediately again. Mary laughed and Andrea said, with a serious undertone, "I sometimes wonder if I will actually ever find a man that likes me the way I am and that does not make me laugh when I look at him. I mean, if you could have seen that swotty little nanny boy sitting in the room… he looked like such a

professional

idiot going over the figures and answering question. Somebody has to do that job, I know, and rather him than me. I bet my left arse cheek that nobody understood a word anyway. I'll be that happiest person when Julian comes back to the office and explains to me why we have to do this training." Almost yelling she said in her theatrical voice, "I am a political and strategic analyst and not an economist. I did not even know half the abbreviations he was talking about. How can they expect me to

'incorporate those features in our special reports'

".

"Anyways", said Mary, "let's talk about our holiday", stretching out the last word to make it sound like a delicious desert. One thing Mary and Andrea had in common, apart from loving Thai food and peanut butter, was backpacking. For them, a holiday had to be time spent in a place that has not been run over by hordes of package holidaymakers yet. And this year, they were planning to go back to a place they had been before, but fell in love with: Finland. They booked flights to Stockholm, Sweden planning to spend a few days there with friends from university before setting over with the overnight ferry to Helsinki where yet another friend would meet them before they set off going north to Lake Inari. "Mmmmmhh…… mossies, salmon

en mas

and no economic reports for a whole fortnight", Mary said with a huge grin on her face, knowing that the mosquitoes just loved Andrea. "You have just taken the words out of my mouth, darling", Andrea replied, almost able to smell the smoked salmon steak and they got ready, paid the bill at the counter and went back to office which was a 10min walk away.

Still daydreaming away about their cabin they planned to rent once up in northern Finland they went back to work. Andrea worked on the 15

th

floor while Mary enjoyed the splendid view out of her 22

nd

floor office, so they hugged each other good-bye in the elevator and arranged to meet in the flat they shared at around 9.00pm because Andrea had to stay late and "research

abbreviations

" as she told Mary with an annoyed undertone in her voice.

Before she went to her office Andrea went to the bathroom to check her make-up and her hair. "I wish I wouldn't have so many curls" she said to herself looking in the mirror. Andrea was, in Mary's opinion, a special and rare kind of girl: 26 years old, she had received her MA with 22 and then worked in Japan for three years before she decided to come back to the UK to find a 'proper' job. She stood 5'5", not exactly slim and not even close to wanting to become anorexic she had brownish-green eyes set in a face with full lips and a bit of an upturned cute nose, brunette curly hair down to her shoulders with subtle red highlights to compliment her natural colour and boobs that most women would die for and that most men were looking at before they were looking her face . It was not the looks that made her special though, it was her attitude.

She was a smart cookie who could analyse politics quicker and more precise than most of the people, she was fluent in five languages, loved cars which were almost illegally fast, knew more about sports than some of the guys around in the office, but was also capable of entertaining business visitors who enjoyed fine art and classical music. Most striking for her co-workers was the enthusiasm she showed and the positive influence she had, making people smile or playing practical jokes on them. She had a small circle of friends, but many acquaintances, but she never really let people get to know her. Even Mary, who she knew since she was 20, sometimes had to feeling she was hiding something. And: she had a major problem with men – most of them saw her as a friend who would go to soccer games with them on a Wednesday or discuss the latest development of oncoming Rugby season with them. For them, she was a very good friend – no more, no less.

On the one hand it annoyed her that her love life basically nil compared to Mary's tendency to changing her lovers more often than her knickers (0:6 – Game, Set, Match - Mary Kennarey), on the other hand she …. Okay, she

was

jealous. As loyal a friend Mary was, she often felt left out when it came to men. Often she could hear Mary coming home from dates with her new man, she could hear the moaning from Mary's bedroom, she could almost smell and feel it how her friend got laid by yet another gorgeous man. She spent those nights touching herself, running her hands over her breasts and then moving them down to trace the outlines of her shaved pussy. Rubbing her clit in the same rhythm that Mary got fucked she got her share of voyeuristic pleasure out of her friend's luck. Sometimes she would cum at the same time and then listen hard to catch yet another turn of pleasuring sounds.

Standing in front of the mirror, she breathed in deeply to see what she would look like if her stomach wasn't that big, then adjusting her trousers to see what she would like if her bum wasn't that fat and finally pulling faces at the world telling all the men on the globe to go home and bugger a pig. She wasn't going to change.

With a smile on her face she went back to the office and only sat down at her desk after sneaking silently up behind Josh, one of her favourite co-workers, and scaring the living hell out of him.

After finishing re-editing an essay-article on 'New Media in Politics, organizing her meeting-schedule for the next week and faxing some papers to Julian, who was actually responsible for the political economy component, it was already past 7.00pm when she checked her watch.

She got her Dictaphone out of her handbag, and pressed the "Play" button preparing to jot down the most important things this James had said and get over with it ASAP silently cursing Julian for having to break his leg. She waited…and waited… and waited… and nothing came. Checking the Dictaphone, she realised that there was no tape inside. She dropped face first on her desk. "Oh-My-God… Julian is going to shoot me" Not only was that briefing important, no, she was also supposed to

'incorporate the new economical features'

in her next research article, which was… oops….due on Monday and today was …oooops….Friday. Swear words of various strength came to her mind.

After trying unsuccessfully to get hold of some of her other colleagues who had been attending the briefing as well Andrea jumped over her own shadow and looked James' telephone number up in the company directory to leave him an urgent message on his voice mail. When he did not call back after 1h she packed her stuff up and left the office. At home, she told Mary the whole story who could not stop laughing. In her eyes, Andrea was the clumsiest person alive – but nothing is so bad that it couldn't be sorted out with some Cookies & Cream ice cream and so the two girls go a tub each and relaxed in front of the TV.

Andrea's mobile phone rang about 40 minutes after she got home and the incoming call had no recognized ID so when she picked up the phone she was quite surprised and glad to hear "Hello Andrea, this is James Wilkinson from the Economics Department speaking. I believe you left a message on my voice mail. How can I help you?". Running out of the room still holding the tub of ice-cream in one hand she settled down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen explaining the whole situation to James. He gave her a quick run-down on what he said in the briefing while she jotted down notes and interrupted him frequently asking for further explanations.

"I didn't even know our company was employing people like you," she said to which he replied, "I work for quite a few companies on a contract basis. I am at your company to instruct you and keep you updated on new developments in the global economy." A few more explanations and swear words on economic theory and specific terms from her side later, Andrea had written down a summary of the report and thanked James for the effort and help.

Two minutes later, she was back in the living room waving with the notes, grabbed her notebook, and started typing up the notes that Mary dictated her. When the summary was finished, she emailed it to Julian knowing that at the end of the day, he could have gotten it from any other person from the various other departments as well. Bastard, he is.

On Monday, Mary and Andrea went to the office as usual, having spent most of the weekend writing and re-editing her article when a little red package on her table caught her eye. She opened it and found a Dictaphone tape with a neatly written post-it note attached to it saying

"If you have to come late next time, please, do not forget to use attached device in order to save both of us heaps of time. The mental Economist."

Andrea smiled and called her friend to tell her about it. Mary was more than excited about it than herself, reading into it that he wants to make a move on her – Andrea, on the contrary, saw it as a "piss-take" and was less excited.

Putting the phone down she set on writing James an e-mail:

James,

Thank you very much for the tape. I will try very hard to make use of it next time I should be forced to listen to anything vaguely related to economics.

Andrea

A few minutes later the familiar 'ping' noise drew her attention to the new incoming e-mail. Two from Julian, her departmental boss, requesting more information on the progress of the briefings and yet another re-edit of her article, one from Mary with some rather Very-Fit-Men-Photos attached, and a poignant one from James saying:

Andrea,

It was my pleasure. Any else economy questions you need help with, please do not hesitate to contact me. That is what I am being paid for. By the way, making use of the tape would be wise indeed since your company paid for it.

James

Andrea had to smile as she thought that against Mary's predictions he was just doing his job. She got on with her work, which was taking the toll today. Her company was supplying articles for magazines with a focus on Politics, Economy and Social Issues and while Mary had the pleasure of flirting with all those hunky men on the phone using her language skills and translating information into English and articles into other languages, Andrea did what she was best at: research. At 2.00pm she got the e-mail that changed her life: Julian was finally happy with her article. She felt like hugging the world. She had not been at the company for too long and that article was the first one she researched and wrote all on her own. Andrea was quite pleased with herself.

She met Mary and a couple of other co-workers for a late lunch at a bistro where they all engaged in a vivid conversation on the latest office gossip – yet again. Of course, the question, she dreaded most came up as well, "How's

your

love life, Andrea?" She gulped and said, "Alright…just waiting for the right guy – the one who has a Jaguar, loves Fine Art and a good Sushi lunch." Although she did not really care about the office bitches she had lunch with, she also did not want to appear as a total loser. Bad enough that they were discussing diets all the time anyway she thought tucking into her green salad with Camembert cheese but discussing

her

love life was certainly not on the agenda.

Shortly after the gossip died like a well in the desert, they set off to the office building again and Andrea was happy to be left alone in her office and get actually some work done.

Meanwhile, James was sitting in his company office about 15 minutes away from the office building where Andrea worked. He shook his head and smiled when he received the following e-mail:

James,

As it seems unavoidable to listen to yet another round of your economic abbreviations, terms, theories, threats, et cetera tomorrow, I will promise to use the 'company' tape. Never did a tape look sexier to me. Never.

Andrea

He liked her short, wicked e-mails, never missing the point of how much she really hated what he did and how bored she was. "At least she is honest," he thought. Thinking about it, he was sure she was the first of the women at the company he had met who did not try to flutter her eyelashes at him. James knew he was good looking, the average sort of guy the girls were after. He was 28 years old, stood 6'2", worked out on a regular basis which gave him a nice triangle shaped back, he had brown, straight, short hair which he wore in a messy sort of way, green eyes and would only be seen in fine suits at work.

The next day Andrea arrived on time to the briefing – as a matter of fact she was five minutes early, just to show James that she could actually read her watch. James was sitting on the edge of his table going through his notes again when he heard the door being swung open. He was more than pleased to see Andrea standing there wearing black velvet trousers, a white blouse with ¾ sleeves and high heels. "Hey there, how are you doing?" he said smiling at her, to which she simply replied, "Doing good, thank you, how have you been?". They continued with their small talk until the rest of the bunch came in and everyone settled down on their tables. Andrea was waving with the Dictaphone at James who had to suppress a laugh.

The meeting this time took an hour by the end of which Andrea was already shifting around from one side to the other on her chair, feeling bored and daydreaming away yet again. "After all, James was not so bad looking," she thought, "but then if every skirt is chasing him anyway, and I don't have the slimmest chance. Never mind, somewhere, someday…" When a distant voice addressed her, "Andrea… are you alright?" she blinked and looked at James who was standing infront of her looking a bit confused. She gave him a big yawn combined with a "Needacoffeedesperately" and staggered out of the already empty room.

James followed her suit after he had collected his notes from the table tapping her on her shoulder when she just picked her cup of hot, steaming Java up and made her spill her coffee all over her top. "Great, man, thanx… just what I needed!" she hissed. "Ooooops," was the only thing that came to James' mind and he was clever enough not to try to clean Andrea's coffeed breasts with a paper towel.

"Alright, what can I do for you, Sir?" she asked while she sat down on the table cleaning herself up. In his firm, routine presentation voice he said, "Want to go for a cup of coffee somewhere else? Or maybe a drink – tonight?", not giving the slightest hint of a tremble in his voice.

Andrea, however, just sat there, starring at him, "Is this a social thing or a date?" The next second she felt like slapping herself for such a come-back.

"You decide… errrm…. Social thing… errmm, okay… a date. If you want to that is", he replied clearly not having expected such a return question.

"Me? Now? Is this something like an early April's fools day joke?", she asked nonplussed.

"You are on your lunch-break, aren't you? Am I keeping you from something right now?" he replied hesitantly.

"Eeerrmmm…not really… but you COULD have kept me from something. Okay, so who is behind all that? If it was Tina, tell her to go and bugger a pig."

"Tina?"

"You know, belt for a skirt, no hips, boobs, ass or brain but lots of peroxide on her head – in the Economics Department."

"Oh yes, her…", he said not quite knowing what to say. "So,… would you like to meet tonight somewhere?", he asked standing in front of her having gained his full confidence back.

"Yes, sure – but I thought the stock exchanges closes quite early."

He took a deep breath in, exhaled and repeated, "So,… would you like to meet tonight somewhere?"

She gave him a very wicked smile and said: "Sure James, but I thought the stock exchange would already be closed by 9.00."

"Seriously, Andrea", he said with an honest voice

"Yes, seriously James. The stock exchange will be closed already. But if you want we can meet at 'Brogan's' at 9.00. Do you know where it is?"

He smiled and said, "Of course I know where it is – us Economists do go out and we do have a social life."

Walking out of the coffee room, James could hear Andrea hear laugh and muffle something into her coffee.