"It's not the heat that gets you, it's the humidity!"
Daniel laughed out loud in the break room when he watched a YouTube shorts video. He knew that problem all too well. With summer approaching the garden center felt like a sauna. The section with the tropical plants was especially hard to work in.
Daniel worked at his local Gartenwelt, a garden center in Germany. As a 23 year old student he had applied for a job a year ago. While last year's summer was relatively mild, this year was already beginning to look bad. Other people might consider this summer excellent with temperatures well into the thirties. The sun high in the sky with few clouds and a gentle breeze, it was the perfect weather for going to the beach. However, it most certainly was not the perfect weather to work indoors under a glass ceiling.
During the weekends Daniel worked as one of the cashiers at the checkout. It was probably the best place to be in the entire building. There was no air-conditioning, but at least you could sit down and have a fan point in your direction. The weekends always were the busiest days with the most customers. Today, Saturday, was one of those days. For several hours Daniel sat behind the cash register or helped customers with bigger purchases. When it wasn't too busy he had some time to restock items and chat with his coworkers.
Eva was his best friend on the workfloor, but she only worked on the weekend. She was two years younger than him and an absolute beauty. Her long hair and her cute freckles were quite something to behold. Sadly, when Daniel had started his job there he learned that she was dating somebody else. Right now she is in a steady relationship. She was still a good friend though.
Fabienne, another coworker, was fun to be around, but she wasn't exactly good looking. Sure, she didn't look bad, but you could always tell which checkout was run by Fabienne or Eva. Eva always had the longer line of customers. Even though Fabienne wasn't as pretty as Eva, she definitely was a lot more clever. Whenever Daniel had any questions, Fabienne was his go-to person.
Daniel was at the end of his break and was supposed to take over from Gary, an 18 year old that was still new in the team. Daniel hadn't spoken much with Gary, mainly because they simply hadn't much shared interests.
"Hey man, my break is done, I'll take it from here," Daniel said.
"Great, thanks man. I'll just help those two elderly women bring their plants to their car and then I'm going."
"Going home?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, normally I would work until closing hours, but last Thursday was my grandfather's birthday. He turned seventy years old and we are celebrating it this evening with my family," Gary explained. "Helga is taking over my shift for the rest of the day."
"Oh I see. Please congratulate him. I'll see you next Saturday right?"
"Yup, I'll be here next week."
While Gary walked away and Daniel began working the cash register he thought of Helga. She was a couple of years older than him. Daniel seemed to remember hearing she was 32. Anyway, she was in her early thirties and now that he thought of it, she was beautiful as well. But she was beautiful in a different way than Eva. Helga was more grown up and had less of that cute teenager vibe. Daniel tried to think of a better word to describe her. The word 'elegant' probably came the closest.
Daniel looked around to see if she was here yet. On the other side of the checkout area Helga was talking with a customer. Daniel glanced at her every now and then while scanning products. They had worked together before, but for some reason he hadn't really gotten to know her yet. For the rest of the work hours his eyes kept getting drawn to her. Slowly his mind drifted away to a pleasant daydream.
Daniel had to snap back to reality and do his work when a customer asked if he was feeling alright. The remainder of his day at work was rather uneventful. Daniel went home tired and sweaty. However, the mental picture of Helga he had did stick in his mind.
- - -
On the next Tuesday Daniel got a call from his boss. One of the employees wasn't feeling well and was sent home. She was asking if Daniel could fill in for her. His boss told him it was a quiet day, but she still needed an extra hand to help restock the shelves. Daniel could use the extra money and didn't have any important study projects, so he accepted.
Within an hour he had jumped on his bicycle and arrived at work. It was still incredibly hot. Having to wear the company outfit didn't help either. He had a quick chat with the boss and then went to restock shelves. All sorts of pots, big and small, plastic and ceramic, it all had to be looking neat and clean. It was a simple task, but in this humidity it took a while to do.
After finishing restocking he walked around to see if there was anything else that had to be done. A few bits and bobs, but all easily done. With every hour that passed fewer customers were inside the store. And when it was nearly time to close he found his coworkers having fun in the outdoors section.
Helga, Fabienne, and two other girls were watering the plants and splashing water at each other. When Daniel approached he was ambushed and got sprayed with a jet of stone cold water. Daniel cried out and laughed while trying to hide behind some small apple trees. From behind the apple trees he observed the battlefield, looking for a weapon himself. To his right he found a garden hose that was attached to the water pipeline and fired back. Fabienne was ruthless and aimed for the eyes, while Helga made a point of aiming for more delicate areas, like Daniel's crotch.
Helga was the first to surrender. She was absolutely drenched with water. Daniel decided he would quit too and let the others continue their fun. He knew their boss wouldn't mind them having a water fight in this weather, as long as they were still somewhat presentable to any customer. Helga however, had gotten far too wet.
"I'm going to the breakroom and change into a different shirt," Helga laughed.
"I'll join you. I have to change my pants. Right now it looks like I've wet myself."
"Oh, I thought you did," she responded in a sarcastic voice.
Inside the break room they both went to their personal locker and took a fresh shirt and pair pants. Working at the garden center meant you could get dirty, so everybody was required to have a spare set. While Daniel closed his locker he saw Helga pull off her wet shirt. Because it was so wet her own shirt underneath got pulled up quite far as well. Her flat belly was exposed while she struggled to get her arms out of the wet sleeves. Daniel averted his eyes so he wouldn't be caught staring.
"Can you help me? I think I got myself a bit stuck," Helga said.
Daniel walked over to her and pulled up on the shirt while she held her arms up. With a funny sound the sleeves pulled away from her skin. When she was finally free she flicked her arms to get rid of the droplets that were still on her. Meanwhile Daniel noticed she wasn't wearing a bra, and her nipples were clearly visible through her thin undershirt. Helga saw him watching but didn't say anything.
"Whoops, sorry. I shouldn't be rude and look while you change," Daniel said.
"Don't worry about it. They're just nipples, nothing to be ashamed about."
"I know, you're right."
Daniel began to pull off his pants, making sure his underwear wouldn't get dragged with it. Because if it did, that would definitely prove to become awkward. Helga meanwhile put on a fresh shirt and got ready to head back into the store. That's when she froze.
"Is your dick hard?" she said, sounding surprised.
"Eh.." " I'm..."
"Is it because my nipples were showing? Or is it because of something else?"
"It's not... I'm just a bit..."
"Relax, just tell me the truth. I promise I won't be mad or tease you with it. I'm just curious."
Daniel had the wet pants around his ankles and felt horribly exposed. He looked at her and saw she was determined to get him to answer. Daniel blushed and tried to remove his pants quickly before his dick got even harder.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to embarrass you," Helga said. She turned around and left the break room.
Daniel now felt even worse. He yanked the pants off, put the new ones on, and quickly fastened his belt. He then left the break room as well and went after Helga. He didn't immediately see her. After looking around for a short while he found her in a quiet corner watering plants.
"I'm sorry. I just got a bit flustered. You shouldn't have said sorry, you weren't at fault, I was," Daniel said.
Helga looked at him. Daniel couldn't quite figure out what she was thinking. Was she annoyed, was she okay, was his apology enough? Thankfully Helga spoke before he did.
