The office kitchen was somewhat cramped. A wall of microwaves, a couple of fridges, and a counter with two sinks was meant to satisfy the luncheon needs of the two-hundred-odd people who worked at this branch of Rodow-Mills Ltd., the corporation for which Natalie worked in purchasing. She was sat a round table, eating out of a box of noodles she had gotten from a takeout place in the neighborhood.
"Are you gonna wear that tonight?"
The question came from the short-haired woman seated next to Natalie. Lynn, her best girl friend and confidant at work since a long time back. There wasn't that much contrast between the two, they were very much alike in both looks and manners. Women of medium height, with dark brown hair and eyes, dressed in "business casual" which meant jeans, a blouse, and black leather ankle boots. The main difference between them was in their hair, Natalie's was curly and shoulder-length, while Lynn always kept it short and straight. Lynn also lacked Natalie's prominent breasts, being almost flat chested, something she was sure was a common conversation topic among the guys at work.
"Why not?" Natalie responded. "It's an office party. Not like I have any new impressions to make." It was true. Her job was fairly routine. She knew everybody in her department, and everyone worth knowing outside of it. "Unless you want me to slut up for a night on the town afterwards?"
Lynn giggled. "I'm just teasing. You look great as always, Nat." The short-haired woman took a sip of water from her glass. "I'm just thinking about... you know. I kind of want to hook up with somebody. I haven't done that at work before. Feels like something I should cross off my list at some point, if I had one I mean." She took another sip. "Don't get me wrong but you're a lot more experienced here than I am. Got any beginner tips?"
At first, Natalie felt a bit weirded out by that last comment, but then she realized that Lynn would never judge her for being a "slut" at work, and probably just wanted in on the action. She gave her friend a coy, thoughtful smile. "I don't really know what to say that, Lynn!" she responded with a hearty laugh.
Her friend kept sipping water. She seemed nervous, for some mysterious reason. "Come on. You know it's true. I want to be just like you, Nat!" The last bit came out with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
"Let's just enjoy the free booze and try to avoid the annoying people. You're gonna be fine. Besides, if one of these polo-wearing golfer guys were to try to steal you away from me, I would probably have to beat him up," Natalie responded half-jokingly. Lynn was a real cutie, but Natalie just wasn't into women in that way, even though she would often masturbate to them. That was different though, women were just sexier than men. Didn't mean she was gay, not that she had any problem with that.
The rest of the working day before the party went by as usual. Natalie sat in her cubicle, sending out purchasing emails and handing invoices over to payments. But mostly, she was just trying to pass time and look busy whenever somebody walked past. She had been to plenty of office parties, at this job and previous ones, and these things just didn't make her nervous anymore. She felt like she could already predict all that was going to happen that night. Free drinks, some speeches from upper management, maybe a forced "team building" activity or two, but most importantly, free drinks.
Her friend's comment about her slutty work habits had bothered her a bit. Not because Lynn thought her to be a slut, she knew that she did and that was great, but rather quite the opposite. In truth, she hadn't really been hooking up with any co-workers lately. That was a frequent activity in her mid twenties, but in recent years, the dull routine and general feeling of alienation at the office had pretty much turned off her sexuality completely in that environment. Maybe it was time to live up to her friend's image of her? Not only was it a matter of principle, the prospect was also kind of exciting to her despite where she was at the moment, trapped in a grey cubicle.
"Hey Nat, they got a new coffee maker downstairs. You have just got to check it out!"
The cheerful voice was Diego, a tall, skinny, good-natured man with short black hair, olive skin, and a constant worried look in his eyes. He had appeared at the entrance to Natalie's cubicle to share some minor news about the office, as he often did. It was a welcome break to the dullness of the average day, she thought. Diego was a nice guy, always happy and helpful, and the two of them had formed a bit of a workplace bond over the last couple of years. Doing small favors for each other here and there, spending breaks together, having coffee.
"You know what? I might just do exactly that. Wanna come?" she responded, and Diego's face lit up. She whisked her mug off of her desk, and got up from her chair onto her leather booted feet. Their 2-inch heels made barely any noise as the two of them walked across the wall-to-wall carpet that covered the floor of the cubicle farm, heading for the stairwell.
"So... How are things?" Natalie didn't have to specify the "things" she was asking him about. It was a bit of a sensitive topic, so she didn't want to bring it up too directly. Diego had recently gone through a divorce, and was now adjusting to life as a bachelor again. It was difficult, as he had been married for a long time, and his meek, super-nice-guy manners weren't especially suited for living it up as a single in the city, she thought. Nevertheless, the divorce hadn't changed him much, at least not on the surface. He continued to be nice and cheerful, always notifying Natalie of "exciting" new happenings around the office, but she could tell it was bothering him.
"Oh you know... Getting used to it. Got everything set up in my new apartment. It's a real bachelor pad, haha. Hey, there's the new coffee maker." He didn't seem to enjoy the subject matter very much, so Natalie decided not to bring it up again, for now.
As Diego had pointed out, they had arrived at the awesome new coffee maker in the downstairs break room. There was nothing special about it at all, as far as Natalie could tell. There was a holder for your mug, and the usual array of buttons for selecting the type of coffee you wanted the thing to fill it up with. It didn't really matter. A cup of coffee with Diego in the break room was always a nice and welcome distraction. They both knew that the "new coffee machine" was just an excuse to spend some idle minutes together, getting away from the daily grind. And so they filled up their cups, and took seats at a small round table.
"Looking forward to the party?" Natalie asked, half-sarcastically. Diego was as much a fan of mandatory corporate fun as anybody else, she knew, and he especially didn't like big booze-fuelled parties. They made him feel anxious, he had confided in her once.
"You know me," he responded casually, taking a big sip of coffee. "I'm the party animal around here." He put the cup down with a somewhat dejected smile, as if part of him wished for that statement to be true. "I'll stick around for a drink, make sure management notices my attendance, and then sneak out at my first opportunity before things get too rowdy. Got plenty of things to set up in my new place, anyway."
Diego looked wistful, and Natalie felt pity for him. It got worse when he tried to cover up his anxiety with a forced smile. Maybe she could convince him to stay, even help him find somebody to hook up with? Lynn was certainly in the mood, but Natalie had no idea whether he was her type or not. She didn't really know anything about her dating history, though Lynn knew all about hers, somehow. Besides, convincing him to stay at a loud, booze-drenched office party would be about as easy as convincing water to stop being wet. She dismissed the idea.
A few hours later, the party kicked off. Most off the staff had gathered in the lobby for an exciting speech about the branch's promising future by their local chief of operations, and Natalie was already tipsy from the welcome drink. Something fruity, with booze in it. She didn't bother to find out more details.
