Richard surveyed the misty grey scene from his front door. There was nothing worse than trying to get the enthusiasm to go to work when the weather was dismal, apart maybe from having to walk the two miles of course. He toyed with the idea of taking the bus. But no, walking to and from work each day had certainly shifted the excess weight that sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day had brought him. It wasn’t as if there were torrential downpours anyway, and he did have an umbrella to arm himself with.
He set off. What he hadn’t counted on was how windy it would be once he left the shelter of the hill. The rain might have been light but it was swept up and swirled all around him as he battled onwards. The umbrella was of no use since the rain was coming from all directions. He just tucked his collar up as high as he could, hunched himself over, stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked on.
He’d of been wet enough without some thoughtless bastard steaming as hard as he could through a large puddle at the edge of the road as he approached the first roundabout. The guy didn’t even stop to apologise.
He was also fairly sure that he recognised some of the cars that passed him as those that he’d see every day in the car park. He was wearing an overcoat issued by his company, so people could hardly pretend that they’d not noticed him as they cruised by in carpeted warmth.
Richard was still cursing anyone he could think of when a fairly battered Rover pulled up alongside. A large Mercedes howled in indignation as its owner couldn’t be bothered to wait 15 seconds and pulled to the other side of the road to overtake.
Richard jogged to the car, and pulled open the passenger door.
“I think you could do with a lift.”
He was forced to push the lank hair out of his eyes to work out who it was. It was Alice, from the accounts department. He scrambled in before any more cars could complain, and Alice pulled away.
“A bit wet today,” she said. Anyone else he’d have given a sarcastic reply to, but Alice was always full of fun when he visited the accounts section, so he merely nodded. She had the heaters on full blast to demist the windscreen, and he began to swelter under his coat.
“Lucky you’re not a girl,” she laughed as he freed himself from it, “I can see your nipples!”
He reddened as he surveyed himself to find that he was literally soaked right through. “I’m sorry, I must be getting your seat damp.”
“Not the first time honey,” she laughed back. “Let’s hope it stops raining before we have to walk across the site, otherwise I’ll be in the same boat as you.”
“No one would get any work done,” he told her.
He glanced over. Alice was in her mid thirties, but still slim and she was always armed with engaging smile for everyone. That day she was wearing the cream blouse that was slightly too tight and you could make out the lacy pattern of her bra beneath if you looked hard enough. She always wore it with a navy blue skirt and black stockings.
They pulled up in the works car park a few minutes later. The rain was easing off, which was lucky considering they had a half-mile walk across the plant site. Alice scrabbled around for something out of the boot before she locked up and they started walking.
“Here, you might need this. It’s my gym towel.” She handed him a fairly small white towel.
“Lucky I have my own office,” he told her, “I’m that wet I’ll have to sit around in this for ages. I couldn’t do that in the accounts section.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” she replied. “You’ve got a lovely backside, and I’d love to see it with just a towel over it.”
Richard looked across at her, but she wasn’t laughing, until he reddened of course. A thought struck him.
“I was going to show you the new accounts package this morning,” he said, “we’d better do that tomorrow, unless you fancy sitting there with me in just my underwear.”
“I wish we could honey, but how would I keep my hands off you?”
He looked at her with hope. Girls in his experience never said that kind of thing to him.
“Calm down Rich, or you’ll have to walk into work hunched over!” Alice said, as she laughed again.
Richard tried to think of a reply, but his cheeks were getting too hot for him to think straight. He could usually banter pretty well with Alice, but all those references to him semi naked in the office with her was causing his brain to tie itself in knots.
He was grateful when they reached the office building, and he was able to hide himself in his office with the door shut tight. Having his own office sounded pretty grand, especially since he was simply an intern. But staff cuts had meant that space was cheap. Even the cleaners had their own office for God’s sake.
He turned the wall heater up to its maximum setting and stripped himself out of his wet clothes. He dried himself off as best he could, and when the towel was completely damp he fastened it around his waist. It was just big enough to go around him, but it did leave a large gap up the side of one leg when he sat down. He found it strangely arousing to be stood almost naked in work. He went red just thinking about someone walking in. Not that anyone ever did. He was just an intern that everyone forgot about till they wanted a document scanned. Even then they’d phone him and get him to come to them.
He calmed down as he ploughed through his emails. Then one arrived from Alice.
“Busy later, how about we do that program run through now?”
“No problem,” he replied, “as long as you don’t mind me sitting here in just your towel!”
That thought perked him up again, but of course, Alice was only doing her usual teasing.
The towel simply wasn’t big enough to stay up properly, so he contented himself with keeping it near to hand whilst he checked his clothes draped around the heater. His heart almost stopped as he heard the door open. He made a grab for the towel as Alice gasped from the doorway. For the first time he saw her go red and that more than made up for all her teasing.
“I thought you were joking,” she said, hand half way to her mouth.
“Can you shut the door, in case someone walks past?”
As Alice turned to shut the door Richard made sure he had the towel securely around him, and retreated behind his computer.
“I was right, you do have an nice bum,” Alice told him, some of her composure returned. “Not to mention everything else.”
It was Richard’s turn to go red again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you thought I was joking.”
“It’s my fault, I should have known you wouldn’t be dry already. We can do this tomorrow.”
She turned to leave. Thank God, said most of Richard. He felt almost sick in the pit his stomach thanks to the rush of the moment.
“We might as well do the run through,” he found himself saying. “You’ve seen me naked anyway, so just a towel won’t be so bad.”
“I guess not,” she replied. Was it his imagination, or was she a bit flustered by the idea? For all her bawdy teasing, had he just managed to call her bluff? But not even the thought of being almost naked next to a good-looking woman could stop him thinking fearful thoughts of the door bursting open.
