Floor 13

This is a 2-part story about revenge, a prank that got out of hand, and a bitchy but naïve woman.

It sits on the border between exhibitionism and reluctance.

I'm falling behind in my publishing and I'm pushing this 2-part story out to make up for it. As always, I'm looking for people to volunteer to proofread my stories to ensure they meet the quality this site's readers deserve. If you want to help, or are just looking to read a new story before anyone else, please get in touch.

A special thanks to deadeye_76 for help proofread and edit.

Floor 13

Part 1

Like many ideas conceived after too many beers in a pub, it sounded better than it was.

"I'd give my right tit to get my own back on Adriana!" Daphne exclaimed, slamming down her empty pint glass.

Traditionally, our ICT team goes for a drink after work on the last Friday of the month. There were only four of us: Daphne who had to put up with constant Scooby-Doo references because of her name and fiery red hair; Eric, the youngest of us at 23 and usually rather quiet; Todd, best described as all mouth and no trousers and often making inappropriate comments to Daphne (however, she knew she could easily call his bluff); and me, Gyles, the oldest of our group at 29.

It was just after 9 pm, we'd been drinking since just before six, and realistically we'd only have one more drink before getting taxies home. Eric was drunkest, followed by Todd. Remarkably, despite her size, Daphne always kept up pint for pint with us.

"Interesting image, but why this time?" I asked.

Adriana worked at our company and was a pain in the neck for all of us. Bitchy to anyone she thought was below her and simpering or flirting with anyone she thought could progress her career. Pretty, in a very obvious way, too much makeup under her short blonde curly hair, and usually dressed just short of inappropriate for the office.

She had reported more than one male at the company to HR if she thought they were eying her wrongly. On top of that, she thought she was far smarter than she actually was. If she were as smart as she thought, she'd know how unpopular she was. And she was always inserting herself into other people's conversations and moving the topic to herself. Alternatively, she would eavesdrop to listen for the information she could use for her own advancement, and other peoples' detriment.

"I applied for a job as supervisor of our team."

"Excuse me?" I asked, shocked. "I never heard about that job going." As the longest-serving person on the team, I was the de facto leader, even if we all worked at the same level.

"I think it was affirmative action or something. Not enough women in management roles. However, Adriana fucked me over. She spread a rumour I'd fucked up something, which I didn't. However, it couldn't be proved either way, so I was told I'd have to wait 12 months before I could reapply."

I was a little pissed by that. Reverse sexism and creating a role just to tick an equality box. However, it was not Daphne's fault.

Todd, however, was more interested in the previous comment.

"About that tit? What do you mean you'd give it? If we helped, would it be a quick glimpse or a leisurely viewing? Would there be any touching?" I slapped him gently on the back of his head and Eric chuckled.

"I'd let you kiss it if I can see Adriana fucked over like she's fucked me." Todd looked down at the aforementioned breast and without thinking licked his lips.

"OK, that's it. We've officially all had too much to drink if we're talking like this. Time to go." I declared.

With a little grumbling, we finished our drinks and headed off to get taxis home. Todd and Eric shared one, and Daphne and I the other. In the back seat, she snuggled up against me, putting my arm over her shoulder. I mentally sighed.

Three years ago, when Daphne joined our team, it was obvious we both fancied each other. After a few nights out, we shared a taxi, and there was a definite tension between us. I wondered how she'd react if I tried to kiss her. Instead of finding out, she admitted she was attracted to me and knew I felt the same. However, because we worked in such a small team, it could never happen and reluctantly I agreed.

However, after three years I was still attracted to her. Having to behave like a big brother on our nights out made me wish I had a girlfriend, or she had a boyfriend. Just to ease the tension.

After helping her out of the taxi and opening the door to her flat, I decided to walk the short distance to my home. It was less than 5 minutes and I needed the fresh air.

However, the idea of doing something to Adriana appealed to me. Moreover, whilst I was certain Daphne was joking about her boob, I went to bed thinking about what we could do. During her time in the company, she'd sometimes called for favours from ICT. She'd be all sweetness and light until she got what she wanted, and then her attitude would change as if she was the one giving the favour.

Once or twice, I'd given her false information, but sufficiently close to the correct information, so I could claim she'd written it down wrong. Obviously, Daphne wanted more than that, but without getting us in trouble. Adriana would run to HR if she suspected.

In the morning, I had an inkling of an idea and called Daphne.

"Hello?" she said, sounding hung-over.

"What are you wearing?" I asked in a creepy voice.

"Fuck off!" She replied with a chuckle. "What are you after?"

"Were you serious about getting back at Adriana last night?"

"Letting you guys kiss my right tit?"

I chuckled. "Actually, I meant the other bit about getting her back."

"Sure. She's a bitch and needs to get her face smeared in the shit she shovels." She groaned. "God, I feel like crap myself. What time did we leave the pub?"

"It was only around 9 pm. Wanna grab a greasy breakfast? I've got the start of an idea and I need someone to bounce it off."

"I'll come as long as you pick me up and don't literally bounce off me."

"I'll pick you up in the mystery machine." That earned me another groan as she hung up.

I called Todd and Eric, as I got ready, to invite them to meet us at our local greasy spoon cafe. I grabbed my car keys and left.

I held open the cafe's door for Daphne, the others were already there and looking rough.

"OK Genius, what's this cunning plan of yours?" Todd asked grumpily.

"Floor 13," I replied, looking smug at the puzzled expressions from the other three.

"I may still be hung-over." Eric replied, "But we don't have a floor 13 at work. Some superstitious developer decided to skip it. It goes from 12 directly to 14."

"Yep," I replied.

"So, you intend to trick her with a floor that does not exist?" Todd asked and I just nodded in reply. Daphne shook her head.

"My head hurts too much for this. Eric, can you kick Gyles for me?" Daphne asked.

"Wait! Let me ask you this. How gullible do you think Adriana is?" I asked, and the others all agreed that she was quite gullible. "And how far do you think she'd go to get ahead?"

"I heard she offered her boss a blow job to get a promotion." Eric piped in.

"Sorry, I started that one," Daphne admitted.

"Damn! I really wanted that to be true." Todd exclaimed.

"I'm pretty sure it is, and more. One of my girlfriends saw her coming out of her boss's house early on a Sunday morning last year." Daphne added.

"So, we think she'd do pretty much anything to climb the slippery pole for promotion," I asked.

"I know what slippery pole I'd like her to climb." Exclaimed Todd, earning a shake of the head from the rest of us. Even hung-over he never gave up.

"I've not worked out all the details, but this is what I've got so far..." I went on to explain the outline of my plan.

Part 2

It took us nearly a month to get ready, and we added details and polished the plan as well as we could.

We had a few things going in our favour. Firstly, our company only operated in the top half of the 20-story building and the staircase was communal. Meaning, you had to swipe your card in and out of the stairwell. Following the smoking ban and some people caught smoking in the stairwell; the company discouraged anyone from using the stairs and fitted CCTV.

Secondly, it turned out each of us had a skill to offer. Todd's dad was a builder, and he'd picked up enough knowledge from watching him to do what we needed. Daphne was artistic and Eric had spent years working with a local theatre group as a stagehand and props master. I wrote in my spare time, so I had to script out dialogue.

When everything was ready, we met in the pub to go over the plan again.

"Are we sure she'll fall for it?" Eric asked.

"That depends on our acting skills." Todd commented.

"I'm still worried something might blowback on us if she rumbles us," I replied.

"Relax; we've gone through the script often enough and we can call it off right up to the final stage. If we get her that far I'm sure we'll have her."

"Are we all in?" I asked, and everyone raised their glasses in salute.

Part 3

It started in the break room. It was the middle of Friday afternoon and Adriana was sitting at a table alone, sipping her coffee. Picking a table just within hearing distance, Daphne and I sat. Eric was taking his time at the fridge to see how Adriana reacted.

"So, tell me about it," Daphne asked.

"What?" I replied.

"You know. It!"

"I've no idea what you're on about. But if it is what I think it is, you have to drop it."

"Come on. You cannot only tell me just that one thing and leave me hanging."

"I shouldn't have said even that much. You caught me at a weak moment."

"You were pissed, more like. Come on. Spill."

"I can't. I'm not really in on it, anyway. If they didn't need my technical know-how, I'd never have access. Remember, these people are likely the future company leadership. I'm not about to break a secret with the likes of them. So, drop it."

Daphne sighed dramatically, overacting in my opinion. When Eric came over, he sat with his back to Adriana and gave us subtle thumbs up. Stage one complete.

In the lift back to our office, he explained.

"You should have seen her. At first, I thought you must have been too quiet, but then I saw her straining to hear you. I think she's nibbling at the hook."

The next stage required all four of us, and careful timing. Adriana worked on the 16th-floor and at 4 pm each day she had to print off a report and take it down to the 10th floor for the finance director to sign it off. We had Eric lurking on her floor to text us the moment she headed to the lift.

Todd and I had been waiting on the 17th floor and jumped to the lift. Waiting for the lift to move, I punched floor 11, which is our floor. Adriana ignored us as she got into the lift and hit 10. Todd had his phone primed to send me a message, and he hit send.

"Damn!" I said as I read the screen on my phone. It was just a winky face emoticon in reality.

"What?" Todd asked as I moved to block Adriana's view of the lift buttons.

"An emergency from..." I glanced at Adriana. "You know where." Waiting until the lift passed 14, I hit the 12 and 14 buttons at once and prayed Daphne was on the ball.

The doors opened and instead of the usual sign, showing the floor and the departments, there was a fancy new sign painted by Daphne. It said Floor 13, Accelerated Management Placement.

Stepping out of the lift, I looked at Adriana.

"You didn't see this."

"Excuse me?" She asked, annoyed.

"You weren't supposed to see this. Moreover, for your own sake, don't ask anyone about it. It could cost you your job."

The door closed and a few seconds later Daphne appeared, quietly applauding my performance.

"I think we should get Eric to talk you into joining his theatre group. That was pretty convincing."

"Really?"

"Yup." She replied as she took the sign off the wall revealing the regular sign underneath.

A minute later Eric appeared out of breath after rushing down the stairs.

"How did it go?" He asked.

"Perfect," Daphne stated.

Todd added, "She asked me what it was about and I ad-libbed saying I wasn't allowed to say."

He held up a hand and Eric gave him a high five.

"How long until the next stage?" Daphne asked me.

"This is where it gets tricky. Eric, have you got the door access system rigged to send you a message every time she uses her card?" He nodded and held up his phone.

"We need to keep track of her from now on when she's in the building. We need to catch her again in the break room. Just like the last time. Give her the next breadcrumbs, and then I think we have to be ready tomorrow night."

Part 4

Actually, the next breadcrumb dropped just before the end of the day. I got a call from Adriana asking me if I could come to her desk and help her with a problem. I told her I could connect to her PC and she could talk me through it over the phone. However, she insisted I should go to her desk.

"Bingo guys!" I exclaimed, hanging up.

"What?" Daphne asked, swivelling her chair to face me.

"Adriana wants to see me. I wonder what that's about." I asked in mock innocence.

"She's just exited her floor. So, I expect she's going to meet you at the lift." Eric chimed in.

"Showtime!" Exclaimed Todd giving me jazz hands. "Break a leg."

I tried to act surprised when the lift doors opened and Adriana was standing there.

"Tell me about floor 13." She stepped into the lift and pressed the door close button.

"There is no floor 13, at least officially."

"And why would knowing about it cost me my job?"

"Look, I'm sworn to secrecy. I really cannot say."

"If you don't tell me, I'll go to HR and say I caught you leering down my blouse." Then she surprised me by grabbing the neck of her blouse and pulled it down. Letting me see her creamy breasts in a sexy pale pink bra. "There you go. Now you cannot say you didn't."

"Fine, but it's not a good idea. Have you ever wondered why we get so many visitors from other offices all over the world? It's not like we are the head office."

"No, not really. Why?"

"We are conveniently located, so they set up the facility here. Globally the company operates an advanced management development scheme. They look out for people with potential, assess them and some very lucky ones are selected to come here.

"If they graduate, they are marked for success, given accelerated promotions and some will probably be the directors of the company in the future. However, it's hard work. 10 or 12-hour days for weeks. More than once I've heard people weeping under the strain. However, the best people in the world train you. I know it's fucking expensive and only about 1 in 10 graduates."

"I still don't see why knowing about it could cost me my job."

I let out a sigh, as if to say I thought she was being dim.

"If only 1 in 10 graduates, there are 9 who fail. In addition, if you failed, would you want anyone else to know? They all sign nondisclosure and secrecy agreements before they start. Plus a few other things. They all get a bonus to keep it secret, and even those who fail get world-class training. If people knew about this, or more specifically who was in the courses and who failed, it's possible someone would try to use that to their advantage. Hence the secrecy."

"What about you? You're just a computer techie. You're not advanced management potential?" I might have taken offence, but as this was all bullshit, I let it slide.

"Correct, however, you cannot do anything without techie support. Projectors, laptops and phones for starters. I had to go through some very invasive background checks before I was told about it. Now have you really got a problem with your computer or did you just want to grill me about a floor that doesn't officially exist?"

She looked deep in thought and released the door close button. Then stepped out and walked away.

I tried to keep it cool when I got back to my department, despite the others doing Meerkat impressions over the desk partitions. I mimed casting a fishing rod and reeling it in again and got a cheer.

"One last crumb tomorrow and I think we're done."

"Oh yeah!" Todd exclaimed and held his hand out for a high five, but nobody returned it.

We'd almost reached the most dangerous bit.

Part 5

When Adriana stayed late, there was tension in our team. What if she tried to find floor 13 by herself? Fortunately, she only stayed a short time, as we needed to sneak in our 'set' and practise setting it up.

Despite strict rules in the company about unauthorised access out of hours, our team had carte blanche to come and go as we pleased. However, the downside was we were expected to work to the job and not the clock. Therefore, if a job took you until midnight to fix, you stayed until it was fixed.

Fortunately, Eric reminded Todd that we were limited to the size of the lift unless we wanted to carry everything up 12 flights of stairs. Not something any of us wanted.

Because we had to make the entrance to floor 12 look entirely different, Todd and Eric had built an 'airlock', a box-like cube pushed up against the proper door, simulating the transition from the regular office to the inner sanctum. The second set of doors was just a fake, but we'd put a few surprises inside.

We'd added plush carpeting and Daphne had painted inspiring quotes in various fonts to add to the impression of a transition to something special. I'd added a few special touches like alarms and strobe lights. Plus, a carefully programmed tablet recessed into the wall had a camera that would record what happened in the box.

We practised building and disassembling the 'box' several times, so it was close to midnight when we called it quits. The disassembly time was critical. We needed to hide the evidence ASAP if things went south.

Part 6

I'll admit we got very little done the next morning. We waited until we could find Adriana sitting alone in the break room.

The four of us went, which technically we shouldn't have, but given what we were planning, that was the least of our worries. I sat with my back to Adriana, about five feet away. It was time for Todd's opening lines.

"Come on mate, you have to tell us. What have you seen?"

"My lips are sealed," I replied.

"I still struggle to get my head around the fact that there are naked women wandering around this building," Eric added.

"And men don't forget." I reminded them.

"Yeah, but could you at least describe one or two?" Todd wheedled. Rather good acting on his part.

"Ok, there's this one guy..."

"Hey, you knew what I meant." Todd objected

Daphne chuckled. "Grow up, Todd. You act as if you've never seen a pair of tits. I'm in the fortunate position to see a really nice pair naked every day."

Todd looked confused, and then it clicked. "Oh, right? Yours. I suppose they are pretty nice."

"But why?" Eric asked. "I can't understand that."

I sighed theatrically. "They explained it to me, but it was a while ago. It's a really complicated psychological reason, like an onion."

"What, it makes your eyes water?" Asked Todd with a grin.

"No dickhead. Many layers. I'm sure I can't remember them all. First, to show that you are committed. To get your kit off for the program proves you're committed to the company. Then you have trust. You'll potentially be working around these people in the future, so you have to trust them. Then there's teamwork, the biggie as I understand it. If you cannot learn to control yourself around a member of the opposite sex, it's better to learn now and weed out any potential future sex pest."

"And for naked men, it's easier to gauge that self-control," Daphne added, wiggling her index finger like a penis.

"I suppose it must be easier if you're gay." Eric pondered.