Being a big sports equipment company in a small town meant that there was never a shortage of requests for sponsorships from various local teams. For a lot of employees who enjoyed sports, it also meant the opportunity to go watch the games using the seasons tickets given out to major sponsors. Jessica took advantage of that to go watch a local college basketball team. Even though she was no good at it, Jessica enjoyed watching the sport and cheering on the young men who played on the team, hoping to get scholarships to big universities.
With the season now over came the annual awards banquet. Due to a change in the organizing committee and some miscommunications, the company's public relations person found out about the banquet only 5 days prior to the event and found himself double booked. He thus looked for someone to represent the company at the banquet and award the MVP award they sponsored.
When asked, Jessica replied "Sure but I don't want to go alone."
The PR person said "Great! That's what Colt said too! You two can go together. I'll get the tickets ordered."
Colton was a manager in another department, someone Jessica really liked so she was pleased that they would be attending together. Jessica liked Colton both as a manager and as a man. He was good looking and nice too. And he was newly divorced.
The day before the banquet, Colton came to see Jessica and asked if she wouldn't mind driving them both to the banquet. Jessica agreed, noting that there was no point taking two vehicles and that she was a dependable designated driver.
The night of the banquet, Jessica took extra care in preparing herself. While the dress code at work was very relaxed -- most people wearing jeans all the time -- she wanted to make an impression. She wore a skirt and a somewhat low cut blouse. Whereas she always wore her long hair in a braid at work, Jessica let her hair down straight, knowing it was soft and silky and looked great. She wore makeup and lipstick, something she also didn't do at work.
When she picked up Colton, he whistled and said "Wow, you sure dress up nice!"
Jessica smiled and said "You don't look too bad yourself there!"
As they made their way to the banquet, they were amazed at the new development in that area of town. Neither of them had been there before. A golf course and resort had been built in this new section of town and that's where the banquet was being held. The parking was full when they got there and Jessica was forced to go park quite far from the building, in a secluded area where trees sheltered the vehicles.
After they got to the banquet, they toured the room, looking at the various items on the silent auction tables and bid on a few items. They made small talk with people they knew from town and from the games and were invited to sit with some acquaintances and did so. The dinner was excellent and the talk around the table interesting.
At one point, Colton leaned over and whispered "If that girl was my daughter, I would never let her leave the house dressed like that."
Jessica didn't have to ask who he was talking about. Sarah, the daughter of another important sponsor, was wearing a very short, low cut dress that left very little of her breasts to the imagination. Jessica smiled and said "She's of age so she could tell you to go suck a lemon and knowing her, she probably told her parents that today." Indeed, Sarah had quite an attitude.
Colton asked "She's over 18? I thought for sure she was only 15."
Jessica told him "She's got a young angel face but she is in fact 19 years old. Celebrated her 19th just two weeks ago."