Author's note: This is the first part of another series. This is just a teaser to set up the story. Future chapters will be more direct with plenty of action. If you're wondering, I'll be writing this parallel with my other fantasy series.
Open to comments and suggestions. I try to edit carefully, but typos happen to the best of us.
_____________________________________________________
The Office Slut: It's all a matter of perception
"You'll want to steer clear of that one," Karen directed Lacey's gaze with a nod of her head toward a young woman leaning against one of the cubicle wall further down the long aisle of many cubicles.
Lacey looked in that direction and only saw the woman from behind. She didn't notice anything unusual about her. Though her back was toward Lacey, she seemed unremarkable. She was short, maybe a bit rounded, but certainly not fat, wore a short skirt, but not butt-cheek short, and her black tights were unrevealing. The top seemed a perfectly normal office type sweater with edges of a blouse untucked peeking out from underneath.
"Who is that, and why?" Lacey asked the matronly Karen.
"That's Jamie, she's nothing but trouble. She's the office slut. She's slept with everyone here." Karen hissed and Lacey took a half step back feeling the venom. Karen was in her late 40s and matron was her identity. She saw herself as the mother all younger women in the office, if they were 2 or 20 years younger than she. And she dressed the part, stiff white blouse with a high collar buttoned to the top, a vest draped over her shoulders, the plaid skirt well down over her knees and plain tan loafers. Her legs covered by equally plain tan knee highs.
"Oh, ok." Lacey answered, lacking anything else to say and they went on with the orientation. Karen took Lacey to all the offices where the various supervisors kept watch over the cubicle minions. Karen especially fawned over Scott, one of the younger supervisors with whom Lacey would be working several efforts.
"But nothing goes to Scott without my eyes on it first," Karen warned, making sure Scott heard as well. Lacey nodded. Scott smiled almost apologetically.
They made the rounds through several offices and cubicles before they arrived at what would be Lacey's turf. It was like all the other cubicles, a desk, a computer, two monitors, Some shelves and drawers and a small locker for hanging coats. The keys for the drawers were inserted into the locks.
"That's all yours," Karen said, "a whole lot more than when I started here."
Bet you walked here, uphill both ways, Lacey thought to herself, but smiled.
"You'll have to set your accounts up, but that should be pretty fast and then the first tasks will roll in for you."
"Right, thanks." Lacey took a deep breath and put her purse in the locker. She took off the coat she was still wearing and noted that Karen made an immediate assessment, though she said not a word.
Lacey had worn what she thought would be good for a first day orientation. She'd done her long auburn hair up so that it was held in place by a sparkling clip at the back of her head. Her bangs fell over her forehead. It had been a rainy summer, so she had no tan at all, but her skin had a naturally warm complexion. She'd used just a little eyeliner and a little make-up and enhanced her mouth with a pale red lipstick. It suited her skin tone very well.
She wasn't a fan of typical office attire, so rather than a blouse, she'd picked a light sweater with a scooped neckline. Nothing ostentatious, but with cute stones along the collar. The sweater was form fitting and Lacey had form. She wasn't voluptuous, but the girls up front were certainly noticeable, especially since her body sloped to a tight waist, before her hips flared out. The sweater had three quarter sleeves and the small tattoo on each of her forearms became visible. Karen seemed to focus on these right away.
Lacey wore a matching skirt of black and blue pattern. The skirt was tight, but not overly so. It fit her form, running to mid thigh. Underneath she'd worn matching blue tights, but the skirt hid most of her legs. As she turned to put her coat away, Karen noted that on the back of her toned and smooth calves, Lacey had another tattoo. She wasn't quite sure, but were those lace bows?
Karen harrumphed and turned away to her own desk. Lacey half turned to see the matron march off. What was that about, she wondered and looked at herself in the mirror on the inside of the locker door. She didn't see anything untoward, but she'd sure caught the vibe from Ms. Karen. Yes, Ms. Karen was how she expected to be addressed.
Sitting at her computer, Lacey started her digital in-processing. A sticky note on the computer gave her the temporary password and instruction to change it upon logging in. Once that was done she went through a series of prompts to set up various accounts, including email, chat and group projects. Routing office crap.
Several co-workers, some of whom she'd met, and some she might have, but could not recall, welcomed her digitally. That's nice, she thought, as long as she could fly below Ms. Karen's radar, she might just enjoy this.
It wasn't long before assignments rolled in and she got to work on what she had been trained to do. Lacey was quick and had a mind for figures. She knocked out several assignments in just a few hours, running down errors in spreadsheets and tabulations. By the time lunch rolled around, she felt like she knew what she was doing and understood most of the process flow.
"Come on," Karen appeared at her cubicle, "let's grab some lunch."
Lacey looked at her watch. Time had flown. She'd rather not have gone with Karen, but first day, first impressions and all that.
"Right," she forced a smile, "I'll just grab my purse."
Karen nodded and marched on ahead, Lacey close behind.
The cafeteria was an assortment of eateries. Health food, fast food, snacks and sweets, all bundled into various cubbies along the wall. Lacey opted for a chicken salad and got herself some bottled water. Karen grabbed a full portion fast food delicacy.
"So far?" Karen mumbled through a mouthful of sub sandwich.
Lacey paused her fork. "I like it. I think I'm learning the process flow and I like getting into the details of the work."
Karen flashed her an odd look. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You have a lot to learn, young lady."
"Yes, Ms. Karen." Lacey was taken aback. What had she done wrong.
"I did look over your work." Karen said and her tone eased a bit. "I'm glad to say I hardly found any errors. I'm glad you're picking it up."
Lacey had no idea how to respond. She was sure her work had been error free. She knew what she was doing, but she also knew she would never be able to counter Karen.
"Thank you," she managed, "please let me know where my errors are so I can get better."
"That's ok," Karen chewed through her sub, "I made the minor changes. It's all good."
Then she glanced up and nudged Lacey's arm, her head tilting in the direction she wanted Lacey to look.
Jamie was walking in with a young black man. This time Lacey saw her from the front. She had to smile to herself. Jamie was round in the places where girls usually are, but there, she was exceptionally round. She had, what Lacey imagined, must be the largest boobs she'd ever seen on a girl. To Lacey they seemed like small soccer balls and just as round. But that's an attribute a girl can't put away. Jamie's sweater hugged the balls and probably pushed them up a bit more. She had a blouse under the sweater with the top buttons open. The blouse did well to contain all that was within, but with so much to contain, a little spillage is bound to happen. It wasn't as if she were advertising. There was just a lot.
To Lacey's eyes, Jamie was a cute, little bit chubby girl with a sweet smile. She wore her black dyed hair in a bob that made her round face a bit more round and girlish. One could see she was a bit of a closet goth with the dark mascara and the darker shaded lipstick against her otherwise pale skin. Lacey wondered what her natural hair color might be.
The skirt, as from back, was from the front not extremely short, but shorter than what Lacey might have worn to an office. Then Lacey noticed her hands. She had an intricate tattoo on each arm, that started somewhere under the end of the sleeve and went across the back of her hand and extended to the base of each finger. Having a tattoo or two of her own, Lacey wanted to see more, but her observation of Jamie was interrupted.
"See how she's throwing herself at Mike?" Karen muttered under her breath. "I don't know how she get's around so much. It's shameful."
The couple walked past Karen and Lacey.
"Hi Ms. Karen," Jamie said, "having a good day?" Her voice was sweet and melodious, and her words almost sounded like a song.
But she didn't wait for a response and sat with Mike, who had not said a word, several tables away.
