Eliza woke up curiously refreshed the next day, especially considering how acrobatic her evening had been the day before. She was positively humming as she boarded a taxi to go to her office. "Perhaps, just perhaps, I need to work more on my social life," she told herself as she looked at the couples walking on the sidewalk as she sped past. "Although, with friends like mine..."
She laughed at herself as she exited the cab in front of her office building and headed to the elevator to go to the 101st floor, where her actuarial firm was located. As she passed the security guard, she gave him a sunny smile that had him looking around at her as she pressed the call button on the elevator. "Hmmm," he thought to himself, "someone is in a particularly good mood. Wonder if she got lucky?"
Eliza was humming a popular tune as she exited the elevator and walked briskly to the entrance to her firm, where she startled the receptionist by asking about his recent vacation. Yet another set of surprised eyes following her down the hall...
As Eliza passed the rows of assistants in their cubicles, her personal assistant called to her. "Miss Tinker, we have a couple of new hires whom I thought should meet you. This is Jackie Karr," she said, indicating a slim, but pretty girl in her mid-twenties, with blond hair cascading down her back. She was dressed in a knee-length tartan skirt, white shirt, red cardigan, and knee-high riding boots. "And this is Stephanie Grant," this time referring to the other girl, also in her mid-twenties, but a bit younger than Jackie, with shoulder-length brown hair, a bit more solidly built with more pronounced curves. Stephanie was wearing a shorter black skirt, black hose, and a rather snug orange blouse that was straining a bit at the buttons, due to the rather impressive mounds they held captive. Both girls looked so apprehensive at meeting the boss that Eliza had to concentrate to hold back a giggle. "God," she thought to herself, "these newbies are getting younger and younger all the time."
"Welcome to Xanadu Fields, ladies," said Eliza. "I have great expectations for the both of you. Katie will give you your desk assignments and your first case load. If you have a question that she cannot answer, I will do my best to help. I am looking forward to a profitable relationship with you both." She smiled warmly at the two girls, encouraging Jackie to return the smile with one of her own. Stephanie tried to smile, but was obviously too nervous to be comfortable, yet. Katie took this pause to bundle the two off and send them to their cubicles, as Eliza turned and entered her corner office. As expected, there was a steaming cup of Jamaican coffee, a fresh bagel with cinnamon-infused cream cheese, and a copy of the New York Times waiting for her on her spacious, but pristine desktop. There were also several message forms clipped neatly in order of importance to the corner of her desk blotter. "What's earth-shattering today?" thought Eliza as she lifted the first and began to plot her day...
Out in the "Pit", as the cubicle area was known to the staff, Jackie and Stephanie were looking with obvious relief at the employee manual, especially the part outlining the office morale facilities, which included, in addition to the obligatory break room with flat-screen TV, an exercise room complete with the latest in fitness equipment, and, the most intriguing to the girls, a sauna! "I could get very accustomed to this," whispered Jackie. "What a coup, scoring this on our first job search!"
"I know, right?" answered Stephanie. "I expected to have to work in a drudge job right out of university, but this? This is a bit of all right." Stephanie's broad brogue betrayed her Scots background; she had started out as an exchange student her freshman year at Stanford, but decided to stay on after she was offered a full-ride scholarship from the Economics Department. She had recently graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Economics and Government, and was ecstatic to be able to find employment at the same firm as her closest friend and roommate from college, Jackie, who had also graduated with honors. "Let's plan to use the sauna tomorrow after work, shall we?"
"I always said that you Scots were psychic," answered Jackie with a laugh. "It's a date, then." She turned away just missing a glimpse of a strange, longing expression on her friend's face...
Meanwhile, in her office, Eliza was busy with the usual backlog of business that fell under the "Need It Right This Second" category, when she heard a faint tinkle of laughter coming from the "Pit". Glancing up, she saw the two newest members of the office leaning toward each other and giggling. She shook her head with a smile, thinking to herself, "My God, was I that way when I was that age?"
"Of course, silly," answered her ego. "You were just as young then, and just as full of joie de vivre. You just didn't have your best friend with you at work."
"So that's it," she thought. "I wondered what the situation was with them."
"Come on," her ego countered. "It wasn't obvious? They have a real relationship; whether romantic or not, who's to tell? But, there is a bonding of some sort there."
"I guess so," Eliza told herself. "It did seem as if there was a little more to them than met the eye." With that thought, she returned to her work, only occasionally sparing a moment to muse about her newest hires.
**
The next couple of days seemed to crawl by, urgent work coming in by the bucketloads. Eliza found herself getting increasingly stiff and cranky, especially at close of business Wednesday, when she realized that she had spent nearly 40 hours at work already that week. "I need to unwind," she thought to herself, "but no one's available for dinner. Perhaps I'll bake the old muscles this time," she decided, heading for the sauna. She had hung her clothes in the locker provided, and wrapped a towel around her torso with another around her hair as she opened the door and entered the sauna. Once she blinked away the tears that the 120 degree air produced, she discovered that the room was already occupied by two other females. As this was a coed sauna, both were wearing their towels, but startled a bit when she entered. "Keep your seats," she said. "There's plenty of space. Jackie, and Stephanie, right?" she enquired, to the obvious relief and strangely enough, embarrassment of the girls, who were sitting next to each other on the upper bench furthest away from the hot stones.
"Yes, ma'am," replied the girls in unison.
"In here, it's Eliza, or just 'E'; save the 'ma'am's' for the office," she said, with a smile. "This is off the clock time." As she settled in on one of the lower benches, she noticed a look pass between the two younger girls; one that she pretended not to notice as she lay back against the corner with her eyes seemingly shut.
Sure enough, as she lay there pretending to doze off, she heard faint whispers between the girls. "What now?" whispered Stephanie (her pronunciation of the first word as "wot" gave her away).
"I don't know," answered Jackie. "I was sure we would be alone this evening, since everyone else had dinner plans. I guess this wasn't such a hot idea, after all." No sooner had she gotten that last out of her mouth, than she caught herself with a gasp, wide eyes, and a giggle; "Hot idea! That's rich!"
Without opening her eyes, Eliza decided to join the conversation..."She who would pun would pick a pocket," she intoned, cracking one eye open to amuse herself at the expressions on the two other women's faces. "It's all right, girls; nothing you say or do will shock me. And besides, I DID say that this is off the clock, right?" At that, she sat upright, allowing the towel to fall from her upper torso, exposing her breasts. "Oops!" she said, gathering the towel back up, but not before noticing a certain, hungry look in both girls' eyes. "These towels are not big enough; I'll have to see about rectifying that problem," she said, trying in vain to tuck the towel back into its original position. "How are you keeping yours on so well, Stephanie?"
The brunette blushed furiously. "I'm not, actually, m—E," she corrected herself. "It's only lying on top. 'S a bit too small for me boobs, otherwise," she said lifting it up to demonstrate.