It was nearing the end of the day and I was looking forward to being away from my cubicle for the weekend. I work on the 11th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Phoenix Arizona for an architecture firm. I graduated college a little over a year ago and was thrilled to land this job, but I was still ready to leave for the day. Not that I had any big plans for the weekend, most likely I'd order pizza and play video games all evening.
I was getting my stuff together in my messenger bag, and was about to shut down my computer when my boss came into the cubicle pool just outside her office. Allison is a decent and fair boss, and everyone liked her. She's probably mid-forties or so, white, brunette and sorta pear-shaped. She had a large butt and wide hips, but her boobs were probably only Bs or possibly Cs. Allison rarely wore makeup and generally dressed professionally in a plane way. Pant suits, ankle length skirts and dresses, maybe capri pants on occasion. Today she was wearing a calf-length gray dress that didn't show any cleavage at all. Reasonably attractive in an average way.
She moved her glasses to the top of her head and said "I've got some bad news, team. Our director just called and we have a project that needs to be finished tonight for a client that could be huge for the company. Which could mean bonuses for us if it goes well. I will be staying late tonight to get it finished. Can I get a volunteer to stay and help? You'll get time and a half."
No one volunteered. Most of the people I worked with had families or significant others to get home to. I didn't even have a goldfish waiting for me. I'd been single for over 8 months.
Allison got a pained look on her face and said "please? I know it sucks, but if I don't get a volunteer I'll have to draw a name from a hat."
Everyone looked around at one another and still no one said anything.
I sighed gently and raised my hand and said "I'll stay Allison."
Looking very relieved she said "yes! Thank you Chase! Hopefully it won't take us long to get the project done."
Everyone smiled at me and one of my work friends gave me a high five as the rest of the team left for the night. I figured in addition to the overtime money on my next check, I'd have at least scored some points with my coworkers.
After everyone else had left, Allison explained the project and what we needed to do. Normally we'd have weeks to finish an assignment like this, but we'd just have to do it all tonight. It didn't sound too bad though. I started on my end and Allison went back to her office to work on hers.
After about an hour she came back over to my desk and said "are you getting hungry? Lets order dinner. The company can at least feed you for staying late."
I was getting hungry and said "thank you, I am. Chinese?"
Allison smiled and asked what I wanted. She placed the order and 30 minutes later I rode the elevator down to the lobby to pick it up from the delivery guy. When I got back to our floor with the food, Allison invited me to eat with her in her office. Her office was small, but it was nice. It had a window that had a pretty great view and a very expensive looking desk and chair. I sat on the opposite side of her desk in one of the guest chairs and unpacked the food.
As we ate she said "thank you again for staying and I'm sorry to ruin your Friday night."
I said "oh no problem. I didn't have any plans tonight anyway."
She said "me neither. I usually watch movies with my cat on the weekends. I thought you might have had plans with a girlfriend or something."
I said "I wish, I feel like I've been single since the Carter administration."
She laughed and said "You're barely in your 20s, you weren't alive for the Carter administration."
I said "maybe so, but this is the first dinner I've had with a woman in a long long time."
She said "oof sorry it's take-out with your boss at work instead of with some young girl at a swanky restaurant."
I said "eh, I've had worse dates. Uh, not that this is a date, but you know what I mean."
She laughed and said "I totally do! I hope you never have to date in your 40s, it's awful. Everyone is divorced or has kids. I even like kids, but children can add a whole additional layer of complication to a new relationship. I'll think I found a good guy and think 'hmm, why is this guy still single?' and then a few weeks later it'll be like 'oh, THAT'S why he's still single.' When I was in college, dating was easy, even for an introvert like me."
I could see her still getting plenty of attention from guys, even if they didn't turn into boyfriends. Allison was pretty attractive even without makeup or sexy clothes. She could be outright hot if she wanted to be I thought. Which wasn't an appropriate way to dress at work obviously. I was starting to wish this was a date instead of a work dinner.
I chuckled and said "yeah that sounds rough. Dating in your 20s is hard too though. You pretty much HAVE to use some sort of dating app. Most people of my age can barely hold a conversation unless its through screens."
She said "you're holding a pretty good conversation right now."
We finished up our dinner and I said "thanks, I prefer talking face to face over endless text messages. Well, I'm going to get back at it. Shouldn't be too much longer before everything is completed."
I went back to my cubicle and went back to work. A few times I had to check with Allison on numbers and figures in her office, and she would come to my desk as needed too. I noticed that she was barefoot and had her toenails painted bright yellow.
She noticed me looking at her feet and said "don't tell HR. We're not supposed to wear open-toed shoes or be barefoot, but my shoes were killing me after wearing them all day."
I said "I don't think HR needs to hear about this bit of trivia."
After a few more hours, I was finally finishing up. I looked at my watch and it was nearly 10pm. Still fairly early for the weekend. I checked in with Allison and she was about finished too. I waited in her office until the project was completed and submitted to the higher-ups.
She said "thank you again for staying late with me. Shall we head out?"
I said "it was no trouble. And yes lets get out of here."
She slipped her shoes back on and we got in the elevator together. I was trying to work up the nerve to ask Allison to have a drink with me when we got to the bottom floor but the elevator lurched and stopped descending somewhere around the 8th floor. The elevator cab went completely dark.
She said "crap! Blackout?"
The emergency light kicked on and we were now in a dim light instead of pitch blackness. Blackouts weren't uncommon in the summer time when the temperature was usually around 110 degrees.
I said "maybe? The power will probably turn back on in a minute."