Part One
Corporate higher ups can be so ignorant sometimes.
This conference was supposed to be huge for me. A surefire way to solidify myself as an integral asset to our department, as well as a springboard to a promotion that I was aiming for. And, as a single young man, it wasn't just the business side of things I was interested in. Being selected for this trip meant that I would get to do just about everything on the company's dime. A five star hotel, top shelf drinks, expensive steaks, the works.
Appearances were important, and one of my bosses who had been a low key mentor of mine since my first day had straight up told me a week or so ago to not be reserved about using my company card. Not to go crazy with it, of course; he was only making the point that ordering nice things was just another part of the game. It was less about flaunting wealth and more about demonstrating class, taste, etc. For example, potential clients would be more skeptical about someone my age ordering a burger and a rum & coke. It would make them perceive me like a recent college boy rather than a promising business man that could be trusted with the potential deals and accounts we'd be discussing over the coming days.
There were just two problems, both of which came to light just a couple days before my departure for the conference.
One, the colleague that I was supposed to be working with over the long weekend ended up having to stay behind to help out with some urgent, unexpected complication that made it so his expertise was much more needed at the office than anywhere else. In his place, they were sending Larissa. As in, my biggest rival. She had been a thorn in my side for months, especially since I was almost certain she was vying for the same promotion I was. Technically, we worked in different departments, but they were parallel enough that we ended up crossing over on a number of projects. That also meant she had similar experience in terms of credentials, and had been hired around the same time as I had as well.
I had put a lot of work into making sure I was chosen for this trip. Though I considered myself good at my job, I wasn't naive enough to assume that merit alone was what counted when it came to rising the ranks at any given company. For months, I had subtly demonstrated how well I was doing at my job. Copying so and so to an email whenever I had done something worthy enough of making sure I was the one who got credit for it, sending messages after work hours just enough to prove I would spend personal time on the important stuff when necessary, and making sure to suck up to those in higher positions without making it obvious. Most recently, I had gone out of my way to cater both my work and my conversations in a way that nudged a couple of my bosses into viewing me as the guy for this conference. And, in doing so, I also made myself the perfect candidate from a personal standpoint, as I knew all the information backwards and forwards thanks to how I had been playing the game.
The entire point of all of that was to give myself a leg up, and now I had to worry about Larissa messing with me at every turn. We weren't just rivals in the professional sense. She would also do the most immature and petty things to undermine me and make me look bad whenever she had the opportunity. Giving me a message at work at the last possible minute, then mentioning how her department would have been done with XYZ sooner if I had gotten her what she needed more efficiently. Teaming up with a female coworker and talking about how
cute
my tie was one day, and how her younger brother wore the exact same one to his Homecoming dance. One time, she went so far as to 'accidentally' knock my coffee over in a way that made it spill all over a variety of important documents that had been spread out on my desk, resulting in me having to track down replacements for all the ones that had been physically handed to me rather than sent via email.
As far as I knew, I was the only one she acted maliciously towards. I didn't dare attempt to point my finger at her, as she would just feign innocence and I would end up looking like the crazy one. As obnoxious as Larissa was, I knew for a fact she wasn't doing any of it for her own amusement. She was just playing her own version of the game--making me look like a lesser candidate for the promotion here and there, all while maintaining her own perfect image at the same time. I was tempted to fight fire with fire a couple times, but managed to resist. Not because I was interested in taking the high road; I just doubted my ability to pull off the fake smile like she did, plus something told me a girl like her would easily be able to blame me and get away with it, no matter how careful I was.
Then there was the second problem. While our company would apparently be fine with me spending hundreds of dollars on food and drink, they were still making a point to be frugal in other ways. I was originally supposed to be sharing a room with my male colleague, which would have been more traditionally acceptable even though it's not like anyone is ever directly asked about their sexuality at work. Since the hotel room was already paid for, however, that meant that Larissa and I would be staying together. Separate queen beds, but still. It was bad enough that she and I would be networking and doing presentations together. I didn't even want to think about what kind of sabotage my bitchy rival might come up with when she knew we'd be sleeping in the same room. It also meant I would barely have any breaks from her, as we were already basically going to be attached at the hip throughout the day.
I had briefly considered booking myself a room, expensive as they were, until one of our bosses mentioned that staying together meant that we'd have time in the evenings to review everything from the day, and time in the mornings to prepare as a duo; both would be better in a private setting, so we wouldn't have to worry about being overheard. Though we could easily achieve the same thing by stopping by the others' room, I didn't want to give Larissa the chance to report back that I went my own way. Also, it would have been a lot of my own money if I did so.
In retrospect, I probably should have bit the bullet and risked it. Because what Larissa had in store for me was not at all what I had anticipated.
Part Two
It all started a few minutes after we arrived in our shared hotel room.
Between being on the same flight and the same shuttle, I already needed a break from Larissa. Not that we had conversed that much, aside from briefly discussing how we were going to split up responsibilities at the coming meetings and presentations. Since we were both focused on bringing in new clients, there wasn't a great compromise when it came to who would take what section. Eventually, we settled on simply alternating who would be taking the more lead role. It was the only way we wouldn't butt heads and try to steal the spotlight from each other along the way. Subtly competing back at the office was one thing, but we would both look bad if our rivalry ended up costing us potential business.
Aside from wanting some time to myself, I would have rinsed off after half a day of traveling anyway. Claiming the bathroom and bringing in my dress clothes so the steam could help with whatever wrinkles that might have formed over the last few hours despite my best efforts to neatly pack everything, I hopped in the shower and started mentally going over my notes for the first presentation I'd be taking point on.
Larissa walked into the bathroom a couple minutes later. The way she opened the door wasn't particularly quiet, and the fact that she announced herself further proved she wasn't trying to be sneaky or anything like that. "I need to freshen up," she said, "You don't mind, do you?"
"I mind that you didn't knock," I replied. The fact that she waited so long after I began running the water made me assume she wasn't trying to catch me naked or whatever, but still. Boundaries. Especially since the fact that we were opposite genders in a hotel room was already iffy from a professional standpoint. She didn't need to complicate things further on that front.
Apparently I had a lot more to worry about than simply her presence in the bathroom. "Coming in," she said. With absolutely zero warning, she pulled back the curtain and stepped into the tub. Like it was the most casual act in the world, despite the fact that she was fully nude and the two of us had never seen each other in anything but business attire.
I didn't
stare
