It was my first Christmas party at the company. I was twenty-four, bright and dedicated, sporting my shiny new MBA to anyone who would listen. When you're twenty-four, fit and good-looking, the world is there for your taking, right? My confidence might have been mistaken for arrogance sometimes, but I'd gotten a really unpleasant lesson a few months ago in the difference between confidence and arrogance; the fuck-up that had been my fault alone had cost the company a lot of money. Me and my deflated ego, and wiser approach to things, went into this Christmas party not as some young hot stud looking to make an impression, but perhaps as a more general employee who was simply learning the ropes.
I saw her - the big boss who had reamed me a new asshole in the wake of my fuck-up. I'd had two more conversations with her after that day, one where she issued a very stern warning to me that another fuck-up would cost me my job, and the second only a month ago where she had complimented me for pulling my head out of my ass and doing much better work, but then we went through the items that she had found to be questionable. I asked many more questions this time around, and turned in the updated work the following Monday after working all weekend. She had scanned it, noting the obvious corrections and a few other things that I'd found, thanked me and dismissed me.
The big boss was a big woman. Not fat, just large. She was taller than me by probably two inches and I'm six foot even. She was definitely broader than me, in shoulders and hips. Although she was dressed in a suit that probably cost more than any one of my net paychecks, the conservative cut could simply not completely hide how juicy of a body the woman sported. I was certainly not alone in my admiration of her. My closest friend in the company, Todd, wandered up to me with a bottle of beer in his hand.
"Oh, fuck," he said softly. We stood side by side, arms nearly touching, staring while trying hard not to look like we were staring. "Christ, what a body."
"I know, right?" I had a beer and took a quick pull. "Fucking outstanding." We had discussed her before, as we were part of a larger crew that nearly always hit the bars on Friday afternoons. I had met him my senior year in college and we had become friendly, though not friends. We were trending towards friends now, though.
"Mean, though," Todd said.
I gave him a side-eye glance. "You're telling me?"
He chuckled. "Nah, I know you know. Dumb-ass," he tacked on.
"Yep." No sense in arguing the point. "I'm learning, though."
"Me, too, just not as painfully," he laughed.
Our direct boss then wandered by. He was a skinny, nerdy thirty-something with a wife and new baby at home, and was already plastered. I think it took him about two beers to get drunk, and the third teetered him into la la land. "Hey what'ch'all talkin' about?" he sort of threw in our general direction while staggering past. He did not stop, thankfully, because our boss was not all that pleasant a drunk. Not mean, just...preachy.
"Crisis averted," Todd breathed as the bossman wandered off to accost the three female employees in our department. Not two minutes later, I looked over and saw one of them tugging at her ear.
"Friend save," I said softly, nudging Todd with my arm. He looked and saw it too, the desperate look of "fucking save us!" in Rachel's eyes. We headed over and conducted the friend save, and were thanked profusely afterwards.
Todd, who had eyes for Rachel, lingered and I headed to the bar to get another beer. I got in line and was waiting patiently among the higher-ups whom I did not know nor really want to try to meet in that moment.
"Ah, young Bryan, you are you enjoying your first Christmas party?" I knew that soft, smoky voice instantly, and turned to see the big boss smiling at me. Her eyes were large and round, with eyes that sparkled with pleasure and intelligence.
"I am, Catherine," I said with a smile.
Catherine Brooks was her name, and she insisted that everyone call her by her first name. She was not married, so far as we knew, as her left hand was decidedly ringless.
"How about you?"
She waved her hand. "Oh, they can be enjoyable or they can be tedious. So far this year is heading towards tedious, sadly," she commented. Her chin lifted for a moment. "That was nice of you and Todd to go save your coworkers from Barry."
"You saw?" I said with some surprise.
"Mmm-hmmm," she said, nodding slowly. "Good worker, Barry, but he can't hold his liquor worth a damn," she judged.
Being that he was my boss, and she was his boss, I felt the most prudent course of action was merely to smile and say nothing.
"Anyway, you've improved, your work product and attitude," she said.
"Thank you," I replied sincerely. I felt a little glimmer of pleasure; even unofficial attaboys are welcome.
"Ah," she said suddenly. "Listen, will you do a huge favor for me?"
"Um, yes, of course," I said.
"I'm tired of this. I'd like you to escort me to my car. Will you?"
"Oh. Oh yeah, sure."
"Good. Now," she said, a trifle softer, "in order to prevent tongues from wagging, I want you to get your coat in twenty minutes. Make an excuse that you're bored out of your mind, and prepare to pack up and leave. The minute that I see you at the coat check, I'll head that way. Meet me in the lobby, by the coffee shop, and then you can walk me to my car. Fair?"
"Sure," I said, surprised by all of this, but willing to do it anyway. I was maybe more surprised that she wanted an escort; if there was a woman in this world who I thought could take most men, it was Catherine. "See you in...twenty or so?"
"Yes. Good." She smiled, and this was a genuine one that conveyed vastly different messages than the thin smile you got for a job well done. "See you soon."
I got my beer and wandered back to Todd. He was really working Rachel hard, and she was at least somewhat amenable to his advances. Her two friends, both blond, cute and taken, chatted idly with me but without any real enthusiasm. Finally the twenty minutes was up, I made my excuses and said my good-byes. I walked to get my coat, and donned it, and headed to the elevator without a look back. Somehow, I felt it would not be advisable to look back.
I moved to the coffee shop, and actually bought a small one while waiting. I was there maybe ten minutes before Catherine arrived, her coat wrapped tightly around her body. She spotted me right off, and nodded her head for me to move to the door of the hotel where the party was staged. Our building was a four-block walk.