Magic Closet: Amber Alert

Green lights almost the entire way to the office, you were beginning to feel that your luck was changing. Despite the pain in your head (which, thankfully, the pain killers were beginning to put a dent in) a smile crept onto your face. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe today would be exactly what you had hoped, the day your career launches to the next tier.

Then, as you shift in your seat before you turn into the parking lot of your office, you remember your stocking situation.

It wasn't that the black knee-high stockings you were wearing under your pants were uncomfortable. If you were being honest, you would have to confess that they were quite pleasant to wear (not that you'd ever be that honest!). It was that every time you were reminded of the stockings, fear rose up from the pit of your stomach that you would be discovered. The last thing you wanted was to have people think that you were some sort of weirdo, showing up at work in women's stockings.

There was nothing to be done about it, of course. A glance at the clock on your dashboard showed that you had arrived at work just in time to grab a break-room coffee and head straight to the meeting. There was no time for shopping for proper socks, nor did you have the ability to stay home for the day. This meeting was far too important to miss.

And so you walked into your consulting firm, trying to look confident, smiling at everyone you passed, saying hello when prompted. Twice co-workers commented on your complexion, asking if you were feeling all right. Both times you answered in the affirmative, relief washing over you that it was your face that people were staring at, not something else.

The coffee was amazing, just what you needed. As you sat in the board room, first one to arrive, you savoured the taste of the hot drink, feeling it wash down your throat, bringing you out of the hangover induced haze that had settled on you.

All I have to do, you told yourself, is get through this meeting, make sure I'm assigned something juicy to work on, then I can skip out of the rest of the day.

"Hi Sam," a soprano voice said from behind you, one you recognized well. It was Amber Tillings, your beautiful redhead co-worker who was constantly vying for the same assignments as you. She was one of the most attractive women you'd ever worked with, and you'd spent more than one night imagining her in your bedroom instead of a box of Kleenex and a bottle of lotion. You know you should resent her, the amount of times she had attempted to sabotage you at the office, but you were far too busy lusting after her.

"Hey Amber," you said flatly. Sure you lusted after her, but you were putting that aside. Jasper Falls was the prize, and you were keeping your eye on it, at least for today.

"Did you change your hair or something?" She asked, eyeing you up and down as she took the seat immediately to your right, "You look different. You look, um, good."

"I tied one on a little too hard last night," you respond with a smile, "But I'm as right as rain, just a little pale."

"Oh that? No, I didn't mean that," she said, shaking her head earnestly, "There's something else." She stared at you and furrowed her brow, "Well, whatever it is, I like it. Keep it up and you'll have the girls start to sit up and take notice!"

Before you could response, the rest of the team filed into the room. A din of excitement rose as co-workers wondered how the contract would play out, how the team would be put together.

"Can I have your attention?" Alexander Ross, the CEO of the firm said from the front of the room, "Everyone please, settle down and find a seat."

Quickly the din vanished, and within moments, each person was sitting down, pad of paper in front of them, eager to take notes.

"Jasper Falls is a huge win for us. I don't have to tell you what this means to the company, as we've been working on this bid for months, so you're not strangers to it. Before we continue, let's give a round of applause to the team who brought this client in. Amber? Sam? Can you and your team please stand up?"

You and Amber stand, as does your small, but focused team. Now that the account had been won, you knew that the team would have to expand, most likely to everyone in the room. You would miss the intimacy of the small group, but looked forward to the resources the expanded team would be able to bring.

Once the applause in the room died down, you returned to your seat, as did the team. Amber took the opportunity to scoot her chair closer to yours.

"Is it a new tie?" she whispered to you. When you shook your head, she sighed in disappointment.

"To me personally," Alexander continued, "landing the Jasper Falls account is the fulfillment of a long-term goal for our firm. I knew that once we reached our goals of being a large-scale consulting firm that I would finally be able to retire from my position of CEO, passing the torch to the next qualified candidate. I haven't selected that candidate yet, and I'm not retiring today, so don't worry. Once we have navigated our way through Jasper Falls, as a strong team, I will be announcing publicly my succession plans."

You were just getting excited about the news, about the possibilities, when Amber's hand dropped from the arm of her chair and landed on your thigh.

She leaned in to whisper again...