Make it a suprise

Sometimes it was better to ask for forgiveness and ask for permission.

Not that I would need to beg for forgiveness. I mean, at least I hoped I didn't.

Olivia cared a lot about her image in front of her team, she fretted over what she wore around them, how she spoke and how she acted. She told me she wanted a balance between being boss and being their friends, that she didn't want them to think of her as 'The stuck up bitch who got to the top with good looks alone.".

I got where she was coming from. People looked at quickly she rose up the ladder and made their judgements. They didn't see all the work I knew she was putting in. People talked, spread rumors out of jealousy and gullible pawns spread them like gospel. Anderson meant well, but he was contributing to that toxic cycle by regurgitating those absurd stories.

What that all meant was that Olivia wasn't the most comfortable with us acting 'coupley' in work settings. Normally that wouldn't bother me at all, but lately it seemed like I barely saw her outside of a work setting.

The last thing I wanted was for her to be mad at me and ruin what chances we had to spend time together tonight, but I desperately wanted to see her. So if I was going to do this, I'd do it smart.

I went straight home from work, showering and getting dressed for the night. They has a dinner booked for right after work, and then were getting drinks at this bar near the hotel the new guy was staying at. Apparently the company was setting him up with something more permanent, but until then gave him the penthouse suite. Sales guys got all the perks.

The sun was down by the time I had a little bite to eat and made my way to the bar. I didn't have their exact schedule, but I imagined by now they would have finished up eating and moved onto the drinking. If all went well I could slip in unnoticed, wait until they were all sufficiently drunk and then sneak Olivia away for a moment. Her team wouldn't notice she'd left and we'd get some time together, a perfect plan.

The place was far less upscale than I'd been expecting. I'd been envisaging more of a corporate cocktail lounge but the place was a dive bar. With faded signs and cracked windows I almost thought the place was abandoned, if not for the bouncer standing by the door. Inside was bigger than I'd thought, tables and booths fairly packed with a mostly drunk crowd. Filling the room was a haze of smoke, despite several visible no smoking signs, that combined with the dim lights to make it hard to see anything in detail. On a stage a young woman played a cover song with her acoustic guitar, but nobody paid her any attention.

I got a simple Rum and Coke at the bar, scanning the room to find Olivia and her team. There, in what felt like the darkest corner of the room I caught a glint of her golden hair. Crammed shoulder to shoulder in a booth, I watched as the table raised their glasses and downed them in one go.

Perfect. With then drinking like that, it wouldn't be long until I could slip right in and steal her away.

I got up and tried to find the most secluded spot that would have a good angle towards them. Most of them probably wouldn't be able to pick my face out of this crowd, but it was a possibility. Better to hang back a little and just wait them out, rather than risk them seeing me and questioning Olivia about it.

I found a two seater near a support beam and angled myself so that I could peak around it if I leaned onto the table a little. I tried to pretend I was scrolling through my phone, and not a creepy stalker as I spied on them.

But when I looked, Olivia was gone. She'd been there as I was setting up but had seemingly disappeared. Rushing off the the bathroom I guessed? Or maybe buying the next round. I didn't want to look around and scan the room in case she noticed me.

The mood at the table was as lively as ever. The new guy, Deacon I think? He was sitting in the middle of the table, his arms spread over the chairs and a wide grin om his face. The guys were chanting and hollering in his direction, but he wasn't chugging a drink or doing anything I could see that would warrant the attention. Then to make things weirder, somebody got his phone out and started taking pictures of under the table.

Just how drunk were they? They couldn't have been here for that long? I couldn't explain why but I felt this acid taste start to build up in my mouth and my stomach churned a little. Despite the feeling, I started leaning forward over my table. Trying to get a better angle to catch a glimpse of what was going on under the table. They were facing at an angle from me, so with every inch further I got I uncovered just a little more of what was under it.

Slowly, but suddenly it came into view. There, under the table, was a shoe. Olivia's shoe. In the dark I could just make it out... and it... it almost looked like her leg was still attached to it? If I could just lean a bit further and see...

"Excuse me sir?"

The woman's voice snapped my focus around. I realised how ridiculous I must have looked, leaning all the way across my table like I was hugging it or something. I slowly slinked back into my chair, flashing her a nervous smile.

"Uhhh can I help you?"

"Are you using that chair?" She seemed unphased by my weird behaviour, I guess the people here had seen weirder things.

"No, you can take it." A nervous rush of adrenaline kept me from dropping my smile, even as the woman stared at me with a level face. She picked up the chair and returned to her table and I snapped my head back around the moment her focus was off me.

Olivia was back and there was a fresh round of drinks on the table. The guys were still cheering and acting out, now directing it at Olivia who seemed to just be blushing and waving it off.

That must have been it. Olivia probably forgot to take wear her shoes, or maybe they'd dared her to get drinks without them. It was probably her the other shoe next to the first that made me think she was under the table. Ridiculous really, what would she even be doing down there?

I could relax now, clearly they were getting really drunk now. Over reacting and cheering at nothing but an empty pair of shoes. It wouldn't be long at all until I could bump into Olivia while she was getting more drinks or going to the bathroom. Then we could have some of our own fun.

With how dark and smoky it was in here, I wondered just how much we could get away with in a private booth of our own. God how I wanted to run my hands over her legs and tease my way up them. Maybe even quickly slip a finger down the band of her pants, just for a moment...

Then, mid fantasy my heart dropped.

While adjusting my pants due to the rising pressure I was feeling down there, my arm bumped the table. Such a little innocuous thing, with the potential for huge consequences.

Before I could react. To move, to hide or to stop it. My glass tumbled from my table and came crashing down to the ground.

Not an unfamiliar noise in a bar, and especially in this one I guessed. But enough to turn the head and grab the attention of a few people. A few people including Olivia's right hand man, Chase. A man I'd met once or twice, shaken hands with.

Our eyes locked and I prayed, to any god that would listen, that I wouldn't see a spark of recognition in them.