Success and Jealousy

Ellie continued with her presentation and found her, predominantly male, audience to be highly receptive to it. She wan't sure any of them were actually listening to what she had to say, but she had their undivided attention nonetheless. More importantly, when she was able to steal a glance behind them, it seemed the senior figures in her own company were very happy with how things were going. Ellie hoped this success wasn't all down to the impact her nudity was having on people and more due to her presentational skills, since she had no intention of staying like this long term.

As she finished her final slide, Ellie's audience burst into a spontaneous round of applause. That was incredibly unusual for a talk like this. Ellie would have liked to have believed it was because she had done a great job, but was smart enough to know what was really causing so much enthusiasm. Either way, there was no doubt her presentation had been a resounding hit. Now she just needed to get through the Q&A.

"Thank you all for listening to the naked truth about our sales projections" Ellie cringed inwardly as she made yet another quip about her unfortunate situation "If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them"

Immediately a number of hands were raised, and Ellie went to a well dressed middle aged man in the front row, who seemed like he could be someone important.

"That was a wonderful presentation Ellie, perhaps the best I have ever seen. Can I ask, are you always naked?"

Ellie was thrown by the question. She hadn't expected it to be so blunt and about her.

"Thank you for the kind words. Unfortunately I have a medical condition which prevents me from wearing clothes. I am really hoping it will be cured soon. Can I take another question please?"

"If we were to decide to invest in your company" the next man began a little more promisingly "Would it be you we were dealing with directly? Would you be coming to our offices? And presumably while naked?"

"Well, that isn't really my role.." Ellie began, before Brian stepped forward to interrupt her.

"For anyone who decides to invest today we would be happy for you to use Ellie as your liaison with our company, and she would of course be happy to visit your offices as required"

Before Ellie even had time to process this the next question was being fired at her. Except it wasn't really a question.

"Hey Ellie, would you be open to a move to my company? Whatever they are paying you here, I will raise it, and I could see you slotting right into a senior role"

Ellie didn't know what to say. This was all starting to get a little crazy. Did her having no clothes on really have this much influence on how people treated her? She didn't really want to work for someone who was only interested in her nudity either way.

"Thank you for the offer. I am very flattered, but I am happy where I am and not looking to move currently"

There were a number more questions Ellie had to answer, all of which seemed to relate to her nudity in one way or other, but she managed to get through them. When she finished she received a second round of applause. She should have been happy that such an important presentation had gone down so well, but she couldn't help but feel she could have said literally anything up there while she was naked and got the same result, so it was hard to feel much of a sense of having actually achieved anything.

Ellie had already had enough public exposure for one day, or even a lifetime, and was ready to go home and try and find another argument for James to end this madness. But as she made her way to the exit, she was stopped by Jennifer, a company partner and extremely important figure within it. She had never spoken to Ellie before and the younger woman doubted she even knew who she was until now.

"That was an excellent presentation Ellie"

"Oh, thank you. I'm glad it seemed to go well" Ellie replied, more than a little flustered. It would have been daunting to talk to someone so senior even if she were fully clothed.

"I'm grateful for your loyalty to the company in not letting that rather opportunistic gentleman poach you, but I'm not kidding myself. It is obvious you are a rising star in our organisation and anybody in that room would love to have you working for them. Frankly, I don't want to lose you. Speak to my PA about arranging a meeting with me on Monday morning, and please don't accept any offers from anyone else before you hear me out. I'm confident we can renegotiate your salary and role here in a way that you will be very happy with"

Ellie's head was spinning. Was this really happening? All she had done was one presentation. She knew she had done a pretty good job under the circumstances, but a wage bump and new role? Being headhunted by rival companies? Being identified as a rising star by a partner? This was crazy.

Again, Ellie was ready to leave to go home and try and process all of this when she was accosted by someone else, her equivalent and very ambitious colleague Leanne.

"Did I just hear that right? Jennifer is giving you a promotion and a raise?" she asked angrily.

"I don't know" Ellie answered "She only said she wanted to talk to me on Monday"

"That's not what I heard. She is going to renegotiate your salary and give you a new and better job. That is so unfair! You've only been here a year. Why do you get to leapfrog everyone else just because you covert around the office naked?"

"That isn't the reason!" Ellie shot back defensively "She liked my presentation"

"Oh, bullshit!" Leanne retorted "They just love the fact you can shake your tits in investors faces and they will immediately get their cheque books out"

"Well why don't you come into work naked then, if you think it makes things so easy?" Ellie challenged.

"Firstly because I have self respect and secondly because I would be fired" Leanne answered feistily "Only you are allowed to show up here naked because of your condition. Don't get me wrong, you shouldn't be discriminated against because of it, but you shouldn't be rewarded either. I'm going to go to Brian and suggest we have a staff meeting about this!"

Ellie knew now that she needed to be fully clothed again when she came in on Monday. She didn't want a raise or promotion if she only earned it because she was naked, and she certainly didn't want a staff meeting that would be entirely focused on her nudity.

Some way, somehow, she was going to have to find a way to make James see reason within the next couple of days.