Ben thinks with his... career

Thankfully Missy’s laptop was already up and running as I settled into the chair. The tight pants felt odd as they stretched over my backside while I sat down. I was quickly reminded of the waist cincher as I fell back into old habits and began to slouch forward towards the keyboard. Grunting in frustration, I sat up straight and pulled my shoulders back. Normally, I would just tuck my legs under me for work or set them up on a footstool I had hidden under the desk. Sadly, the tight pants prevented the first, and the footstool made sitting up straight a much harder proposition. Settling my feet on the floor, I suddenly remembered why I had bought the footstool. I couldn’t set my full foot down on the floor flat. The chair base was too tall. Needing to keep the proper position so the cincher wouldn’t dig into me painfully, I extended my foot and settled the balls of my feet down on the hardwood floor.

Looking down at the time, I saw that I needed to jump into the meeting. Clicking the link, the video call sprang up. I laughed as the call started up and my blank camera stared back at me. I hadn’t turned the camera on in months. Thankfully, no one else was on yet. Realizing what was about to happen I decided a quick message out to Ben was in order.

Missy - Hey, don’t freak out when you see me in the meeting.

Ben - ???

I was spared any further discussion as that was when people started to join. Reaching up and turning that camera on was one of the hardest things I had ever done. My tongue slipped between my lips, wetting them slightly as I watched the image pop up on everyone’s screens. There I was, in all of my feminine glory. I could feel my heart hammer in my chest as I watched messages pop up in our team chat.

Gloria - Wow, Missy’s camera is on!

Jared - Huh, didn’t even know her laptop had one :D

Ben - Come one guys, let’s focus up.

With that, the CEO Brandon appeared. Brandon was like most start up CEOs, a mid thirties white guy who had inherited enough money to play the game but not enough to buy his way into the big leagues. His college preppy voice filled my speakers as he started the meeting. I would like to say that I paid attention, but with my heart hammering in my ears and my stomach in knots it was impossible to really pay any attention. Instead, I glanced down and could see a message highlighted from Ben.

Ben - Melissa? I thought you didn’t know this stuff?

Missy - No. It’s me. I uh, borrowed my roommate’s stuff…

Ben - No way!

Missy - Can we please not focus on it? >.> This is hard enough

Ben’s reply was lost as I finally realized it was time for us to step up and tell our sides of the story. In all honesty, Ben handled most of the interaction, it was only when specific questions got asked that I had to step up and speak. Oddly enough, it was in those moments I actually felt more comfortable. Apparently speaking as Missy for the last three months made it feel like I was her when I used that breathy soft voice. The next thing I knew, our CEO and our CTO were singing our praises.

“Thanks guys, but really I just hurried home and helped with cleaning up. It was really Missy that managed to bring this to our attention. She was going above and beyond her role and I’m so very glad we have her with us.” Ben’s voice held an odd tone to it as I listened to him hand the majority of the credit to me.

Brandon nodded, and I could tell that he and the CTO Gregory were having a quick offline conversation. “Ben, we are incredibly proud of the save. You and Missy have saved the company thousands, if not millions. With that in mind, we want to offer your team the chance to step up. We have a new project coming up that we think could really help us get ahead. What we are about to talk about cannot leave this meeting.” With nods all around, including myself, he continued on. “We have just received a government contract to begin using our optimization software on a limited basis.”

My eyes went wide at the announcement. FinOp had always been a bit of a dream for the CEO and CTO. They wanted to do something different in the fintech sector, and this had been what they came up with. They knew there wasn’t much hope of hitting it huge with tons of customers, but this kind of government gig was exactly what they needed to get into the black and out of fundraising. Ben’s eyebrows rose for a moment, then his head tilted to the side. “It sounds like you’re about to drop the other shoe on me.”

“I am. The project starts in three weeks. In office. There cannot be any work from home done on the project. All work will need to be done on a local intranet.” If the first bomb had made noise on the call, this silenced it. A message from Ben popped up on my screen almost instantly.

Ben - Don’t freak out

Missy - ???

Ben - We will figure it out, just trust me.

“My team is glad to step up and take the lion’s share of the work, gentlemen.” Ben’s proclamation was full of bluster and it was easy to see why management liked him so much. A natural leader who was willing to call out his own people’s contributions over his own. Then it hit me. He was thinking I was going to go into work…

The rest of the meeting was short as plans for the new project were to be taken offline and everyone was getting back a whole seven minutes before most of us all had to dive into another meeting. Clicking the button to end the call, I slouched back into my chair stunned. I didn’t even care if the waist cincher was digging into me.

Then the sound reached my ears. A soft clapping came from behind me. Turning around I saw Melissa standing there grinning. “So Missy, you know what you're gonna wear for the first day in the office?”