Sarah, his former work crush

Sarah prayed desperately for her feet to remain silent as she slowly made her way up the stairs, flats in hand, towards her bedroom. She was already feeling enough guilt from having seen all of Sebastian's home-cooked meal packed up and ready for her to take to work for lunch the next day; she didn't need his resigned smile as she slid into bed after ruining the romantic evening he had planned and put together. But, it wasn't like she could refuse when her manager and several of the other younger team leads had invited her out for drinks. It was exactly the sort of networking opportunity that had allowed her to jump from working at that tiny game shop to handling accounts that were scales of magnitude larger at one of their distributors. She hoped that Sebastian would understand. It had been a connection she'd made through one of his friends that had allowed her to take her last big step. Still, it wouldn't be enough of a connection to move any further in the company unless she took every opportunity to make her face known to the sorts of people who made those decisions. Still, she probably should have found an excuse to duck out when she realized that they were leading her to the sort of place that was less a spot for getting a couple of drinks and chatting and more a club filled with pounding music and people doing questionable substances in the bathroom. She'd actually managed to have a spectacular time until she'd run into that bitch, Daisy, and had had to make a getaway. Still, it had been very productive, and she'd definitely gotten on the radar of a few of the leads she'd been out with. If there was going to be any fallout from the encounter with Daisy, she'd deal with it when it arose.

When she got to the top of the stairs and saw the bedroom light on, she winced silently and debated whether she was about to walk into a fight or simply a passive smile from her boyfriend before she settled in for the night. She honestly didn't know which one she would like less. She decided she had no interest in dealing with either and tried to head off the situation. She quietly made her way to the closet across from the bedroom door and grabbed one of the small overnight bags she kept stored on the top shelf. She had several pre-packed bags waiting there, each one prepared in case of a sudden need for travel. She had one for work travel, one for the outdoors in case their unit head ever suggested another spontaneous cabin trip, and one for romantic weekends, which she sometimes threw together when Sebastian started to look especially dour. From the romantic weekend bag, she pulled a tiny silk nighty and the matching panties and snuck into the bathroom to change. When she emerged, she knew that she looked good enough to seduce any warm-blooded man or woman and figured that she was just about guaranteed to get out of whatever Sebastian might have ready for her.

Which left her quite depressed when she slowly opened the bedroom door, presenting herself, only to find Sebastian asleep, a book on his chest, the bedside light still on next to him. For a moment, she felt relieved, but then began to get frustrated at being ignored. She decided to finish her plan to head off any potential arguments and made her way to the bed, adding a little strut to her walk, even though her audience was fast asleep. She crawled into bed and reached across to wake him when a sudden flash of light struck, and she disappeared.

Aaron was startled by the name and grew increasingly worried about the tone of the bios being read aloud. It sounded more and more like they were talking about this like some sort of dating show, which, if true, would be his absolute worst nightmare. He started to seriously consider whether he had fallen asleep while driving and crashed. If that was the case, this was, almost certainly, Hell.

The next woman who appeared had apparently been caught in a crawling motion, reaching for something or someone, and the way she was dressed and posed led him to believe she had probably been crawling into bed. However, the bed was now gone, leaving the woman frozen on the metal floor in her own circle of light. She was a slim and svelte woman, about halfway between five and six feet tall with lithe, feminine curves and two small, perky breasts hidden beneath a tasteful purple silk nightie. She had long dark hair and a narrow face that Aaron knew would light up with an impish smile when she was happy. He hadn’t seen her for two years, but that smile still occasionally haunted his dreams.

“Sarah Reynolds was a coworker of Aaron’s who started about a year after he did, and the two became close work friends. She is 32, currently living with her boyfriend of almost three years, Sebastian. They don’t have any children yet, but there is definitely talk of a ring floating around. She is a big fan of literature, photography, role-playing games, and socializing with her extensive network of friends. She and Aaron were close for several years, to the point that some referred to them as work spouses, and most people knew he had a crush on her. Still, they managed to maintain a healthy work friendship until Sarah started seeing Sebastian, after which she pulled back from their friendship. Since then, Aaron has retreated from social life, while Sarah left the company after being offered a job with one of the store’s suppliers, so the two have not spoken in more than two years. Of course, he hasn’t really spoken to much of anyone lately, and that’s not because of any of the ladies we’ve met so far. No, that’s all thanks to our next contestant…”