Subtle to start with

“Hey I think I unfortunately need to get going, you okay with that?” you asked, hoping for her to read between the lines with your question.

“Yeah sure. You know you don’t need to ask though and can just leave whenever you want, right?” she replied with a smile, oblivious to your subtle approach.

“I know it's just… are you sure you want me to unlock the door when you're still like that?” you said, being more direct and gesturing to her outfit, or lack thereof.

She looked down at herself as if she wasn’t sure what you were talking about only to immediately start blushing when she realised she was still in her underwear and had been sitting there for the entirety of your conversation. Without standing up, she put on her shirt and blazer while keeping her head down to not meet your gaze and only after she had buttoned up her blazer did she stand up to put on her skirt.

The fact that her shirt hid her panties from your view only made the sight more erotic to watch she nervously bent over to pull up the skirt and fix it around her waist with the final zipper. She straightened out her appearance a slight bit with the help of the reflection in the monitor that she had previously used to keep an eye on you before finally having the confidence to look your way. You didn’t want her to feel embarrassed on every occasion you met, so you decided to avoid the topic as you walked towards the door.

“I feel like I’ve left you with a lot to think about so I’ll leave you to your thoughts and get out of your hair. I’ll let you know if I get the job at the gym if you do decide to join me on that as well” you said, reminding her of the earlier topic as you unlocked the door.

You had expected her to sit back down in her chair as you left but she got up to see you off at the door.

“Will do. Good luck by the way” she quickly added, giving you some extra encouragement that you didn’t know you had needed until she said it.

She waved you off and watched as you walked down the hallway, only hearing her office door shut once you were out of line of sight. With the extra time spent watching Rebecca get dressed again, you checked the time on your phone and saw that you were a little behind schedule. You would have to rush for a few minutes to get yourself back on track, exactly as you had done earlier when you ended up leaving for school later than you normally would.

You also ended up ringing Mom as you walked, telling her you were probably going to be missing dinner and asked if she could leave you a portion for when you got home. She didn’t seem too pleased with you not being able to make it but eventually told you she would save you some and you ended the call. Family dinner was one of the few events that allowed you to rack up some seconds in a normal setting so you weren’t too keen on missing it yourself.

Hopefully, today would be the only day you would start at 5 pm and you wouldn’t have to get home as late if you actually got the job. That was if you got it anyway. You still planned to get there earlier than the arranged time so you quickened your pace and headed towards Grace’s gym.

You were nearly out of breath when you arrived and had to stop to rest for a minute but you had successfully arrived with roughly 5 minutes to spare. You spent a minute catching your breath as you looked through the giant glass windows that covered the front of the building. The place was pretty modern compared to the rest of the town’s standards but it did seem like this place was one of the first signs that everywhere would start catching up with the major cities in the area.

You had never asked for the name of the place from Grace as your family and Emma had just referred to it as ‘Grace’s gym’ but the sign out front told you otherwise. The words ‘The SIREN’ hung above the door, showing a stylised trident as a replacement for the ‘I’ and an ocean-like theme for the background. you entered the building and made a note to ask Grace about the name later considering how it wasn’t something you had expected her to come up with but as you walked further inside and up to the front desk you realised there was no staff around to greet you.

You got a few looks from the women who came in after you but other than that they didn’t seem to be offended by your presence like you had expected them to be. You took a look around the place which was mainly open plan with a few closed-off rooms and some stairs in the lobby that you presumed went up to some other studio rooms or some offices but to avoid making yourself look like a creep, you gave up your search pretty quickly. You couldn’t get very far anyway as there were some turnstiles that looked to be controlled with a swipe card so you decided to use your phone to contact Grace.

Getting Grace to send you a photo with her active effect briefly crossed your mind but you didn’t want to hang around for too long on your own so you skipped the text message and rang her while you stood next to the front desk in the main lobby. The phone rang a few times before Grace picked up and after a quick greeting, she asked if you were here.

The call ended and you moved to the centre of the lobby after Grace had told you she would ‘only be a minute’, waiting until you heard the sound of a door opening upstairs. You looked up to see Grace leaning around the door frame to one of the closed-off rooms and with a wave of her hand, she directed you to come up and join her.

You quickly went up the stairs to join her and she welcomed you into the room that you now knew was her office given the sign printed next to the door labelling it so. You placed your bag on the floor next to the door alongside her own and moved further into the room.

“I’m really glad you're here actually. I’m sure you can guess from the empty desk downstairs but we weren’t able to get cover for the girl that I mentioned who recently left” she explained before sighing, directing you to sit down in one of the chairs in front of her desk as she went to sit in hers.

Once you sat down, you had the chance to actually take a proper look around the room and smiled to yourself when you saw a photo of Emma proudly displayed on her desk.

“I think that's the best photo I’ve managed to get of her recently. She started getting camera shy recently but you wouldn’t believe how many photos I’ve got of her laying around from when she was younger” Grace said as she noticed your gaze, smiling as she started to reminisce before bringing herself back to the present.

“Anyway, don’t think bringing up my daughter will get you extra bonus points for this job. I should probably take some away considering you're trying to date her” she teased as she attempted to sternly point her finger at you as a warning.

“You're right, sorry. But I could try and get my Mom to join if that gets me any points?” you joked back.

“Actually that would be perfect. I do have fun while I’m here with some of the regulars and the employees but having her here pop in every now and again would calm me right down” she replied, sounding more stressed out with the job than you had expected.

You knew running a business would get anyone feeling tense but you had never seen Grace looking frustrated when you had seen her at home. Her expression now showed you that she just looked tired and given the staff shortage, you didn’t blame her but you decided to try your best to help and hopefully score yourself some extra points in case she was still on the fence about giving you the job.