The Spill

It was about 11:30 in the morning, a little over 3 hours since you'd clocked in. Your lunch break was approaching, and you eagerly continued to work away at the printer, which had once again gone defunct. This time in particular, it was an extremely messy business. You continued to jam your hand far up into the machine, attempting to retrieve a dislodged cartridge of ink that had by some misfortune become clogged between two gears. You grunted a bit, before seizing the ink cartridge in your hands, and beginning to pull it back out. As if on cue, the machine suddenly sprung to life, starting to print whatever document it had queued up last before going down. You hastily made to pull away, lest either your collared shirt or hand get stuck in the machine. Your hand managed to escape unscathed, but there was a brief tug within the machine, which quickly resulted in an explosion of ink ejecting from the bottom of the printed, all onto your body and clothes.

You slowly backed away, blinking rapidly as you recovered. Your entire front was either sprinkled or doused in printer ink. Your clothes were effectively ruined, and you knew that the ink was of such a great quantity that you'd have to be immensely careful of where you walked, to avoid making a massive mess. Angel caught you from the corner of her eye, as she strolled past the printing room. She'd opted for an extremely formal pantsuit today, which seemed to be themed in a navy blue color.

"Oh my god. What happened?" Angel questioned, with a great degree of concern. She adjusted her hair, which was tied in a neat bun atop her head.

"Damn printer. Guess the ink cartridge got caught as I was taking it out, and exploded." You explained, shaking your hands a bit to get rid of the dripping ink as you slowly stood from the floor.

Angel looked you up and down, with empathetic eyes. "You're completely covered in ink. These clothes are basically ruined..." Angel said, reaching with her hand to lightly touch your ink-soaked sleeve. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Oh! I know! You can use the old shower, in the janitor closet! I keep it stocked with shower supplies, and cheap spare clothes. That way anyone who can't get a shower on their way in won't have to feel gross. Follow me!" Angel said, grabbing your hand.

Angel began leading you through the main hall. The office was organized such that a single, rectangular hall ran along the rim of the floor, bordering against all of the individual offices, elevator, front desk, and more. The center area was composed of the two unisex bathrooms, a break room, and a large open meeting area. You did your best to ensure you didn't leak ink all over the hall, and found yourself glad that nobody other than Angel would see you in your condition. You weren't particularly embarrassed about it, but you didn't feel like giving anyone a story to joke about.

Angel led you to the other side of the floor, to a small closet in the back corner of the floor, near the elevator. She pushed the door open, revealing a small, dimly lit room with machinery on one side, a shelf-wall of cleaning supplies opposite the door, and a single shower head, coupled with a floor drain directly in front of the door. Angel pointed to a crudely installed shelf next to the corner shower. "There's your shampoo, soap, conditioner, and an unopened deodorant bottle. Most of these products are women's, so I'm sorry if that's an issue..." Angel said, chuckling nervously a bit.

You shook your head. "No, that's fine. Anything is better than nothing." You answered, bringing Angel some comfort.

There's a towel over there on the shelf, and a spare change of clothes next to the door." Angel explained, as you stepped into the room.

"Didn't even know this was here. All of my cleaning supplies are over in my office." You observed, nodding your head for a moment.

Angel beamed a smile. "Yeah. We used to have janitor staff for the building, but the landlords started cheaping out and cutting corners. I'm sure you've already noticed the elevator has probably needed a replacement for years already." Angel said, shaking her head. "But anyways, I'll leave you to your shower. As much as I'd love to stay and watch, I've got a video meeting to attend." Angel finished, making her exit out the door, leaving you alone in the janitor's closet. You briefly considered the implications of that last sentence that had escaped Angel's mouth, but shook them off after a long, dramatic drip of ink settled on the floor.

Without further thought, you began to strip down. Your shirt was first to go, followed quickly by your shoes and socks. You ruffled your hair for a second, and reached down to unbutton your pants. You pushed the ink soaked garment down your hips, to the awaiting concrete floor below. Now standing in just your briefs, you were about to lower them to the ground, when a knock at the door alerted you.

"By the way, when you're done taking them off, could you go ahead and give me your clothes? That way, I can do you a favor and wash them at my house. I don't live far from here, and it's the least I could do anyway." Angel said through the door, calming your nerves a bit. You pushed the briefs down to the floor, and stepped out of them. Scooping your clothes into your hands, you began to get nervous as you approached the door.

"Okay. I'm done." You said, slowly cracking the door open a bit. Behind the door was an eager looking Angel, holding out a basket with both hands.

"Just put them in here." Angel said, motioning to the basket. You realized that standing behind the door for cover and placing the ink-stained clothes within the basket were two tasks that worked against each other. The last thing you wanted was to accidentally expose yourself in front of your new boss, when you'd both only recently become more familiar with each other. You compromised by leaning out a bit, enough that your bare upper chest was visible from behind the doorway. You could've sworn you saw Angel's eyes light up a bit, as you began placing two garments at a time within the basket, until eventually you had deposited all your clothes.

"Is that all of it? You promise? I don't want you holding out because you're shy or anything." Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. You rolled your eyes, before nodding. "Yeah. Trust me. That's all of it." You answered, smiling a bit at Angel's playful joke.

Angel smiled a bit deviously for a moment, before speaking. "Hmm. I don't know if I believe you..." Angel said. Suddenly, Angel quickly kicked the closet door, throwing you back a bit. The door began to slowly swing open, with Angel looking directly at your lower half intently and eagerly. Luckily, you managed to grab hold of the door just as the view was creeping past your bare hip, and promptly closed the door back to its original position, this time bracing yourself.

Angel giggled to herself for a moment, while you glared at her with a face red with embarrassment. "Nice try. Real mature." You sarcastically said, rolling your eyes.

Angel only shrugged, tucking the basket under her arm. "What? I was just making sure is all... Anyways, I'll be back in an a few minutes. In the meantime, you can wear the spare clothes."

With that, Angel walked away. You admired the view from behind for a moment, before retreating back into the closet. You pulled down a small lever on the shower head, and perfectly warm water ejected from above, down onto your body. Immediately, you felt relief as the ink slowly washed off into the drain, removing the gross feel. With a sigh, you closed your eyes, and began whistling a bit as you reached for the shampoo. "I guess getting to take a shower on the clock isn't so bad. There's worse things I could be doing." You thought to yourself, as you began lathering the shampoo into your hair.