Office Retreat

You've worked in a small magazine company for over three years, and you've moved up through the ranks with varying degrees of success. Your latest promotion to film writer/editor came about as you scored an interview with two major music executives. You leave out the part where they gave you the interview because you shot tequila with them, though you've been told by friends that might have gotten you promoted even further.

You share a small office space (with your own office) with three women: the arts/events editor, Beth Tiffin; the food writer, Emily Lewis, and the music writer, Sarah Bevins. For the most part, there are good times and bad times, like any job, and it's not unheard of to share a drink with one or more of the women in the office if the day goes really well or really poorly. Your own office is a small, eight by eight foot room with a desk, a filing cabinet, a computer that might have seen the end of World War II, and a picture frame with the family picture from the store in it, which was given to you as a joke from your best friend in college.

You find on slow days that you daydream. As a twenty-five year old guy, they usually revolve around sex, and because you have 1) a decent memory and 2) constant exposure, your midday fantasies often focus around those three women.

Your boss, Beth, is the eldest in the office, and uses that often in her inspirational speeches. She's thirty five, and her red hair is often at her back, though you've seen it braided and molded for special events before. She graduated top of her class (something else that comes up often), and is in fact very smart. She's likeable unless she gets stressed, in which case it's like a switch. She becomes crabby, snippy, and overall unpleasant. Many drinks that you have shared with Sarah and Emily have been after Beth's bad days. She is very good at her job, and is likely the most organized human being you've ever met. She can laugh, and she can have a good time, but she never makes it a point to become friendly with her staff on her own. She has been persuaded in the past, however, and there is a picture in the office of all four of you at a karaoke bar. As you watch her in the office, your mind wanders to her long legs, often highlighted by her heels and skirts that might be considered a bit short had she not been tall. She's very slender, a thin, pale redhead that has dominated at least one of your fantasies every week.

Sarah is probably your closest friend. She catches a lot of the musical shows that hit the city, and you take her to a few screenings. In between, you both discovered some common interests, both musical, cinematic, and otherwise. You've never dated, and it's not, as your mother insists, just a timing thing. You both seem to understand that you've got enough in common to be friendly, but anything more might strain the relationship. You at times think like a guy in the best way when it comes to Sarah. She often dresses in a button up blouse with the top buttons undone to reveal cleavage that has to be formed from some of the larger natural breasts you've seen. She's caught you glancing, and you've apologized, but she laughs. One day she finally looked at you and shocked you. "Why on earth do you think I wear this blouse unbuttoned." She rolled her eyes and walked away, allowing you to take in her pleasantly round ass. She is far shorter than you, and you wonder if part of the issue is that you have but to look down when you talk to her.

Emily's a bit more mysterious. She's pleasant, and her blonde hair is often worn just past the shoulders, and her blue eyes are at times piercing, and at other times gentle. Her manner is the same, though she tends to be more laid back than intense. She has a real working knowledge of her topic, and you're not sure you've ever met a food writer in person who takes her job as seriously as Emily does. She's also a health nut, so you always throw her crap when she writes about desserts. You know she's fit, with toned, muscled legs, and sleek arms. Somehow, she maintains a distinct femininity in her curves, and you know (because she's told you) that Sarah is often jealous. The closest to seeing a coworker naked came when you had to work on a Saturday, and caught Emily in her sports bra and biker shorts. She looked mortified, but you realize that you had no reason to. Emily quietly thanked you a week later when she realized you hadn't told anyone what you'd seen. Since then, she's been far friendlier.

You are shaken from the reverie of your three attractive coworkers when Beth calls you into her office. You stand closer to Sarah than to Emily, more to look down her shirt than anything, but you're given little time even for that. "We're off to a retreat," Beth announces. "The publisher signed us up for a free week-long stay at a resort. It's supposed to be a team-building exercise, so we'll all live in one house. We're expected to work on new projects, but also to play. I shit you not, I had to read it twice." You all laugh.

"It's probably in Montana," Emily sniffs, rolling her eyes. Beth nods.

"I thought the same thing," she agrees. "It's in Massachusetts." Some eyes perk up and Emily grins.

"Aren't you from Massachusetts?" you ask. Emily's smile broadens, a bright happy light on her face.

"I am." You see her eyes flicker over you for a moment and then she turns away to listen to Beth.

As Beth leans forward, her button up blouse gapes, and you catch the interior curve of her small, white breast against a practical looking flesh colored bra. Your eyes snap up to your boss's and you realize that you're already thinking of the possibilities.

"Dress code is lifted; it isn't the office. I expect everyone to behave relatively humanely on the trip, though. And John, please don't be the guy that makes the messes. You snort, then shrug. It's actually a fair warning. "Our flight is at 6 am on Monday," Beth adds.

"God Dammit," Sarah whines, and even Beth snickers.

"First class," she adds.