Chapter 20
Chris
“Chris, Julia, may I see you in my office after the meeting please?”
I met Julia’s eyes across the table, wondering if she knew why our boss wanted to meet with us.
She shrugged, the motion making her shirt slide off her shoulder.
She was wearing a mint green shirt over a tank top, tied loosely at the waist, with some kind of a flouncy skirt.
She’d lined her eyes in dark green, and her lipstick was bright red.
It’s funny how I used to find her style too girly, but now I thought she looked adorable.
“Sure thing, Gina.”
I turned my attention to our executive director Allison, who was introducing our new Chief Financial Officer. I knew they’d hired someone because Gina mentioned it in our last supervision meeting, but she hadn’t been authorized to share the information yet.
“Everyone, this is Gretchen Langley, our new CFO. She comes to us from a long stint working at the county. Let’s go around and do introductions.”
To my surprise Gretchen was much younger than our past CFO.
She had light purple hair which made her look more like a barista than a member of the agency’s executive team.
She was dressed conservatively in a blouse, blazer, and pants, but the row of earrings along the shell of her ear and the hint of a tattoo peeking out from her wrist told me she was not the typical CFO. Interesting.
After the meeting Julia and I followed Gina to her office.
“Take a seat,” she said, nodding at the two guest chairs across from her desk.
Julia and I exchanged a glance, then did as we were told. Gina sat behind her desk, an unusually serious look on her face. She leaned forward on her elbows and took a deep breath that I knew instantly didn’t bode well for us. I just wasn’t sure why.
When she didn’t say anything Julia spoke up. “Is this about the proposal we sent to Madison Phoenix for the tech employment program? Did she decide to pass on it? She seemed really enthusiastic about it at the gala.”
Gina shook her head. “No, we haven’t heard back from Phoenix Software yet. I called you in here because I’ve had a complaint. About both of you.”
“A complaint? About what?” I asked.
Gina took another deep breath. She was a good boss, and I could tell that she really didn’t want to have this conversation. Neither did I, and I wasn’t even sure what we were talking about yet. Next to me Julia was jiggling her leg nervously.
“An employee went to HR with an allegation that you two were…,” she paused and looked up at the ceiling like she was asking God for strength. “Having sex in a supply closet.”
Julia inhaled sharply.
“We weren’t having sex,” I said quickly. “Just making out.”
Julia’s head swung in my direction, and she bulged her eyes at me, like she couldn’t believe how stupid I was. The leg jiggling intensified.
“Um, well that’s not really much better,” Gina said. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how unprofessional that was, especially with both of you being in leadership.”
My mind went back to yesterday…
***
I was coming back from the restroom when I saw Julia walking down the hallway towards me. My heart immediately picked up in a way I did not want to analyze too closely.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.
She worked at a different location, so I rarely saw her at work other than if we were in a meeting together, and those were usually online.
“I came to check on one of our clients who’s been struggling in the program,” she said. “I thought I’d pop down and say hi.”
I hadn’t seen Julia since Saturday. We’d both had things to do on Sunday, which was fine, we didn’t need to spend every single weekend day together. We hadn’t done anything together since then either, and now that it was Thursday I was incredibly happy to see her.
Without a word I grabbed her wrist and dragged her through the closest door – a supply closet.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“I want to kiss you.”
I walked her backwards until her hips met the shelves running against the wall.
“Should we go to your office?”
I shook my head. “Too far. Can’t wait.”
Grabbing both sides of her face, I crashed my lips against hers, giving her a long, deep kiss.
“Well, you really know how to greet a girl,” Julia teased when I pulled back enough to catch my breath.
“I missed you.”
Her eyes softened. “I missed you too.”
Then we were kissing again, my hips grinding against hers, mimicking what I wished I could do to her if we were in a different place. Julia groaned as I tunneled my fingers in her hair, holding her where I wanted her while I plundered her mouth.
There were voices outside the room as people walked by, but the noise was enough to break through my haze and remind me that we did not have any privacy here. I pulled back, my breath coming in sharp pants.
“I’d love nothing more than to fuck you right here, but we’re gonna have to wait,” I said regretfully.
“Yeah.” Julia jumped as her phone buzzed with one of the many reminders she set to help her get places on time. “Fuck, I have to get back. I have a meeting.”
I leaned forward, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. “Do you want to come over tonight?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I really would.”
“My mom taught me a new dish. Meatloaf.”
“I love meatloaf,” Julia said brightly.
“I have to warn you that the recipe involves hiding tiny vegetable pieces in the loaf.”
She shrugged. “I like vegetables.”
We walked out of the closet together, smiling like fools. Julia’s hair was a wild mess, and her lips were swollen from my kisses. She reached up to rub the side of my mouth, not noticing the two people who walked by us, giving us curious looks.
“You’re wearing my lipstick,” she whispered.
I shrugged. “I’d rather be wearing your cum, but I’ll take that for now.”
***
“Look, I can’t believe I have to say this, but you can’t make out – or do anything else sexual in nature – at work. If you two are in a romantic relationship, I’ll remind you that while it’s not forbidden, you are required to report your relationship to Human Resources.”
“We’re just having fun,” I blurted out.
Julia gasped as I continued, “There’s nothing to report. We aren’t in a relationship. It was nothing.”
It was a lie of course, but I was panicking. This conversation was beyond mortifying and the last thing I wanted was for me or Julia to lose our jobs. I could feel Julia staring at the side of my head, but I carefully avoided her gaze while keeping my expression neutral.
Gina looked between us again, clearly trying to decide what was going on.
“If you promise me that nothing like this will happen again, I’ll let you off with a verbal warning.”
“Nothing like this will happen again,” I parroted. “I promise.”
“Julia?” Gina prompted.
“Nothing like this will happen again,” she said woodenly. “Definitely not.”
There was a world of hurt and anger in that statement, but our boss chose not to acknowledge it.
“Okay, I’ll need to send you an email confirmation of this conversation and copy it to HR.”
“Thanks Gina and I’m really sorry for how we behaved,” I said contritely.
“I’m sorry, boss,” Julia said quietly.
She sounded like she wanted to cry, but before I could get a look at her face she jumped up from her chair and rushed out of the room.
“Um, I guess I’ll go,” I told my boss. “Sorry again.”
I got out of my chair, then stopped when my boss spoke again.
“Chris. Hold on.”
“Yes?”
Gina closed her eyes, sighed, then looked at me again.
“Look, I’m not one to give advice, and it’s certainly not appropriate for me to give you advice on our love life anyway but…
I know what it’s like to be in love with someone and mess it up.
I lost three years with the love of my life because I was an idiot.
If you have feelings for Julia, you’d better talk to her, because that girl looked devastated by what you just said.
And if you don’t have feelings, stay away and let her get over you. ”
Gina stood up and looked me straight in the eye. “Whichever it is, please just keep your personal life out of the workplace, all right?”
“Yes, I will. Thanks Gina. Really.”
When I got out of Gina’s office, there was no sign of Julia. I walked up and down the hallway, glancing into offices and conference rooms to see if she was waiting for me somewhere, but I guess she’d already gone back to her office because there was no sign of her.
I hoped she wasn’t too upset by what I’d said.
Turns out, she was much more upset than I anticipated.