I Simply Cannot Lose this Job! [T-Howell/Ronny]

[Ronny]

“Please don’t make a fool of yourself,” Angela thought dismally as she waited for the elevator in the lobby of the building she would now be working in. She stared nervously at her hands as the toe of one of her high heeled pumps tapped on the marble floor. This was her one big break, the one chance she would have to stave off foreclosure and absolute rock-bottom, she just couldn’t screw it up!

Angela Halloway had fallen on some hard times lately. Only 26 and already up to her ears in debt, she now realized that she’d bitten off more than she could chew when she was a young, ambitious twenty one year old, looking to buy a condo in New York City. Straight out of undergraduate school and with a shiny, new Bachelor’s degree in business administration, she thought she would hit it big and be swimming in cash by now. Boy, how she was wrong! For a long while, she’d been struggling with payments to her landlord, but she’d always gotten by on flirty winks and veiled promises of ‘payment’, which wasn’t hard considering she was a perky, young brunette with a winning smile and dreamy, ‘come-hither’ blue eyes (or so she had been told) But her landlord was no fool, and about three months ago, told her enough was enough.

In all her time in NYC, she had not been able to put her degree to use. Sure, she’d had small, odd jobs here and there, but nothing substantial, and when her landlord demanded payment, she’d had no money saved up to pay. Her job hunt had been desperate, and finally, after answering numerous ‘help wanted’ ads, she’d finally landed a position as a secretary to a very wealthy and influential business man. She still didn’t know her boss’ name, seeing as she’d been interviewed by what she assumed was one of his many lackeys, but that hardly mattered. As the young woman stood in the lobby, waiting for her elevator, she vowed to do anything and everything in her power to hold onto this job!

The brass doors finally slid open and Miss Halloway stepped into the small room, and pressed the button for floor 19. The doors shut behind her and started moving almost immediately, and as the floors ticked by, she caught her reflection in shine of the golden doors. Her hair fell in waves down her shoulders, her suit was recently ironed and fresh; a dark navy skirt suit with a white camisole underneath. As the ticker announced its arrival at floor 19, Angela took a deep breath, and stepped out into her new place of employment.

 

[T-Howell]

Klayton King sat in his office waiting for his new secretary to come into work. He had to admit that he only really hired her for her beauty and the desperate straits she was in since that would make her more agreeable to his desires. Her degree and intelligence were a plus and would make her a decent secretary when she wasn't fulfilling another one of his requests that the others had failed at. While he waited for her he ran his hands through his long brown hair and waited for her to come into the office while he sat at his desk with the only thing behind him being a window with the most beautiful view of the city in the entire world.

Klayton was only 27 and he was one of the most successful men in the world thanks in part to his massive ego and even more to his incredible almost undeniable charisma. But most importantly he had an incredible ability to get people to do things for him that they wouldn't do for anyone else in the world. He was able to do this because he could get into their heads by finding their biggest weakness and exploiting it. In the case of his new assistant it was the crushing debt she was in in addition to her longing to make something of herself. He had gotten his degree at the age of 19 and went back to get his masters degree after that graduating with a masters in philosophy at 21. At the same time he had started up a small corporate investigation firm that used his ability to find weaknesses to look into the business practices of corporations and that turned into a massive corporation that amassed him billions of dollars and shocking amounts of power. The only thing he wanted for was an assistant who would bend to his will in a way that all the other ones would not. He was not particularly interested in having a wife or children since he had issues trusting people, so he had to get his rocks off in a different way entirely.

Klay had made sure that his employee looked very thoroughly into the contenders for his secretary since he wanted to find someone who fit his expectations and requirements and he found out about the woman's debt issue through a rigorous background check. He had also gotten a good look at her through the two way mirror in the interview room and he was amused by her answers and the seeming desperation in her voice. That she was unable to hide in her answers to the questions she was asked. He was a bit of a control freak and it showed in the way he behaved in his office, fortunately his controlling nature lead to a lot of loyalty in his employees who would do anything for him and he would generally do anything to try and help them after they eventually gained his trust.

Klay waited for the slightly younger girl to come into the office and since she was so new and so desperate he assumed she would be the first one in the office. So he looked out his office and saw the elevator had come up and he smirked. He immediately stood up from his desk and put his black and white pinstriped suit jacket on over his white shirt and black tie and headed out to greet his new assistant. “Miss Halloway?” He said as he stepped out of his office and got a look at the lovely woman. “My name is Klayton King. I am your boss.” He said explaining their relationship in a friendly but still informative way. “Let me show you around the office, or at least the important parts since it's your first day and I don't want to overwhelm you.” He said immediately taking the lead and leading her around the office from the copy room to the kitchen and finally to her desk that sat just outside his office. “Now do you have any questions for me about anything before we get into what I expect of you?”

 

[Ronny]

As Angela was led around the spacious and open office, she couldn't help but brighten up a bit; Mr. King seemed quite nice! She didn't know what she had been expecting, but her vague fears were put to rest once she saw how civil and downright kind her new boss was acting. There was still a little nagging, at the back of her mind, that warned her that it might all be an act, for the first day, but she shoved that thought away. She was not going to let fear hold her back from doing the best job possible! And as the little tour ended, and Mr. King asked if there were any questions he could answer for her, she smiled warmly up at him, Mr. King being quite a bit taller than her, and replied: "Were do I begin?"

Her work was fairly standard at her desk just before Mr. King's office; filing, spreadsheets, expense reports, fielding calls Mr. King didn't want to take, transferring the ones he did want to take, and the morning seemed to fly by. Angela was back in her element here, and everything felt very familiar and comfortable. It wasn't long before she could be heard humming quietly to herself at her desk as her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing out a reply to a particularly unfriendly stockbroker that her new boss had no desire to deal with.

"I think I'm really going to like this job," she thought, hitting send and sitting back in her chair momentarily. "Why would have thought such a great opportunity could spring from such a dire situation?" Sanding and gathering the files she'd just organized alphabetically into her arms, she turned and practically sashayed over to the large door to Mr. King's office, and knocked quietly.

"Mr. King, I've finished those files for you," she said, peeking her head into the office.

 

[T-Howell]

Klay was glad she appeared to be agreeable to everything as well as the fact that she seemed quite pleasant to deal with. He wasn't acting kind as he was an actual kind nice man, but he was a kind nice man with some peculiar thoughts about what his secretary should do and how she would do it. Klay smiled at her when she asked her one simple question and he simply requested she should just get to work on her normal average office tasks before he gave her a little bit of a taste of what else she would need to do throughout her time. He would start small and simple and wouldn't do anything to scare her off if she could do it on the first day. He made sure to inform her that she needed to email a particularly unpleasant person who he was looking into at the time and he didn't mind the fact that he wasn't giving the guy the personal touch.

Klay occasionally would check how his assistant was doing on her normal tasks with the little camera that was hidden by her desk. He had one next to every employee due to his trademark lack of trust that everyone who worked for him eventually got used to throughout the course of their employment with him. Klay sat at his desk and watched as the girl typed unbelievably fast and he realized she may be quite the secretary as well as quite the "personal" assistant as well. He took out a notepad and made note of how fast she appeared to be finishing her tasks and when he heard a faint knock at the door he sat it in a drawer before looking out to see her.

"Good work, Miss. Halloway" He informed her as she poked her head into the office and then he made a little note of her outfit. "Come in for a second so we can discuss some of the finer points of this job." He said with a friendly and bright smile on his face as he waited for the beautiful girl to step into his office. "Take a seat." He said as he stood up in a gentlemanly way as a man should when a woman enters a room and then he sat down when she did.

"Now I know I told you about your usual tasks that you'll be doing for me here and I'm sure you'll be great at those, but there's some other things I need you to do if this little relationship of ours will work out. Now I won't do anything to endanger you or exploit you or anything, but I need you to do whatever I tell you to do whenever I tell you to do it no matter how strange it may seem." He said as he smiled at her in the most friendly way anyone ever smiled at anyone seemingly. "Most importantly we'll have to talk about your clothing. You see I'm a believer that people work best when they're comfortable and that suit your wearing looks immensely uncomfortable. So tomorrow I'd like for you to come in in your most comfortable clothing, whether that means sweatpants and a hoody or your underwear. Anything you feel like you can be your most productive and your most comfortable. Between you and me the only reason I wear a suit is because I'm the boss and people expect the boss to wear nicer clothes than his employees.

 

[Ronny]

Angela sat down where Mr. King indicated after setting the neat pile of files on the corner of his desk. He wore a charming smile; easy, relaxed. Angela was nothing if not trusting, but a less trusting person might of described his general expression as disarming, meant to relax his prey before the pounce. And relax it did, Angela thought it must have been against the rules of being a secretary to be so at ease with you boss. Wasn't the stressed, over worked, abused woman working for a tyrannical boss the norm in romantic comedies? She had to remind herself that this was real life, not a movie.

Her smile faltered slightly, though, as he began to talk of 'whether their relationship would work out'. What were these new guidelines? Something out of the ordinary? Was this going to be the catch of this new, sweet opportunity she'd been given. She was just supposed to do anything he told her, without question. Was that all? Angela was pretty sure that was the standard employer-employee relationship, but the added "no matter how strange it may seem" Mr. King tacked onto the end gave it an odd twist. Angela wanted to ask her boss what he meant by that, but in almost the same breath, he answered her unspoken question.

Angela was no stranger to the idea of 'casual Fridays', but this first request seemed a bit outlandish! Wear anything she wanted? She looked down at her current outfit; true, it wasn't exactly comfortable, but wasn't that the point? Style trumps comfort in the business world, or at least she'd been told in college. If she just came to work in sweats or, God forbid, her underwear! That would be downright ridiculous! But then again...he had just told her, follow my every command, no matter how strange. And, if she thought long and hard over it, was it really that strange? To want your employees to be comfortable, so they would do their best work? A bit of her smile returned to her face as she talked her thoughts down from their initial panic at the suggestion. No, it wasn't so strange, Mr. King just so happened to be one excellent boss!

"U-um, alright, whatever you say, sir!" she said standing and nodding. If he wanted her to dress down, then she would dress down, she supposed. The rest of the day she spent thinking and rethinking the exchange, though, unable to get the weird vibe out of her head. It was just her nerves, she told herself, but still. As she made her way home that night, she barely saw the people bustling down the sidewalk around her.

"Okay, comfy, comfy, what do I have that's comfy," she mumbled to herself as she stood in front of her closet back at home. She immediately disregarded the skirts and tights, too itchy, and the button-up shirts always irritated her neck. Most of her sweaters were pretty comfy, but too warm for the office, and her slacks dug into her sides too harshly. "Maybe I'm over thinking this," she thought, looking in her dresser drawers for a suitable pair of pajama sweats. But that wasn't any better; the two pairs of sweats she owned were too threadbare and full of holes to be seen in. tossing cloths onto the floor around her, she tried to find something, anything, that wouldn't itch, pinch or squeeze, and was still decent to wear in public, but to no avail. Her 'relaxing' clothes were all too gross to show up to work in.

Angela finally reached her underwear drawer, the last untouched drawer, but shook her head. "No, definitely not," she laughed, shaking her head. "My undies are comfy, sure, but no way am I going out naked to work!" Flopping back onto her bed, she sighed and looked at the clothes scattered around her. "Maybe I'll just find some slacks that don't pinch TOO much, and that cowl neck sweater. That's comfier than my outfit today, at least." Picking out her loosest pair of slacks and hanging her sweater up to de-wrinkle, Angela roamed the house in a pair of threadbare PJ pants as she fretted the night away, in anticipation for the next day's work.

---

She felt sort of weird, walking into work that morning in anything less than business formal. But there she was, black slacks and baggy sweater. She had slipped on a pair of flats before she left, and had tied her hair up into a ponytail. No reason to do your hair if you're wearing casual clothing, she thought, as she sat down at her desk. She just hoped what she was wearing was comfy enough for Mr. King.

 

[T-Howell]

After Angela had agreed to their deal for the day he dismissed her and allowed her to go home just a bit earlier than he would have on a normal day. But after all he was a good boss and he got the feeling she may have a bit of an issue with his command for what she should wear the next day. He was eager to see what the young lady who was eager to please would come up with and when he came in the next morning he saw her in her black slacks and sweater and smiled a bit. "Feeling comfy?" He asked in his usual pleasant cadence before assigning her what would be her usual day's work of answering phones and email inquiries and handling his appointments. And speaking of appointments he happened to have one that day with a group that was on the fence of hiring him believing him to be a little too callous. So around the time they were going to come in he popped out of his office and asked Angela for a favor. "Angela I need you to do me a favor and sort of lay your head on your desk and look like your thinking of anything but work for the next hour or so. Look as depressed as possible and when these people I'm about to meet with leave come in and I'll explain why." He had seen the people he was meeting with on their way up and he was planning on using Angela to show his more sensitive side. He invited them into his office and told them that Angela was going through a rough break up so he let her dress the way she wanted to and he would handle his own meetings while she got over it and that he'd continue to pay her for it.

After convincing them to hire his firm he saw the people out the door and expected Angela to be waiting for him in his office once he returned and when he did he took a seat at his desk once again looking across the desk at her. "Now that was obviously probably pretty confusing for you, but I needed those people to believe I'm not insensitive, so I figured I'd pretend I was helping you through a break up. Which explains why I told you to dress in your most comfortable clothes yesterday." He was showing off both how much of a con artist he could be as well as how intelligent he could be. "Sorry to make you dress like that today, you still look nice but I don't think it's the best idea to have you dressed like that all the time. But I do actually believe comfort's important. So tomorrow I want you to go shopping and buy yourself 20 new dresses, or skirts that you'll be wearing in the office." He smiled pleasantly at her. "And some comfortable high heels as well since I like the way you looked in those and I thin my clients will as well." With that he reached into his wallet and pulled out his credit card and handed it to her. "Spend as much as you need and then get in here." He told her with a bright smile on his face as he looked her up and down.