by Carrie Carr
"It's more than that. What do you think you will accomplish pretending to be someone else?"
"This is who I am." Bianca stepped towards the table and sat down.
"This new attitude and look of yours are going to take you somewhere you don't want to go."
"And where would that be?"
"Straight to hell."
"I guess I'll enjoy the ride."
Camina huffed and puffed like she was going to blow the house down.
It seemed everyone was able to see into Bianca's future except Bianca, herself. They seemed to believe that she was making some terrible mistake, but Bianca was having fun, more fun than she'd ever had before. She had regained her will to live, and she was not about to stop now.
Minutes later, she again tried to reach Michelle on the phone, and Michelle kindly dismissed her, informing Bianca she would call her back. For sure, that was not likely to happen. Her attempts to connect with Michelle was going nowhere, but Bianca was not easily discouraged. She was driven to talk to Michelle even if it meant following her home.
Later that afternoon, almost at the end of the day, Bianca spotted Michelle in the file room. Quickly Bianca dashed inside after her and closed the door behind her. Michelle sat in the lotus position surrounded by a pool of Redwell folders.
Michelle seemed startled when she saw Bianca standing before her. "Hi," Michelle said.
"Did you get my message?" Bianca asked her.
Michelle continued placing the papers from her lap into the file folders as if oblivious to Bianca's presence. "I got your message."
"I want to talk to you about last─"
Michelle was quick to cut Bianca off. "You don't owe me an explanation."
"Will you let me finish?" Bianca insisted.
Michelle stood up, holding four jammed packed folders in her arms. "I have to get these files to Mitchell. He's waiting for them."
"He'll have to wait a little longer."
"What is it?" Michelle asked, impatiently, with a hint of anger.
"Could you put the folders down for a moment? Please!"
Michelle firmly placed the folders on the table and stood against the filing cabinet. "What?"
"Thank you," Bianca said, then elegantly hoisted herself upon the table. "You've been a good friend to me, and I don't know why I behaved like that last night."
"Yes, you do."
"Oh, yeah. Why?"
"Because you enjoy toying with people."
Michelle's words brought a curt smile to Bianca's face only because Michelle was right on.
"Yeah, maybe, but still, that doesn't justify what I did."
"Don't worry about it," Michelle said, as she began to pick up the Redwells.
"Well, it's not that simple," Bianca said. "I like you, maybe not in the same way that you like me, but I do like you as a friend and I value that."
Bianca stood up from the desk. "I'm sorry for what I did. But I was angry with you for making up that story about Camina. I never thought for one second that Camina held those kinds of feelings for me, but I always suspected that you did. Why did you make up that story?"
Michelle did not answer, but instead raised her shoulders. "I should probably go."
Bianca pushed her hair behind her left ear. "Will you answer my question first?"
"It was easier that way, I guess. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too," Bianca said.
"Why? Why are you sorry?" Michelle asked.
"Because."
But before Bianca would explain, their conversation was soon interrupted by the receptionist paging Michelle.
"You should probably go," Bianca said. "I know your boss is waiting for you."
"He'll just have to wait a little longer."
"You're going to get into trouble," Bianca said.
Michelle picked up the phone on the desk and called the receptionist and learned that it was her boss paging her. She then dialed her boss's extension and rattled off some excuse about not being able to find all the files, before she hung up from him. Michelle was then quick to redirect her attention back to Bianca. "You were saying."
By this time, Bianca had lost her train of thought. "What was I saying?"
"You were going to tell me why you were so sorry about what you did."
"Right. I don't want to lose you as a friend and I know I upset you last night, maybe even disappointed you."
In a curious tone, Michelle asked, "Are you attracted to me at all?"
Bianca smiled and said, "Sort of, in a friendly sort of way, but I'm not like that. I guess I just wanted to see how far you would go."
Michelle nodded like she understood, but Bianca could tell that she didn't.
"What about Edward. I thought you were so in love with him."
"I am, but..."
"But what?"
"I like you, too─it's complicated, that's why I've always insisted on the three of us going to lunch, afraid you might pick up on my vibes if we were alone. I've always liked you, always been attracted to your kindness, even after what happened to your family, you still continued to be such a kind person, up until recently."
They both shared a good laugh.
"Have you always felt this way about women?" Bianca asked.
"No. Just you. You're very pretty."
"No prettier than you are."
Michelle blushed and inhaled a deep breath as if it were a much needed compliment. "Thank you for saying that."
"You're welcome." After a short silence, Bianca said, "Michelle, there's one more thing that has me a little puzzled. Why were you so insistent on setting me up with someone else if you felt this way?" This was something that Bianca often pondered with no resolve.
"Curious, I guess," Michelle said. "I wanted to see if you might be interested?"
"So, maybe if I weren't interested in meeting your friend, then perhaps, maybe, I liked women."
"Something like that." Michelle paused. "Don't take this the wrong way, Bianca, but I'm concerned that you're going to get yourself into some real trouble with this new attitude of yours."
Bianca had heard that speech from just about everyone except the President. She didn't know how many more times she could succumb herself to this sappy lecture. "What kind of trouble could I possibly get into?"
"I don't know, but you're behaving so differently, and I just have this feeling that you might get involved in some kind of situation that you won't be able to handle."
"After everything that has happened to me in the last couple of months, I can handle anything."
"I hope so," Michelle said. "Anyway, I'm glad that we talked."
Bianca stepped to Michelle and wrapped her arms around her, and they shared a long hug.
"You're not going to try and kiss me again, are you?" Michelle asked playfully.
Bianca pulled away from Michelle and smiled, almost laughing. "No," Bianca said.
"Too bad. It was nice."
"Yes, it was."
Chapter 12
BIANCA STOOD PERFECTLY STILL IN the file room as the echoes of her intimate talk with Michelle rang in her ears. As Michelle headed towards the door, Bianca remembered Michelle's warm words, and she was glad they talked. Almost out the door, Michelle turned to face Bianca and flashed her huge smile. "You may look different on the outside, but you're still the same good person that you always will be. See you around, Bianca."
And Michelle was gone.
Michelle's honey-coated words warmed Bianca's heart. Her eyes stayed focused on the closed door, and she continued to relive her poignant moment with Michelle. The layers beneath Michelle's exterior made her even more of a remarkable woman, and on many levels, Bianca was flattered. Incredibly flattered.
Thursday afternoon.
Bianca came from the ladies' room after gulping down a quarter bottle of Chardonnay. With her boss out of the office, Bianca was left with too much idle time on her hands. Except for answering the phones, which rang sparingly, she was left with absolut
ely nothing to do. She listened to her desk radio while she made a list of her new outfits. She wanted to figure out how she could work six new outfits into a 5-day work week schedule.
It was close to five o'clock when Bianca saw a flustered Camina, heading out. She was bundled in her fur-collared coat with a designer hat to match, and she was in tears. Having never seen Camina cry before, Bianca was startled by the experience. Wherever Camina was headed, she was in a huge hurry.
Denise Sterns, the floor coordinator, in charge of finding coverage for the attorneys working past five, approached Bianca's desk fast. "Bianca, I hate to impose on such short notice, but Bruce has a huge deal going on this evening and needs some help. Do you think you could help him out?"
That was music to her ears. "Of course, I can help him."
This was the opportunity Bianca had been waiting for─a chance to acquaint herself with the attractive and sexy Mr. Bruce Colby, and she couldn't wait to let Bruce know that she would be working for him.
As Denise left, Michelle approached Bianca. "Did Denise ask you to work for Bruce?"
"How did you know?"
"Because she was asking everyone."
"What happened to Camina?" Bianca asked.
"That's what everyone wants to know," Michelle said. "She was upset about something."
Thirty minutes later, Bianca finished making revisions to the document Bruce gave to her. Quick to return it to him, she stood at the entrance of Bruce's office door, which stood ajar. She observed him dictating into his handheld recorder, and then stepped inside his large corner office. He was not wearing his suspenders that she liked so much, still his crisp white shirt and clean-shaven face turned her on the same.
Upon closing the door behind her, she leaned against it as if she were about to audition for him. Bruce stopped dictating and delivering her his full attention. "Are you finished already?" he asked her.
"I am."
She stepped towards his desk and politely handed him the document.
"Thank you," he said.
"Is there anything else I can get for you?" she asked with a warm smile.
Before he could answer, she made her way around to his side of the desk. She stood in front of him, her hands neatly at her sides as if about to make an announcement.
She was ready to make her move.
He set his handheld recorder down on the desk, looked up at her and their eyes locked into to each other. Bianca pointed to the seat of his pants and said, "I saw that in my dream last night. It was tan and rigid, and now I want to see it again. Only this time, I want to touch it."
"Bianca, are you all right?"
"Call me BeeBee. My special friends call me BeeBee, and you have just become my special friend."
Bruce scooted his chair back away from her, but not shifting his eyes away from her. To bypass his little innocent I don't know what's going on bit, she kneeled down on the floor and placed her hands on his knees. She then placed her fingers on her eyelid and softly massaged it. "I think I have something in my eye," she said, all the while pretending.
Not a word uttered from Bruce's lips as she continued to pretend she had something in her eye. She stared down at the floor, knowing she held his full attention, then lifted her head up. A warm smile penetrated her face. "There. I have it."
Bruce seemed stuck in wonderland by her behavior but apparently not enough to say anything or do anything about it.
"May I sit down?" she asked.
In a trance like state, Bruce said, "Sure."
Bianca stood up from the floor. Very carefully, she straddled herself onto his lap. Though he didn't physically resist her, he questioned her behavior and said, "Bianca?"
She put her face to his, flung her fingers through his dark hair and said, "Call me BeeBee."
He swallowed hard as if to say, if you say so. She continued to roam her fingers through his dark hair while they shared an intense stare. Then, without warning, she kissed him and kissed him some more, all the while absorbing his wet breath. Privy to his fetish for black blondes, she would not be overlooked. She wanted him and she hoped that he wanted her too. She separated her lips from his and nibbled at his neck, then his ear. Their heated moment was soon interrupted by a knock at the door, and it startled Bianca, but not enough for her to halt her actions. Right away, Bruce nudged her up and out of his lap. She was now standing next to his chair, looking totally out of place. Bruce combed through his hair with his fingers and then wiped the lipstick from his lips, attempting to look as professional as possible.
"Come in," Bruce said, as he straightened the papers on his desk.
A senior associate, Mark, half wearing his tie, stepped inside. "Should I come back?" Mark asked.
Bluntly, Bianca blurted out. "Could you?"
A faint smile skirted across Bruce's face.
"Just kidding," Bianca said as she moved towards the door. Before she was completely through the door, she turned to Bruce. "You'll let me know if you need anything, won't you?"
Bruce nodded.
Upon returning to her desk, Bianca crossed her legs and impatiently waited for Mark to leave Bruce's office. She studied the clock on her desk as if she could make it go faster by staring at it, all the while keeping an ear open for the sound of Mark leaving Bruce's office. While she waited, waited and waited some more, she pulled her compact mirror from her purse and applied a layer of lipstick to her lips. Instead of zipping off into the ladies' room to take a sip of the Chardonnay which she always kept in her bag, she decided to just take a sip right at her desk. Who would know? After all, the office was practically empty anyhow.
After twelve minutes of waiting, like a little kid at Christmas time, she saw the door of Bruce's office opening. Both Bruce and Mark came from inside and headed in opposite directions.
Bianca rose from her desk, and followed behind Bruce without his knowledge, almost tripping over her own steps. She was several steps behind him when she saw him head towards the men's room. As she crept through the halls like a secret agent, about to enter the men's room, she was stopped by a voice.
"Working late," the girlish voice asked.
The voice startled her, and when she turned around, she saw Rollie carrying a stack of file folders in his hand.
"Oh, hi, Rollie."
At the entrance of the men's room, she stood caught, busted.
"That's the men's room, you know?" he said to her.
She tried to play it off by glancing over the sign, Men. "Oh my goodness, you're right. What was I thinking?" she questioned before cruising in the opposite direction.
When she was out of Rollie's view, she stopped and made a U turn. Again, she headed towards the men's room, but before she entered, she glanced around her surroundings. When she believed that the coast was clear, she stepped inside and was full of life as her blonde hair dangled at her shoulders. She smiled when she saw Bruce standing at the urinal, taking a spill, which was exactly where she wanted him.
From what Bianca could see of the half open stall doors, except for the handicapped stall door, which always remained closed, it was just the two of them.
She came up behind Bruce, wanting to shock him, but before she could reach him, he turned and saw her.
A staggered look graced his face as he went to zip his pants. "Bianca," he blurted out. "What are you doing in here?"
Instead of answering his question, she ran her fingers across the back of his neck. "Say, 'what are you doing in here, BeeBee?'"
She tried to zip up his pants for him, but he stopped her. "Quit playing around Bianca. Someone's going to see us."
"Not if we're really careful," she said, with a giggle.
When Bruce moved over to the sink to wash his hands, Bianca snuggled behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Knock it off Bianca," he said as he released her hands from around his waist.
Just as he was about to reach for the paper towels, Bianca grabbed his hand as she was convinced that all
he needed was a little persuasion. She inserted his finger into her mouth, savoring it inch by inch.
Bruce seemed to comprehend the moment and what it meant as his eyes locked in with Bianca's before she removed his finger from her mouth.
"I have to get you to loosen up," she said, "and show you how to have some fun."
Meanwhile, downstairs in the lobby, Camina rushed in towards the security desk. So much in a hurry for her doctor's appointment, she had left her purse at the office.
Though she came back for her purse, her real concern lied elsewhere. After learning that Bianca was working late for Bruce, she was compelled to return to the office, especially since Bianca was on the prowl for her guy, possibly already having captured his attention.
It was already a challenge for Camina to compete with Bruce's wife. She didn't need the added struggle of competing with Bianca as well.
Camina needed access to the elevators in her building as after six o'clock, the elevators remained locked and were only accessible with a keycard, which was in Camina's purse upstairs.
At the security desk, Camina waited for the security guard to look up from his television screen and acknowledge her. With his eyes glued to the television screen, he seemed unaware of her presence.
Several seconds elapsed before he noticed her. "Can I help you?"
"My name is Camina Givens, and I work for Whitley & Austin. I left my purse in the office on my way out this evening, and I need to get upstairs."
"Do you have a keycard?" he asked her.
"If I did, I wouldn't need you," she said in a sharp tongue.
"Is there someone upstairs to verify who you are?"
"Maybe."
He handed her the phone while he returned his attention to the television in front of him.
Not having ever seen this particular security guard before, he probably did not know her either. If so, he could have let her upstairs without question.
She dialed Bruce's extension and listened to the annoying and endless ringing. She assumed she would be transferred into his voicemail, but instead the phone continued to ring. That was strange. She then tried Bianca's extension and was quickly transferred to voicemail.
