Managed by Chance

by Amy DeMeritt

  Layla walked in, saying, “Okay, babe, I’m ready to… Oh, sorry.” She smiled as she stepped around Blake to look Mel up and down. “You look really nice. Are you ready for your big meeting?”

  Mel locked eyes with Blake for a moment, released a long breath, then answered, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  Blake gave her an understanding smile and one of her customary winks, then slapped her shoulder as she moved towards the shower.

  “You got this, Melrose.”

  As Layla gave her a tight hug and kiss on the cheek, she wished her luck, and added, “If you need to, just call me and I’ll make up a bathroom emergency so I can leave my desk.”

  Mel released a small laugh and squeezed her really tight before releasing her. “I don’t even want to know what kind of bathroom emergency you would scar your boss with, but thanks. Okay, I’m leaving.”

  “See you tonight.”

  Mel nodded and waved to both of them as she walked out and pulled the door closed behind herself. While mentally telling herself to “be the dragon,” Mel grabbed her lunch and laptop bags and raced out of the apartment.

  Every scenario Mel had played out in her mind over the past two days of how today would go was being overshadowed with fantastic animated giant koi racing through raging rivers, jumping over rapids, and transforming into a gloriously powerful dragon. And as surprising as it was to Mel to have had such a heart-to-heart kind of pep-talk from Blake, its impact was even greater. She felt like Blake’s words were a key that allowed her to tap into a store of strength and courage that had been eluding her for the past few days.

  When she got to work, she found Katie bent over at the hips fiddling with the levers on her chair. She smiled as she leaned against the wall to admire how Katie’s pinstriped skirt accentuated her beautiful small ass and how her heels made her calves pop. As Katie released a grunt of frustration and slammed her hand into the armrest, Mel chuckled, making Katie spin around, then release an exasperated laugh.

  “Get over here and help me with this. The cleaning crew must have had a field day in my chair last night. It’s too low and the lever is jammed.”

  Mel set her bags down, and as she came around the side of Katie’s desk, she lightly brushed her hand over Katie’s hip and ass, whispered, “Good morning. You look really great today,” then sat in Katie’s chair.

  “Good morning, so do you.” The momentary contact was pleasant on her nerves but all too fleeting. “How are you today?”

  While reaching down to grab the lever, Mel answered, “It’s been a rollercoaster, but I’m good.” She yanked hard on the lever and it popped back out into the correct position. She pulled up as she slowly stood, and the chair began to rise. She looked up at Katie, and declared, “All fixed, my lady.”

  “My lady?” Katie laughed as she playfully pushed Mel out of the way so she could sit and put the chair at the height she wanted. “Tell me about this rollercoaster.”

  After closing the door and taking a seat across from Katie, she told her about her lack of sleep and Blake’s unexpected, yet helpful theological lesson.

  “I didn’t know that about your name. How come you never told me Melrose is your mom’s maiden name? That’s really unique and special.”

  “I don’t know.” Mel shrugged. “It hasn’t come up in conversation. Was that seriously your biggest takeaway from everything? What about the giant koi and the dragon and mastering typhoons and stuff?”

  Katie released a small laugh at how Mel was waving her arms around like she was controlling massive waves.

  “The name is a significant part of who you are and tells me a little more about your family. So, yes, that was the most important detail in your story. However, I love the pep-talk Blake gave you and I think it’s really sweet that you had that moment with her.”

  “How are you doing? Are you ready for this?”

  “I, too, did not sleep much, but I’m not a stranger to the prospect of being fired or laid off. When I was your age…”

  “Oh, hell no, you did not just hit me with a ‘when I was your age.’ That’s low.”

  Katie laughed hard and shook her head. “Hey, facts are facts. This is our reality.”

  “Alright, fine, I’ll let it slide. What happened way back in the day, Grandma?”

  Katie scoffed as she reactively grabbed a stack of sticky notes and tossed it at Mel, making her fall forward laughing.

  “I am going to spank you for that.”

  Wiggling her eyebrows, Mel purred, “Yes, please.”

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For coming into work in a good, positive mood and for making me laugh. I’ve been stressed out too and it has been exhausting trying to pretend I’m not. I feel like you just gave me a boost of energy.”

  “You know you never have to pretend with me.” She motioned to the closed door. “We’re all alone. If you want to freak out or throw some more stuff, go for it. Preferably not at me though.” Katie stuck her tongue out at her and Mel chuckled as she tossed the stack of sticky notes back onto her desk. “And if you want to kiss me, I’d support you one-hundred-percent in that decision as well.”

  With a slight head tilt and smirk, Katie asked, “And if I decide to exercise restraint today and not kiss you till after work?”

  “Just say the word, and I’ll be your restraint enforcer. If you start to slip up and try to get at me, I’ll just use my new dragon powers to hold you back.”

  “Dragon powers.” Katie started laughing as she stood up and walked around the desk. She pressed her back against the closed door, and while curling two fingers, she whispered, “Get over here.”

  Without a second’s hesitation, Mel stood up, took two long strides, and pressed her body flush against Katie’s. As their mouths locked in a fervent kiss, Mel slid her hand down the side of Katie’s thigh, then up the back of it and over her ass. As her arousal stole the breath from her lungs, Katie inhaled deeply through her nose and pushed her thigh between Mel’s till it was pressed firmly against her groin. The tiny moan that escaped Mel’s lips was like a fog horn alerting them to the dangers ahead if they remained immersed in the waves of ecstasy building in their cores. Heeding the nagging call to exercise caution, they peeled their tingling lips apart and stared blurry eyed into each other’s desire.

  With her voice hushed and slightly hoarse from the heat burning in her chest, Mel whispered, “I love you,” and drew the back of two fingers across Katie’s passion tinged cheek.

  “I love you too.” She gave Mel a soft kiss on her tender lips, then teasingly added, “And your new dragon powers.”

  Mel released a quiet, breathy laugh and leaned in to give Katie a kiss on the side of her neck, then with her lips warmly brushing against her ear, she asked, “Is that your way of telling me I’ve unleashed your delicious river?”

  An involuntary moan cooed from Katie’s lips and her body shuddered with desire. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, then lightly pushed Mel back. As she licked her parched lips, Mel smiled and took a few steps backwards, then took a seat, never taking her eyes off of Katie’s glossy gray-blue eyes.

  After taking another steadying breath, Katie walked back to her desk to sit down, and as she rolled up to her computer to turn it on, she gave Mel a sideways glance, and asked, “Yours or mine?”

  “Whatever you want. Layla and Alice are going to the gym after work, so she probably won’t be home till after seven, but that only helps us if we get out of here on time today.”

  “I guess we’ll decide after we see how well this meeting goes and what time we get out of here.” After a moment of silence while she looked over the workflow chart and what they needed to accomplish today, she smiled really big, licked her lips, and looked at Mel. “Although, there is something we’ve flirted about doing at my place that we haven’t done yet.”

  Mel’s left eyebrow quirked up, and Katie just continued to grin at her while she waited for her to figure it out
. After nearly an entire minute of just looking into each other’s eyes, Mel wagered, “Mahogany table?”

  “You got it.”

  “It’s a date.”

  The promise of a bout of passionate love making on Katie’s dining room table after work was like having a double-shot of espresso in their coffee. The boost gave them the motivation and confidence to carry them through the first half of the day without becoming anxious for their meeting with Frank, the director of their branch of the IT department.

  However, when the time finally came, their heartrates were quickened, their adrenaline was pumping, and doubt, worry, and doom started to settle in again. They knew they were secure in their relationship. But would they still be secure in their employment status after they dropped the bomb on Frank?

  As they walked into Frank’s office for their scheduled meeting, he was on a call on his cellphone, but he waved them in anyway. He nodded vigorously to whatever the person was saying, released a bellowing laugh, then made a quick, casual farewell.

  As he set his phone aside on his desk, he apologized for not being ready. “Contractors – pick the wrong ones and the bastards will always try to stiff you for an extra grand for their screwups. But you’ve got to play nice or they’ll leave you with a half-finished kitchen for eight months and a contract written so you can’t do jack-squat about it.” He pulled a leather-bound notebook over and withdrew a fancy fountain pen from the inside pocket of his blazer. “Alright, down to business. How are we looking for meeting the deadline for swapping out that dinosaur server on Friday?”

  Not betraying a hint of nervousness, Katie effortlessly went into professional mode and reviewed the team’s progress and how much data they had left to move over to the new server. By their projections, they would finish hours before the deadline on Friday, allowing everyone to start their weekend on time.

  “I’m impressed.” Frank leaned back in his oversized leather chair with his elbows on the armrests and his pen between both hands, clicking the emerald lacquered cap on and off over and over again. “The last time we switched out servers was a nightmare and we had more than triple the amount of time back then.” He looked between Mel and Katie slowly nodding his head while slightly rocking in his chair, and still annoyingly clicking the cap on his pen. “If your projections work out, we’ll finish our piece before any other group. How’s the team holding up? Any resistance or grumbling about the overtime?”

  He looked to Mel to answer. “No grumbling, and the team has been very cooperative. We’ve had to work some schedules around people’s personal obligations they couldn’t get out of, but everyone has managed to give us the amount of overtime hours we needed.”

  “Good. The other groups aren’t as well positioned as we are – they’ll be lucky if they finish on time. We’re going to have a boatload of bagels, muffins, and coffee ordered and delivered to each group Friday morning. Got to keep them fueled and in their seats till the task is done.” He sat forward, dropping his pen on the notebook that he didn’t take a single note in. “Alright, great job. Let me know if you run into any hiccups.” Katie and Mel didn’t move to leave, so he asked, “Is there anything else you want to discuss?”

  Still channeling the confidence and professionalism she mustered up to give Frank the recap on the team’s progress, Katie answered, “Yes, we have another matter we need to discuss. A personal one.”

  His back straightened as his brow pinched and he looked between the two of them. “A personal matter? Color me intrigued. What’s the issue?”

  Katie and Mel shared a glance, then as they looked at Frank, Katie delivered the bomb. “Mel and I are dating. And since it’s serious, we want to be upfront with you, just in case it somehow gets around the office.”

  Frank leaned back in his chair and returned his elbows to the armrests and started clicking the pen cap on and off over and over again. His eyes slowly moved between them for what seemed like hours but was only seconds.

  As his eyes settled on Mel, he simply asked, “When?”

  She cleared her throat and mentally begged her heart to slow down. “We met the weekend before Katie started. That’s why I looked so shocked when you brought her into my office to introduce us.”

  “Ah, I remember that.” He released a small laugh as he started slightly rocking in his chair. “I had my own assumptions on why you looked like someone drained the pigment from your face, but I guess I wasn’t too far off. So, you’ve been secretly dating for,” he glanced at the small desk calendar next to his phone, “around three months?” As he looked up at them again, he asked, “Why tell me now? Was there an incident I should know about?”

  “Incident?”

  He nodded at Mel, and clarified, “One that would be considered unprofessional had it been witnessed by another associate.”

  “Oh.” Mel released a small laugh that surprised herself, given how frayed her nerves were. She shook her head, and answered, “No, nothing like that. When we’re here, we do our jobs.”

  “I can’t argue against that.” He scratched his well-groomed salt and pepper beard and sat forward with his arms resting on his desk. “Okay, here’s the deal, I personally don’t give a rat’s ass who’s dating who as long as the work is getting done and getting done right. Personally, I haven’t been happier with the leadership of the team. George was a real pain in my ass and I was thrilled when he left. He was shifty and had an excuse for everything – nothing was ever his fault. I don’t like nor trust people who can’t be forthright and take ownership of their own mistakes or shortcomings. So, I respect that you came to tell me. With that being said, and Mel, I know you already know this because you are out and proud, but there are some real pieces of shit in this company. But I never used those words.” With a cautionary raise of his eyebrows he looked between them as he paused for a moment.

  “Whether you are two women, two men, a man and a woman, or you don’t identify as either, or you like to do that thing where you wear a saddle on your back and a bit in your mouth and pretend to be a horse on the weekends, I would caution you the same way, so don’t take this as an affront to your sexuality. Do your best to keep it as professional as possible while you’re in the office. Even with as huge as this building is, news spreads faster than a swarm of locusts on crack. A manager down in the warehouse could let one rip and I guarantee the gossip mill will have that immature bit of news to our ears within less than five minutes. Then in another five minutes that fart turns into, he shit himself.”

  Katie and Mel snickered and he rolled his eyes with a small laugh.

  “I’m serious. I’ve heard it all. My point is, you won’t do yourselves any favors by giving the gossip mill any fodder. I guarantee you that they will turn holding hands walking across the parking lot into an ass grab or something worse. Even if no one ever witnesses a moment of affection, even an innocent one like holding hands, don’t be surprised if rumors go flying. As long as your personal relationship doesn’t interfere with you being able to do your jobs, and the team’s growth and morale doesn’t suffer for it, I have no problem with it. But listen,” he momentarily pointed his pen between them, “I don’t want to deal with any high school break-up drama. If things don’t work out, you learn how to keep working together or one of you gives me your notice. I’ll give you the chance to decide who goes before it gets ugly, but if you let it get crazy like those girls in customer service a few years back, both of your asses are gone. And I will be very pissed off if I have to fire either of you. Are we clear?”

  Before Mel could answer, Katie said, “Yes, and I appreciate your candor and advice. I did hear about the situation the customer service team had a few years ago, and I assure you, nothing like that would ever happen between Mel and I. We respect the roles we have to play here and the years of hard work we both have put into our careers.”

  “Glad to hear it.” He slapped a hand down on the desk, and warned, “Alright, buckle up, ladies. The cat’s out of the bag and who knows wha
t she’ll do. You know I’ll have to brief HR and my counterparts so they’re prepared if the rumors start flying. And as much as I wish I could trust them to keep it tight lipped, I know they’ll pass it to your peers within the other groups. At that point, it’s only one excited slip of the tongue to a full-on collective diarrhea of the mouth pandemic in this place. Anything else you want to discuss?”

  Katie and Mel looked at each other, then at Frank, and Katie said, “No, that was it for now.”

  “Alright, good luck. And let me know of any issues.”

  They thanked him for his time, and as soon as they got back to Katie’s office, she threw her arms around Mel and kissed her firmly on the lips, cheeks, and the side of her neck, before resting her head on her shoulder.

  “I can’t believe how well that went. When he asked you when it started, I thought for sure he was about to try to figure out if I coerced you into this.”

  “My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Was my voice shaky or anything?”

  Katie shook her head as she lifted it off of Mel’s shoulder. “No, you seemed totally in control. So, when do you think the gossip mill will get a hold of this?”

  “That’s hard to say. A day, a few, maybe a week? Since it’s at management level at this point, it could take longer than usual.”

  “Do you think we should tell the team before they hear it by word of mouth?”

  “Oh, Katie, you’re missing the whole point of a gossip mill. If you just outright tell everyone the truth, then you don’t get to hear all of the twisted things people make up to amuse themselves. Don’t you want to find out if someone thinks you shoved me against the back of the elevator, or rushed me like a linebacker in a bathroom stall, or felt me up under the desk while I was training you?”