Hot for Talia

by Julian Bloom

  “Thank you. That sounds great! Feel free to call me any time! I would really love to work with you, as well. It just seems like it would be such a great fit,” Sylvia said excitedly. She wanted to hit herself in the head for rambling like she was, but she was so excited that she couldn’t help it.

  “Alright, thank you for your time,” Natasha said, calmly smiling at Sylvia’s clear enthusiasm. She admired the quirky yet composed manner in which Sylvia held herself, the way that she smiled but tried to hide it. After all, she had really seen some disasterous candidates. She seemed so fresh, so young, and her energy inspired Natasha. It wasn’t that Natasha was vastly older, and she had been in the business over five years now, but the work was hard and it felt like much longer. It was refreshing to have a young face involved with her business, especially in such a vital position. She felt that it would help with the attitude and style of the company.

  “Thank you so much!” Sylvia said as she clumsily left the office. As she closed the door behind her, she proceeded to shadowbox the air in victory. She felt like she had a decent chance of getting this job, and it felt absolutely perfect for her.

  Natasha smiled to herself as the door closed. She liked Sylvia, and she felt that Sylvia represented a genuinely good fit. She had a quality about her that felt unique and inspiring. She was fresh to the industry with lots of good training from a school that was well known for giving their students much experience previous to their graduation.

  Sylvia was her favorite so far, but Natasha was obligated to finish up the rest of the interviews before deciding to hire someone.

  Chapter 2

  It had been nearly a week since the interview and Sylvia was beginning to become anxious about the call back. She wanted this job quite badly and had felt a strong connection to Natasha. She definitely thought that Natasha was sexually attractive; anyone would. This made her feel a little extra nervous in the interview, but she figured the crush would likely settle down, especially if Natasha was to become her boss.

  But finally, after a few worried days, Sylvia received a call from Natasha offering her the position. Sylvia was overjoyed with getting the job that she wanted so badly. She was looking forward to working in the fashion industry right out of school, and with Natasha.

  The first day, Sylvia excitedly got dressed in her best and most fashionable business attire. Taking a deep breath, she trotted through the front door of the office and began her day. She went to speak with Natasha, who gave her a rundown of everything: showing her the ins and outs of the office, doing some general training, and introducing her to the other employees. Sylvia noticed that most of the other employees—employees who would be her subordinates—were older than she. Some of them were very much older and some of them only marginally older. It made her feel a little strange to be so young in such a high managerial position. She thought it might have been her imagination, but she thought she noticed some of them sneering a little bit, presumably at her youth. She figured she could worry about that later.

  For now, Natasha was beginning to show off some of the pieces for the summer line. Natasha laid out the large design sketches on the small desk before them, as the two of them crowded around.

  Both of them were nervously aware at how close they were, the way that their hands almost touched as they pointed at the designs. They felt instantly attracted to each other. There seemed to be some fuzzy magnetic electricity pushing them both closer and yet keeping them apart.

  Despite Natasha’s strong attraction to Sylvia, she knew that it was incredibly important to keep a professional distance. She knew that if something went wrong, she would either lose her position or her reputation, neither of which she was at all willing to gamble on.

  Sylvia knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to get involved with Natasha, but such knowledge doesn’t ever do much to abate sexual attraction. At the same time, she only wanted to prove herself as a great employee, and she would not come across as such if she were discovered to have been sleeping with her boss. Especially because of her youth, she really wanted to prove herself; she wanted to make something of herself in this world and in this industry. She could not very well go about that if there were rumors circulating that she got her position by getting down and dirty with the owner.

  Regardless of the fact that they were resisting their attraction to each other, after a couple of weeks, rumors inevitably began to circulate that they were somehow involved. It started off, as rumors often do with two employees complaining about Sylvia and how young she was. One of them laughed, saying that it was probably because Natasha thought she was hot!

  Unfortunately for Sylvia, it just snowballed from there. Most of the people in the company were ladies who built their whole world around gossip. One thing turned into another and soon it became simply taken for granted and understood that Sylvia had slept with Natasha in order to get the position, even though this was not true.

  It took a little while for the rumors to make their way to Sylvia and when they did, she was dismayed and alarmed to hear it. She was discussing some details with one of her elder subordinates, Sarah-Lynn, who felt annoyed that Sylvia was bossing her around. Sarah-Lynn thought that Sylvia was much too young and much too inexperienced to have gotten her position honestly.

  “Well… I’ve been working here for two years and I think I know pretty well what I’m doing!” Sarah-Lynn said sternly to Sylvia’s suggestion on the design she was working on.

  “Yes, I understand that, but I really think you should do it this way and I think Natasha would agree,” Sylvia said softly. It made her nervous to assert herself, especially as someone’s superior considering the fact that she was younger, less experienced, and “still wet behind the ears” to the company.

  “Of course you’d know what Natasha would want. I know you two are…” she paused, narrowed her beady eyes behind horn rimmed librarian glasses and eyed Sylvia up and down, crumpling her nose almost imperceptibly and finished her pronouncement “…very close.”

  The blood drained, very visibly from Sylvia’s visage. Her eyebrows shot upward, and her red ringed mouth fell quite unappealingly agape. Though Sarah-Lynn had said what might be liberally called tactful, the simple implication was enough to floor Sylvia. She stammered and shook her head, then attempted to assure Sarah-Lynn, virtually out of nowhere, that she could simply talk to Natasha herself if she had any issues with the project.

  She then sped to the bathroom.

  She sat in her bathroom stall alone for three agonizing minutes, processing what had just occurred, trying not to ruin her mascara. With her head in her hands, her heart beating out of her chest, she tried to breathe regularly but found she had difficulty doing so.

  Once she had regrouped, she went back into the office like nothing had happened.

  Before that, Sylvia had brushed off the strange looks and annoyed stares in her direction from her fellow employees. She had just assumed that it was due to her youth, not the fictitious and slanderous idea that she had become intimate with Natasha in order to get the position as her assistant. Now, Sylvia was noticing those looks. They began upsetting her more and more, especially because she was worried that there was a kernel of truth in it. She was in fact incredibly attracted to Natasha and she indeed felt some chemistry there. She wondered that Natasha might feel the same way, but truly had no way of really knowing. She became worried that the reason Natasha had hired her was because she was young and attractive.

  From then on, Sylvia became intolerably aware of every microscopic detail of her body language around Natasha. When they would be discussing something and Natasha would get close to her, she would take a half step away, almost self-conscious of the intentional repulsion of her movement. If Natasha tried to touch her in a friendly manner, Sylvia would maneuver herself so that it wouldn’t happen.

  Natasha began to notice this behavior pattern and wondered what it was all about. After a while, she heard a couple of her employees talking by the water
cooler. They were gossiping disdainfully about Sylvia, saying that she doesn’t deserve to be manager and laughing about the idea that she had explicitly “gone down” on Natasha in order to get hired. Emotionally ablaze, Natasha approached the two.

  “Excuse me,” she said seriously, but with a sardonic smile on her face, “I just overheard what you two were talking about, and I would like to ask if you care to discuss that in more detail?” Natasha was talented with handling situations under pressure like this, having become so skillful by overseeing office employees for so many years.

  They stammered, choked, aghast, and unsure of what to say.

  “Just so you two know, the info you’re taking for granted is completely untrue and it would behoove you not to discuss such fictitious rumors in the office. Sylvia got this job because she is good at what she does. She is a fantastic designer and has worked as an assistant. She has the experience and professionalism to work in this industry. It doesn’t seem as if you two are able to hold a candle to this.” Natasha said angrily before strutting back to her office.

  Once she got to her office, she laid her head in her hands, contemplating her next move. It was obvious that she needed to do something. Rumors do not just spawn between two people. If she overheard two people talking about it, then it went without saying that all of the office was likely to be buzzing about the idea of she and Sylvia.

  Before she began to do damage control with the rest of the office, she knew she had to talk to Sylvia about it first. It suddenly occurred to her why Sylvia had seemed somewhat more avoidant in the last week or so. She had noticed it, but figured it was nothing, that she probably was not a touchy feely person, or needed her physical space, or that she was busy. With this new information, she realized that Sylvia must have also become aware of these rumors.

  Natasha felt frustrated with herself. She wondered if she had subconsciously behaved in a manner that the office could see that she was attracted to Sylvia, because the truth was that she really was attracted to her; to the extent that she had a difficult time stopping herself from thinking about Sylvia. She had tried her hardest not to make it an issue, but what if she had accidentally acted in an unprofessional manner? Was that why these rumors had started?

  She sent Sylvia an email asking her to come to her office at the end of the work day. She figured this would be a good time since it would be likely that Sylvia would be upset and Natasha did not want to put her in any more awkward situations at work.

  Chapter 3

  When Sylvia got the email, she was nervous at how she should respond. She was not sure what the subject matter of the meeting was since Natasha did not made it explicit, but Sylvia had a pretty good idea what it might be about. She was worried that Natasha might have concluded that the fault for the rumors was on her.

  Nonetheless, she was glad that Natasha had reached out and had perhaps become aware of the situation. Once the workday came to a close around 5:00, she headed over to Natasha’s office, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Natasha spoke from her desk. Sylvia opened the door and sat down in the chair across from Natasha as she finished typing.

  “How are you doing?” Natasha said, looking up from her computer and smiling warmly at Sylvia.

  “I’m doing alright,” she replied simply.

  “That’s good…. So, I guess I need to jump right into this. I’m very sorry if this is uncomfortable for you, I promise it’s not my intention. It has come to my attention that there are some rumors circulating about the two of us. To be very blunt, the rumors are that you slept with me in order to get this position. Obviously, we both know better, but I just felt we should talk about this. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable in the office. This is unacceptable coming from the other employees. I am ashamed that they don’t know better,” Natasha said, “I wasn’t sure if you had heard about these rumors already. I figured I should check in.”

  Sylvia looked down for a moment, withholding tears.

  “I have heard them,” she said softly, her voice shaking. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure why I’m even crying right now,” she said as she preemptively wiped away a forming tear.

  “No. Please don’t be sorry. It is totally reasonable for you to be upset about these accusations,” Natasha assured her, carefully studying Sylvia’s face.

  “It’s just so upsetting because I really worked hard to get this job, and I feel like I’m doing the best I can, but it just feels like everyone in the office thinks I’m a phony and has no respect for me,” Sylvia lamented.

  “I know. I’m considering a meeting with the office or sending out an email to everyone about this and about the fact that they are disrespecting you. At the end of the day, you’re in a position of authority. They need to listen to you and to respect you” Natasha said softly, “but it ought to be up to you. Whatever is most comfortable for you is the way that I will proceed.”

  Taking a deep breath, Sylvia responded, “I think an email would probably be best. It makes me nervous... I mean, the idea of you talking to them because I don’t know how they’ll respond. I don’t know, though.” She looked sad as she was very upset about the whole situation.

  “Listen,” Natasha said with a soft voice, “You want some time to think about it. That’s fine. It’s entirely up to you. You’re new to this company. I’m mortified that this is happening. This is beyond unprofessional.”

  “Thank you,” Sylvia sang quietly, dripping sincerity.

  “Listen, if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable, please let me know immediately. I don’t want you to feel as if you can’t talk to me about this kind of thing. I mean, about other employees disrespecting you and making you feel bad.”

  “Thank you so much. You’re being really amazingly about this whole situation and I really appreciate it,” Sylvia responded gratefully.

  “Of course. Is there anything else that you want to talk about related to this?”

  “Yeah, I mean. I don’t know. I think that a really big part of this is that I’m so young and inexperienced in this industry. I just feel like people are really latching on to that and that they’re feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing,” Sylvia responded, “And I mean, I think that’s also one of the contributing factors to this rumor being started and circulating like it is. Like people are frustrated that I’m in a management position because of my youth.”

  “Yeah, I agree.” Natasha said, “I think that a lot of people are focused on that. I plan on addressing it in the email, or in a group meeting- again, whatever you would prefer to happen. Again, I want you to think about it. Let me know when you’re ready.”

  “Thank you so much,” Sylvia said. She wanted to bring up the fact that she was so deeply attracted to Natasha and felt that was a major reason why people were circulating these rumors.

  “I just also want to be wholly honest since we are having this conversation right now. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. My intention is honesty and not to make you uncomfortable,” Natasha said as she hesitated to take a deep breath to draw up the courage, “But I have to admit that I do feel some attraction to you. I’m worried that this might also be why this fiasco is happening. I’ve never intended to make you uncomfortable or give this impression, but if I ever do anything to make you feel uncomfortable... I would really like for you to let me know.”

  Sylvia blushed. She couldn’t help it.

  That affirmation felt incredibly validating since she felt the same way.

  “No. I mean, it’s okay,” Sylvia said, making deep eye contact with Natasha, “If we’re being honest, I feel the same way.” She decided to just leave it at that as she was unsure what else to say.

  “Well…,” Natasha responded, almost surprised “What should we do about that?” She suddenly realized it was too late to keep the question from coming off as slightly flirtatious, but she was excited that Sylvia felt the same way. She was now starting to feel a little turned on.

  “I
don’t know,” Sylvia responded in a sort of innocent-but-still-up-for-interpretation sort of tone.

  Both of their hearts began to flutter as they could feel the electricity in the room.

  They began testing each other, now more in earnest - first with looks, then with more intense looks, unspoken confirmations of H.R. – forbidden desires. The tension had been building for quite some time now. Sylvia made the decision to take a risk; Natasha’s hands would be legally and ethically tied if she’d been the one to have initiated anything, and that was exactly what Sylvia intended to do - initiate. She stowed the hand tying idea for later use. She stood up and boldly walked around to the other side of the desk.

  Natasha opened her mouth as if to say something, but could not stand to protest against this unforeseen yet impishly initiated turn of events. Sylvia, having arrived, kneeled down slowly and seductively. Her face was level with Natasha’s. She put her hand on Natasha’s face, moving it softly down her neck and began taking in the curves of her clavicle and the softness of her skin. Natasha responded, putting her finger on Sylvia’s chin, pointing her face up towards her so that she could lean in and kiss Sylvia gently. Sylvia met this kiss with infinite tenderness, running both of her wet lips over Natasha’s lower lip. The smallest sigh escaped Natasha.

  Their kissing began gently as they explored each other’s soft lips with their own, then quicker than either could know, started exploring each other’s mouths, slipping their tongues deeply into each other and smacking their lips together.

  They became wholly lost in the moment with their passion building for each other. They wanted more and began kissing each other, ever more passionately. Their heads began moving diagonally, their lips linking up, mouths wildly agape, their bodies now beginning to get closer as Sylvia stretched higher up so that she could massage her body into Natasha’s.