Time for a Change

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Flicking her dark hair over her shoulders she let out a loud groan and stood up, almost toppling her chair over in the process.
Coffee.
She needed coffee and some time to think.
And a holiday.
She probably needed a long holiday somewhere exotic and exciting.
She was almost completely over this crap job and her currently crap life and a break was called for.

As she walked to the nearby coffee station she tried to work out how much leave was due to her and came up with a disappointingly small number.
She automatically greeted her co-workers with smiles, nods and small waves as she walked past them, but she was so deep in thought that she didn’t really register any of it.

Her mother was right.

As this thought crossed her mind, she came to a complete stop in the narrow passageway, almost causing an accident with her manager, Andrea, who had been following closely, also on a coffee mission.
After apologizing several times, Sally went back to her coffee task.

Working in a call center wasn’t the most ideal job for her.
She was mostly bored with smatterings of frustration and often fantasized about a more exciting career, day dreaming instead of capturing data.
Her talents were wasted in what she fondly referred to as Hell With Fluorescent Lighting.
She really needed to find a new career path, something that challenged and stimulated her mind.

Settling back at her desk, Sally narrowly escaped tipping her mug of coffee over her keyboard and decided to celebrate this small achievement by checking her emails again.

An email popped up and when she saw who the sender was, Sally groaned out loud making her neighbors glance her way in surprise.

She loved her mother, really she did, but the woman kept setting her up on blind dates.
She was deeply upset at the fact that Sally had reached the ancient age of twenty-eight without finding a suitable husband and producing a string of grandchildren for her.
A woman’s place was in the home, she told Sally frequently, not gallivanting around and working in an office.

The blind dates her mother dug up for her were mostly horrible.
Sally thought back.
There was the man, apparently wealthy, who’d declared his deep, deep feelings for her on the first and only date.
He’d wanted to start discussing their future before they’d even ordered dessert.
That had creeped Sally out immediately.

Then there was the guy who’d had such deep social issues that he’d only been able to speak to her through a sock puppet which he’d brought to dinner.
Dessert?
She hadn’t gotten past a starter.
When his sock puppet had leered down the
waitress’s
top, Sally had walked out.
No words were sufficient to cover that experience.

Another date had been with an accountant (smart and financially sound, according to mom) who had used a calculator to work out their dinner bill, informing Sally that she needed to pay for the whole bottle of wine since he’d only had water with his dinner.
There had been no dessert.
Unimpressive to say the least.

In the past five years or so, she’d dated dozens of men at her mother’s insistence and not one had made her want a second date.
She was now officially done.
She’d dated more than her fair share of freaks, losers and chauvinists.
It was time to stand up for herself and say No!
It was past time that she let her mother know that she wasn’t going on any more dodgy dates.

Brought out of her daydream by a small commotion nearby, she peered over her partition to see what was going on.
A man was standing near the photocopier, talking to her Andrea.
He was glancing around the office with a frown on his face, apparently very unhappy about something.
This was not what was causing the commotion however.
It was the fact that he could be a double for Robert Downy Junior.

He was gorgeous!

The female hormones in the room tripled as most of her co-workers suddenly became aware of him and went into mating mode.
Sally sighed and sat back down.
There was no point in looking because he’d never even notice her.
Not that she was unattractive.
She’d been told by many people that she was, in fact, quite pretty.
One memorable date had even pointed out to her that if she simply skipped dessert she could even attain the slim body that he just knew she dreamed about.
The date had ended soon after that.
There was no dessert offered.

Yes, she was a little plump, but far from over weight.
She had curves, dammit.
She
liked
not being skinny.
She had a narrow waist, curvy hips and very nice breasts.
Heads turned when she walked past, if only to admire her rear.

No, Sally thought to herself, he was just not the kind of man that would be interested in her.
He was beautiful, standing there looking all powerful in his dark suit and white shirt.
The red tie screamed confidence and power all the way across the room.

Unable to resist what may very well be her last look at him, she pushed her chair back again to peer over the partition at him.
As she stood, the chair hooked on a bump in the carpet tile and her knees buckled sending her forward onto her desk.
Coffee quickly coated the desk and flowed over her keyboard and mouse.
Her favorite mug rolled onto the floor, breaking into many pieces, sending a sharp shard into the arch of her foot.

“Ouch!” The sharp pain startled her and as she looked down the little trickle of blood caught her eye.
She quickly forgot about the coffee stain on the front of her skirt and the computer equipment she’d just destroyed and focused on the thin line of red that was sliding down her foot into her strappy shoe.
Blood!
She couldn’t stand it.
Her head felt like it was spinning and the sudden dizzy spell sent her tipping backwards onto her chair.

As she landed on her backside on the chair, it dislodged from the little bump on the mat and rolled backwards into the passageway, straight into
him
.

Through a haze, she looked up at him, unable to speak for fear of being ill.
Behind him, Sally could see Andrea glaring at her, gesturing wildly and she was still helpless to move.
Her head felt woozy and she had a sharp pain in her foot.
And she felt quite sick.

People were speaking, clamoring around her, wanting to see what the fuss was about and someone else was shooing them all back to their desk.
Sally heard the man, as if from a mile away, asking her if she was okay and she shook her head to say no.
She managed to lean forward enough to grab her waste paper bin and to her extreme embarrassment was sick.

The upside was that she no longer felt dizzy or faint.
The downside was that she was sitting holding a bucket that smelled bad while the most beautiful man she’d ever seen knelt at her feet.
She glanced up at him through her eyelashes and grimaced.

“Much better thanks,” she replied to his earlier question, taking a deep breath to fortify herself.
He was examining her foot, to see how bad the injury was and turned to Andrea and demanded to know where the first aid kit was.
When Andrea, who wasn’t exactly Boss Of The Year, stammered and looked around the room, unable to answer, the man got to his feet and turned to her.

He spoke so quietly that not even Sally could hear, but Andrea’s response was instant.
Her spine stiffened and she walked quickly to find some paper towels.
Several minutes later, Sally was still sitting in her chair with her foot propped on his bended knee feeling like Cinderella.
He’d dabbed and examined the small wound for remaining glass and had smiled ruefully up at her when he’d recommended seeing a doctor about cleaning and possibly one small stitch.

“No.
Thank you but no.
I don’t do stitches.
As you can see, I don’t do the whole blood thing either.
This will be fine.
I’ll get some sticking plasters and antiseptic and do it at lunch time.
I’ll be fine, really I will.
You’ve been marvelous.
So very helpful.
Much appreciated, I can assure you.
No doctor.
No stitches.”

She wondered if she sounded as hysterical as she felt at that moment.

“Geeze, you’ve gone pale again.
Are you planning to faint or get sick again?”
He looked genuinely concerned.
He looked relieved when she shook her head and gently pressed the paper towel against her foot again.
Why was he still holding her foot, she thought to herself.
Also, who the hell was he?
He was speaking to Andrea again. Sally saw Andrea nodding in agreement, clearly very concerned about this man’s opinion and suggestions.

Andrea smiled at her coldly.

“Well, it seems that you’ll be leaving for the day.
Do get better soon.”
Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and meanness as she picked up Sally’s handbag and put it in her hands.

“I am?” Sally asked, more confused than ever.

“Yes you are,” replied her new friend.
“I’m taking you to have this looked at,” he sounded like he wasn’t taking any arguments about it either.
Then his voice changed, became kinder.
“I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.”
She felt like a small child.

He helped her to her feet.
“Are you able to walk properly?”

“Yes,” she answered, annoyed.
Just who was this man who was taking control of her and forcing her to go places she didn’t want to go?
As he helped her to the elevator, gently holding her elbow and guiding her as if she were infirm, Sally couldn’t help but enjoy the moment.
She was getting glares from all directions as her co-workers clearly thought she’d staged the whole thing.
As if she could!
Not even with months of planning could she have pulled that off, she thought.
But how well did it work out?

Not only did he look delectable, he smelled fantastic too, she thought to herself.
It was impossible not to smell him considering that he was still holding on to her and they were confined in the elevator.

“Excuse me,” she said turning to him.
“I don’t mean to appear rude, but just who are you and where are you taking me?”
Polite to the end, her mom would be proud.