from The Office Party; or, No Regrets
A Short Modern Romance by Zoe Melville
“What are you dressing up as for Halloween?”
Becky leaned across from the desk opposite to
whisper conspiratorially to Sabrina. They sat at Sabrina’s workstation in an empty
corner of the main office on the first floor, next to the filing room and the
supply cabinets.
Sabrina looked blankly over at Becky. Today she
wore accents of turquoise in her hair, glasses, eye-shadow and lipstick.
Sabrina had been surprised at how slowly Thursday had passed, how normal it had
seemed. She flashed a smile at Becky - a timid, in-on-the-joke smile that came
and went quickly, but lingered around her eyes.
“I’m twenty-seven, Ms. Flint. I don’t need to
dress up as a witch or a ghost if I want chocolates. I can buy my own.”
Becky blew a short disapproving parp and stuck
her thumb down. “Wrong. Chocolates you get for Halloween are always the best.”
“What if someone poisons them?” Sabrina’s
counter was immediate and instinctive. God,
she thought, I must sound totally
paranoid.
“You take all the fun out of things, Sabrina.”
She loudly stapled a few pieces of
correspondence together and tucked them into a file. “It’s my job. Yours too,
if you’d do it.”
“Foul. Changing the topic. You get a penalty.”
Sabrina sat back in her swivel chair and darted
a furtive glance around the empty room. “You’re awfully bold for someone who’s
still on probation.”
Becky gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m
always on probation.”
Sabrina smirked. “What’s my penalty, then,
rebel?”
Becky leaned in close, and Sabrina mirrored her
movement. She let her eyes flicker down for an instant, catching a glimpse of
Becky’s body through the open neck of her t-shirt - a shallow chest with
prominent collarbones, light catching on the upper edges of two small upturned
breasts, and a few lines of ink that spoke of a tattoo spread across her
cleavage. Startled and ashamed, she looked up quickly but could see no sign
that Becky had noticed her staring.
“OK, here’s your penalty. You have to tell me -
honestly - what you would dress up as for Halloween, if you went out partying.”
She smiled wickedly. “Or even if you didn’t go out and just, you know, stayed
in.”
Sabrina crossed her arms and leaned back in her
chair. “Hmm.” She mulled the question over for a few seconds, shushing Becky
when she looked like she was going to start giving suggestions. “A pirate.”
Becky nodded appreciatively. “Not bad - a
pirate. Three-cornered hat?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thigh-high boots?”
Sabrina smiled secretively. “I already have a
pair.”
“lace-up white shirt?”
“Wouldn’t look the part without it.”
Becky threw up her arms. “So do it, then! Come
out with me - with us.” She cleared her throat. “Some of my friends are going
out to a thing in a few days, I’d love you to come. Come on - shiver your
timbers and splice the mainbrace with us?”
Sabrina made a face. “It’s nothing - I mean, it’s
just, the university crowd, they’re not really my crowd. I don’t know anyone
except you, and I’ve only known you for two days.”
Becky sat up and cradled her chin in her hands.
“You know me well enough, and I know you. I know you want to be a pirate for
Halloween, I know you have a pair of thigh-high boots, and I know you’re
reading Tolstoy on your lunch break.”
Sabrina reddened. “So you can look in a bag -
well played, Lieutenant Columbo.”
Becky frowned a little. “I didn’t mean it like that, Sabrina - it’s just that ... how well do you know these people? You never really talk to them, and they never seem to talk to you. Come out with me on Halloween. I know some really fun places. Come on. Come out with me, Sabrina.”
“like I say - I don’t think I’d fit in with
your friends.”
Becky raised her eyebrows - her eyes were very
striking under the turquoise accents. “You’re right - you read way better stuff
than they do. It’s all Fifty Shades
and Twilight and that sort of thing over there - no respect for the classics.”
Sabrina turned back to the cold glow of her PC.
“I don’t think I’d fit in.”
“So don’t fit in. Don’t go out with them. Go
out with me. Be a pirate and come out with me.” She lowered her glasses with
one finger and looked seriously over them at Sabrina. “Just me, I promise.”
She pursed her lips. “What will you be dressed
as?”
Becky bared her teeth in a wicked snarl. “Dracula.”
She tapped her teeth with one elaborately-painted nail. “Or maybe Darth Vader.
Get away from the whole Vampire thing.”
“Sexy Darth Vader?” Sabrina regretted the
question immediately. Becky just grinned.
“I don’t know - is Darth Vader sexy?”
Sabrina
shrugged noncommittally. “He has a very commanding presence - and there’s all
that black leather. People think black leather is sexy.”
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