Storm Watch 02.15 – Same/Different

            Alice sat at her desk writing her new article and fanning herself.  The air conditioning had died in the office and they were all undoing buttons and wiping brows.  She felt as if she were sitting in the sauna at the gym, not a great place to be working, she thought to herself.  Garret one of the section editors walked by her desk and looked down at her.  Seeing her exposed cleavage and kneeling next to Alice with a grin on his face.

            “Alice?”  He asked and she gave him a glare over her glasses and said,

            “Yes Garret.”  She watched Garret and he glanced down again at her cleavage and Alice quickly buttoned up and he laughed.  He stood up winking at Alice as she did so.

            “I didn’t want you getting up and being so exposed.”  He winked at her again and Alice watched him walk away, thinking he was rather handsome and had a nice *****.  She waited until he was gone and went back to the computer screen, staring at it, having forgotten where she had been at.

            Dana.  Her mind was on Dana, and their sudden hidden sexual relationship.  Their explosive sexual relationship.  Why was it hidden Alice?  The little voice in her head was asking, for the 20th time in the last hour.  Because she was afraid of what the others would say, of what she was feeling, and just what was that?  What were you feeling Alice?

            Fear.  She was scared and she was haunted by what her other relationships had brought to her pain and heart ache and loss.  She stared hard at the screen; she saved her article and turned off the computer.  Alice packed up her stuff and she saw Garret at the water cooler.

            “Garret, I’m going home where there is AC in the middle of the hottest summer in years!”  She quipped and he waved goodbye, with a big grin thinking that a sweaty office wasn’t such a bad thing after all. 

*****

            “You have to work all night?”  Dana asked Lara from across the counter and Lara nodded, chopping something that Dana couldn’t see.  Dana was staring at her intently as Lara‘s face was serious about her work.  Lara nodded yes and continued to go about chopping various items.  She wasn’t about to be lulled into a blind situation, she was going to make sure that Dana had all her cards on the table this time around.  “Can you meet me at Radar tonight?”  Dana asked and Lara leaned over the counter, grabbing Dana‘s hand she rubbed Dana‘s athletic fingers, remembering how they used to make her feel.  Come on Lara, you have to be strong about this.