She's The Wild West

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"How are you going to make that sexy?"

"It'll be easy! Mustard is already the sexiest condiment!"

"Actually, I think that would probably be hot sauce."

We were eating lunch outside for once and I really liked the small change. It was an unusually warm day for late October though, in California, all the days felt unusually warm. I suggested we eat out on the patio area that I'd noticed the first time I saw the cafeteria. The tables and chairs were set up just outside of the wall of windows and when I glanced behind me, I could still see our usual table.

It was kind of cool how nobody sat there even when we were gone, like it was really ours.

"West, what do you think the sexiest condiment is?"

"I don't know, soy sauce?"

In all honesty, I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation. I was too busy thinking, kind of anxiously, about my own costume and the Halloween party as a whole. I was nervous and excited and anxious and giddy and impatient and my leg hadn't stopped bouncing since the moment we sat down. There was an umbrella over our heads, open, white, trimmed with gold fabric, big enough to shade us from the unrelenting sun, yet I was still hot.

She told me to wear something sexy.

At first I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do it. Not because I didn't want to, because I definitely wanted to make the boss happy, but because it was a company party and it would be inappropriate. Apparently though, that wasn't going to be an issue. Adam and Clara had already shown me the "slutty" costumes they'd worn the previous year (their words, not mine), and it gave me an idea of what I could do. They didn't wear anything downright raunchy, but they were clearly comfortable showing some skin so I figured I should be fine.

They had already tried asking me what I was going to be, but I told them that I would rather not say and just leave it as a surprise.

Along with being curious as to how my costume was going to play out, (I still hadn't tried it on because everything had only just been delivered to the college mailroom that morning), I was also curious as to whether or not Ms. Mori was going to wear a costume. I highly, highly doubted it, more than I had doubted that she would show up before she confirmed that she would. Despite that, it didn't stop my mind from racing, drawing up fantasies of her in different costumes no matter how hard I tried to stop.

She's turning me into such a sex-crazed hornball.

My mind was still racing when I returned to her office after lunch. Ms. Mori was standing in front of the four big file cabinets, rifling through the papers inside. I walked over to the giant bookcase and grabbed one of the empty binders she filled the bottom shelf with. Then I brought it over and placed it on the top of one of the cabinets, knowing she would likely need it to place whatever she was looking for inside.

I was proven right when she wordlessly grabbed it, popped open the rings and started adding papers. There was a small stretch of silence.

"Are you excited for the party tonight?"

Of course she isn't. She hates things like partying and socializing and humans.

"No."

See?

"It's important for me to show face with the employees though. We've all accomplished a lot this past year and I need them to know that I see them and their work is appreciated. I'm not above them. They make all of this possible."