Friday morning Claire walked into work with a little extra pep in her step – There's nothing like being well-fucked to put you in a good mood. She knew the day was going to take forever to end. Fridays always seemed to crawl forward, the added promise of an encore presentation from Gabe that night would make it go by so slowly it would feel as if time were moving backwards. Claire sighed to herself and wished that the man were still in the building, he and his crew finished their work earlier in the week.
She wouldn't even have the opportunity to eyeball his ass in his work jeans...
Or look at his strong forearms flex as he worked...
Or see his chiseled features tense as he concentrated...
Or watch him giving orders to his crew...
Which led her to think of him ordering her... Ahhh!!
Claire decided she had to stop thinking like this. It was probably a good thing that Gabe wasn't at the office anymore. There was a real chance her horniness just might have made her bold enough to go for his offer of a quickie in a bathroom.
An email notification popped up on her screen. It was an announcement from HR. Claire hastily opened the email, taking the opportunity to think about something other than her hunk. She felt her stomach sink as she scanned the words. Piece of shit Brent had gotten the promotion Marv had told her she wasn't ready for.
Claire didn't know if she should scream, or cry. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to lift her computer monitor off her desk and throw it across the room? This was beyond unfair. It was insulting and demeaning. A total slap in the face. This was so much worse than applying and not getting the job. Her dick boss had paved the way for his Golden Boy by ensuring Claire wasn't even in the running.
Tears stinging her eyes, Claire rushed to the bathroom. She sat in one of the stalls for a good ten minutes trying to compose herself, but it was impossible. She couldn't herself from getting increasingly angry as the minutes wore on.
Claire wanted to make like an ostrich and keep her head in the sand and avoid the world, but she knew she'd have to come out of the bathroom sooner or later. The problem was that she didn't know what to do once she went back to her desk. In the past, Claire would suck it up and congratulate her co-worker that got the promotion while telling herself that they were more deserving of it anyways. But this time, the person who was promoted was someone who she could run circles around in every arena. This time she couldn't lie to herself about being less qualified and she didn't have it in her to swallow her pride and wish him well.
Realizing that it would be impossible for her to think clearly about her next move while being so upset, Claire decided to use the corporate version of a get out of jail free card and used a sick day so she could go home and wallow in private.
Within half an hour Claire was standing in the freezer aisle of the grocery store deciding between President's Choice ice cream flavours. There was no way she'd make it through the day without provisions. Now the Red Velvet looked good, but it was one of those flavours that always sounded better than it actually tasted. Birthday Cake was in the same category, she decided it was more likely it would taste like plain vanilla ice cream than gooey vanilla frosting. Her eyes roamed until she hit Loads of Chocolatey Peanut Butter Treats. Bingo. She opened the freezer door and put one into her shopping basket, then also grabbed a carton of Cookies and Mint for good measure.
Next on her short sopping list was tonic. Claire decided to treat herself to some Fever Tree, she was normally a Canada Dry girl not wanting to shell out extra cash for the premium tonic, but today she needed all the cheer she could buy herself.
The moment Claire arrived home to her condo she stripped down to her underwear, mixed herself a G&T, grabbed her laptop, both tubs of ice cream and a spoon, and cocooned herself on her bed in her blush coloured duvet. If getting day drunk, while eating ice cream and watching Gossip Girl reruns wouldn't make her feel better than nothing would.
A few episodes in, Claire still felt like crap, but had managed to center herself enough to remember about her plans to see Gabe that night. Claire paused the show and grabbed her cell. She'd put it on silent, intent on keeping the world out of booze and ice cream filled sanctuary, so there was a good chance he'd been trying to get in touch with her. Just as she flipped her phone around to see if she'd missed any texts, the thing lit up letting her know Gabe was calling. It was funny how that happened.
"Hey." Claire said answering it.
"Hey Babe. Are you swamped at work? I was sure you would have responded to my last text by now." Gabe said. Hearing his deep, rough voice made her smile.
"Not exactly. I'm at home... What did you send me?"
"You can have a look when we're done talking." Gabe said in a way that let Claire know that whatever he sent would make her wet. "Why are you home?"
"I had another one of those days at work, so I said I was sick and left."
"Awww fuck." Gabe said. His words while crude, were full with compassion for Claire.
"Tell me about it." She sighed.
"So how are you doing?"
"To be honest... I think I'm a bit drunk." Claire said, realizing the G&T's she'd been downing were kicking in.
Gabe chuckled at her answer. "I can be there in a few hours to cheer you up. I'd leave work right away but this job is at risk of falling behind as it is."
Claire considered Gabe's offer but quickly decided against it. She needed to sulk, and she wasn't about to allow him to take care of her again so soon after her previous career-related meltdown.
"Can I take a rain check until tomorrow?" She asked.
Gabe didn't answer immediately, unhappy with her request to postpone.
"I'd really love it if you'd take me out tomorrow night and get me drunk. I want to party hard and forget about life." She added.
"Now that is something I can do." Gabe said, obviously relieved she'd given him a way to help her. "But if you change your mind, there are lots of ways I can think of to cheer you up tonight."
"Thanks Gabe. It means a lot that you're here for me."
"Always." He said before hanging up.
As soon as she was disconnected, Claire opened her phone to check her texts, first looking to see what Gabe had sent her. She opened the message to find a selfie he'd taken.
It wasn't of his face.
In the pick Gabe was wearing jeans and had his shirt hiked up. All she could see was his abs, the enticing lines leading down to his dick and one of his massive hands over his low-slung jeans grabbing at his buldge. The message that accompanied the pic was enticingly direct, simply saying "All Urs".
The photo almost made her want to reinstate their plans for the night, but she resisted knowing that she would be terrible company. Instead, she took a quick pic of her tits in her white lacy bra and sent it back to him with a message saying "Property of Gabe."
The next text in missed messages was from Iris wanting to know if Claire wanted to go to the bar. Claire decided that she'd give the Dr. Phil of career drama a call, Iris would know how to help. When Iris picked up the phone Claire spilled everything that she'd been holding back from telling Gabe. Iris was familiar enough with Claire's work situation to immediately see how totally shit things were.
It was times like this that Iris really came through - An hour later she was in bed next to Claire in her bra and panties drinking a vodka soda, deep into season two of Gossip Girl.
"This show is all about fashion and you can't beat Serena's fashion. She's perfect." Claire said in defence of her choice of favorite character in the show.
"Puh-leeze, you're just jizzing over her blonde hair." Iris snorted.
"Um and her clothes and her bedroom and everything about her."
"She's the most annoying one on the show." Iris said, baiting her friend.
"How can you even say that!? Who's better? Blair with those stupid headbands?"
"Yes, obviously Blair is better. But the best character hands down is Chuck. Fucking. Bass."
That almost made Claire spit out her drink. "I should have guessed he'd be your favorite! Girl, you are Chuck Bass"
"I am aren't I?" Iris said smugly before bursting into a fit of giggles.
In that moment Claire was so grateful for her friend. She didn't have a solution to her shitty career yet but she did have a reminder that life wasn't all bad.