Short Story #6 - A Work Story

10 Short Stories Challenge from a friend: She picks the topic/genre, I write it in one day.

--- An overheard comment that changed everything ---

There she stood: Serena Miles. And to Lester Parmentier she was perfection incarnate. If he were designing his ideal woman there would be no differences whatsoever between she and Serena. Every aspect of her face, every inch of her body, from heels to hair. And then he’d spoken to her last week during lunch. He and Dave had grabbed a bite to eat at that little burger joint on Carnubee Street. What do you know, there was Serena having lunch with Angela Cicero from accounting. It had been Angela who recognized them and said hi, but it was Serena who offered that they all share a table.

What immediately stood out to Lester was how down to Earth and approachable she was. Most hot chicks that he came across were so standoffish. Or worse, vapid and shallow. Or if they somehow made it past those adjectives there was always psychotic looming in the distance ready to strike at unsuspecting potential boyfriends.

The four of them had chatted happily for a few minutes when Angela received a call from the principal at her son’s school. He’d been in a fight and she had to come pick him up immediately. Only problem: Angela’s car was in the shop. She’d gotten a ride to work that day. Then came providence. Dave offered to drive her. Angela accepted. Serena and Lester were alone!

Things could have gone all sorts of wrong. Instead, they ordered burgers, talked and ate. Lester acquired all the basics. Serena had recently moved to town with her sister from upstate New York. She’d gotten the job at the Tree in accounting about a week before and enjoyed it, but her true passion lay in painting. She’d shown in galleries in the Big Apple and expected to have an expo lined up as soon as some of the new pieces she was working on were finished. She was single and although not seriously looking did want a husband and children eventually.

Now don’t get the impression that she was narcissistic and self-absorbed. He had to pump pretty fiercely to get all of the story and most of the time Serena turned the conversation around into questions for Lester who hated to talk about himself. However, he found that she put him at ease and seemed truly interested when he told her about his love of science fiction, bowling, and coin collecting. Turns out she collected too. She mentioned that what she’d really like to do was acquire change from foreign countries that she’d visited. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been out of the country yet. Coincidence? Or fate? That’s right, Lester was dying to travel the world and getting his hands on international currency was definitely part of the allure. The discussion quickly turned to where they’d like to travel.

Before they knew it the lunch hour was over and she drove him back to the office. Lester wasn’t much of a lady’s man but he was sure that she was digging him. He strolled back to his department at the Tree on a cloud of perfumed honey.

The Larrabee Tree was the advertising agency that Lester worked at. Everyone called it The Tree for short. It was a pretty cool place to work. They had offices in Reno and Butte too and often times employees transferred between them. Whenever this happened there was always a sending off party and it just so happened that Don Holloway was headed to Butte, Montana that week. The party was at a restaurant called Seashells. The company paid for a private room. Lester showed up fashionably late.

Dave made a beeline straight for him. He had good news. The Tree had sprung for an open bar! Lester didn’t really drink, but since Dave ushered him right to the bar and waited expectantly, he ordered a draft beer.

And so friends and neighbors, as I mentioned previously: There she stood. A group milled around her. Of course it did. Trust me, you wouldn’t be able to resist getting as close to her as you could either. Lester recognized a few of the accounting crew including Angela as well as Jim Dubrovnik. There were others too. Lester’s boss Kevin Richards was laughing at something Serena had said and little round hors d’oeuvres rolled off his plate onto the floor.

That bastard, thought Lester, he’s moving in on her before I can get a chance.

A few of the guys from R&D gave Lester a hearty hello and he got caught up in a conversation about baseball, all the while keeping one eye across the room at Serena, judging when the time might be right to slip over and make his presence known. He’d given himself a mission and would not stop until it was accomplished. He would ask Serena out on a date before he left the party.

A few hours rolled by. Serena always seemed to be immersed in a crowd. Eventually, he thought he might have found an opportunity. She was seated at a table talking quietly with Angela and Rose from marketing. Lester crept up behind them ready to say something corny like, “I’m not interrupting some secret ’beautiful girls’ meeting, am I?”

However, just as he came into earshot he overheard Angela ask Serena, “What about Kevin Richards? He’s single.” To which she responded, “Na, he’s too fat.”

SCREECH!

Lester hit the brakes and then hoping no one saw him come to such an abrupt halt for apparently no reason he veered off toward the bar and ordered his second beer.

Too fat? Kevin Richards? Certainly he didn’t have a body like Brad Pitt, but he was hardly what Lester would consider fat. Hell, if Serena thought Kevin was a heifer, Lester could only imagine what she thought of him. He had always been a bit portly. Oh, hell, who was he fooling? He was a porker. A fat ass. An O-beast. Ok, perhaps that was going a little overboard, but he could sure stand to loose thirty pounds.

Lester put his beer down on a table untouched and backpedaled right out of the restaurant, his mission a complete failure. He drove home horribly frustrated and terribly unhappy. Every time he thought of Serena and her confession he whacked the passenger seat. He thought of nothing but this the whole ride and his hand was red and sore when he pulled into his driveway.

His inner debate began with anger: What kind of a shallow bitch judges a guy by his weight?!?
It moved to begrudging comparison: Well, I suppose I judge women similarly… I guess.
To understanding: Hey, we can’t help what it is we find attractive, can we?
To self pity: Dammit, I wouldn’t be attracted to my fat ass either!
To hopeful: Maybe if I lost some weight…
To motivated: You know I’ve been wanting to do something about these extra pounds for a long time, but Serena’s comment really put things in perspective. It changed everything.

The next day Lester went to work as if nothing had happened. He saw Serena in the hall, said hi, made pleasant small talk, went about his business. Before the day was out he had a talk with Kevin Richards and requested some time off work. Richards was loathe to give it up, especially at that time of the season and as much as Lester wanted, but he had to admit that Parmentier did work his ass off and hadn’t used his vacation time in four years. He actually had more stored up then he was asking for.

Two weeks later Lester packed his bag and checked into one of those fat farm boot camps that promised a pound a day weight loss or your money back. Lester had scheduled five weeks. Thirty five days, thirty five pounds. If he took off thirty he knew he’d be able to see his abs again. Thirty five should put him in pretty damned good shape.

For five weeks Lester dieted, sweat, ran, jumped, pumped iron. During every moment of agony that he endured, and there were many, he thought about Serena and why he was going through it. It made him feel much better.

He worked so hard at the exercise portions even the instructors told him he might want to pace himself a little better. Lester would have none of it. He put every ounce of strength, will, and determination he had into following the regimen the camp set up for him to the letter and when those stores ran dry, he found alternate supplies.

Lester Parmentier traveled through the pits of hell for five weeks and when he came out on the other side he was literally amazed at the way he looked. He always thought of himself as cute in a dorky sort of way, but now he was, dare he say, a hottie! He found he enjoyed walking around without a shirt on and if he passed by a mirror his eyes immediately found their way to his own reflection for a bit longer then they should. Lester had ended up exactly forty three pounds lighter then when he’d arrived. He’d never been in as good of shape in his entire life.

Finally the day arrived that he was due back at work. He was excited and yet felt a deep sense of serenity. All through the day co-workers came up to him and lauded him on this new physique. All the guys wanted pointers on how they could do likewise. Lester found himself giving everyone from his boss to the UPS guy who showed up every day at three weight lifting tips and diet coaching. He felt empowered. Sure there had been an ulterior motive to what he’d done, but now that he’d accomplished it he realized it had been more about himself then it ever was about Serena.

And then the moment came. He had to go to accounting to get some paperwork from Angela and Serena’s desk was right there. He’d have to at least say hello or be perceived as rude. Fear gripped him on the elevator ride down to the fourth floor. What if she wasn’t at her desk? What if she’d chosen just that moment to run down to her car because she’d accidentally left her purse there when returning from lunch? What if his wonderful plan was thwarted and he’d have to wait until the next day to see her? Or worse, what if she bumped into him along the way and he wasn’t able to say all the words he’d gone over for the last five weeks when imagining how this meeting would play out while sweating and toiling in the gym?

But she was at her desk. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone. As Lester approached Angela’s desk he watched with utter incredulousness as Remy Burffle took a stack of papers from Serena and then planted a loving little peck of a kiss right on her lips. She reached out and squeezed his hand and they shared a smile before he walked away.

“Lester? Wow! I didn’t even recognize you. You look wonderful”, he was staring so intently at Serena and her boyfriend that at first it didn’t register that Angela was speaking to him.

He recovered as best he could. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“You here for the figures?” She rummaged through the files on her desk and lifted a stack to give him.

“Yeah and to say hello”, he took the paperwork and tried to be as nonchalant with his next question as he could, “What’s up with Serena and Remy?”

“Oh, they just started seeing each other. They seem really happy. Don’t they make the cutest couple?”

“I suppose… But, isn’t he a little… Big for her?” Remy was big alright. If Kevin Richards could be considered stout, then Lester (before his recent weight loss) would have been thought of as chunky, whereas Remy Burffle had no other description then fat.

“She told me she likes her men with a lot of meat on their bones”, Angela explained, “It’s funny though, it seems her sister likes ‘em stick thin. The two girls are so alike in so many ways, but total opposites when it comes to that. In fact, Serena and I were just discussing that again today.”

“Discussing it again?”, asked Lester. He was about to be sick.

“Yeah, we talked about it once at Don Holloway’s going away party when I was suggesting guys for her sister to date.”


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